When you’re gardening, not everything turns out as hoped.

I’m afraid my dreams of a sweet, bountiful squash harvest have been… well.. squashed…

I’m not sure if it’s the work of the Squash Bug or the Squash Vine Borer or both… but every single squash plant is toast. My guess is on both… I have definitely seen the Squash Bugs – lots of them. And while I did what I could to control them at the start of the season… things fell off in the later months. I have seen one Squash Vine Borer moth… and that likely means eggs, which mean larvae – which mean dead plants.

Regardless – the result is the same. I picked all the squash that were still hanging on the vines.

I think only the one on the bottom is anywhere close to ripe. Regardless… I’ve got them all on the porch where it’s warm and dry and I’ll do my best to cure them and hope they ripen a little more along the way.

Not every crop is a winner… but I’ve done my research and hopefully we can prevent this from happening again next year! Gardening is all about learning.

I can’t complain about the rest of the garden though.

The gourds have not been affected at all by the squash pests, and the tunnel is covered in orange, yellow and green mini-gourds. Most of these are probably at their full size, but I’ll wait a few more weeks to pick them. They are just for decoration anyway.

The beans are still going crazy – and I’m giving them away whenever I can. And you can see, there’s another big cucumber on top. I thought the cucumbers were done for the year, but it seems they’ve gotten a second wind.

There are several more little ones coming. This particular cucumber has been a big hit. It’s a Japanese “Burpless” called Summer Dance. Dave, Mom and Dad all loved it. I will definitely grow it again next year.

The other big hit has been the Cucamelons

I’ve heard that they can be really fussy to grow north of the border, but it appears our hot, humid summers are just perfect for them. We are getting five-10 ripe “melons” every day and Dave’s having trouble stating on top of them. For new readers… the look like a berry-sized water melon, but are actually a mini cucumber.

I will definitely grow them again next year – though I think I will try them in a pot with a trellis, saving the space on the squash tunnel for something bigger. Their leaves are very small and they are in danger of being overtaken by the gourds if I don’t stay on top of things with a pair of pruners.

And thank goodness I only planted one tomato plant…

They are just cherry tomatoes but they would take over the house if I didn’t have people to give them to! Like most of what I grow, I don’t eat tomatoes, so it’s up to poor Dave to try to put it all away. But it’s been just impossible for the poor guy. I came down the other morning and he was slicing some up to put on a BLT for breakfast.

Ok… technically I did plant more than one tomato plant… readers may remember that I started some yellow cherry tomatoes from seed in early spring. I managed to get ONE seedling to survive, but ‘it was small and weak. I planted it anyway, and it’s grown very slowly. It’s just now starting to get blossoms, so maybe I’ll get a few yellow cherry tomatoes before the frost.

And while I might not eat most of the veg I grow – the fruit is another matter.

It’s prime raspberry season and I’ve been enjoying a bowl of fresh raspberries on the daily! I also have golden raspberries, but I’m saving all of them to make jam. Simply because I’ve never had golden raspberry jam! The golden ones are a touch milder than the red berries and I think they’ll make an amazing jam!

And that problem is an enabling husband… who, when I say “I want to go to the garden centre” replies with “Sure.” instead of “Are you insane… where are you going to put more plants???”

And then this happens.

Another garden cart full of perennials that I have to try and find a home for! Happily, a good many of them were on clearance. The cart has a lot of Yarrow – because as I’ve said previously – you can never have enough. These new ones are all shades or pink/red, but none are in prime bloom so no pictures.

I also got a Cranesbill (hardy geranium) which isn’t blooming either – it’s a plant I’ve tried to grow from bare root, but without luck.

But I also picked up a new butterfly bush

A lovely light pink called Princess Pink. It is now in the front garden and when it grows larger next year, it will give some balance to front along with the Ruby Red Butterfly Bush beside it.

I picked up this glowing pink, hardy chrysanthemum as well. The single mums aren’t as a common sight around here, and I do love things a little unique.

I got two more Tickseeds – a solid red, and dark magenta white. I think I have a fabulous little collection of Tickseeds now! (though I’ll always be on the lookout for more.

And Dave picked out this Phlox. He doesn’t often point out plants, so hen he did with this one, I figured I had to get it. I only have one other Phlox in the garden (a plain white one), that I just added this year.

I also picked up a couple more Black-Eyed Susans, and a Blanket flower because they were excellent prices. But no pictures – you’ve seen them before.

Now… I’ve got to try to stay out of the garden centres for at least a month and a half… and then we will be safely into the colder weather. Of course… bulb planting season is upon us!

A while back, I posted about Rupert using Davey, the squishmallow shark, as a pet bed. Well as you may know, I have several other Squishmallows. Most are down in the living room, and have taken over the love seat.

But a few are upstairs. The medium size ones are the perfect size and shape for sliding between my knees at night when my legs and back are sore. (Now THERE’S the marketing strategy for Squishmallows!)

And the other night, I’d been using pink cat for just that purpose. Normally, I get out of bed, do my bathroom stuff and come back and make the bed. But this particular morning, bed making got neglected. I came up just before noon to take care of it and…

Now you tell me how you kick that off the bed to so you can make it???? The answer is you don’t. You wait for sweet little kitty to move on his own (which with this one means waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy later in the day!)

