Friday, October 31, 2008

Lots of dead things....

Today's post is short and sweet. This week's light frost has killed almost all of my plants. Even drapping the cloth over the tomato plants didn't help them. All of the green summer leaves have withered and only sadness remains.

I'll post pictures of the sad garden this weekend.

The only thing that currently survives are the carrots. The leaves are still green, and I'll be harvesting those soon.

How did your garden do?

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Cold Weather and Bell Peppers

It's been a bit on the nippy side in Nashville. My tomato plants have been growing strong, despite the cold, but this weekend's cold weather has given me quite a chore. I had to find a way to cover up all my plants to protect them from any chance of frost. Cam and I read that you could cover them up with bed linens, if you didn't have the fancy plant weather protectors. So far, the plants look safe and snug and green underneath the linens. We'll see how they hold up if or when the weather decides to warm up. Nashville weather is always a bit unpredictable.

Here's something I wasn't expecting--my bell peppers seem to be ALIVE! After staying dormant and fruit-less all summer, I had given up on them. But I guess they like the colder weather because they are really growing quite well.

Below: One of the bell peppers out back

I really don't think this is a green bell pepper. It looks like a huge mix between jalapeno and bell, but when we bought it, it said bell pepper. I read that peppers can cross-pollinate, but I don't think this is the case for this plant. It's nowhere near any other variety of peppers. It was planted next to a purple bell pepper and a red bell pepper. Anyway, maybe Lowe's labeled the seedling incorrectly...

We've picked this particular pepper, and the flavor was mild enough to eat in a salad. Pretty tasty!

Below: Bell Peppers from the Front


These peppers will hopefully ripen into beautiful red bell peppers.

I'm excited about the bell peppers actually doing great! I guess the cold weather hit the spot, and maybe they didn't grow well in the heat. Or my bell peppers are just special. Whatever the reason, I am pleased!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone,

After a month long absence from the blogging world, I am back--alive and kicking. I apologize for not blogging for so long. Cam has been sick and my great-uncle (my grandmother's youngest brother) passed away. On top of this, I've gone to two children's writing conferences.

I do have one piece of good news: I have two literary agents currently reviewing my manuscripts, so I hope that at least one of them will take me on as a client. That would be wonderful... and a step closer to getting published. Please pray for me and hopefully something wonderful will happen soon.

Back to the garden.... Everything is coming along very nicely, despite the cold fronts that we've had. Tomorrow, there is a frost warning... but I'm hoping my vegetables survive.

The cabbage head was killed off my bugs, the bell pepper plants seem to FINALLY producing fruit, and the eggplants are still going strong. The watermelon is on its last leg--but we've had plenty of watermelon fruit that we've enjoyed. All of this and more on upcoming posts this week and next.

For now, I leave you with a recent harvest from the garden.

Below: Lots of tomatoes... A few beans