Ah, the gardener’s life this week in the garden! Let us summarize. It’s like a game of green thumb roulette every year. But, hey, this season had some major wins! Anytime the radishes and lettuce don’t bolt faster than you can blink, that’s a high five from the universe. And let’s not even start on the cucumber bonanza! Next year, with staggered plantings, I hopefully have cucumbers through a longer season.

The peppers really came through too, which led to some seriously spicy dishes. And those sweet, sugar-loaded, after a freeze carrots, beets, and parsnips? Freshly dug and primed for soups and roasts.
As for the melons, well, cucumber beetles and their bacterial carriers clearly missed the memo that melons were on the “good list” this year. And those squash borers—relentless, as always!
I got tomatoes long enough before they said “I’m done” phase before they blighted out.

Broccoli and cauliflower bolted early with 1-inch heads. Maybe next year will be the cauliflower’s time to shine if I will start them earlier so they hopefully will set ahead before the long heat of August. Broccoli can be forgotten; I do not like it much anyway.

And flowers, especially the snapdragons, blooming away in the pots finally froze last week. The calendulas finally froze last weekend.

The smoke tree and yellow barberry put on a long autumn color show of reds, yellows, and purples. Got the tulips and daffodils planted so here is to no hard freeze in May to dampen the potential spring’s show.

Do not forget to water those evergreens, especially the ones next to the house again before taking in the hoses. Also, the shrubs and trees that were planted this year could stand another drink before the soil freezes up.

But hey, next year really is always the better year. Here’s to winning more rounds in the garden game!

Not much is starting to bloom this time of the year in the garden this week. Two choices in vines are the silver lace vine and sweet autumn clematis. The silver lace vine is a tough vine growing to 15 feet and covered with white flowers in late September.

The other vine, sweet autumn clematis grows around 15 feet and is tougher than the regular clematis. It is the gardenia-like fragrance that is incredible.

Been getting questions about buying mums in pots and if they are hardy. By not knowing the variety I do not know. The best thing is to plant them after they bloom and see if they come back in the spring.

I like planting asters instead of mums because they are tough with flowers coming in blue, red, white (our native aster is white), purple, and pink. They are around the last of the perennials to bloom.

This is the time to spray around the house with an insecticide barrier spray to keep the creepy things out of the home. It will last around 3-4 weeks so you might need another spray application. I use Tempo/Cylence which seems to work very well.

Also, get to spray for those broadleaf weeds like dandelion and violet in the lawn. Just do not do it on a windy day and with a temperature above 80 degrees. Once the garden and annual flowerbed are cleaned, you can hit it with glyphosate (like Roundup) for those perennial weeds like bromegrass and thistle you have been fighting all summer. If you are planning to plant or expand a garden or flowerbed, use Roundup to burn the weeds and vegetation down, wait a couple of weeks then till.