Well, we're enjoying the fruits of our labour. Our concord grapes are ready for the picking. We're not always so lucky. Usually the birds get to them before we do. Also, we have a plum tree that hasn't produced anything for 8 years. In the spring, my husband threatened to cut down if it didn't do anything this year. And guess what, we have 8 plums. We're just waiting for them to get ripe enough.

This week, I worked on a bed that was full of different kinds of daylilies and I've given most of them away. Also, divided a big bed of Japanese irises. That was a lot of hard work but it destressed me from all the worries of work.

I'm hoping somebody will call me this weekend to go blueberry picking. Yes, they are still plentiful. If we don't get any frost or extreme cold, we could get one more week of blueberries.

We've been lucky and haven't got any frost yet. Let's hope it stays that way for a while as the flowers are still putting on a good show.

Next week, we're getting a car so we're going to buy more grow lights for the basement and buy several bags of good soil for my indoor spring planting. We don't have a car so I pretty well have to buy my spring supplies now as I can't get to the big stores in the spring. I'm hoping this weekend there will be some good sales on shepard's hook.

I find that during the last 3 years or so I'm collecting all the seeds that I can think of. Is that a bit compulsive? I always have way too many. But this year I'll have a bigger variety, i.e., osteospermum, salpiglossis, mallow Ruby Regis, malva Braveheart and Zebrina, blue ageratum.

Well, I have to hit the sack as I have to wake up early to go to Spanish (Ontario) with my sister to visit my other sister.

Ta ta for now.

Hey Debbie what do you think of my cantaloupe. Is it going to ripen before it freezes. I'm tempted to try one now. They are the size of a grapefruit.
claire

OOps forgot to post picture
{{!gwi}}

Claire, those grapes sound good! Our neighbours in Toronto use to have those grapes and they always gave us some in the fall. I wish I could grow them up here. I was looking at them in the grocery store today, but I didn't buy them as I had bought enough fruit already, but I was tempted. *S*

U have a plum tree too? What kind of plums.. the purple ones? Do u put manure down for the tree and the grapes, that would help them produce better. Were u able to go blueberry picking?

I make my own soiless mix for my seed planting in the spring. I buy a bag of peat moss and vermiculite and add a bit of limestone and that is what I use to plant my seeds. I get mine from Walmart as I can handle the bags easier than the 3 cubic ft of peat moss bags. We don't have a car either so the smaller bags make it easier for me to handle. Our Home Hardware will deliver stuff to me though if I need it. You might want to ask them, also Canadian Tire does deliveries too here, if u pay extra.

I wouldn't call seed collecting being complulsive, I would call it not wanting to waste them. *S* If u keep them in the fridge they will last for years too.

Did u put clear plastic over your cataloupe and put it up on a brick? It looks pretty good from the picture. Does it smell like a cataloupe now? Sometimes u can tell if it's getting close to being ripen if it has a smell like a melon.

Well time to make supper.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Well I was bragging about my concord grapes but last weekend, more specifically Sunday morning, something got to the rest of our grapes. We suspect maybe a raccoon or the grackles. What a disappointment. Next year, we're thinking of putting nets over the grapes when they are just about to turn purple. If the weather holds up, we're going blueberry picking, well I am. My husband is going to keep watch for the bears. I know there are still blueberries because people are still selling them on the side of the highways and I saw one old fellow on the bus with two baskets of them.

We've rented a car for the weekend so that we can buy more growlights, soil, and manure, and bamboo poles for our beans next year.

It's been raining all day today and I suspect tomorrow as well. As long as it's dry for Sunday (blueberry picking day) and it's probably going to be the last time I go this year. I'm already missing the summer but looking forward to next spring.

Hi, all!

