It’s the most bountiful time of the year!
Garden bloggers near and far post each Saturday to fill each other in on their garden’s progress. This was all started by The Propagator whose comment section holds links to gardens and their keepers worldwide.
ONE – Apples continue to ripen, and we’ve now picked many pounds (maybe a couple hundred?) from all four trees. Most become cider, sauce, and crisps, but we store plenty in cool spots like the basement and garage for fresh eating. This is the best year yet for our sweet/tart reddish apples, still unidentified. Oh so juicy. Their success is due in large part to my sister M.C.’s excellent thinning work when she visited in late June.
TWO – Not to be outdone by the apples, tomatoes are going gangbusters in the greenhouse. Uneven watering (mea culpa) led to some splitting, but the deliciousness of these heirlooms can’t be beat. All five varieties I grew this year continue to produce.
THREE – Growing near the tomatoes, our peppers have had a stellar year. One sweet pepper plant produced eight already, which may be a Coppertop record. Jalapeños are too numerous to count. I’ve been busy dicing and freezing for the months ahead.
FOUR – We’re loving the abundant dahlias. I bring in blooms and also try to give away bouquets every other day to stay on top of things. Friday’s were particularly autumnal, but that’s because I didn’t venture down to the cutting beds that have the most pinks and purples.
FIVE – And autumnal is also the best word for this Northern Flicker feather I found on the deck. Such a beauty with that bright orange shaft. 
SIX – For something completely unrelated, check out the glossy fruit and red stems on this large, graceful Aronia melanocarpa or Black Chokeberry. This shrub sits outside the garden shed, and it’s given us much beauty. I’m including a photo of its fall color from a previous October as we await this year’s show. These are now available in dwarf, mounding form as well. Great plant!
That’s it for today. I look forward to reading all the other Six on Saturday posts!
Gardens at Coppertop 
I didn’t know that the Northern Flicker had such pretty feathers 😊
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It stopped me in my tracks!
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What lovely apples. You are fortunate to be able to grow so much fruit.
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Agreed, Mala. The trees were planted before we arrived and are great producers.
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Do you use the Aronia berries or are they for the birds? Chokeberry isn’t an encouraging name. I have a Sarcococca that I hope will one day produce similar high gloss black fruit.
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I leave them for the birds. They’re edible, but so astringent that too much sugar would be needed to make them palatable! I’ve read that they’re super healthy, though. Honestly, we have too much fruit on our hands this month…
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Gads! For the birds? I so want to grow the for jelly. Every time I plant one, something bad happens to it. I have not gotten more than a few berries from them.
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I love your six. Those tomatoes look wonderful and so many apples. A Northern Flicker is new to me, I wonder what he looks like.
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He’s handsome. Spotted, large, and displays flashes of orange when in flight!
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What a lovely selection for your six. Am now imagining you eating very well for months to come!
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Thank you, Cathy. Eating well has not been a challenge EVER for me. 😉
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If Aronia berries are so astringent, why not use a little to make gin? I tried in late August a gin of sloes with sugar and spices (cinnamon, anise, and 5 coffee beans) It will be ready in a month!
But I don’t know if it’s possible with your berries that I didn’t know. (PS: nice apples and peppers!)
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Ah, Fred, you may be on to somthing here.
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200g of berries for 200g of sugar ( + 1 ts of cinnamon , 1 star anise, 5 coffee beans and I forgot vanilla) + gin of course in a 2L bottle
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Oh, your apples do look good. Apple crisps sound good too. I have been making lots of apple and blackberry crumbles (not so good for the waist) as we have a blackberry in the garden. No apples though.
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Berry crisps and crumbles are some of my favorites as well. We need to use what we’re given! 😉
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Those Adonis berries are beautiful. Love the Dahlia colours as well
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Computers love to edit aronia to either arena or adonis! The black berries shine brightly from their corner. Not sure how the birds resist.
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The apples look delicious. You must be almost be self sufficient in fruit and veg for the winter months something which I can’t begin to imagine. Autumn seems to arrive so suddenly where you are (Our summer goes on well into Autumn).
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It is really great to have harvests stored away now. Today we picked another 50 pounds of apples and about 20 of pears. Our slide into autumn is gradual since we are on the coast. Our first frost won’t be until early November with some luck!
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A great harvest. The peppers look fantastic and I am chastened – I must thin my apples more ruthlessly. You look as though you have been well rewarded by your sister’s good work!
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Yes, she was a gem to help with that! I definitely think the size of apples increases with thinning, so less picking required for the same yield.
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Good advice. I do it with plums and when I only had one rather ‘moth eaten’ apple tree.
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Never heard of a Northern Flicker….out Dahlias are stuggling this year..
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The flickers enjoy our suet, so we get to admire their beauty for a while while they hang around pecking at it. Sorry to hear about your dahlias. We can’t have all successes within a year. Wouldn’t that be dull?
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What a beautiful post. I loved every picture and description. Happy Monday!
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May you have a beautiful Monday too, Cindy. Whats not to love about fall?
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your heritage tomatoes look glorious 🙂 I love the dahlia colours – mine sulked this year as I didn’t water enough when it was stonkingly hot in Manchester UK (and no rain for six weeks – unheard of). Im enjoying the autumn colour change here too… my neighbour’s have virginia creeper which made it onto my six this week. Love Bec 🙂
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Hi Bec! I’m on a road trip and eager to see how my Virginia Creeper changed while away. They’re dependably lovely. Dahlias do need water. I had fun picking the almost ombre blend of white, yellow, gold, peach, pink, blush tubers for a new long bed last year, and it’s really shining now.
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Wow what a bounty you are harvesting this year! Next doors apple tree is a big disappointment this year, much less fruit. I think it got parched at a key time earlier in the summer. Lovely six.
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Hello Mr. P! Yes, the dry weather didn’t help your harvests. Sad. I’ve noticed the location of our orchard at the bottom of our hill gives the trees a better chance during dry summers. See you tomorrow!
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What a harvest 🙂
When I think of your blog two things come to mind first and foremost. The dahlias and the abundance of your harvest!
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Thank you, Frank. Much more pleasant than being known for voles and weeds — two other common things here!
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Those dahlias are gorgeous. My first year w/6 types of peppers, sweet & hot. The hot exploded w/fruit, the sweet slowly came along, so now I know that’s the norm. Yours look really scrumptious! And that chokeberry foliage is beautiful.
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Glad you’ve delved into pepper growing. They seem to go so well with tomatoes, I get tons of pleasure from our dahlias, and they grow well here, so it’s a win! See you on SoS, Lora!
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