I was going to talk about Gulf frittilary butterflies. I saw two laying eggs on my passion vine this afternoon. When I went back out to take some pictures, they had fluttered off. I will get back out there tomorrow.

Due to a lack of butterfly pictures, tonight I will blog about my fall veggies. These are actually late summer veggies. In the above picture shows okra, tomato, zucchini, purple hull peas, and a bowl of assorted peppers.

I am the kind of gardener that counts. I counted more than 80 tomatoes on the tomato vines today. I counted 17 zucchini on three vines. I counted 12 little okra on the okra plants.

My summer production was pretty pitiful because I did not get the plants in early enough. We get hot fast around here and the plants just can't produce in the heat. With a little rain and cooler weather my plants that lived through the scorching summer are now giving me food. I am glad I kept them alive.

The real fall plants, cabbage, broccoli, broccoli rhaab, Swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, garlic, onions, and beets are slowing being planted as I can make room. In a few weeks it will freeze. At that point, I can turn the whole garden over to the cool season crops.

Additional Sock Issues

Things have gotten a little messy around here. The kitchen need cleaning and organizing. A bunch of papers need to be recycled. My desk looks like a bomb went off on it. The laundry is clean, but needs to be folded and hung up. Finally, the truck is full of monkey paraphernalia. Instead of making myself crazy, I decided just to work on it for a couple of hours and get done what I can get done. No blogging, oops, here I am blogging, but this is important.

Like I said, the truck is full of monkey junk and we do have someplace to go this afternoon. I think I will actually get the truck cleaned out. It is full of shoes. Why oh why do my children take their shoes off everywhere? There are also lots of papers; papers from school, papers from master gardeners, unexplained papers. Finally, there are all kinds of gardening supplies; compost screen, fiber edge, a cobra head tool, a couple of pairs of pruners, and a bag of potting mix. So this is a big job.

I started with the front seat and pulled out a pair of monkey sneakers and a pair of socks. Wait, these are my socks. They have pink heals and toes. I don't remember taking my socks off in the truck.......HEY WHO HAS BEEN WEARING MY SOCKS. THESE ARE GIRL SOCKS NOT BOY SOCKS. KEEP YOUR STINKY MONKEY FEET OUT OF MY SOCKS.

Seriously, somebody help me. Please come help me.

The Origin of The Banana Split Dinner

Joy at Garden Joy 4 Me posted yesterday about donuts for dinner. She reminded me of our occasional banana split dinners and their origin.

I am the oldest of seven children. My youngest sister is 18 years younger than I am. Mamala had three babies while I was in high school. A pregnant mom was the best birth control ever for a teenage girl. I didn't have my first child until I was 30. It worked really really good.

Grocery shopping for a family of nine was an ordeal. It took two carts and a keen eye for value. It also took volume. There had to be lots and lots of food. Three of the seven were boys, and boys eat a lot. It was also impossible to take along anyone under the age of four to the grocery store. Someone had to stay home with the creepers, crawlers, and toddlers. I opted to man the second cart and leave the rug rats to sister#2. I'm thoughtful like that.

One afternoon Mamala and I went shopping and left Sister#2 with the runts. On a whim Mamala decided we would have banana splits for dinner. I think, "She has finally lost her mind, but cool." We loaded up on the banana split ingredients praising ourselves on surprising the clan.

When we arrived home everyone over the age of 3 runs out to the station wagon to unload more than 100 pounds of groceries. Everyone except Sister#2, who stayed inside with the urchin

Side note - I mean urchin in the most loving and gentle way, but hey there was snot everywhere. Sisters, before you leave me a nasty comment remember, I changed your diapers. Love you, mean it.

Now that I have called off the pack of rabid sisters, back to the story

We managed to get everything put away before noticing, Sister#2 had set the table with the good stuff as a surprise for Mamala. The nice plates, cloth napkins, and the good crystal were perfectly displayed on the table. Mamala thinks this is exactly how an ice cream dinner should be served and we ate banana splits off the good china. Life was excellent.

About once a year I give the Monkeys banana splits for dinner and remember how sweet it was.

A Fine Fall Day

It is beautiful today. The weather is in the mid 70's with a light breeze. The sun is warm without being hot. Very nice.

It is so nice my black eyed Susan vine decided to bloom.

I moved it from the deck to the front porch. It seems to like the shade. Who knew.

Here is a closer look.

And closer yet.

The pepper harvest is in full swing. My Chili pequeno is loaded with little hot bombs.

How's your weather.

My Bright Shiny New Library Card

Okay, yesterday I posted on how we are trying to spend less money. With the cost of gas, food, insurance, etc...we just need to cut back. I found another place to save - my books. I buy my books at Half Priced Books or yard sales. Still, I buy books. I am sure I spend over a hundred dollars a year on books.

Mom recently loaned me a library book she had finished early. I took it back tonight and got myself one of those new fangled library cards for FREE. I know this is probably a durrr moment for the rest of you, but I have had a book addiction since I was about 14. Even with the love of visiting book stores, looking at books, buying books and reading books, I only have a few I actually would consider rereading. Those include East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, anything at all by Margaret Atwood, my cookbooks, and a few gardening books. Of all the books I bought this year, I don't consider one a keeper.

So I have one more way to save money. Not only will I save the cash I used on the books but also the money it takes to drive to the bookstore more than 20 miles away.

Any other money saving ideas?

Creative Square Foot Garden

Everyone is trying to find ways to save money. Our family is no exception. We need to save not because we borrowed more money than we can afford to repay, but because most of the things we purchase have increased in price. Gas, clothes, insurance, and food are all costing much more. I have been looking for little ways to save money.

I have been planing to change half of my vegetable garden from traditional rows to square foot gardening. A square foot garden uses raised beds to grow vegetables. This uses less water, is easier to weed, and is more productive than traditional rows. I have been preaching this type of gardening for a couple of years without actually doing it myself. Sister#2 put in a square foot garden last spring and I am embarrassed to say she out produced me in a 4 x 8 foot plot. I have a 15 x 30 foot garden. Oh the shame. Anyway, I decided to start the square foot garden this fall.

I have been looking for free wood or rock or something to create my raised beds. This search has gone on for about two weeks. Yesterday, I looked up and saw our wood pile. Hmmm....those might make a fine border. So I lined them up, put news paper in the bottom and filled them up with compost and soil.

TaDa

Ignore the weeds. I will get to them later.

Now that is not a very good picture, but can you see the foot prints. Might be a wolf or a coyote.

Nope, here is the culprit. Last night the neighbor called to let us know Abby was roaming the streets. She must have taken a stroll through the garden before she went on her walk. Notice the nice big bone on the ground in front of her. That thing really hurts when she drops it on your feet.

Garden Art Cute or Tacky?

Mr. Subjunctive over at Plants are the Strangest People posted a picture of the funniest piece of yard art I have seen in a long time.

This inspired me to share some of my silliness.

Above is Senor Werm with a Skipper butterfly on his nose. I have been tempted to paint him some obnoxious color, but the voices of reason (y'all) have always talked me down.

Here are a few fishnet floats that did not fit in the half whiskey barrel water garden.

These were gifts. Most gardeners get these type of gifts. I wish the little birds would sit up right. They look like they have keeled over dead.

My only gazing ball. I love it on top of the milk can. I have threatened to paint the milk can too. So far it remains in it's rusty state.

Garden art, cute or tacky?

If you have some garden art to share, leave me a message, and I will link you up.