Frost has finally nipped the peppers and eggplants in our vegetable garden. I harvested the last peppers this week just before Thanksgiving, while the eggplants stopped producing several weeks ago. We are having some Giant Marconi and Yummy peppers on our salads today for lunch. The ample rains this year have been kind to the many peppers we grow, and we have enjoyed a bumper harvest for drying, freezing, and eating fresh. The Yummy peppers are a mini-bell type that turn orange when ripe and are, well, YUMMY!
Giant Marconi and Yummy peppers
But today I called it quits and my wife and I pulled the plants and put them on the compost pile. Then I spread a thick layer of leaves over the ground to decompose over the winter. I’ve cleaned up the garden in stages this year, starting with the sweet potato vines then moving on to where winter squash grew. All that’s left to do now is to pull up the tomato cages and get rid of those vines. The kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts will last well on into the winter – usually the kale overwinters if we don’t eat it all first.
spreading leaves on the garden
While I was out with the camera I couldn’t resist shooting photos of a couple of blooming plants that are defying the seasons. First we have a Rudbeckia hirta ‘Gloriosa’ volunteer that is still in bloom on this next-to-last day of November.
Rudbeckia hirta ‘Gloriosa’ volunteer
An then we have the reblooming iris My Friend Jonathan, which is still going strong in my wife’s iris garden. She planted it in fall of 2008, and it is just now blooming. I have to say it is making up for lost time! This brick-red beauty still has a couple of buds left to open. It is always nice to find the unexpected in our gardens!
My Friend Jonathan iris
Thank you for visiting my blog! It looks like you still have quite a productive fall garden as well. Thanks for the reassurance regarding my winter veggies. If you have a winter garden this year as well, I’d love to compare notes!
Wow! I need some pepper growing tips! I did not have much success with the hot peppers I tried. Amazing blooms for this time of year.
The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it’ll do even better in those areas, but for now it’s a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod’s strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)