September 9, 2010: Post # 500

Hmmm, you'd think I could think of something more exciting than zucchini for my 500th. post.

The giant zuke, in all her glory, may not be long for this world.

Powdery mildew has reared its ugly head.

I've never had a problem with leaf miners in the fall, but this year has not exactly been a normal year for gardening. It looks like the pet rabbit will be eating much of the chard.


Oops! The tomato toppled when the stake rotted off. I don't think there's any damage to the plant, it just needs to be tied back up. It's a dwarf plant, so not too heavy.

I do wish I'd taken pictures of the #1 Red Egg eggplant before I chopped it down and uprooted it.

Here is the (dead) bottom one foot of the plant. Just look at all those eggplants on it!


It had quite a root system, coming out of the drain hole in the pot, and anchoring the plant down into the ground.


Here are just a few of the fruits from it. The plant filled the entire garden cart, and was about 4-5' high and just as wide. It was sagging under the weight of so many little eggplants. They look like Christmas lights, don't they?


Here is its twin. This one has yet to show ripe fruit. I've cut back several of the branches, as it got so large, and the wind has also taken a toll on it this week.


Odd, but the fruit on this one is nothing like that on its twin. These are all perfectly round, and the others are all oval. I was going to pull this plant up, but maybe I'll let this ripen, and give it a taste test.

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There are some good things going on in the garden! For instance, this Red Acre cabbage that was seeded on March 15th.

Isn't it gorgeous? I almost pulled it out when it refused to grow, now I'm glad I didn't. It's been out there in the garden for nearly six months, and not a leaf has been harmed by insects, slugs or worms.


I can't say the same for the summer sown Gonzales cabbages. The leaves have a few holes, but the cabbages look fine. It's too bad only two of three survived the bird attacks.

I've never had a rosemary that blossomed! The flowers are such a pretty lavender, although they look white in the photo. I do hope this one survives the winter. It went to Arizona with us last year, but it was removed from its pot and planted in the garden last spring. My last two did winter kill, but they were much smaller than this one.


My fall planted carrots are looking pretty good. I wonder if they will be large enough to eat before we leave for Arizona. They only have 37 more days! Actually 36, as we'll be leaving in 37 days.

I was turning under some mulch in the old potato bed, when I got a surprise. Seems I'd missed a few potatoes!

It looks like there might be just enough for our dinner!

The weather has been cool and rainy this week, not conducive to working in the garden. Every time I get a good start, the clouds open up and I get rained out. Bad weather is nice for getting things done inside, though. I've been cleaning out kitchen cupboards, giving my kids a lot of things that have gone unused in years (their Grandma's fancy dishes, some of my fancy serving pieces). Other stuff was donated to Goodwill (a multitude of coffee mugs, some small appliances). I ended up freeing up just one cupboard, over the refrigerator, that now holds all the jars of pickles and relish from last year. They no longer reside in boxes under the bed!