The Weekend of Random Stuff - mid August 2019

I used the wooden harvest "basket" I bought at Goodwill (and painted green) 

for the first time yesterday.  Edit:  I just read an Instagram post calling these "trugs."

There was a HUGE harvest of Early Girl tomatoes! 

There was a post on Instagram that morning for tomato soup.  I added dried oregano (home grown) and turned it into pasta/pizza sauce. 

All I did was roasted (really broiled in the oven) chopped up tomatoes and onions until they started to show some black edges.  Cool, then blend smooth with a bunch of dried basil and oregano.  I didn't have any fresh garlic, or it would have been roasted too, so I used garlic powder.  Add salt and pepper, blend some more.  That's all!  Not even any oil.  No measurements, just use what you have and season to taste.

I've had so many White Wonder cucumbers, and just enough Lemon cucumbers.  So, I had to pull out the White Wonders.  It seemed wrong to let the plants make such lovely cucumbers and not get around to eating them. 

Look at those lovely "warts" on one of the Galeux D'Eysines!  The warts are sugar moving to the surface, so this one must be extra sweet!  The plants themselves are a disappointment this year.  Two squash so far.  I can't devote a 4x4 bed to squash and only get two. 

 I keep holding my breath, checking this little baby each day!  Blacktail Mountain watermelon.

 A new one for me, Southern Purple Mint Moth.  Their range has been moving slowly but steadily northward.  I've reported the sighting on www.butterfliesandmoths.org, but they haven't verified it yet. Verified.

Horrors!  I found these hatching squash bugs just in time!  Unfortunately, I also found some older ones in the squash plants.  It's a terrible job scraping them into soapy water, but has to be done.

 There are four o'clocks in the Toss Garden!

 A bit late, but today is National Honey Bee Day.  Here's a collage of honey bees on milkweed.

Did you know that honey bees are not native to America?  Our native bees are more numerous and are actually much better pollinators, so don't forget them as you work to "Save the Bees!"

There have been lots of Gray Hairstreak butterflies in the Butterfly and Pollinator Gardens.

This one is sharing the narrow-leaf milkweed with another pollinating insect!

Lots of sunflowers.  The tallest isn't even growing in the bed, it was a volunteer!

Tomorrow, Sunday, I need to plant my Swiss chard, peas and carrots.