Fall Harvesting

I've been working to get the raised beds put to bed for the winter and empty out the many self-watering containers around the yard. This beauty is from the Tarahumara sunflower. It is about 14 inches across and the seeds are very white. It towered on a 12 foot stalk that is like a tree trunk.

I hope this American Egret across the street wasn't sitting there digesting any of my pond fish. Every now and then we get egrets, herons, and kingfishers hanging around the pond. I don't mind giving a few fish to the kingfishers though because they are among my favorite birds.

The morning glory's are blooming beautifully on the teepee trellis in the back yard. I will definitely put them there again next year.

Cherokee Purple tomato has put out a heavy second crop that I'm hoping to harvest. The late blight that is ravaging the country is now in our county, too. One of my other plants by this one looks suspicious.

I planted 4 of these hot peppers from a grocery store pepper whose name is unknown to me. I call Aztec Hot just for fun and it was a very heavy producer. I grew them in an Earthbox and they did great. My husband love hot peppers and so we have 5 batches of fiery hot salsa canned for winter plus at least 4 bags of sliced in the freezer. I picked the last few today.

Okay now, I really thought I pulled the watermelon because the vines were so puny. But then when I was looking for pumpkins I found this little guy hidden under the leaves. I didn't even know what it was at first, then I remembered that the watermelon variety I chose was to be golden outside and red inside. So it's a tiny little watermelon. My only one. And they weren't supposed to be anywhere near this small!

I cut one small Kakai pumpkin today to check the seeds. It was loaded with ripe hull-less seeds that are ready to roast and eat. Can't wait to do the rest of them! They even tasted good raw. The pumpkin flesh is pale and not supposed to be very good eating so I'll just use the seeds. I have 9 pumpkins of assorted sizes, the largest being about 12 inches across, and the smallest about 6 inches.

These are kamo-kamo squash, a New Zealand variety. The fully ripe ones are just okay - very tough skin and kind of stringy with a mediocre flavor. Sound like I'll grow them again? Probably not. I have 9 of these. One is still underripe so I'm going to cook that one and see if it tastes better. The info on this one says they are good as summer or winter. I'm not impressed with the winter flavor. But they surely are pretty. I love the heavy orange ribs.
Aside from the gardening I'm still tending a sick kitten. Boo, Cosmo, and Cupcake all had their front claws removed and were spayed a few weeks ago. Boo had complications and developed a very bad abcess under the skin in her abdomen. So Monday she had surgery again to open that up and clean out all the infection. Now she has stitches again, many more than before because the vet had to make about a 2 and a half inch incision this time. It's tough on her because she has to be in a cage with the e-collar to keep her from licking or taking out stitches (but she got one anyhow...) isolated from her 2 sisters who would beat her up relentlessly and also kept from playing much...good luck on that one, too! She also has to have 2 different antibiotics twice a day and hot compresses on her incision 3 times a day.
So I take her out of the cage about 4 times a day for a while and the rest of the time she cries or sleeps. Another week and a half of this. But she is looking infection free so far.
And yes, it's been expensive - but the vet hasn't charged for the office calls and didn't charge for the follow-up surgery. Bless him!! I just have been paying for the medicines involved.