Garden 2026 Update #4: August through October in Zone 6A

A little stroll through the garden and peek into the kitchen for a fall wrap up of outdoor gardening 2026. 

New additions to Beautifying my Space: Pretty Purple Coneflower (Echinacea). 

Jalapeno Peppers from seed did well before the squirrels got to them. Will have to remedy that for next year. 

This area of the garden affectionately called Cucumber Lane was looking really nice, until a random groundhog found his way into my garden. This was a first in the 13 years at this property. 

He chewed the leaves off 9 cucumber vines and it took them about a full month to recover & start producing. Overall, the vines did spectacular and gave me enough fruit for nearly 30 pints of canned pickles, and a quart jar of fridge pickles. Sidenote: all of those pink Cosmos are volunteers. 💖

Captured on the Wildlife Cam: Cucumber Leaf Eating Groundhog. 

He spent an entire day eating through the garden, then thankfully moved on. 

Inspired by landscape lighting used in Palm Springs that was popular in the 80's when I lived there, I have exclusively used solar lighting in my garden everywhere I can. It's hard to capture it on camera, but it gives off a very magical, calm and happy vibe, on a summer evening garden stroll. Every year I tend to add more lights. 

The view from the deck.

They looked nice, but the grape vines were non-producing this year. 

I'll give them a hard prune before next season, and hope they bounce back. 

Sometimes the daily harvest looks like this. 

It wasn't a good tomato year but my Elderberries doubled from last year.

We enjoyed lots of fresh peaches this year, and I canned a batch of this amazing Peach Rum Sauce. 

When Strawberries are in season here's another great recipe: Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate 

Years ago I tried a recipe for homemade ketchup, and my family insisted I never do it any other way. Funny thing is, I didn't even like ketchup that much, but once I made this, I understood. 

The recipe I use for Homemade Ketchup comes from Sarah, at Living Traditions Homestead. 

Canned ketchup, strawberry jam & tomato juice. Hot tip: can all the things, while in season! 😍

The cucumber plants on the mid-garden rasied bed trellis did absolutely amazing. 

I planted 6 on each side, and after the groundhog was done, exactly one of them survived. 

And produced like crazy!

My DIY strawberry window boxes did really well this year. 

Peppermint bolting, and it's so pretty! 

Cowboy Candy from (mostly) my own home grown Jalapeno peppers. 

I use the same recipe as Jess at the Farmer's Table 

but I dial it back a little, and blend 2 pounds of sweet peppers with 2 pounds of hot. 

Cowboy Candy BBQ Sauce

I make this with the leftover syrup from the Cowboy Candy recipe. 

I've followed many different recipes easily available online over the years,  and eventually came up with my own favorite based on my family's heat tolerance. 

The running joke is, how kind I was to buy these cats a hot tub. 😄 

They all love it being out there all summer long, just as much as all of the humans do. 

My Basil literally blew up this year. This was one of three batches of pruned Basil brought in for drying. Grown from seed, I had it in pots throughout the garden but it wasn't doing well. I removed all the plants from the pots and replanted straight into raised beds (with peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers), and it just exploded like wild.  By harvest time all of the in-bed plants were roughly 3 foot tall. I use a lot of Basil in my cooking for soups and sauces, and I have enough that I think it might be a couple of years before I need to grow more.  

Cranberry juice (showing off) & peppers ready for chopping & freezing. 

The sights, sounds, lighting and textures of a summer kitchen are such a joy. 

Frankie, "helping" in the walk-in pantry. 

I think she's sending the message I need more cans of pork and beans.

My gorgeous Pineapple Sage in the green pot. 

I've taken some clippings to propagate and Lord willing I'll be growing this every year in my garden. 

Another garden volunteer this year, still blooming late October!

Cherry tomatoes - still blooming late October

Everbearing Strawberries, still producing late October!

The view from the deck, at the end of the season. 

Most of this year's canning from my wee garden. It's not a lot, but every shelf of food is another item I don't have to pay for at the local grocery store. 

Two of the most important things to consider when planning a garden, is to 

a.) grow what grows well in your zone and 

b.) grow what your family eats. 

In my family, we consume a lot of tomato based products like pasta sauce and salsa, as well as BBQ sauce, ketchup, condiments, pickles, jams & jellies. By growing it and making it myself, I haven't needed to purchase any of these things from the grocery store in about 5 years now. It's a very good feeling to know I can just grow it and make it myself for a literal fraction of what it costs to buy at the store. Not to mention, being fully aware of every single ingredient and knowing it's 100% organic, as much as it's in my control. 

