they are really bad this year. i think our drought has made them desperate. never seen so many out and about lately.
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Chilly today! Low 60s. Love it!
But, this is Virginia. And tomorrow could be sweltering! One never knows.
Everything is fading fast. Tomatoes succumbing to late blight. (And who knows what else.) They’ve ‘run their race’, but have a few stragglers still trying to ripen. My late cucumbers have aphids and every cucumber has a wormhole all the way through! The only trouper holding on with vigor is my Black Beauty eggplant. They were just gorgeous this summer!
I used to just wait till late winter to do ‘tear down and clean up’. But, I’ve been better at it, over the last few years . . . and it feels good to get all the weary plants out of there, burn all the ‘skeletons’, and turn the earth.
On to next spring . . .
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Maybe we should consider hiring a ‘professional cleaner’.
Let me explain. If you have seen any John Wick movies or Pulp Fiction you know the value of a professional cleaner. These are the guys brought in to dispose of the bodies.
Their motto is something like - “You pay the price, we handle the mess!”.
Just a dumb thought…
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Pruned the Gala apple tree, last tree of the season (since the Fuji tree never grows). Put away the orchard ladder.
The oats are coming up fast.
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Yes it is the year of wasps and squirrels here!
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I have lots of tomatoes in the golf ball size…and I am expecting to get 4 more weeks to harvest them as they ripen. (Lots is relative…maybe 2 dozen),
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A couple of days ago I had a fellow come by my house asking to do “Trimmings”. I said “No, I don’t need trimmings”. He said “Are you sure” while motioning toward a maple tree shade tree. I said “I’m sure”. He said “All right” and left.
I doubt if I would have wanted him canning my apples either of which I was busy with at the time.
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The fall stink bugs are outside, trying to come in for the winter
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Nice pix. I picked apples for an orchard 1980, and a couple other years. Mutsu got ripe earlier than Yello Delicious, big in size, and I didn’t like it as much. (Then I’m not big on Y.D. unless tree ripened and chilled by morning dew).
I’d consider Mutsu/Crispin a cooking apple. Or a early seller for a golden apple at a roadside stand. Ginger Gold, Ozark Gold are more interesting.
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I have to wonder what they’ve done with the bees
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ohh… i still see them. when its warm the hornets are more active. when it cools the bumbles come out. 
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That might be a good candidate to cross up for a new variety?!
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bet they are still tasty! surprised the bears didn’t get them. when i was a kid we used to pick the wild ones and it wasn’t unusual to have black bears out on the barren with us, eating away. Dad would make sure we kept a good distance from them. never had a issue.
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I got stung by a wasp while picking pears. Got in my shirt.
All tomatoes got pulled. Note to self/never grow grape tomatoes again. I probably get about 90% waste from cracking.
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Grapes too sweet
I got a little fall garden going on right now. Ignore the cucumber. It’s an ambitious attempt to extend the summer.
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Our Grimes Golden took a dive in a wind storm this week. It’s gone. Tore off at the roots. So I’ll be looking for a replacement next spring. That was the one good apple we had so far - out of all the trees. Damn.
What root stock should I be looking for - if I want stability??? It was staked, but I guess nowhere good enough.
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Sorry to hear about your Grimes. That’s a great apple.
You’re probably going to want a semi-standard or standard tree, summer-pruned to keep it to a reasonable size. There are several good options available, all of which have their fans, but I have a lot of unstaked MM111 trees in my windy orchard and I’m happy with them. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that rootstock.
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