Eggplants galore these days. Tomatoes are still green, but some of them are about as large as they will probably grow. I've filled in a few gaps with more sweet banana pepper plants for later in the season. I'm doing a gray water experiment now, pouring rinse water on targeted plants rather than watering the entire yard.

My veggie garden has a couple of dozen piles of dirt from the cicada killing wasps. I sometimes have to push the dirt off of smallish plants, but we seem to be co-existing so far. I have big fat toads who hop around out there.

I spent the morning in the woods across the street instead of in my garden. I hauled my articulated ladder into the pickup along with a couple of buckets and I picked a bunch of mustang grapes that drape a large tree. I picked for about an hour. When I got the leaves and some of the stems cleaned out it was enough to completely fill my stock pot. I cooked it down and have strained it a few times and have a couple of quarts if this wonderful smelling bright red grape juice. A friend and I will make some jelly this week. I've never used these wild grapes before, but this is the first of many batches, I can tell! (I do have to take the pruners to cut and rake away the poison ivy away from the base of the tree.)

SRS