I am getting hundreds of hedge apples right now. Thankfully the giant trees over my home are now empty. We get woken up by hedge bombs hitting the roof. I wear a hard hat out in the garden some days.

I'm getting some of those too Swmogardens. lol Glad there are none hanging over over my house. If they ever sell for a dollar a pound, we'll both make a lot of money.

We finished picking up walnuts last week and have been picking pecans off the tree this week before the critters have a chance to get them.

I got a few late raspberries this week, just a handful but it was a nice treat.

I got sick of eating cherry tomatoes for awhile but have been eating them again for the last week or two.

Helen - I need to look back and see when I planted my radishes. I checked them a few days ago and they weren't ready yet. The ones I planted in a container aren't really growing much. The ones in the ground are growing faster but something ate quite a few of them right after they came up.

I'm picking Cherokee Stripe Pole Beans that Macmex (OK Forum) gave me seed for. Planted that in early Aug. Also have had a few tomatoes again after a couple weeks without any. Black Cherry and some other larger ones. Still have Jalapeno Tam that I need to get picked. All my other peppers died this summer over time. Wish I knew why.

Have lots of fall planted greens and salad veggies. Turnips, starting to bulb up, Mustard greens, Baby Bok Choy, Mizuna Mustard, a row of mixed Oriental greens, Kale, Chinese Cabbage, Radishes, both French Breakfast and fall types--Daikon and China Rose--lettuce, spinach, reseeded Arugula, Dill, and Cilantro. Also have a few onions, both some that I missed pulling last spring that are now regrowing and a dozen supermarket plants that I planted in the garden because they got too limp to eat When they get a little more size I'm going to pull one at a time to add to a green salad. Haven't dug any parsnips yet. Am waiting for a good frost first.

And it's not in the garden, but I am waiting for the persimmons to get really ripe.

I am still picking Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans but will quit soon to leave some for seeds.

Cherry tomatoes are still on the fence.

I pulled my first turnips and had them yesterday.

I know it was way too late, but I planted spinach and lettuce. The lettuce is up. I hope I can rig a tent over it today before the freeze hits.

Mulberryknob, what do you do with the persimmons? We have a grove just west of the house that I just leave for the critters.

Glenda, Mostly I just love to eat persimmons fresh, but years ago I picked so many that I pressed them through a sieve and got enough pulp to make bread using a banana bread recipe. Added black walnuts to it. I may try to do that again this year.

I made persimmon bread many years ago; the flavor reminded me of fruitcake.

I am getting ready to make a batch of mincemeat. I think that persimmon flavor might go nicely with that. What do you think?

From the garden this week: the long overdue zucchini, pole beans, head lettuce, a few raspberries, carrots, cilantro (our first because we blinked and the earlier batches bolted)... bulb fennel is ready but we're waiting for frost to enjoy it, same with the kale and beets. The radicchio that died with the hot weather came back. We haven't tried it yet so don't know if it will be bitter. It doesn't look like it's going to form a head. Maybe the leaves will be good if they don't. We like the little heads grilled so we're still hoping. The earlier doomed radishes regrew. They decided to flower rather than make nice radishes. If they hurry up I'll have some good seed. I was able to harvest lots of Daikon seeds this year. This is good because I only had a few left. We still haven't had any rain. I think October's total is less than 1/2 inch. You folks Northwest of us seem to be getting some moisture. We REALLY need it. Storms roll in and pass us by. Last night was terribly windy but brought no moisture.

Tavy, that is quite a haul for this time of year.

I hope you get rain soon. We could use some too, but the soil is still pretty moist.

Tavy you are making me what to plant more different stuff like radicchio. I have never eaten bulb fennel that I know of; what does it taste like? I plant fennel for butterflies and the licorish smell. I will have to do a search on it. I didn't think head lettuce would grow here. How does it make it through summer? Or are you talking about little heads like Buttercrunch?

My tomatoes have been pulled out and I'm burying what normally would go into the compost bin in that bed. Still have Sweet 100s and I pick a couple handfuls a few times a week. One cherry plant yields enough for me and friends/family. The Big Bertha peppers I bought at Albert's in Joplin have outdone themselves. The peppers are longish and taste delicious. I have had several red peppers from a red bush but it's not as prolific as the Big Berthas. The annual flowers in planters around the vegetable beds are lush and beautiful now. Hate to see them go! My herbs are mostly perinneals. I have used comfrey all summer to speed things up in the compost bin. Comfrey gets pretty scraggly looking if not cut back, so that worked fine. Rosemary will have to be brought in soon.
Sunny

Hmmmm... The Florence Fennel bulb tastes much like it smells. I let the Swalltail larva eat my summer crop. It doesn't make a good bulb in the heat and the butterflies thought it was the Hilton.

We watch too much Food Network so have to grow the yummy looking stuff in order to try it.

