I am happy it is September, and I know fall is coming because my toad lily is preparing to bloom. These buds are growing larger, and cascade down the leaf fronds. I have three pots of toad lilies in a three tiered stand.
There are going to be a lot of blooms this year. The leaves are turning brown in a few areas, and I think it is because they got too much sun. This is a shade loving plant, and next year I need to move it to an even shadier area of the veranda. Still, it seems happy enough to bloom.
For your critter watch, Wilson came back for a visit. My Sweet Babboo saw him and tried to get a photo, but he runs off quickly when spooked, too fast to get a good focus on the camera. He eats a lot of acorns, but thankfully leaves my garden alone.
The garden is winding down, and I gave up on the squash. I pulled up all the plants and cleaned out the planter box.
Two basil plants are covered in leaves. I’m using those fresh wherever I can. Later, I think I will transplant it into a pot, and keep it going in the kitchen. I can always freeze the leaves if that doesn’t work out.
There are still tomatoes on the little grape tomato plant. These have been so sweet, delicious!
Some larger tomatoes will be ripening soon too, on the last Better Boy vine.
Recently, I decided to roast a bunch of ripe ones in the oven. I had more than we could eat!
I use a low temp of 250º for about 6 hours. I scraped the tomatoes into a jar, added some olive oil and some of my fresh basil, and let it cool.
A few days later, I used the roasted tomatoes on a homemade pizza. I spread the tomatoes on top of a pizza crust dough with a bit of added sauce from a jar, then topped it with sausage, mushrooms, green onions, spinach, and fresh basil. After this photo, I added the cheese.
Baked for about 15 minutes, yum!
A complete meal in a slice, LOL! Fewer dishes to wash is a good thing.
Today is the first cooking contest, so I’ll be baking my coffee cake and finally getting to the fair. I can’t wait to see if any of my entries impressed the judges enough to earn a ribbon. We’ll see!
From My Carolina Home 
GOOD LUCK TODAY!!
Good luck at the bake off!
good luck with the fair – I have never had basil look that good
Woohoo!! Hope you find lots of ribbons. Hope the cooking goes well and impresses the judges. I’d be all fingers and thumbs if I had to do it on site.
GOOD LUCK!! :))
That pizza looks yummy !
WOW, love that basil plant….it is stand tall and proud. I usually give up on the row of basil in the garden when the leaves start to turn brown. We love basil and when it is growing well, I pick it and make pesto for the freezer and we enjoy it thru the winter cold months.
Love all you share with us on your site.
Good luck at the fair.
Good luck at the fair !!
Good luck at the fair. The pizza looks amazing!
This might be the best post ever! I must try your slow-roasted tomatoes. Oh, they’d be great on a Rick pizza! I just made another batch of pesto and hopefully have enough for a third. What is your freezing technique? Ziplocks? Ice trays? Any ideas? I’ve never done that!
The pizza looks amazing! We had pizza last night and I realized I forgot to put fresh basil on it until I saw your picture of your basil plant.
Have fun at the fair today!
Good luck at the fair! I’m rooting for you.
That basil plant is impressive! I repot my basil and put on the windowsill to extend my enjoyment of fresh basil.
Your pizza photo made my mouth water! Mm mm.
Hello! Your basil looks lovely and healthy.. I only just realised that it LOVES water.. I now keep mine in a vase without soil, just a bit of plant food… it seems to thrive that way.
Those tomatoes look yummy. We have been doing sun dried, but there’s not enough sun now to do them, so if I get any more, I think I will try this! Your basil looks so very happy. We had a huge on indoors u til we decided to use it for cooking…then it died! Now we try to keep a plant or two going under the grow lights for cooking.
And, good luck today!
I love the toad lilies. I’m always on the look out for shade loving plants that grow in pots. Do they return after wintering outdoors? Do they need special conditions over the winter? Or are they annual?
You grow the most interesting plants!
Enjoy your first day at the fair! Small grape tomatoes are my favorite fresh off the vine, and they do tend to produce pretty late into the fall, which is a real treat.
That pizza looks divine! Best of luck at the fair.
Oh that pizza – it looks amazing
GOod luck at the bake off!!!
Good luck today!! Your pizza looks so delicious! I’ve been away from my garden in Texas for 4 weeks (been with my husband at our Arizona place). I left drip irrigation on so it wouldn’t dry out, so I’m curious to see what it looks like when I get back this weekend. Worst case scenario is that it’s time to put in fall tomatoes 🙂 I’ve never tried slow roasting tomatoes, I’ve only done them quickly at high temps. I would like to try the slow process and see how it develops the flavor also. I’m repeating myself, but good luck today with the coffee cake, I hope it’s a winner!
Best of luck in the cooking competition! Your pizza looks delicious, good enough to eat, I’d say!
Yum! I am going to roast some tomatoes this weekend – the last of the season for us too. Best of luck with the entries! I have never seen frog lilies – very cool!
Do you pre wash fabric? Do you know the secret to keep it from wrinkling?