While the rest of the blogging world appears to be preparing their gardens for winter and snow, we’re coming into my favorite season for gardening.

We have about a dozen Cara Cara oranges – at lease that’s the variety that the older man on the side of the road said they were, we’ll soon find out. The skin on this one is interesting. I have no idea how or why it’s like that, but it’s kind of cool.

Our lemon tree is full of lemons and they’re turning yellow. We seriously need to prune the tree this year. It’s just so hard for me to know when exactly to prune since they start flowering before we’ve taken all the fruit off.

Yes, this is the kale that has now been growing for eleven months! I planted a few fall tomatoes in the bed to keep them company until they go to seed. And that’s a big jungle of cherry tomatoes behind them.

Not quite all of our carrots came up so I planted some more seeds this past weekend. Seedlings are tricky here for the fall garden. Even with lots of water, its hot enough that either seeds don’t germinate or the little seedlings get burned up. So I just keep re-sowing and eventually I have a nice bed of veggies.

My lettuce is doing really good. This is the second planting. After the first planing I saw a few of the hens taking a dust bath in the bed (sigh).

My basil is blooming for the second time. I’ve been scattering the seeds around the outside of the hen house and run. I’ve read they chickens don’t eat basil and it would be nice to have some beautiful plants and flowers over there.

These are my fall planting of potatoes. I had some potatoes growing in the kitchen so I decided to go ahead and plant them. I need to put some straw or leaves on them before they flower.

Your garden is beautiful Thanks for the advice. I love having a garden but we are not very good with it.
Janet, you’re so sweet. Right now the garden is lovely, albeit a little over grown, but just a few weeks ago it was pretty bad looking from the heat.
I love your lemon tree. Do the lemons taste different from store lemons?
A little. I believe they are Meyer lemons so they’re larger, juicier and a little sweeter (or more mild) than store bought lemons. This is the tree that came with the house so I don’t know how old it is. The tree that I used to have in a pot and then planted last spring is still struggling.
Visiting from the Backyard Farming Connection blog hop. Your garden looks great! I’ve never had peppers stand up like that. I wonder if it’s common with that variety. We’re done with most things up here, but I planted fall lettuce and broccoli. Now it’s a game of wait-and-see, especially since rabbits already ate a couple of the lettuce.
I really need to figure out what variety the peppers are. They’re really pretty, I might just plant some out front in the flower bed. Rabbits and chickens will get you every time, won’t they?
Oh I wish I lived somewhere I could have an October garden! Yours looks so lush and fruitful. Enjoy it!
I know how you feel, from July – September I get really bummed out about the garden. All that will produce is peppers and okra. It seems like everyone else’s garden is going great while ours is struggling just to survive. This year was particularly hard since we’re down 12″ in rainfall for the year. I know it’s just part of the ebb and flow of gardening but sometimes it’s hard. Thanks so much for visiting.
I have the same peppers in a large pot – the label says they are Tobasco. I tasted a green one and hoo-baby it was hot! I am waiting for them to turn red (or at least a bit redder than they are now) and then add them to bottles of vinegar – making spicy vinegar. There are also lots of recipes online for home made Tobasco sauce using these.
oh, thanks for sharing the name. I might have to try to make hot sauce with them. My husband loves Chalula sauce – similar to Tabasco but with more flavor.
Looks like you guys are doing really well and I love that you have orange trees! Thanks for sharing on Tuesday Greens!
Thanks for visiting, Becky. I’m pretty excited about the orange trees, too. I can’t wait for them to get bigger.
Your garden looks wonderful. I do love living in NC, but when I see posts like this I start to have garden envy. I wouldn’t begin to know when to prune a tree that doesn’t have a clearly defined dormant stage!
Thanks for sharing with us at The HomeAcre Hop!
Please join us again Thursday at:
http://summersacres.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-homeacre-hop-41-and-giveaway.html
~Ann
Our growing slows down during the heat of the summer and I find myself so discouraged. But I also enjoy the break. So maybe you can focus on just enjoying the break.