Really, winter's coming

 It's been another long, hot summer and most of the people I know are aching for the cooler days of autumn.  Sometimes it's been hard to tell what the season is by looking at the calendar but the plants know.  A few leaves turning color.  Some plants have finished blooming while the fall bloomers are in their full glory.  The mornings in particular are cooler necessitating a scramble to find a sweater that is taken off an hour later as temperatures go up.  But you can feel it and see it, summer is ending.  I planted my garlic and shallots the other morning.  I pulled out all the tomatoes but one.  It was a terrible tomato year for me except for the cherry tomatoes.  I had tons of those.  Wish I knew what variety they are because I would never plant them again.  Prolific, yes, but with a watery weak flavor.  Even roasting them didn't help much.  Oh well, there is always next year and maybe the label will show up when I pull the plant out.  The peppers were wonderful though.  It was a pimento type and they are still going gangbusters.  Lots of lovely small red peppers.  I haven't dug up the sweet potatoes yet but looks like it will be a good crop.  Another season almost done.

This is the time of year the Master Gardeners get together for their annual recognition picnic.  It's fun, the food is terrific and it's nice to see people recognized for their hard work.   A full list of the Master Gardeners that reached milestones of service will be in the November Yavapai Gardens Newsletter.  You can find the newsletters on the Master Gardener page.
http://extension.arizona.edu/yavapai/master-gardener-program  

For all of those Master Gardeners who did not pass a milestone this year, thanks also for all your hard work.  We have a terrific group of gardeners who work very hard.

It's nearly Halloween.....

It's nearly Halloween and I still have tomatoes, peppers and basil growing.  When I first started gardening, by this time, we had usually had a hard frost and all things like the tomatoes, peppers and basil were long gone.  This year, like last year, the frost has come late.  Last year I didn't have a hard frost until mid-November.  Unfortunately because of the shortened days and cooler temperatures things like tomatoes and peppers don't ripen quickly but just two days ago I picked another tasty batch.  The weatherman says it is going to cool down in the next few days with Wednesday night getting to 27°F.  End of the basil, peppers and tomatoes for sure.  I'll likely cut some more basil for drying and pesto and pick the peppers but I'm not much of a green tomato person so lots of tomatoes will end up in the trash pile.  It's the fate of most gardeners here because tomatoes seem to be most prolific in the fall instead of the summer.  The hot weather really limits them.  On the plus side my garlic is up along with lettuce, eating peas and the sweet peas.  The garden goes on!