Jo, Everything looks so lovely as always.

I love the idea of killing more grass so that you can grow more useful plants.

With the herbs you didn't plant, you still have maybe six to eight weeks before the first frost, assuming it doesn't come early, but that's probably not long enough for the herbs you mentioned when you consider how long it takes them to germinate. Cilantro probably would have the best chance if sown now, but you'd have to watch the weather and cover it if freezing temps threatened.

Rutabagas are similar to turnips and can be used pretty much the same way. I have lots of rutabaga recipes because DH's family on his mom's side was of Swedish descent and they loved their rutabagas. I'll try to post a couple of rutabaga recipes for you tomorrow afternoon while I'm sitting here watching NFL football.

I haven't done anything worthwhile in the garden in the last two weeks due to other projects and too many snakes being around, but I've only seen one snake in the last 4 or 5 days so I might get brave and venture into the garden long enough to pick peppers and tomatoes tomorrow. Well, I have watered the containers but that doesn't take a lot of effort.

The fall flowers look better than the veggies at this point, although the sweet potatoes look mighty fine indeed. Soon it will be time to dig them, but I'll wait until the cold weather is arriving to stay and then I'll run out and dig them right before it gets here.

The native persimmons are about the only only non-vegetable we have left to harvest, and we can't harvest any of the persimmons until frost hits them. It really improves their flavor, which is too astringent until they've been frosted. Furthermore, since the persimmon trees are on the edge of the woodland, sitting between the woodland and the pond, they are very snakey until after a frost. Some years I beat the coyotes to the persimmons and some years they beat me.

Dawn

Jo

Everything is beautful.

You will like growing rutabagas, I think they are much prettier than turnips because the stems are much stronger and the fruit is much larger. I am not really wild about turnips or rutabagas but ia am still trying to like them.

I dont have any spinach or rutabagas this year. The spinach did not come up and I did not plant rutabagas.

My fall garden is looking good. I took some pictures yesteryday but have not posted them yet. I also tilled in my Purple Hulls and plant rye yesterday. The rye should be up in a few days, and my romas should have beans on them by then, I thought I would post a picture then.

Your lawn and garden is very pretty.

Larry

Jo, I love your garden layout. That is about the size of the new orchard garden we did this year. I need to get out there and spray some more of it to kill out a very persistant weed.

What is that tree growing behind the garden bench? I like it!

How do you keep the grass and weeds down in the paths?

Very nice!

I don't know what that tree is. It was about 15' tall and shading my garden, so I started pruning it like crazy. I figured if I killed it, that would be okay. But it lived and is now about 7' tall. I have to prune it a little once per month or so to keep it small and cute. I can take pics of the leaves if you want, and perhaps someone here can tell you what it is.

To keep weeds down, I lay cardboard and cover it with straw. Works great.

I did spray an herbicide on the area where we are expanding, because I don't have any food crops growing there now and there won't be any there until next year. As I get more cardboard, I will be laying it on the areas of killed grass to make sure it doesn't come back. Otherwise it would.

Jo

Jo,

What is that tree growing behind the garden bench?

Your little tree might be a fruitless mulberry, their habit is to branch out low to the ground and they grow very fast.

Keith

It grows little green balls on it that look like very small hard grapes if that helps anyone.

This is a pic of the balls/berries, and the leaves. I have another of the same kind of tree in my yard, but it is much taller (35' plus) so I suspect that this one has been kept pruned smaller over the years even before I came along and cut half off the top.

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Jo

Jo,

While there is something about the tree's leaves that seems familiar, I don't know what it is and don't think I've seen them here. That's not unusual though as your soil (including soil pH) and rainfall in NE OK is quite different from mine here in SC OK and y'all have a lot of trees that will grow there and which do not seem to grow here. The tree I'm familiar with that has similar leaves and fruit is the Carolina Linden and that's one possibility but I'm only guessing because I've never seen a Linden tree growing here in my part of Oklahoma.

Have you noticed what sort of blooms form? Small ones? Showy ones? White? Pink? Purple? Fragrant? And, if you have noticed the blooms that eventually give rise to the fruit, do you know which month the flowers bloom? Also, do the little fruits stay green or do they mature to another color in late fall or winter? Finally, if you cut into a fruit does it have seeds. How many? What color are they? I bet someone here will know what your tree is.

If you want to try something fun, click on the link below and answer the questions and see what this website decides your tree is. (It may not be correct, but then again, it might be.)

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: What Tree Is This?

I've never seen a flower on it, so if it has them they must be really tiny and/or green.

I'm going to look at that link tonight. I have to run my son to karate. He's been practicing on his little sister all day.

Jo

I took the quiz about amillion times and it's not telling me anything. However the more I am searching, the more it resembles a cottonwood of some sort. But I have never seen anything cottony come out of it.

The little fruits are always green to the best of my knowledge. They are tiny, like the diameter of a pencil eraser tip. When I split them open there is a pit inside like a cherry.

This is driving me crazy now. LOL.

Jo what are the tall ferny-leaved plants with the golden daisylike flowers--not the sunchokes, I know those.

That's just a little bed of mixed wildflowers for the bees and butterflies :).

Jo