Good very cold Monday to you all.  "Very cold," of course, is a relative term.  It will get colder later but compared to what has been-it is COLD.  I really am not ready for cold weather.  I am not ready for the blank spots in my garden.  Oh well, the seasons change and our patterns have to change also.  I did put the heat on this morning when we woke.  The inside temperature was 65.  That is about our comfort limit.  And we had frost on our bedroom window and on the roofs.

I mentioned yesterday an article I had read a few days before about French honey bees producing blue and green honey.  According to this Grist article, bees have done that before.  Evidently bees aren't very discriminating--if it is sweet, they will eat it.

I just finished gathering all of the peppers and cutting down those plants.  I will leave the roots until I get things going in the spring.  Not bad--four pint baggies of the spicy (jalapeno style) peppers, one of very small bullnose, and three of lipstick.  All in the freezer now.  I dumped large pots of orange mint and peppermint--too many roots to bother trying to salvage the dirt.  Also pulled the basil (thoroughly done) and the patchouli (not as bad but it clearly did not like the cold.)  I also transplanted the spearmint cuttings into a pot for the winter (outside) but was disappointed that the lavender and sage hadn't rooted at all.  By books say sage is best propagated by splitting so I will see about that next spring.  The gardens aren't quite bare.  I still have tansy, pyrethrum, sage, lavender, variegated marjoram, oregano, pineapple sage, blueberry, roses, and mums.  See how they survive the winter.