The big picture at the top of the page should always be a gorgeous one and to me nothing is more gorgeous than this basket of ripe Eggplant. I picked it last night before the great rain storm today so that I could make the mixture for my delicious Eggplant fritters. I made 8 times the published recipe as I have done before and it works fine. I freeze the raw mixture in portion sizes so that I just pull out one block of frozen mixture in the middle of winter, defrost in the microwave and pour it into the frying pan to make 2 large fritters for dinner with the Assistant Gardener. It’s delicious and it’s a great way to keep Eggplant for the winter. It’s also fun to serve to your friends that profess a dislike for Eggplant and as long as you don’t tell them what it is until after they have enjoyed it you can suggest that their dislike of Eggplant is misdirected or all in their heads.


My Dahlias were a little disappointing this year, possibly due to my lack of attention to the weeds and staking. This one was planted just behind the waterfall and my lack of attention actually worked out well. I kept it weeded but never got around to staking it and as a result it bent over and these two beauties are hanging over the top edge of that waterfall. Another of those happy happen stances that I couldn’t possibly recreate on purpose in another year. They are out there shivering today but it’s supposed to warm up tomorrow and hopefully these Dahlias will carry on blooming for another few weeks before the real cold weather decides to arrive.


These two magnificent creatures are the fruit on the climbing Zucchini, Zucchini trombata . They are currently at least 2 m long and I expect them to continue to grow for a while yet. They are amazing fruit because of that bulbous end you can see at the bottom. All of their seeds are in the bulb and the rest of the long fruit is solid flesh. It’s a bit tough to eat as summer squash when they are this size but they can be allowed to ripen and be used as a winter squash when I will probably bake them. The problem is their size. If I bake the whole thing I may have to invite the neighbourhood. I will transport one of them to the local flower and vegetable show and enter it in the “any other vegetable” category. It will be fun to see what the judge makes of it. Update, when I came home late this afternoon the wind and the rain had pulled the vine off the trellis and these fruits were laying on the ground. I’ll go out an check on them tomorrow when the weather improves.




Ar this time of year the Hardy Hibiscus Hibiscus moscheutos are the feature plant in the perennial garden. Their dinner plate sized flowers are visible from a distance and will attract visitors to your garden. Most four legged visitors will leave them alone which makes them even more desirable. I bought this one on sale last fall and planted it in a conspicuous location. All of these Hardy Hibiscus are very slow to emerge from the ground in the spring, some of mine stay asleep until early June. This one played tricks with me. Its leaves don’t resemble the other ones and the flowers are somewhat tucked into the bush. I would not have purchased a pink one as I already have one of that shade. The fancy varieties are propagated by grafting onto a hardier root stock and that’s what I think this is. It grew even later than my other ones and in quite a different pattern. That’s sometimes the gamble you take when you buy plants on sale late in the season. Surprises are usually fun but occasionally a bit disappointing.


As I was crossing the road to my truck yesterday I turned and looked back at the late summer garden and was happy with what I saw. Almost all of the weeds are temporarily beaten back and some of the 15 new perennials are putting on a bit of a show. We gardeners do need to remind ourselves to take time to smell the roses. We are often so busy tending those roses that we don’t even notice them. The tall trellis with the beans and Morning Glories has become the feature that it is intended to be. The little Peach Lemonade Roses are sparkling in their gravel at the front and the large Peony America at the front is displaying a lovely crop of white powdery mildew on its leaves. It won’t hurt the plant but I must cut it back. The little patch of Marigolds on the right are surpassing themselves and as always the large Camperdown Elm dominates the yard with it’s size and interesting shape. All in all a bit of satisfaction for this tired gardener.

Now it’s time to answer a few of my reader’s questions. To ask a question just “reply” to this ezine. Don’t forget to check the front page of the Website for frequent short ideas for current gardening activities.

Claire Asks? I had some landscaping done around our pool and it has left us with a large section of bare earth. Can I plant grass seed now?

Ken Answers! September is actually the best time to sow grass seed. It likes col weather and it likes to be kept moist. September usually supplies cool weather and regular rain. The rain is not regular enough so we need to have a hose handy so that we can moisten the seed and soil a couple of times a day. As the seed germinates we shift to less frequent but deeper waterings to teach the new grass roots to grow deeper in their search for moisture.