Make it stop

It may be autumn by the calendar and there may even be a nip in the air at night, but it feels like the late summer harvest just goes on and on. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini - oh, my! One zucchini is becoming zucchini bread as I type, some of the tomatoes are destined for chili, and today's Parade section in the newspaper has a recipe for "Confetti Cornbread" - cornbread with minced red, yellow, orange, and green peppers. I may throw in a hot one as well.

If it weren't autumn, these guys would not keep popping up in the mulch, though.



Dog stinkhorn fungus, aka Mutinus caninus.

And I'm guessing this fellow is preparing for a long flight to Mexico.



Besides this butterfly bush, several other flowering shrubs are still flowering.



I'm guessing first frost will put an end to that. The question is, Do I protect the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini from that first frost? Opinions are divided.

Other critters, of the avian persuasion, have been active in the yard. I am an eyewitness to seeing robins consuming pokeberries. I also spotted a brown thrasher amongst the robins, but he apparently could not take the competition. Besides the usual sparrows and finches, there have been quite a few noisy blue jays in the area, as well as a downy woodpecker.

Today's chores included mowing (again), harvesting (again), watering (again), plus the construction of a new lasagna bed. I hope to bed the entire garden down with leaves later on, but since I have so few trees, I am debating on which neighbor to rummage leaves from. Last year I invited the households on either side of me to simply dump their leaves into my (chainlink enclosed) backyard, but neither of them did. This year I may just drag a plastic tarp across the street when my truck-owning neighbor runs his leaf blower. Gotta get me some leaves.