I spent some time Sunday pulling stakes out of the garden. They were holding up withered tomato plant remains. It was a rather creepy sight to behold. But, among all the dead leaves and vines, there were flowers blooming. Some sort of wild purple morning glory type plant has been crawling all over the garden while I wasn’t paying attention.

The vines have grown up on the trellis. I’m going to leave them there unless we decide to plant a fall crop that needs that space. Hubby tilled a large section today and planted a row of squash and zucchini. I miss fresh squash badly! It is so good sautéed with onions and peppers. Over rice, it has to be one of my favorite meals ever! Our whole family can eat a huge skillet full of it in the blink of an eye.

I want to plant cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Those are huge staples for us in the fall and winter. I make lots of soups and stir fry meals with all of them. If we’re able to get them to do well, I hope we’ll have a bunch of carrots, too. They always stretch everything well. And, we love to crunch them with lunches.

Purple hull peas, yellow wax beans, and maybe some sugar snap peas will be the next choices if we have room. A warm pot of peas with cornbread is good on a cold evening. I’m almost out of pickled yellow beans. Where’d they all go? The snap peas didn’t do well in the spring, but they are more inclined to grow in cooler weather. Maybe this time…

We’re planning to plant some mums around the sidewalk and in pots here and there. I hope to have some near the garden and around the office. They will add autumn color that will make the whole yard look decorated for harvest time. We regret not planting pumpkins this year. But, we can find a fun place to buy some instead and make some pies and seed snack bags.

It’s amazing that it’s fall ALREADY!