To shred them: Used the big powerful whipper snipper, in basement (since noisy), leaves into green bin then "blendering" them with the whipper snipper. Would be easier/better with wider bin like garbage can, but it still worked.
Eye goggles, face mask, and gloves.
Most of the leaves went into the beds (dug in); some went onto the grass paths.
Some left over will probably keep in basement (in garbage bag) for the winter.
Harvested most of the rest of the green beans I planted for a fall crop. They were quite small, but, weather isn't great and needed enough to add to the harvest a few days ago to make it worth steaming up.
So -- steamed them up for a few minutes, and had them with margarine and salt -- and WOW it was actually delicious!! For being so unappealing raw -- what a transformation. Makes me totally want to grow them again next year!
[Edited on 31 Oct 2022, after eating the final mini-harvest from a few days ago, to say that the full-sized bean pods have two strings each which are inedible -- so I just stripped them off while eating. Might be worth looking for stringless type?? (if that exists) Or consider harvesting before full-size.]
Neat! There are certainly hundreds if not thousands of seeds on the hollyhocks in front of the house. Saw them from the kitchen window, right there eating seeds. Fun!
This cuke could have used another week or so to finish filling out, but more cold nights happening so harvested now just in case.
A couple of other cukes took, but with the cold nights are growing soooooo slowly, so I'm not sure if they'll make it.
I'd say my fall cuke experiment was a success! A sparse/limited success, but still worthwhile. The vines were never very healthy, but they produced.
First time this fall seeing juncos in the yard! Bag timing as I was out there so they didn't come down, but hopefully they'll be back.
Has gone down to as low as +1, +2 range (per forecast, not necessarily here). We've started a nice week of sunny warm days (mid/high teens), so hopefully the cukes / Jasper tomato will be able to withstand the cold nights and keep going a little longer. Not bothering to cover anything though, so come what may.
The silk lilac tree outside the yard, which never came back to life this year, was removed today.
While refilling the bird bath this afternoon, what did I see but a hummingbird swoop in on the zinnia patch next to the fence, then immediately swoop out of the yard when they saw I was there. So, very fleeting, but neat!
One of the Eureka cucumber plants that was sowed in the pot on July 22nd, whose female I pollinated on Sep 5th, I harvested today! That makes 61 days from sowing to first harvest.
I'm seeing at least 3 more that took, but all in the west bed, should be ready within a week or so. The pot plants aren't looking too great, but, we'll see.
