Here are three different photos of the tomatoes I have brought in on three different days recently. Many (if not most) of the tomatoes never ripened on the vine, so I brought them into the house, put them in shallow boxes, put a ripe banana in each box and covered the boxes with newspaper. It took a while, but they are turning all at once, and that's keeping me busy!

In one of the photos, you can see the (mostly) Serrano peppers that I harvested today, as well. Lots and lots of canning going on here!

My tomatoes have been very slow to turn red this season, for some reason. Not sure. There are zillions of green tomatoes out there still. But finally, I harvested enough Roma's to can. :)

This late in September, while there is a nectar dearth shaping up in the Pacific Northwest, I have put out an open feeder for my bees. It's working out really well, so I thought I would share this with you.

It's important to put your open feeder at least 50 yards from your hives. 100 yards is even better. Mine is about 90 yards away.

This year, I decided to try a different cover crop in the Crop Circle garden. In past years, I have used Territorial Seed's Polar Triticale (which I am absolutely in love with) and also their Oats cover crop (which I wasn't particularly fond of).

This year, I'm going with Territorial Seed's Berseem Clover cover crop. Stay tuned to this website between now and Spring and I'll keep you updated!

Topsy-Turvy tomato planters were the fad some years back, and you can still find them on the shelves of Rite-Aid and other retailers.

I have used them on and off over the years and will take a moment to give you a few pointers if you choose to use them.

Pros:
They are very convenient. Just start a tomato in a planter. When the tomato plant is several inches tall, transplant it to the Topsy-Turvy planter. Add potting soil, hang and water. Easy peasy.

They produce very well and grow just as fast and robust as similar tomatoes in large pots.

This is a branch from Kim Hedahl's tree in Silverdale, Washington. It is a cutting, basically a branch with some root on it. I put it in the ground a couple of years ago and have been patiently watering and fertilizing it. This season starts it's third year on this location and I walked out today to see little figs on it! I have two other young fig trees (from a nursery) that were planted at the same time, but they aren't coming along nearly so well and so fast as this Hedahl cutting...

One of my cala lilies has five blooms this year!

My bok choi and brussel sprouts are being eaten, near as I can tell, by wasps! When the damage started, I examined the plants daily, and could never find any bugs, except there is always a few wasps on the plants. I try to stay away from them, as our wasp colony can be aggressive at times. But the other day I was watching them, and they are eating the plants! I watched the little bugger eat a hole in the leaf! I had no idea wasps did this, and these are the only plants they bother. My neighbor suggested covering the planter w netting, which I will be doing.