It’s one of my favorite times of year around the farm.  The Texas heat has given us all a break, allowing us to emerge from our air conditioning cocoon and take a reprieve from the two-shower-a-day minimum if you dare work outside.

Best of all, the garden is getting its fall surge.  My butterfly bush is in full bloom, the hummingbirds have moved south for the winter, and yes, Maybelle the puppy is still digging up my yard like she’s on a mission to find gold.

Admittedly, I’m a gardening novice.  But with each season I’m learning something new.  It’s a big fat game of trial and error.  What I’ve learned so far:

• Garden plates make adorable edging, but puppies will dig them up and sit in the middle of the plate as if they are serving themselves up for dinner.
• Shasta daisies are quite hardy and great bloomers, but puppies will dig them up.
• Big old dogs are content to lie in the grass or on the porch as gardening companions, but puppies will steal your tools and dig right next to you.

Are you sensing a theme here?  Maybelle is a whopping 10-months old now and she is full of spunk and energy.  And she loves to be outside.  This has put a damper on my fall gardening plans, as I might as well be planting dollar bills with her digging habit.  But, Maybelle loves to sit on the  porch and watch the cows and the horses, so I’ll invest in my patience a bit.

In spite of the puppydom that has hit us this year,  I have learned a couple of useful things about gardening.  Around the farm you have to be resourceful.  So this fall when you are harvesting seeds, look no farther than your kitchen.  I found a cutting board and butter knife to be the best tools to sort my seeds.  It made quick and easy work of this task.

My final tip for fall gardening, put those adorable pumpkins up high or puppies will make their own version of pumpkin pie.