Halfway Through October

It is now about mid-October and we have had very little cool weather to let us know winter is coming. Even the development of fall color seems a bit slow. The days are definitely getting shorter. Perhaps hibernation isn't far off.
Most of our veggies are harvested. We had quite a nice group of squash, both Buttercup and Butternut. They are currently the favoured vegetable. We prefer the Buttercup as a usual veggie and appreciate the Butternut for roasting and for making soup. A blend makes for great "pumpkin" muffins or other baking.
The potatoes came through in good health, unlike last year's dismal blight event. The Pink Fir Apple will give us enough for a couple of meals plus some for replanting.

The tomatoes were in moderate supply(by design) and have all been used except for a few Sweet Baby Girl cherry type.
For the first time in my life, I made Salsa. I "hybridized" a couple of recipes and came up with quite a satisfactory product. There were two batches, the second had slightly better texture than the first. I uploaded the recipe to share.

The Begonia bed at the front of the house has been emptied of both regular tuberous Begonias and the B. grandis. 

The B. grandis have made a lot of little bulbils this year. This might be due to the tremendous amounts of moisture in the last month or so. I "harvested" a few and will allow them to eventually make new little plants indoors.
There are still quite a few in the garden, but there is no great rush to dig them. They haven't had a hint of frost and are still colorful.
Bill did the hard work of digging up the septic tank so it could be pumped out. 

That event has transpired and the hole is pretty much filled in.
After the wet days in the middle of this week, we are destined to get Garlic planted. I separated the heads into the cloves, ready for planting. There are 3 types of hardneck  plus a couple of new additions should arrive soon from Botanus.
Speaking of Botanus....I ordered bulbs from them for the first time ever. We have been watching the progress of the parcel via Canada Post's tracking system. 

Hopefully it doesn't take eight days to get from Montreal to Antigonish.
GOOD NEWS! The bulb package arrive Oct18th. Now to get them planted. Labels have been prepared, so a bulb planting day is definitely in the works.
I vowed not to plant bulbs this fall, but that hasn't been too successful. I succumbed to some at Pleasant Valley Nurseries and then did the Botanus thing. Hopefully the weather stays nice for bulb planting.
Bulbs seemed to be in the forefront the last while. We gave a presentation to the Garden Club on Spring Flowering Bulbs which seemed to be well-received. It was rather a combination of information and "eye candy".

Looking forward to spring seems to be a thing all gardeners do.
Spring comes to mind every time we look at the rhododendrons. They seem to have phenomenal bud set this year. This is Scintillation, wet and shiny and well budded.

The annual "bring in the plants" event has happened, so the sunporch is even more cluttered than usual. The big Bay tree monopolizes the space. Here is a bit of a slide show dealing with Bay tree and leaves.


There are some hot pepper plants in as well. They will finish ripening and get picked to dry. The Ring of Fire peppers are always very dependable. We grew a cute ornamental pepper this year called Calico. It has been lovely as a containers plant. The little purple peppers are fairly hot. 

Hopefully I may be able to save some of their seeds to plant again next year. If not, there is always Lindenberg Seeds!
Fall is therefore proceeding as usual. Bill has started a bit of wine making. There are, of course, still miscellaneous plants to properly stow somewhere for the winter.