signs of August – thehomeplaceweb

August is not my favorite month, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before….like every year at this time. And this particular August was no exception especially since I ruined the first two weeks of it with a bad sunburn (see Beach Baby blog), which limited my outings to those allowing bare feet. Thank God for books and Blue Jays games! Plus we’ve had a lot of rainy or overcast days, and now a hint of cooler weather, which along with the earlier sunsets signals that fall is on the way.

The garden has dried up, the tomatoes were a bust, the Roma’s small, the Beefsteak half rotten, and the lettuce long wilted. The only interesting thing was these lemon cucumbers, and while they look like a lemon, they taste like a regular old cucumber.

I got the seeds from the library’s Seed Catalogue program – designed to inspire gardening. Libraries are full of interesting things these days other than books. They are always trying new programs – you can rent a fishing rod, a musical instrument, get a day pass to provincial parks etc. You could flip through a binder of seeds, regular and heirloom, and pick out the ones you wanted to try. I had never heard of lemon cucumbers – the package only had 5 seeds in it so I was surprised it was so prolific (and no you don’t have to return them at the end of the season!).

When my feet had recovered enough that I could comfortably wear running shoes again, I resumed my walking circuit around the neighbourhood, and was surprised to find these peaches in someone’s front yard. I don’t remember ever noticing the trees before, but how could you miss this bumper crop!

I don’t know these neighbours, so I knocked on their door and asked how old the trees were. The woman was a gardener and proudly gave me a tour of her garden. The trees are only 3 years old, but after finding out their detailed routine which involved a lot of spraying, fertilizing and TLC I doubt I’ll be buying a peach tree, despite how lovely it would be to go outside and pick a peach in your own yard. I’ll leave the peaches to the Niagara region.

Instead I went to the Saturday farmer’s market…..

and bought 3 baskets of Red Haven seconds for making jam.

Three hours of peeling, (I’m really missing my mom on the second anniversary of her death as she was my peach peeler), equals two batches (12 Jars) of jam. It’s really more of a fruit puree, as I use the low sugar canning stuff. Good for adding to yoghurt or on toast in the middle of winter when you are craving fresh fruit.

I also bought some glads at the market – my favorite fall flower, although there were bunches of zinnias too.

I’ve given up on my flowers…

…although the impatiens are still hanging in there. My hydrangeas did not flower at all this year, but nobody else’s did so we must have had a spring frost at the wrong time.