The End of Summer

It's starting to cool down here in Connecticut. We had so much rain all summer that the last week or more, during which we've had no rain and sunny days, has been all the more appreciated. We lost half of our poor little vegetable garden to late blight (tomatoes), and it was so rainy and damp for so long that the peppers never took off. The squash and pumpkin plants grew, but produced only one zucchini all summer long. But after our warm and dry spell, we finally have over 10 squash on the vines! Elsewhere in the yard . . . I spent the weekend working on front yard flower gardens. At the entrance to our driveway, the perennials had gotten badly out of control. We decided this was the best place in the yard for annuals, so out it all came. I transplanted the best perennials, and the rest are now compost. The photo below is the "before" of one side of the driveway:
And this photo below is the "after." Note that all I did was take out plants. Those beautiful rocks were always there, but you could never see them. I planted mums for fall. I think in the spring we'll also add some mulch.

And this photo below shows both sides of the driveway after I planted the mums, but it's not a very good photo. The strings and stakes are for a future retaining wall, as this is the place where, when we get heavy rains, all the water gushes down the street and then down our driveway.

The end of summer also means the beginning of volleyball. Mary had her first scrimmage on Friday. (No uniforms yet; they're all wearing t-shirts.) She's a Varsity starter. Go Mary!