And it gives you an idea of just how wee Rupert is. That isn’t a giant Squishmallow – it’s only a 12 incher. And he’s not even taking up the whole thing!

In other news… I think the Squishmallow company is now specifically targeting me – look what they put in my path at Walmart the other night

All summer, I’ve been on a quest to get a picture of the hummingbirds. My neighbour has a trumpet vine, and I have the honeysuckle and butterfly bushes, so we get a lot of hummingbirds without every having to worry about putting out feeders.

Up until this weekend, this was the best I was able to manage

It’s dark, and grainy, but I was pleased you could see the little touch of red on his throat. Still – it’s not the quality I’ve come to expect from pictures with my long lens. I knew I could do better.

When Mom was here, she was up early one morning and enjoyed her tea on the catio porch before Dave and I got out of bed. She told me if I wanted to get some good pictures, I needed to get up early – as there were several of the little guys out there buzzing around while she had her tea.

So this past weekend, I did just that.

The first morning started out ok… I started out on the steps of the catio, and a hummingbird quickly appear at the Honeysuckle on the far end.

And unfortunately, even with my long lens, it was just too far away. So I decide to pack up, got a quilt to put on the damp grass and moved to the other side of the catio, closer to the honeysuckle

It was a slight better position… but those little hummers are still just hard to capture. Any movement from me sent them skittering off.

And then they decided the honeysuckle wasn’t worth it – there was a big, scary woman sitting below it. They decided the sweet peas on the arbour would be a better option…

But like the honey suckle from the catio steps… it was just too far from where I was sitting. I decided to be patient. The sun rose a little more, and it seemed like the were getting more used to me. When they weren’t battling each other mid air, they were spending more time on the honeysuckle… albeit on the opposite side from where I was sitting, so I couldn’t get pictures.

But then it happened…one little brave one came into view and stayed there. I started snapping… got one picture…

And then my camera battery died! Sadly, I only have one battery for the fancy camera, so that was it for the day. I packed up, went inside and did some sewing while the battery charged.

The next morning, with a freshly charged battery… I headed out there again and set up camp.

It didn’t take long for them to appear, and there were at least three of them fighting for airspace around the catio. Like the first, day, they did not seem to appreciate my presence near the honeysuckle. This time they opted for the white Butterfly bush.

Which, of course, was just a little too far away for really great pictures. Still – I say patiently and waited. They came back and forth to the honeysuckle a couple times, but never long enough for a picture. Then they surprised me by having a little snack from the Toad Lilies**.

I didn’t even know Toad Lilies were on the hummingbird menu! Like the Butterfly bush, the Toad Lilies were just a touch too far for the long lens.

Eventually though… my patience paid off.

This little female came to perch on the top of catio fence near me. She sat there for a good couple of minutes, watching the sky, and keeping a weather eye on me down below. And then she moved to honey suckle…

The light was still fairly low, so I couldn’t get the shutter speed fast enough to capture those little beating wings… but the pics were much more on par with what I’m used to!

It was certainly worth an hour or so waiting on the damp lawn.

And for bonus points… here’s another little hummer…

Not a Hummingbird, but a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. These guys are normally regular visitors as soon as the butterfly bushes start blooming. But this year, I hadn’t seen one!I assumed it was like the lack of other butterflies, and these guys numbers were poor this year. I had started to look into what I could plant to help them out. And then other day, I was out barbecuing and this one just appeared! I’ve seen a couple more since, then, but nothing like the number we’ve seen in previous years. Hopefully these guys bounce back next year.

** While I’m thrilled that the Toad Lilies are food for the hummingbirds, the plant’s location in the catio presents a problem… Keep your eye on the plant at the bottom of the stairs.

And not just once…

While the Honeysuckle adn Butterfly Bush Blooms are fairly high, the Toad Lilies only stand about three feet tall. That’s just too low and enticing for Mr. Lemmy.

So far, the little hummers have been faster… but one day one might not be. So the toad lilies will be getting a new home soon.

Along with the Hallowe’en tops, August saw the end of the spooky looking Felici socks

Not much to say here. The yarn is Felici in Speed Racer… and I let it do all the work when it came to making the socks shine. Just plain ole’ vanilla socks. I love Felici because the stripes make it feel like the socks are just flying off the needles. And the yarn is lovely and soft, making them wonderful socks to wear! It’s to bad Knit Picks discontinued it. They do have Felicini – a skinnier striping sock yarn… but I’ve got so much sock yarn in the stash, and so little time to knit… I really can’t justify trying it out.

And on that note…. I guess I better go stash diving and see if I can come up with another yarn – I’ve got one more pair of Man Socks to make and put away for Christmas.

I am very pleased with the progress I made on the moth this weekend.

I was able to finish up the blue up the upper wings – with the exception of the veining. Like on the lower wings, Im going to go with a dark shade instead of light, as the pattern calls for.

I figured it would be easier to fill it in once I had the little moons filled in. I just got started on that before I had to put it away for the weekend. There’s two shades left to put in on the moons, and just one on the little circles in the bottom wings.

