It is a source of steady amazement to me how something as awe-inspiring and ever-changing as the act of gardening could ever become routine.  But, routine it is, and not in the way you might think. "Routine' is a word that equates to "boring" for many but the older I get the better I like routine.  A bit of predictability is welcome these days and to be able to draw from past seasons for my planning is also very welcome.  For once, I'm not re-inventing the wheel every day of my life.  Don't get me wrong, nothing is ever the same from one day to the next, but at least I have some of my old lists and ideas jotted down to start with, and I've been growing things in this dirt for long enough to know not to be seduced by pictures in the seed catalogs--I pretty much know what will grow here successfully and what won't.
So here we are absolute midst of the hottest part of summer and all I can think of is cool-season crops!  The seedlings are coming along great  as you can see, Will has made terrific progress with getting ground prepped for planting, and we are sadly bidding farewell to most of the tomato plants for this year. Sweet potato vines are running all over their section of the front garden, the stash of winter squash curing for Fall deliveries is growing weekly while some of the winter squash (notably, the Seminole pumpkin squash) are still making little squashes and sending vines out all over the north end of the property!

As the summer season winds down, we still have hundreds of eggplants ready for harvest each week and almost as many peppers.  The irish potato inventory is still plentiful and we've barely dented the elephant garlic basket.  What a blessing to be looking at enough beautiful produce to see us to the end of this successful and abundant season!