The End

And so it ends.  The frost this morning caused the leaves of our zinnias to wilt and turn dark green, a sure sign that this will be the end of flowers in the garden for this year.  Luckily, Andy picked a last bouquet yesterday and brought them in to liven up our window sill.  

The flowers have been especially beautiful this year.  We planted both zinnias and coreopsis in our flower field.  The deer ate every coreopsis as it emerged as a green seedling.  Amazingly, they left the zinnias alone...until a few weeks ago.  One night they browsed every single zinnia bud.  Just nipped them off clean to the stem.  The blooms they left untouched.  They are fussy eaters for sure.

I am sorry to see the flowers end this year.  Being home more has been a pleasure since our garden has kept us busy.  We have had more green peppers than we could use.  Tomatoes by the bucket full.  Lots of okra  And other good veggies.  Our lettuce is still hanging in there.  But the days are numbered for much that we have left.  The last lonely cucumber was kind of pathetic.  It looked a little lumpy and pale, but it did taste good.

We are already planning on what we will plant next year.  What we will try and what we might pass over.  Some things  do really well for us.  And some are just a lot of trouble for too much work.

As the nights get longer and the days chillier we can look forward to what might happen in the spring.  Winter will coat the garden place with frost and snow.  The wind will blow the last remnants of the bean vines and  whisk away the leaves left on the tomato bush.  And as the earth sleeps we will dream of spring and summer...good things to eat and the pleasure of seeing them grow.