Hi, gardeners,

The garden is beautiful this time of year, and the weather is comfortable and cool. It is a great time to visit the garden and catch up with all your friends.

There are many veggies left to harvest, including beans, okra, eggplant, a few tomatoes, and LOTS of arugula, other leaf lettuces and radishes. And, boy!, do we have peppers — (red, orange and green) bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers and red-hot habanero peppers. We will soon be digging up some of the sweet potatoes in the “Lower 40”. And we need to do some deep watering of the pollinator garden and new blueberries that were put in last month. There will be plenty of work to do — please join us if you are able.

As Sandra reminded us last Saturday:

Our Tuesday workdays will end in just one week, on October 28th as we will be moving back to standard time and it will be getting dark too early. Right now, we have Saturday workdays scheduled through the first of December, but that schedule could possibly change.

We’d also like to remind you that next week — on Wednesday October 29th at 6pm — we’re having our end-of-season garden potluck dinner in the education (single-story, red brick) building at Apex United Methodist Church. Bring a dish to share, or if your time is running short, just bring yourself. This is a great occasion to renew old garden friendships and make new friends.

For a special treat at the dinner we have invited Melissa Dowland from the NC Museum of Natural Science. Melissa is an educator and an expert on pollinators. (Please see her recent article on Monarch Butterflies in the Raleigh N&O — http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/14/4140800_making-sure-monarchs-return.html?rh=1.)

We hope to see you at the garden or at the potluck supper next Wednesday evening.

Fred