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you were blessed and encouraged by what you've seen here. 💖

Easy Homemade Ice Cream Recipe - No Ice Cream Maker Needed

Determined to eat better/cleaner food without all the weird added stuff (I read my daughter's ice cream carton ingredients. Y'all... that's not ice cream) I recently went on the hunt for a simple, homemade recipe that doesn't require an ice cream machine. I found several versions so I made up my own version based on what I found. No ice cream machine needed - just a standard hand mixer. 

•   2 C. heavy whipping cream 

•   1 can sweetened condensed milk

•   2 tablespoons vanilla (or any extract of choice)

Whip cream in a bowl with a hand mixer until medium peaks form. Fold in condensed milk and flavoring, then mix until stiff peaks form.

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap with extra to fold over the top of the pan. Fill the pan with the ice cream, smooth it flat and lay the top section of plastic wrap directly over the ice cream like a seal. Fold the opposite length over the top. This prevents any ice crystals.

Freeze 8 hours or overnight for best results. 

Peach Rum Sauce Recipe

I recently posted on twitter/X: 

Looking for a new way to preserve fresh peaches, I found a water bath canning recipe for Peach Rum Sauce. 😍  

So, now we all know what I'll be up to tomorrow. 😎😏

So yesterday I rounded up what I didn't have (Captain Morgan Gold Rum) & today made this recipe from Bernardin, a trusted Canadian canning site.  (I took some liberties with this recipe and used the zest of an entire lemon, which is more/less the same amount called for). 

There was a wee bit of peach syrup leftover so I canned that up for immediate use.  Except we've all tasted it, and it'll be gone in absolutely no time! 😂 The golden rum & ripe peaches just really explode with a wonderful flavor of summer.  

This recipe utilizes canned peaches as fresh fruit toppings for desserts, but they can be used in so many ways. Add-ins for oatmeal, yogurt or smoothies, toppings for pancakes or waffles intead of syrup or just eaten alone the same way you'd enjoy any other fruit sauce, like apple sauce. 

This is just another great way to preserve fresh stone fruit you have easy access to.  

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Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Garden 2026 Update #3 - Weather Extremes, Pest Pressure & Shifting Gears

It's been a wild start to the gardening season of 2026. From the first day I transplanted all of my seedlings grown indoors until this week, it's been one thing after another. 

Extreme Weather

For about the last 2 months now, it's been quite literally one extreme or the other. Either unseasonably hot, or cold, or wet, or windy, etc. It's been all of them, and nearly all of my indoor grown seedlings have suffered. I had to replace about half of all my tomato seedlings after they were planted outside. Most of my peppers survived but the plants are just now starting to thrive and really put on fruit so they're weeks behind where they would have been in more seasonal and ideal weather conditions. 

New Urban Pest 

For the first time in the decade+ I've been growing in this space, I had a very hungry ground hog show up and help himself to my immature cucumber plants.

I wasn't sure he was the culprit until I saw him on the back yard cam the same day I discovered my cucumber plant's leaves had been utterly consumed.

Not a coincidence, they love cucumbers as much as people do! Thankfully he moved on that very same day, and most of my cucumbers recovered, and are putting on new growth. 

But as of the end of July they're pushed back nearly 3-4 weeks from producing any fruit. So my cucumber harvest this year isn't looking great, similar to the peppers.

Similar to the tomatoes, cukes and peppers, I had some sort of pest help itself to the garlic I planted last fall. I only ended up harvesting about 10% of what I'd hoped for.  All that to say, I'll be purchasing a lot more from the local farmer's markets this year to process and put up all my family favorite canned goods. Sometimes, it just works out this way. I like to grow what grows well here, and what my family consumes the most of. For us, that's tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic & cucumbers. The only thing not bothered by any pressure this year so far, are the green onions. They're doing fantastic. 😂 Everything else I'll be shopping local for. 

Shifting Gears & Downsizing the Garden

Speaking of family favorite canned goods... I haven't fully decided yet exactly how I'll do this, but as the kids all grow up and move out, there are less and less people here under my roof every year to provide for. So after this gardening season, I'll be changing things up a bit as I plan for next year's garden and the amount of space & seedlings I'll be needing. I have a few fun ideas in mind so I'm kind of looking forward to this upcoming new season and this new chapter in life too. 

Here's a few shots from around the garden in the last few days...

Harry the Thinker Duck (a gift from one of my kids) hanging out in the pepper patch. 

My faithful Garden Assistant - Mr. Noobies 

A lovely volunteer pansie in the Spearmint pot. 

This year's Cayenne peppers for the all the spicy, home canned treats💖

The view from the back deck. Many more pops of color this year! 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