The only thing I have that bloomed this year is my pink potentilla I lifted my lilies so maybe next year and still have to lift and move peony it was a sad year in my garden. However I did get some volunteer lupins that should do something next year not sure where they came from. Iris's did not bloom either will lift them as well I wish DH would stop dumping old pots on my flower beds. However the dirt there is now better than ever but no blooms this year. I have truly been loving looking at everyone's flowers this year puts some hope back in for trying again.

I have a second wave of beans and zucchinis in my vegetable garden, a trickle of cukes, and still a lot of orange tomatoes to ripen. The red tomatoes are 98% done. The hot peppers are still producing and I have so many and they're so hot I don't know what I'm going to do with them, LOL.

The flowers have all given up. I haven't been watering them. It hasn't rained for weeks and weeks.

The garden was very rewarding this year, unfortunately we had killing frost last night with horrific winds that uncovered everything. Good thing I was out picking yesterday, tomatoes are in and ripening in the basement, got a freezer full of beans and other veg. Swiss Chard might make a comeback, but even it was sad this morning. Here's to bigger and better next season. Cheryl

We've picked loads of tomatoes, scads of beans, mountains of cucumbers and a ton of zucchini! It's been a good year for some things. For some reason carrots haven't done well - not sure why. No cauliflower either, but that's nothing new. The first broccoli was great but rapidly went to seed after that. No brussels sprouts at all. Kohl rabi is still producing. Onions were really good too.

Most flowers have had a good year too. Many of my roses are flushing again, and the heliopsis that never quits is still going strong. There's a second bloom of Phlox David but the plants look terrible. That has been a big problem this year - plants are going brown rapidly. Daylilies, lilies, phlox - can't remember what else. I'm going to have to get them all cut back and cleaned out.

Cheryl, I've often noticed that swiss chard gets beaten up by the first hard freeze of the season, but then it hardens off and the inner leaves recover and continue producing until Halloween or so.

September has been gorgeous here. My 2nd planting of beets will be ready in a few weeks, and the spinach I sowed 3 weeks ago is baby sized already. NAF, did you plant any fall spinach?

Yes, I planted some fall spinach.

It didn't come up though. We had some really hot weather after the 15th, so maybe that's why =:(

If I had planted it a week later I may have had better luck as the nights were all of a sudden cooler, and the days weren't as blistering hot.

I'll try again next year if I have the space.

BTW Do you suppose it would grow all right in the house under the lights I used for all my spring seedlings? That way I wouldn't have to deal with leaf miners either. Or, maybe lettuce would be better?

I thought we were sure to have frost on Wednesday evening so I picked off the rest of the tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. Frost never came so the last planting of corn that is just a few days away from being ready may still have a chance (plus I covered it with Remay cloth and clothespins). The first two plantings of corn was soooooo good this year.

Suddenly there are lots of zucchini, earlier they weren't pollinating but now every one is growing into a monster even though I've stopped watering and it hasn't rained here for weeks, either.

SunGold tomato plants are still loaded with many green tomatoes - I hope more have a chance to ripen. Out of 4 plants, I've picked at least 8 gallons of ripe ones so far. That is one heavy producing tomato.

I tried a late August sowing of spinach and lettuce - like NAF said, probably too hot and in my case, too dry, because I got very little germinating and those that did have stalled in growth. Last year I started lettuce seedlings under lights in early August to plant out in late August and I had a very good fall crop of lettuce.

On the flower side of things, it seemed perennials bloomed out very quickly this year. There are still some Indian Summer Rudbeckia hanging on in the back yard, and Ring of Fire sunflowers in the side yard that are providing colour.The Autumn Joy are now colouring up but I desperately need to get out there this weekend and do some cutting back and tidying up. The big pots of petunias are still doing well but the smaller hanging baskets are all rootbound and starting to look a little spent. It would be nice to have fresh pansy transplants to take their place now. Tree leaves are beginning to talke on the autumn colouring so the shrubs won't be far behind.