October? Really?

Seems I just posted a couple of weeks ago.  Oh dear.  I guess I'll stop looking at the watch and start looking at the calendar.  Time goes so fast anymore.

It was a long, busy, stressful, summer with highs and lows, things broke, things got (mostly) fixed.  Some things got planted out, some have spent the summer on the deck where it was easier to water. Health issues.  Etc. Etc. 

I'm not going to try and recap - there lies madness.

Instead I'll start with the best news - last week's biopsy showed no cancer.  Yay me.

Everything else is secondary.

As you saw in the last post, the spaRRows (the container garden) turned aces this year with over 100 cukes (Manny) from 2 vines in 1 pot, more than 16# of bush beans from 4 large pots, 42 various bell peppers (8 smaller pots), over 45 hot banana peppers (2 med pots) and from 5 large pots/plants of bush goliath - 36.5# ripe and 12.5# green (now all turned ripe).  From the 2 sauce tomatoes (in ground) I got 22# ripe and 12.5# green (turning ripe on the shelf). The potted flat parsley turned into a small shrub. The sweet success cukes nearly covered the pergola over the deck, but did not produce well giving me only 24 cukes from the 2 vines.  I'll not grow that variety next year, instead trying some Gita beans in the same spot.  All in all - a great year for veg.

The annuals held their own in the hot, humid, rainless months, not giving a great show over the summer.  But they hung in there and were ready to snap back when September brought cool, dry air and good rains (6.25" - 2.25 in the past 2 days).

You can also see in the background that the original privacy fence got a facelift when all the planks were removed and repositioned to eliminate the 1/4"-3/8" gaps due to 5 years of drying out.  It looks fab now, and lives up to it's name.

The swing bed came into it's own, also late in the day. The Black and Blue salvia blooms are at eye level, the zins, marigolds and agastaches are buzzing with bees as are the Autumn Joy sedum and the anemones.  I love how it filled out (don't mind the weeds - I choose my battles these days).

Winter forecast is not favorable with a return to cold, snow, winds and storms.  Not looking forward to it at all.  I've got furnace and fireplace service scheduled, plans for caulking up the front bay window, and other prep on the list.  

But I'm pacing myself (still recouperating from the biop).  Mom and I continue with our 2ce weekly fitness sessions and both are looking forward to some downtime with books and movies and more leisure activities this winter.

Anyway - I'm not promising the moon here, but hopefully I'll be able to catch up some of the sidebar blogs too.  Like I said, there were a lot of things fixed and I know how much you enjoy my MacGyver entries (well, that's what I tell myself).

Later....