Cucumbers in October

We've been slowly changing the yarden over for fall crops. We planted carrots and beets a few weeks ago. They are slowly beginning to sprout. Many of the tomatoes are not only still producing but are producing beautiful, plump tomatoes. At the moment, my kitchen window is filled to the brim with tomatoes in various stages of ripeness, ranging from a lovely lime green to a deep red.  The zinnias continue to flourish--no longer individual plants, now a single large bush covered with blooms and buds. Each time I think they are reaching the end of their season, I cut a few of the last blooms and *ta-da* new buds develop, new blooms open. We only ended up with one edible watermelon. The others suffered from bottom rot or insects. The cantaloupe seemed to have suffered a similar fate, though a couple of them simply disappeared over the course of the summer (ninja squirrels, perhaps?)

We finally got an opportunity to harvest the sunflowers.  Ardis enjoyed getting to pull the seeds from the blooms.

We ended up with 2 cups worth of seeds from 3 sunflower heads.

We let the 2 cups of seeds soak in a brine of 1/4 cup salt in 2 quarts of water over night.

We drained the seeds, patted them dry, and, then, roasted them in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

The sunflower seeds turned out well- though we did have to keep an eye out for roasted buggies.

This afternoon, while perusing the garden and walking to the mailbox, I noticed that the cucumber seeds we'd planted midsummer had actually produced one fairly healthy vine. When this vine grew, I do not know. After a good look over, I discovered one cucumber the size and shape of a golfball and a half dozen, inch long cucumbers hidden behind leaves. It was quite the discovery, considering how determined I was to have cucumbers this summer to no avail. However, I seem to be lucky enough to get to have cucumbers this fall.