Summer not quite done apparently

Usually summer is well over by late August, but this year we have been alternating hot and cold right up to late September. I am watching for frost warnings and then suddenly we have several days where we are back in shorts and tank tops.

I have brought in a few hot pepper plants in case I miss a forecast for a sudden turn in the weather. They are still flowering and most have peppers which are still green. The nasturtiums are still going strong, and some new ones have popped up! The sedems are doing fine, but we did not have much luck with the wild variety, the orpine, this year due to aphids and my overkill attempts to rid them with too much soap. They are still alive, though, so I hope we will have better luck next year.

The past few weeks have marked the beginning of the Jewish year and the fall holidays. Though usually both a time of great joy and serious introspection, this year has been particularly difficult for our family as we had a very sudden and shocking death during the Jewish new year of my husband's older brother. A close friend of ours is seriously ill, in hospital, as well. Whatever gardening has happened in the weeks since has been purely maintenance.
We had a shiva at our house, and the day it ended we started the Jewish harvest holiday of Succoth, where we eat our meals in our own version of a harvest hut.

Although we were not feeling very festive, we had some friends and close family join us, and the garden provided a welcome talking point other than sorrow and tragedy.

We are still seeing some mantises. Orianne found one on the fence and called us to look. I caught a glimpse just before it flew up to the branches which make up the porous roof of our succah. I am sure that with the lights and candles burning late into the evening there was a constant supply of bugs. We could not find him up there again, though. 

Despite his best efforts, we actually had mosquitoes nibbling us in our succah, unheard of in Montreal where we usually are wary of possible snow. Succoth fell early this year, and summer stretched out just a bit longer to allow us a surprisingly pleasant week of outdoor eating for this late in the season.

We have some very large spiders around the house and garden. Below is a trap door spider who built a fantastic construction on a milkweed plant. At least it is housing some life, I did not see a single monarch butterfly all summer despite my allowing the proliferation of milkweed on the hidden side of the house, in hope to attract some. In fact, I saw very few butterflies other than cabbage moths. The sunflowers attracted some interesting birds, among them goldfinches, and the bee balm is still pulling in bees even with the flowers mostly dried out.

I did a mini-harvest of carrots, and they were good though not large. I left most in the ground hoping the last few weeks of decent weather will increase the harvest. I served a potato kugel made from our potatoes and garlic, and flavoured everthing we served with our herbs. We had a lot of mint tea, as the mint is still going strong, and the raspberries and strawberries are doing well now that the weather is a bit cooler.

Josh took a bit of time before the holidays to continue working on arboursculpting the crabapple trees into an archway. They seem to be surviving the bending and reshaping.

I had a few late season surprises. My gerbera daisy has decided to bloom again, as did one of the Cannas, and a few Gentians too. I had given up hope on all of them, and picked up a few cheap but glorious chrysanthemums from the grocery store to make things look less dead and dreary. Iulia, my neighbour, came home from work a couple of weeks ago with a big bag full of hostas of the same variety which she already has. After a few days contemplating the issue of where to put them, she decided to give them to me. I did not like hostas when I started gardening, but they are quite forgiving of my lack of sun and crappy soil, and provided a solution to the empty patch on the right side of the garden in front, covering up the ugly yellow pipe and peeling paint on the footing of the house.

I think it might work.

Yesterday, my package of bulbs arrived from Vesey's which I had ordered together with Iulia to plant in the fall. We got together last night and divvied up the loot. Now I have to figure out where I am going to put drumstick alliums, hyacinths, tulips and whatever else I bought. I had a $50 discount so we had a lot of fun ordering last July. The package came with a small guidebook for planting and caring for bulbs, and dealing with common problems. And of course, yet another catalogue (sigh). We both decided to hide it for now and not spend any more money.

From now on, I pick tomatoes, carrots, hot peppers, the last of the potatoes, berries and beans, until the frost hits.  I also need to plan out the design for next year and plant garlic and my new bulbs.