The end is near!

It's downright apocalyptic what's happening in the garden right now. We've had our first freeze here in GroveAtopia, and although the weather has been exceptionally fine for the past few days, the garden has taken its hit and responded accordingly.

What's left is a Darwinian freak show consisting of only the hardiest survivors and twisted mutations of what was meant to be.

Look at these tomatoes. Despite the death of the foliage, the green ones continue to ripen. In another patch, a bunch of volunteer tomatoes escaped the freeze and are just finishing their bloom. In mid-October. What fools!

In preparing the beds for their winter slumber today I discovered all manner of freakish vegetables. Besides the silly tomatoes still acting as if it were summer, there was broccoli that was oddly twisted and yellow. Gigantic garlic cloves overlooked during the harvest that took place months ago. One last hearty cucumber, misshapen, but still entirely edible. Green beans, as thick as your thumb, nearly as long as your forearm and tough as nails. A single carrot, the texture of rope.

Only the parsley, green onions and lettuce seemed happy and normal.

If it weren't for the freakish malformations left in the garden, you might almost convince yourself it was spring. But one glance upward at the blazing red maples and brilliant yellow walnut tree and you know. This is not the beginning that spring brings.

Clearly the end is near.