My idea of Black Friday shopping

99-cent poinsettias at Home Depot

Watermelon surprise

This volunteer watermelon hid pretty well among the zinnias, but it tasted good.

Broccoli, roses, and petunias

This bed off our back patio is bordered by petunias and nasturtiums. The nasturtiums were planted from seed and are up but not blooming yet; the petunias were transplanted in October at the same time as the broccoli transplants behind them. There is also garlic in this bed, but the shoots are only about three or four inches high at this point.

Behind the broccoli are rosebushes which are beginning to bloom again, and asparagus ferns that are beginning to yellow. We'll cut the asparagus back in a couple of weeks, and we usually cut the roses back in January.

To the left is a basil plant which is still going strong. Basil usually lasts here until the first frost, which is always unpredictable. It's could be as early as December or as late as February, or maybe not at all. If and when it comes, and depending on how hard a freeze it is, it may wipe out the nasturtiums as well.

It's also interesting to notice the difference in sun patterns at different times of year. Since this patio is on the north side of our house, it's not possible to take a photo this time of year without at least part of the bed being in shadow.

Evil four leaf clovers

Whoever came up with the idea that finding a four leaf clover meant good luck obviously wasn't talking about the aquatic variety that invaded our lower pond and has been working its way upstream like an invading army. I don't know how it found its way into the pond in the first place, but I spent a fair amount of time this morning trying to wrestle thick mats of the stuff out of the streambed. Some of the root mats were over an inch thick, and strongly resisted my attempts to pull them out of the rocks. I managed to get most of them out of the streambed by turning off the pump, putting on flip-flops, and wading in the small amount of chilly water which remained. In the process, I rescued a couple of baby goldfish that apparently had washed down from the upper pond and were stranded in the mess.

I haven't begun to tackle the plants growing in the pond itself. That is likely to be much more difficult, messier, and colder because I think I will have to stand on the pond bottom in order to get enough leverage to pry the matted root masses free.

It is an attractive plant, but very invasive and in hindsight, I wish I had taken steps to control it earlier. But then, they're a lot of things in life that are attractive, yet have a tendency to take over if we don't take steps to keep them under control.

Early November overview

Most of the deciduous fruit trees have lost their leaves, but the citrus is beginning to show signs of ripening.

Round 2 of the zinnias are still growing strong and attract dozens of butterflies; the petunia transplants are doing well, and most of the nasturtiums have come up. Roses are beginning to recover from their summer slump and are flowering again.

The broccoli plants and sugar snap peas are strongly established, but of the salad greens I planted, only arugula came up. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are still setting fruit. I dug up the sweet potato bed and we've been working on preparing it for new plantings. We'll probably try strawberries in that location, this time with a fall rather than spring planting.

Most of the garlic cloves have sent up shoots, and the basil plant is still healthy; cilantro is also coming up in several places and this time I know what it is.

We're in the process of taking out the grass pathways among the raised beds and will replace them with crushed granite. Hopefully that will cut down on the continuing battle we've had with Bermuda grass invading the raised beds, as well as decrease our overall water usage. We had mixed feelings about doing that, because the grass is attractive and soft to walk on barefoot, but it really has been a problem to keep out of places we don't want it.

Eggplant harvest

I harvested Japanese eggplant today. Would you believe all these  came from one plant?