Clairdo, congratulations on the cantaloupe! The only one i ever grew turned out to be a squash! LOL

There are grapes growing in my son's gf's yard. My daughter and i tried some and they were really good. They're small and blue, but i don't know what kind they are. One of their neighbours picked most of them and made jelly out of them. They gave me some, too. I'm looking forward to opening one on a cold morning this winter. :)

Well, speaking of cold, it happened. You guessed it - f****! It went down to 0° on Thursday night and -3° last night. Most of my containers are in dh's tarp shed, but a lot of the annuals planted in the ground are now toast. Sigh. But actually, i'm almost looking forward to starting the fall cleanup. It's been a long, hot, dry summer and a lot of things are looking tired, and it would be merciful to compost them. So - tomorrow's job. And of course, the weather is supposed to improve according to the long-range forecast. But that's okay. Never a shortage of garden chores, no matter what.

I've started digging out irises too. I gave some away at a plant exchange and am going to give my girlfriend some to plant around her pond (read "small lake"!). I also need to create some new spaces for new plants - adding on to the edges of some beds to extend them. Seed-collecting is another thing i've been doing a lot of. And one of these days, i need to get them organized and revise my trade list. Wonder when that'll be? LOL

Claubill, we hardly got any blueberries this year. It was just too dry. We haven't had any real rain in months. If it rains, it's just a thunderstorm or it rains for a few hours and then dries up again. And it's few and far between. The ground is like powder, and everyone you talk to says they're sick and tired of having to water their containers constantly. I know i am! That's another reason i don't care that some of them will have to be dumped!

There are still things blooming. Clematis 'Ville de Lyons' is putting on a nice show, and i also have an Oriental lily that's just blooming (Starfighter). Some malva is reblooming, and the heliopsis and rubbeckia haven't stopped. Another thing that has been blooming absolutely all summer is Echinacea 'Big Sky Sunrise'. I'd recommend it to anyone. Some of the hardy geraniums are getting a few more blooms too.

Anyway, not much else. I'm off to surf awhile before bed.

Take care -
Marcia

We rented the car for the weekend and boy, we shopped till we dropped today. Bought some more fluorescent lights and some soilless mix for the spring. Also bought a clematis jackminii and another kind but I can't remember the name.

This year, we grew some birdhouse gourds. I had only three plants but it covered the whole arbour almost on both sides (that means that the stems were about 16 feet long. I thought I would try it this year but it just took over and covered some of the hanging baskets I had. So no more next year, but I'll be collecting seeds if anyone is interested.

I'm going blueberry picking with a student from the university. I'm hoping to pick two or three baskets. That should keep me going for a while.

Well, I better go to bed since I have to get up early.

my cantaloupe is well covered but I never thought of putting a brick under it. will do it right now. tx

Hi Everyone *waving*

Claire, sorry to hear that something got to your grapes! I have seen those nets being sold in some gardening catalogues, have never used them myself but they are suppose to work.

Did u get any gourds from your vines or just vines?

How did u make out with the blueberry picking? Did u manage to find any? And I sure hope u didn't find any bears!

Marcia... -3c? yikes that is cold!

I pulled out some more flowers from the pots but still have quite a few left to do yet. We haven't had a killing frost on our yard but some of the plants are looking ragged.

Son did come over and helped a bit and pulled out the pond pump but still lots to do.

I called the fire hall tonight as the smell of wood smoke outside was so strong it was coming in thru a couple of open windows upstairs and really bothering me. I have noticed that I have been smelling it the past few nights but thought maybe the mill was burning something. But the fireman said they thought it was coming from the fire in Northwestern Ontario around Manitoba.

Marcia, if it is this strong down here where I am, how is it around u? It must really be awful there. Are u ok? I hope the fire is no where close to where u are.

Here are some pics I took the other day.

This is my water lily
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

This is the back of the vine...

{{!gwi}}

And this is the front view of it.

{{!gwi}}

Here are a couple of pots that u see before u go thru my garden gate and into my front gardens.