I think I can confidently say I will finish up Mr. Moth next weekend – and maybe even get started on the greenery that surrounds him.

When Mom was here last weekend, she mentioned that while she’s happy we got some holiday-themed stuff done for the shop, our focus on Christmas, and then Hallowe’en had really slowed several quilts she had in progress, including those for a couple quilt-alongs.

I agreed, and told her I was planning on using September to clear out my WIPs (Works in Progress). She thought that was a great idea, and so named it – WIP-tember!

I have several projects that need getting back to… including two Leader/Ender projects that are no longer L/Es. The first is the 16 patch blocks… I need to make some QSTs or HSTs to go in between them (I haven’t decided which yet). The second is my 4-patches….

These are just getting plain blocks put between them, but they will be put on point.

I also have my Blockhead blocks to assemble into a top.

There’s only 12 of them, but Burton has yet to decide how we are going to lay them out.

I have some batik Log Cabins I started, but they aren’t very far along (definitely not enough for a top yet), so I may leave them until I get a couple of the above projects into tops.

And then I went and did something crazy…

I picked up somebody else’s WIP at a thrift store. There was 20 of these blocks in a bag for just two dollars. Something told me I had to buy them, and bring them home to finish them!

I have no way of knowing how old they are, but my guess is somewhere between 40s and 60s judging by the fabric. It looks like the stars were hand-pieced, then hand basted on the green fabric (the basting stitches are still there). But the stars were then sewing down with a machine.

I haven’t measured them yet (they all need a good ironing), but I think they are around 12 inch blocks. So I think I’m going to keep the layout simple – just sew them all together and let those applique stars shine!

Have you got any WIPs you’re hoping to wrap up this month?

Yesterday was the last day of Aug-tober, so that meant Burton and I had to get cracking on wrapping up our last Hallowe’en top!

The friendship stars were already made – we just had to turn them into borders around our panel.

The first border went on fairly smoothly, or so I thought.

But clearly, the process was exhausting for his Lordship. I was on my own for the second border.

Though he woke up in time to inspect it and make sure I had the stars just so. It wasn’t quite big enough yet, so he thought we should add a couple more borders.

We went with just plain ones to finish it off and Lemmy thinks it was a good call.

It brought the whole thing out to 60 inches square – a decent size lap quilt.

It will get plain black binding. And I found this lovely flannel plaid that matches the pastel colours of the top perfectly! Mom has already laid claim to this one for the quilting… apparently she’s got a gourd idea! I just have to get it to her.

She, also, has had a very productive Aug-tober, and a couple of her creations are already in the shop … here and here.

First.. how the “EXPLETIVE” is the last day of August? Did I blink and miss a whole month – it certainly feels like it!

But, as it is the last day of August, it’s time to take a look at the garden.

This time of year is almost always good for the roses. The cooler nights, but still warm days encourage them to bloom their little hearts out.

We haven’t had much of those cool nights, this week – it’s still stinking hot, but the roses are thriving anyway.

I do, however, have a bone to pick with Walmart. Now I know I shouldn’t expect a lot from Walmart. But when I bought Tournament of Roses from a clearance sale back in July… I thought I’d at least be getting what I paid for. However….

That is NOT even remotely Tournament of Roses, which is a light, peachy pink rose. ToR is also a Floribunda, and I’m pretty sure this is a Hybrid Tea. I’m not opposed to it, or the colour – though honest it’s not one I would have picked out. What really bothers me is – I don’t know what it’s called!!!! Looking at pictures… It might be Ring of Fire… or Wildfire.. or Las Vegas…. or… I just don’t know. There are far too many of a similar colour and style to be sure!

Oh well, it’s here now, front and centre in the front yard, so I guess it’s good that I like it a little….

Speaking of front and centre.

When I built the island garden this summer, I transplanted one small little cosmos seedling from the front border. And as you can see… it’s VERY happy. It should bloom any day now.

My Xanthos cosmos in the side garden is doing almost as well. I hope it reseeds like all my other cosmos have, but I’m going to save some seed from it just incase. I’d love to have this one year after year.

Another new arrival is the Hydrangea I planted this spring.

I’m not a huge Hydrangea fan, but I needed something that would work well under the dripline of the Maple. This little guy was just the ticket. It’s called Little Limelight, and the flowers start off light lime, turn white, then to a pretty shade of pink that you see just coming now. When the weather cools a bit, I’ll be transferring a Honeysuckle shrub which is currently along our driveway over here too. It will give us a nice border between us and the neighbour’s yard

All of the usual suspects are doing their thing, just as they should this time of year.

But the signs of comin fall are all around…

This Hardy Mum is already putting on quite a show, though my others are only just starting to bud up.

The garden centres had all their mums out, so I got some to change over the front boxes.

And…

The Toad Lilies are blooming! It’s always a sign that fall isn’t far away when these guys start popping open!

The hotter the temps, the flatter the cat…

I’ve actually been a little worried about Rupert this summer. He has not spent near as much time outside as he normally does. But I think that has more to do with a certain pest named Lemmy, than it does with our Senior ginger feeling unwell. It was nice to see him out soaking up the heat the other day.