Malabar put away and didn't eat any of it :-(

The Malabar spinach grew very well but I never got around to eating any of it, and the leaves had those rusty specks all over them which was a bit off-putting.  So, I removed it, to get ready to dig in the horse manure soon.

Just too much harvest of everything combined with not enough time to cook things due to working 25 hours a day, 8 days a week since late August.

Still has not been frost yet (again) -- and saw praying mantis again today

More cold nights, but the zinnias are still intact so I know it hasn't been frost here yet.

Saw the praying mantis again today, still in that corner.  By later in the afternoon she was hiding / out of sight again.

Also, my hopes are pretty guarded about her eggs hatching.  It seems they lay eggs regardless whether they were fertilized or not.  I would be surprised if she had run into a male to mate with.

Harvested all remaining beets and carrots

Harvested all the remaining beets and carrots, because I want to empty the beds so I can do this once-per-5-or-10-years injection of horse manure + grounded up dried leaves.

Carrots are usually a disappointing harvest, same as this year -- a lot of very short/stubby carrots.  Some nice ones too though.

Beets were good, some huge ones, a lot of nice size and some teeny ones.

Pot potatoes = success!

Emptied out one of the container potatoes today (the experiment started August 4th with a mega-sprouted grocery store potato).

Wow!  More potatoes than I thought!  I nice double handful.  I will definitely try this again next year, with an earlier start / longer season.

This might have been the one in which I put two potatoes.   So, I won't be surprised if the remaining container produces fewer potatoes.

It's nice to not be poking holes into potatoes digging them out with a fork.

I found the praying mantis AND her egg sac!!!!

While starting to put the garden to bed today, wonder of wonders, I found the praying mantis AND her egg sac!!!

First I spotted her, at the very top of the bamboo stake at the sorrel (NE corner).  A few minutes later, I looked downward along the stake, and ------ voila!!!!  The egg sac!

So cool.

I had been worried that in my cleaning up I would have accidentally removed her and/or her sac.

Now, I know exactly where the eggs are so can keep an eye on them next spring! Woo!

Still has not been frost yet

Some cold nights right down to around 0 degrees, but no frost yet.  Zinnias, Malabar, etc., everything still un-touched by frost.

Has been warm fall; now some cold nights, but no frost yet

September was really nice, warm and sunny.

Lately we've had some cooler nights, single digits.  And the forecast now is more seasonal, cooler.

No frost yet...

Lots of ground cherries, making pies

Harvesting lots of ground cherries, yay.

Borers in a butternut and banana!!

Argh, a borer got into the top of one of the nice butternuts, right near the stem.  Removed him/her; provided I eat the squash soon I think it will be fine.

And, a borer got into the stem of one of the banana squash (the stem close to the fruit).  I think it was only one (removed).  Will have to eat this one too sooner than later.

All zucchini and almost all squash plants pulled

Pulled the two remaining zucchini because they were clearly not going to produce anything else.

Pulled the squash except for the vertical vine.  The vines were dead in a lot of spots, including the butternut, not sure if because of the cold, or borers, or something else.

Apples at CM

Peak time for apples at CM! 

Many varieties/trees had already fallen to the ground, but many others will still loaded up in the trees.  I took almost exclusively from the trees, rather than the ground.  A lot in really nice shape!

Brought home a big bag, for apple sauce.

Next year, try going a few weeks earlier than this, to try to catch the earlier ones that had already fallen to the ground today.

Praying mantis in backyard!!!

Jasper found a praying mantis in the backyard!!  He was standing on the back step looking into the window well.  So, curious, I looked to see what might have caught his attention.

It was a huge, brown praying mantis, stuck in a spider web!!

Used a stick to retrieve the mantis, placed him/her on the zinnias.  Took a bunch of photos.  Later I moved him/her in the north back bed, just east of the cucumber trellis where I don't harvest anything and there's probably a nice diversity of critters. 

I've only ever seen a praying mantis once before (while walking dogs in west greenbelt).   So neat!

Hopefully I won't accidentally kill the mantis while moving about in the yard, harvesting, and putting things away... 

Harvested a zucchini today -- and more on the way (slower growing now)

Like the title says.  Neat!

Weather has been really nice, warm sunny days.  Nights go down to ~5 to 10 degrees.

Green zucchini succombed to SVB -- harvested its last zucchini today

Amazing it lasted so long, given I never used any btk or did any intervention at all on this plant.  Harvested the last of its zucchinis today.  I wonder if the ridiculous amount of leaves helped protect it, by making it harder for the moths to land closer to the stem?  Who knows...

So, down to 2 zucchini plants now:  The yellow by the air conditioner (harvested one from this today as well), and the last yellow in the west bed (some small ones on the way, we'll see if they make it).

Reference: Squash vine borer-resistant varities / links

Here are some varieties to try, which are supposed to be resistant to SVB:

• Ronde de Nice summer squash, similar taste to zucchini
• green-striped cushaw
• Canada crookneck
• Trombocino
• Butternut
• article with borer-resistant squashes:  http://uncgarden.web.unc.edu/files/2013/01/Squashing-the-Squash-Vine-Borer-by-Chelsea.pdf
• this article has a long entry with details of most to least attractive to borer: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2106981/squash-vine-borers

Harvested a zucchini on Sep 1st! From a plant that I've not intervened re: SVB!

Wow, my goal of harvesting a zucchini in September was achieved!

Ironically, it came from the green zucchini plant that I never intervened at all re: SVB (no btk etc).  The one by the kitchen door.

Two other zucchini plants are still around, have been harvesting recently although seem to be slowing down.

I've been very busy with work so haven't been monitoring closely anymore, so they might succumb soon.

Harvested the first butternut squash

The one from the vertical structure.  This was the first butternut to set, and the first harvested.

It sure is huge...

What will I do with all this squash!

Butternut vines have signs of SVB trying to get in, but couldn't! Yay!

I've noticed several places along the butternut vines where it looks like a SVB tried to get in, but couldn't make it in beyond half a millimeter or something like that.  Yay!

Pickling website

Good info on quick/refrigerator pickling, including flavour variations to try.

https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2019/08/quick-pickled-vegetables.html

Harvested second pink banana squash, but underside has holes

I was sad to see on the second pink banana squash that I harvested, that the underside has some holes in it.

The smallest hole/damage was clearly a SVB -- it was sort of frassy, and featured a tiny dead SVB caterpillar, I guess starved to death after not being able to bore all the way in.

Two larger holes are a mystery, not sure what caused them.

All of the holes are in the section closer to the stem.  So, I will try cutting into it half-way, to see if the other half is usable.