{{!gwi}}

Take care.....and Marcia let us know that u are ok.
Debbie

The fires are more in the Thunder Bay area, north and east of there. We had one big one near here over the summer but it had a lake between us and it so it was no threat. We did have a lot of smoke and haze over the past couple of days but today it's raining - finally!! - so all that has cleared up. I wish it would rain for a week, but it isn't supposed to. We need an awful lot of it end this drought.

After the f**** last weekend, i dumped a lot of containers. I've decided to expand one bed, so i laid cardboard down where the expansion will go and dumped the containers right there. If i get enough leaves this fall, i'll layer some on top, but i'll probably end up waiting until spring to finish it with leaf mulch raked off the other beds. When i made a small lasagne bed as a demonstration to the Horticultural Society in June, i covered it with black plastic hoping to "cook" it faster and it worked, so that's what i'll do to this bed. By July and August next year, i'll be able to plant newly winter-sown plants in it. :)

We've dug all our potatoes and onions and picked the beets and kohlrabi and some of the tomatoes. We ate the rest of the corn before it froze. And the deer have been helping out with the swiss chard, much to dh's dismay (and my glee! LOL).

It's definitely looking like fall out there. The leaves are changing colour rapidly, and there are fall birds all over the place. It's sad to see summer end, but fall is nice too, as long as it doesn't get too cold too fast. I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately because the annuals are mostly gone, the summer flowers are pretty much done and the fall ones haven't really started yet. It's looking a little bit blah in the garden beds - lucky for the nice contrast in the bush!

Debbie, love your clematis! One of mine is blooming now, but i never get as many blooms as that at once! Your wave petunias are nice too. Mine were definitely not this year and all of them have been dumped - take that, petunias!

That's about it for now - ttyl!
Marcia

Debbie: I managed to pick a 3 litre basket of blueberries. I had to put the bowl under the blueberry patches since they were dropping like flies. At least now I've found someone else who enjoys blueberry so I'll more opportunities to go next year.

Yes, I've got huge birdhouse gourds. I have to do a bit of research to find out if they are edible or strictly ornamental. I'm hoping to actually make a few bird houses. I'll save some seeds in case anybody is interested in some.

Today, we dug out our compost. That was so much work and I was pooped by 12:00. We just have the final touches to do tomorrow and we'll have a few beds to amend.

I'm going to bed now since I'm totally exhausted. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, we have lots of work to do. We purchased a couple of clematis last week, a jackmanii and another one and I found a spot for them but I have to clean the area first.

Anyways, I'm going to hit the sack.

Hi Marcia,

I'm glad u are ok and the fires aren't around you, I hope that Gale is ok too. Have u talked to her lately?

We haven't had a killing frost lately but it gets down to 2c at night. I noticed the leaves on the lilies are turning yellow now. Our High bush cranberry has turned red, I love red colours in the fall, we have mostly yellows here. I miss the reds from southern Ontario in the fall.

Your lasagna bed sounds like it is going to be nice and fluffy earth by the time u put the spring leaves on it. I know there is always a lot of earth worms in leaves left on the garden.

Do u have a lot of deer around u? I don't think we have any deer here, just moose. I thought it was u that liked Swiss Chard, didn't know it was your hubs that liked them.

I don't usually get all those blooms at once on the clematis, but I think because the blooms weren't opening because of lack of sun, they just kept putting out more buds and opened all at once once the sun showed up. I even have another water lily in the pond that I spotted yesterday. I don't know how it bloomed when it has been so cold. It isn't as big as the first ones though.

Claire, glad u were able to pick so many blueberries. 3 liters is a lot! Are u going to make pies out of them? Glad u were able to find someone to go with now, that will be great for next year! *S*

I have 3 composters here but haven't emptied them for a few years now. My son use to do them, I don't have the nerve to ask him to empty them now though. *L*

It is suppose to rain all weekend so I won't be doing much clean up in the yard this weekend.

