Ragweed, Mums, and the Late Summer that didn't Happen

Ragweed pollen count is off the charts here, so my gardening activities are kept to a minimum.

My wife and daughters are picking tomatoes and every time we get a large batch we cut them up, boil them, run them through the food mill and cook them down with spices into tomato sauce. The sauce gets put into ziplock bags and stuck in the freezer. Of course, a little might get eaten on pasta on tomato sauce days. :-)

All the mums have arrived in green houses in the area. We bought some orange and purple ones to plant in the front flower beds. I like purple and orange for Halloween, and mums are usually in full bloom as it approaches.

The grass in my front yard is still green even without watering this year. The late summer heat and dry spell didn't hit us this year. The strange weather patterns of this summer lead to a cool, wet August. It seems to have been good for plants, but it makes it difficult to know what is doing well because of good gardening and what is doing well because of the atypical weather. It is very nice that I haven't had to worry about the trees I planted in spring. They have been well watered and are doing fine.