I want more Summer
But I'm not getting it. I'll be lucky to get enough warm sunny days to ripen some more of my tomatoes. So this week I've been going out every day to harvest some of the herbs, and today I decided that six of the nine remaining cabbages won't ever make it to harvestable size outside, so I repotted them!
I also repotted the cayenne pepper plant, which has 7 or 8 full-size, but green, peppers, and the habanero pepper plant which never did anything much. Those two I hope to overwinter inside and put them outside in the spring, if Tulku (the black cat, who is half-blind) doesn't eat all their leaves off. (I used to have these cool ornamental and edible purple peppers, but they only survived at work, away from that cat.)
I'm now considering window space and the woefully small bell pepper plants, too.
Sadly, there's nothing I can do for the tomatoes but either cover them or pick the tomatoes green. Sure, they will mostly ripen inside, but they don't taste the same as tomatoes that ripen in the sun on the vine.
I also can't do anything about the nice tiny baby squashes on the vine -- they're a whole inch long right now. They're probably technically edible, just as the flowers are, but I'd rather get some nice ripe squashes!
In the middle of this,the two feral kittens and feral momcat I've been taming in the yard came over to investigate what I was doing, and, of course, to remind me that they're hungry.
The cutest stuff they did, of course, I didn't manage to capture on film. But still, here's a photo for you, showing some of the repotted veggies and the curious kitties.
If anybody in the Chicago or Milwaukee area wants a cat or two, you know where to find me! I'd far rather give them to welcoming homes than a shelter, but the cold weather is coming fast.
The little black and white purrs for me now, though I still mostly have to bribe her with food to pick her up. The little grey is more skittish, but I can pick him up and pet him too--though he then looks at me like he's totally baffled by why I'd do such a thing. The only time I got a bit of purr out of him was the first really cold night, which was also very windy, and I think he liked the fact that I was warm.
So, I've harvested the chocolate mint (which really took off this year), and the oregano, the marjoram, some of the wintergreen and spearmint, and some of the sage. Sage will survive several light frosts, but it was shading the purple ruffles basil flowers, and I want them to hurry up and seed; these plants are the direct descendants of the first plant I bought for this garden, and I'd like to continue the line. I still have to get the peppermint and the thyme, and the second spot of wintergreen. And I'm probably forgetting something.
But fall isn't just a meteorological fiction, it's definitely here. The rose hips are ripening, the lillies of the valley have seeded (and the ones in direct sun are turning interesting colors), and the weatherman was talking about snowflakes being possible this weekend. Sigh.
The hopeful roses--the bright red leaves in the rose hips picture and the top one are actually new growth on the roses. Some of the bushes' new growth is always red. Where was I--oh, yeah, the hopeful roses will lose that pretty new growth very soon. Too bad the summer didn't prompt those new leaves in July!
And, of course, I have the sale to cheer me, and other stories and poems out making the rounds.
And more to write! (-:
And when there's more of these on the ground, I have all my roses to mulch!