I think I'm in the same zone as many of the folks posting on this forum. We're zone 6. We always have some freezing weather, snow, and ice. You folks Northwest of us seem to get more rain. We're on the edge of the storms that pass over NW Arkansas and Springfield. We're only 20 minutes from the Missouri border.

As for the lettuce, it's called Sonette. I got the seeds from Thompson Morgan. It's a totally crispy head lettuce, more so than Buttercrunch. It's been hard for me to grow. It didn't grow this Spring and not at all this summer. I planted some more late August and we've enjoyed some. The tight heads are about softball size and absolutely delicious! It's in with the Fall broccoli which is good because it needs Dipel too. Slugs loved it in the Spring until I tried the special slug nematodes. I haven't seen a slug since. I'll absolutely invest in a Spring treatment the coming year. I've only seen it at one source... gardeners.com. I can't be sure if it was the nematodes or the weather but we're pretty darn sure it was the nematodes. No slugs under rocks or in the Hostas either..

Sunny, my Rosemary is in the ground, not in pots. It comes back every year with no problem. I don't think it would make it in a pot outside though. I don't mulch it but I don't remove the heavy leaf fall so I guess it's protected some. I have trouble with Thyme and Tarragon surviving. Some years they do, others they don't.

If I'm lucky, my Ronde Zucchini will make seeds for next year. I've got a giant almost ripe fruit. We don't ever want to eat another kind of Zucchini. These little round Zucs are so buttery and delicious! For us, nothing else compares. We didn't get a one all year until now. I tried everything to keep them alive during summer. I even injected the stems with BT to try and stop the borers. Nasty growing summer... I'm so happy we're finally eating them and stocking up on muffins and zuc bread. NOW I'm ready for the cold weather! :-)

Thanks for the good specific tips. I may consider the slug nematodes although my stuff from Gardens Alive works well. The lettuce sounds good for fall.

Helen... if you're still reading this thread... I wondered about the Gardens Alive nematodes. Do you think it might be the same thing as the Gardeners.com stuff? I tried to get info on the specific nematodes in both products. I read that the good stuff they use in the UK won't work on our slugs. I'd love to hear more about your experience eliminating slugs with nematodes. For me, it was too good to be true! I went from devastation and full slug traps everyday to zero... 0... nada.. slugs.
Robin

The stuff I was talking about is not nematodes. It is escargo plus or something. It has the safe poison for slugs - iron sulfate I think plus spinosad for cutworms. I really don't have a slug problem except under the walnut tree by the house. My house is built so that gallons of water come off at a certain valley. In the back, I can fill a 300 gallon stock tank in a good rain. I used to have guttering but the roofers bent it so I took it off. Anyway that product is supposed to be safe for pets and it does work. Nematodes would be better if they would live in the soil for a while.

This is my second harvest of turnips. I may have let them got too big. I had never grown turnips before last year and I am always surprised by how they grow. I always think they aren't coming up and then they do and I think they aren't going to make roots....start above the ground....then they do. The secret is to thin them mercilessly.

I still haven't tried cooking the tops.

Glenda, those are beautiful turnips! Perhaps I'll try them next Fall and severely thin them (that's probably why they haven't done well for me). My late husband's aunt made turnips mashed with potatoes, butter, and probably cream, and they were wonderful. That was my introduction to them--

Do try cooking the cut-up tops simmered quite a while with bacon and onions, southern style. I remove the ribs before cooking. I'm hoping you will like them, and they are SO good for you.
Sunny

Remove the ribs....I didn't know that or about the onions. All I thought was maybe mixing them with frozen other greens and seasoning with bacon drippings (sounds so much better than bacon fat!). I am doing pizza today so I will do the greens tomorrow.

I may try to sneak the potatoes and turnips mashed over on my husband. I can't tell him first because he loves his mashed potatoes!

Those are beautiful. I think you husband will notice turnips in his mashed potatoes. You may have to try another trick to get him to eat them. The greens with bacon sounds good.

Helen... btw... cute fuzz butt ('your' new doggie)!

On the slugs... If you don't have much of a problem you might not be interested in the Slug Guard from Gardeners. It costs $20. I'm not sure yet but it may have been the miracle I needed. I'll know better this coming Spring as I'll apply it earlier. I was losing everything to slugs for a month or two before I bought it. As I mentioned before, I haven't seen a slug since. It could be coincidence... weather and all. I plan to use both the Slug Guard nematodes AND the dual action nematodes sold by this place I can't remember the name of (need to look it up). They have nematodes for the North and the South. We fall in their North category. They are supposed to deal with vine borers, flea beetle larvae, etc. If they work, it will be worth the investment every year.

Enjoy your new puppy. LOL
Robin

Helen, I know him; I will keep back some plain old mashed potatoes just in case. Once I put some grated carrots in the potato soup and he was very put off.....nothing in the soup but onions from now on!