Is This Really October?

Our recent chill after a warm spell with some days over 80 degrees was pleasant. Who knew I'd be picking a peck of plump peppers from prolific plants over a weekend in October? Or teasing tomatoes off the tethering vines?

(Well, I misused tethering; it exists as a verb, but not an adjective. I think that's called poetic or literary license.)

A few days ago I picked 4 cups of basil. So, I made a lot of pesto, put it in small containers, labeled it and put it in the freezer. If you'd like to make pesto, or just want to know what it is, here's a link to the recipe I use:

Basil pesto

Although I wasn't sure I would do it again, I did grow black bean plants this year, and I plan to continue. The pods are stringy and slightly tough, so they are best dried and emptied of the seeds we know of as black beans. My scarlet runner beans did well, too. They're one of the most attractive beans I've ever seen, with their red and white flowers that produce long light green pods. Inside are white beans speckled with black and a few reddish-orange dots.

One of my mustard green plants have turned into a small bush about a foot and a half high and 12 inches wide. The peppery dark green leaves make a good addition to a salad. The plant's very attractive in the front of my plot.

A few more lisianthus buds have opened. I've really fallen for these lovely plants that are so easy to grow.

Flowers remind me that delicacy and gentleness can succeed in the natural world, just as the more aggressive vines do. On that note, I wish you a happy weekend! If I exercise my poetic license anymore today, I may get cited by the grammar police.