Still harvesting cherry and patio tomatoes from pots, and still have lots of basil. The caladiums are starting to feel the cooler night temps. I'm still having to irrigate the hydrangeas and Bobert's azalea that I planted out this spring.

The neighborhood is alive night and day with the sound of acorns falling with pistol-fire cracks onto metal-roofed sheds and free-standing aluminum carports. The slightest breeze sends thousands of them. A good year for mast for squirrels, deer, bear and such in the Carolinas.

Wish I had a pecan tree here. Am hoping my youngin' will bring me a 5 gallon bucket of them from the old place when they start falling heavily in November.

Nut trees bear in cycles, and this year looks to be a good one.

I'm not going to buy a leaf shredder, but I am going to buy a leaf blower this fall if budget permits at all. The soil here is heavy, red clay. I don't have the money to buy hardscape materials, nor the truck or trailer to haul loads of topsoil and compost. So I am going for a very long range plan. I will have mountains and mountains of leaves. I'm going to blow them into high mounds anywhere I think I might want to plant something or start a bed in the future, wet them down good and cover the mounds loosely with black plastic to keep the leaves from blowing away. Would be better to shred them first, but pile them high enough and leave them long enough and they will rot. I'll let the earthworms til them into the clay.

I have finally accepted that my life circumstances are not going to allow for much gardening for a few years other than in pots or a small bed here and there. So I'll let time work for me.