Next Weed'em & Reap garden club meeting will be November 7th

I am glad........Would not give up Halloween !

Had not thought about that. Thanks.

It is almost November and I still have a locust buzzing outside our window, okra, squash, tomatoes and yard long beans still to harvest! Ooooh, what does that say about the winter?

The figs burst open because of the wet weather but they were not really ripe. Probably not much to harvest this year but maybe I will freeze them for jam.

My figs ripened months ago.............. I got one or two and the wildlife got the rest......... It was a light crop this year,

Went to get firewood this past Sunday and were driven away by the ladybugs swarming to the top of the hill we were on. Getting them in our greenhouse and house as well.

Some folks have said they try to poison them but that probably will not stop them AND we are killing our bug patrol for

Next year. When they swarm they are a pain but I don't have any whiteflies or aphids in the greenhouse. :-)

Just wish they did better in flea beetles!

Lady Bugs, Crickets, Wasps, and a Juvenile Rat Snake ( so far ). My house is filling up fast and it hasn't even been that cold. The mice aren't here yet. Maybe they are waiting for Halloween to get past me in costume............

My figs did the same thing a couple of weeks ago because of all the moisture. They're fine now.

LOL, that rat snake will love to see the mice. You kept him, right? If not, we have a selection of over 30 cats to choose from :-)

One actually came from that black and white batch you have down the block. She got caught in the air conditioning vents of a friend and we had to come entice her out. Our friend did not want her, so.... she came to us.

She was starving when we got her and was one of the loudest kittens we ever heard, but also one of our sweetest and not up for adoption. We named her Pumpkin because she came to us about this time of year two years ago.

I need to go back and check the trees espoontoon. Maybe I will get a tasty treat yet.

From Barbara's experience we know that some trees survived last winter without major issue. She felt that her house and extra moisture kept one plant protected while her others experienced the same thing many of ours did, burn-back.

Oh well, they look healthy for next year. I think I am going to make a bunch of rootings for next Spring so for those who do not have one,keep watching for a give-a-way.

Glad the meetings next week...I'll be out of pocket this Halloween. Wish I could be around tho I really enjoy the kids...I had so many kids come by a couple years ago I ran out of treats close to 100 came through this area...thought I'd have to give pickles away, that's about all I had left at the end of the month....I could give out green tomatoes...I still have about 20 on that Ethiopian Black and the bright orange mini...maybe this rain moving in will ripen a few more..they have gone slower than Christmas trying to ripen, but holding on...That last little chill killed my mums for sure tho...

espoontoon, thanks for getting me back out there. The other figs are ripening nicely. I actually ate one and brought one in.

chefgrape, an old tip for forcing tomatoes to ripen faster is to shock the plant by using a shovel to cut about half of the roots.

The thought process is that the plant reacts because it senses the season is ending (which it is)and pumps more energy into ripening than growing.

I have ripened a few by pulling the plant and just letting it hang outside a few days, but that is pretty final so.....the shovel method still allows the plant to live until frost.

One of our W&R club members has a good blog about saving peppers before they get hit by frost and then overwintering them.

I've done it this past year so anyone curious can jump over here. http://lonsorganicgarden.com/overwintering-pepper-plants/#comment-1283

The light breeze, along with the cool spray from the light rain sure is refreshing tonight.!

In the hour of light between 5-6 I was able to clean the gutters for a second time, trim some bushes and clean the chimney for the start of the heating season.

Now if the wood would drag itself in, cut, split and stack itself, I could almost enjoy the fall.

While I was discussing peppers over at Lon's blog I remembered that I have another pepper to bring in before a killing frost. A fireworks pepper.

Does anyone remember who gave that to me at the meeting? I sure apologize for letting it slip my mind. :-(. Since it is planted right next to the tomatoes from Palindrome, could it be from you?

It never got a good chnce to strut its' stuff this year. Tomatoes and squash just ran over it. Saving as a plant seemed the right thing to do.

I had an interesting talk with Siri tonight but when I got too personal (like her last name)!she wasnantypicalmwoman and avoided answering. Instead she would find me

Internet answers but her own. Oh well. :-)

I'm glad I got the trailer back in place Before the rain. One of our disenfranchised male cats has been using it as his base. He now has a girlfriend and they both sit out near the woods as if contemplating the future.

In case anyone is wondering if I was nipping a little Gentleman Jack last night, no. My thumbs just have some times when they don't seem to hit the space bar like they are intended. :-(

Mystery solved on the firecracker pepper. First, it is NOT a firecracker but a Poinsettia Pepper and more importantly it came from Mark M.

Sheesh, you would think I would remember since I blogged on it back in June! It seems so long ago.

Anyway, those peppers need to be moved TODAY since the next few days are going to flirt with frost and later this week a possible light freeze.

Ill be picking the rest of those tomatoes toay before they freeze Sunday morning...guess ill just seed them. Thanks for the root tip..I would have maybe done that early.