(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Pictures of Kansas as autumn moves in. Street Prophets Coffee Hour [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-08 Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour, the place where politics meets up with religion, art, science, nature, and life. Come in, have a cuppa and a cookie (or several!) and join us. Most people know I have health issues. Much of the time I can’t walk unassisted, and I don’t tolerate summer heat with my heart problems. Add with last week’s heart attack (not my first, nor my fifth) I haven’t been able to get out at all for a while. But yesterday had moderate temperatures and I have mostly recovered from the MI, so I went out with a sturdy walking staff to check on my neglected garden. And once I was out, I went on back through the woods as far as the pond. That’s not as far as it sounds. I probably walked less than a football field round trip, but it’s a start. Here’s what I found on the way. I brought in any tomatoes and peppers that were in the garden the day before, when I didn’t have my camera. Peppers need to be nearing full size or they’ll be too bitter to eat, but tomatoes of any size at all can be picked and put into a bucket. They don’t need sun. I go through the bucket every two or three days and take out any that are starting to show color. I put them on the kitchen counter but you can also put them into a cupboard. They’ll ripen just fine. I hadn’t been as far as the cucumbers for a while, and these are hard to see when the plants are leafed out. But with the dry weather followed by overnight temperatures in the high 30s, the leaves are dying back. I thought cucumbers were through for the season, but I found three to pick. Unfortunately, there was what had probably been a very nice cucumber that had overripened and fallen, probably while I was unable to get outside. But only one, thank goodness. I put flowering plants in among the vegetables that need pollinators. I pick them out at the garden center by watching to see which ones are attracting insects, without worrying about species, only that they’ll bloom all summer. Tomatoes self pollinate in the same blossom, but cucumbers and squash have distinct male and female flowers so they need to have something carry pollen from one to the other. And since I was this far, I went on back into the property, to see what else was still around. Fall asters grow wild in abundance. Occasionally there will be blue flowers, but mine this year were all white. They are still feeding skippers. And butterflies. Foamflower dries to a nice buff color and is good in dried fall bouquets. These added a bit of color to the asters. I don’t mind volunteer flowers. I had a Bradford pear tree removed last year. It was by the driveway, and three times in the years I’ve lived here large sections (I mean large) have broken off. I had to cut them into pieces I could drag away before the driveway was usable again. I knew I couldn’t do it again, so I had the tree cut down. But I found this volunteer on the path to the pond. I’ll leave it for now, although I’m not usually fond of non-native species that can become invasive. The fruits attract a lot of birds, mockingbirds and waxwings particularly. Farmers particularly dislike the invasive multifloral roses, especially if their cattle eat them, thorns and all. I’ve seen brown thrashers nest in them often, because they prefer thorny brush. Now all that’s left are the rose hips, but something will eat them during the winter. And of course the poison ivy is thriving. With climate change, we’ve had an explosion of it all over the country, and it’s hard to get rid of. It does produce berries that wildlife eats, deer eat the leaves, and your dog won’t react to the oils, although a dog may bring the oil to you and share the rash with you. I had a lot of brush removed along the fenceline by the road, and it uncovered a stand of wild morning glories. I didn’t get pictures because it was afternoon when I was out, and because they were in the opposite direction, and I’d already walked as far as I could manage. I’ve been careful to mow around them. I can’t get down to collect seeds—well, yes, I can get down, but I can’t get back up easily and I don’t want to make a spectacle right by the road. I’ll try to get up there with a rake that I can use to bring the vines up to me. I’ll need to plant them out right away because they need to scarify over the winter if they’re going to germinate. This is an open thread. All topics are welcome. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/8/2198111/-Pictures-of-Kansas-as-autumn-moves-in-Street-Prophets-Coffee-Hour?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/