Take care
Debbie :-)

It's supposed to rain all weekend. What a bummer. I didn't do anything in the garden this week. I'm just too pooped after a hard day's work. It's raining hard right now so I'm hoping that it all falls tonight and then clears up for the weekend. I miss not working in the garden.

Been pouring here for 3 days. So we'll just watch TV .

Ops I meant this to Claubill,
"glad u were able to pick so many blueberries. 3 liters is a lot! Are u going to make pies out of them? Glad u were able to find someone to go with now, that will be great for next year! *S*
I have 3 composters here but haven't emptied them for a few years now. My son use to do them, I don't have the nerve to ask him to empty them now though."

***************
It was sunny out today, but cool. I did go out and empty the rest of the pots in the front gardens and along the driveway. I went out with a light spring coat on but had to put a heavier one on as the wind was cold too. I sure am not ready for this colder weather...brrrrr
I will have to wait for son to come and move them into the garage. He was suppose to come tomorrow but it is suppose to rain for the rest of the week. Seems like we are all getting wet weather now.
I still have the pond and pots on the patio to empty but they will just be covered up with a tarp afterwards to keep the rain out so they won't freeze and crack in the winter. Not much else going on right now.

Take care
Debbie :-)

Evening! Boy has it been cool out there! And i don't mean far out cool either! LOL We went from hot and dry to cold and wet - nothing inbetween. Well, the past weekend wasn't bad, but i was doing laundry like crazy to take advantage of the nice weather (sheets, comforters), so i didn't do as much in the yard as i could have.

The fall bulbs are starting to come in now, so i've been planting the past couple of evenings. Even with all the rain we've had, the ground is still powder dry in places. Of course, i've over-ordered and am now wondering where the heck all this stuff is going to go! Typical, typical! :)

I've brought in a whole whack of containers that i couldn't bear to give up on - daturas, impatiens, begonias, geraniums, coleus, alternanthera, hibiscus.... I really don't know if i'm going to be able to keep them all. I tried to pawn some off on my daughter but she said no way. Darn! I wish i had a good place to keep things more or less dormant. Dh talks about building a root cellar, but so far it's just talk.

Debbie, both of us really like swiss chard, but we always have way too much of it and dh wants me to can it. That's the part i hate - canning it is an all day job. The deer have been at other stuff too. They chewed off a whole bunch of stuff in the container i have out near the road. I wasn't too worried about that either, but i don't want them any further than that - the restaurant is closed!! No deer allowed!

Funny about your cranberry turning red already. Mine is still green. One of the burning bushes has turned but the other (only 4 feet away) hasn't. A lot of trees have lost all their leaves, but some haven't even turned colour yet. Weird.

I emptied the pond out once but the rain has filled it part way again. And i've fished out about eight shrews over the past couple of days! Maybe i should put a little ladder in there! LOL

Not much else going on and i'm getting sleepy. I was trying to stay up because my friend from out west wanted to chat, but she isn't on yet. Yawn!

G'night! :)

Hi Marcia,

It has been cold here too. Furance has been running now for at least a week. Still raining off and on and I'm just waiting for some nice weather so I can get the patio pots done.
Son did come over and empty the pond on the patio and moved some more pots into the garage. Wasn't able to catch the fish though in the front pond.
Son went to lift the resin liner of the barrel on the patio that is the "pond" out of the barrel to wash it out and when he lifted it out of the barrel he said there were a ton of earwigs under it. *shudder* I hate earwigs, they freak me out! We have a lot around this year too, I guess it is because it has been so darn wet! Hope the winter kills them.

Those poor shrews probably think your pond is a huge ocean they have to cross. LOL Aren't they blind? Could u put in a rock or something by the edge that they could crawl out on? Maybe provide life jackets? *L* Do they do any good in the garden or are they like moles or is it voles that eat the plant roots and drag the plants down their holes?

I always thought it was u that liked to can the swiss chard...I do canning too and I know it is hard work, just thought u did it for you. *S*

I'm going to start a new thread now.

Take care
Debbie :-)