Good year for kids, but not veggies

It's getting cooler every day. No, not my life, the outdoors. And the indoors too, sadly. We've been holding out on turning the thermostat up but have had to give in for a few hours here, a few hours there. Especially when Ameranth's babysittee is here. Yes, fall is here and winter is coming.

Remember when Ameranth and J dug this garden out for me for Mother's Day?

This is how it turned out.

This was taken in July, and the cleome and impatiens are still blooming in October, although we've come close to a frost and some more delicate flowers have succumbed already. I will definitely plant this combination again next year.

Our vegetable garden this year was so-so and kind of mysterious. J and I each planted a tray of seeds- mine had butternut squash and cucumbers and his was pumpkins and sunflowers. They sprouted merrily in our little plastic greenhouse thingy, and we planted them when appropriate.

J watched anxiously for his little green pumpkins to show up in his special patch and I planted some store-bought peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash along with the home-started plants in the official garden. The peppers did well, as did the peas and corn that we sowed directly. Vines started growing everywhere and we waited. J's mini pumpkins showed up as expected, but his other vines started producing little butternuts! Hmm, then what is that vine taking over the 'real' garden? Yup, his one and only jack-o-lantern pumpkin vine that grew was in the wrong place, and has given up only 3 pumpkins. The other squash disappeared and the cucumbers I thought I was planting turned out to be some of J's sunflowers!

We enjoyed the corn and peas, and have had a couple of the bumper crop of butternut squashes, but J is very down about his lack of pumpkins. He enjoys carving some, but even more, he likes giving them away to coworkers who have kids. No extras this year. Sad face.

BUT. Not all bad news- Shoeshine is coming for a visit this month with his family. Sadly, Ladyslipper couldn't be included this time, but we are very excited about meeting everyone else. J is planning to have Venus and Mars help with his Halloween decorations and will put those 3 pumpkins to good use with our company. 

If they ever turn orange that is. There's a slight problem with some unsightly skin blemishes, but hey, they should look scary, right?