I’m a big fan of the Weather Channel. This week I’ve been following Hurricane Florence. I admit I’ve had some trepidation lately. It has been hot and humid for so long. It’s the kind of conditions known as a hurricane magnet.

Also, the great white shark sightings on the Cape indicate very warm water which also adds to hurricane anxiety.

Never mind all that — the vegetable garden is producing like crazy. My late-planted paste tomatoes are ripening. For the first time in years I planted the heirloom Principe Borghese. This is the Italian one famous for sun-dried tomatoes. They have very few seeds and juice. Therefore they are great for a sauce. It hauled out the Squeezo Strainer and processed enough for a canner load of juice. I will cook it down this winter when I have time and could use the heat in the kitchen.

When I can plain tomato juice I simply bring the pressure cooker up to 10 pounds and turn it off. If I add garlic, onions or any other low-acid vegetable the processing time must be checked carefully and followed to the letter. One does not wish to invite botulism. I have been canning food for 40 years and am still alive.

My peppers, I’m sad to report, are great looking but are not producing. I used too much fertilizer which caused lots of leaf growth but no fruit. No matter, Rusty at Ghost Island Farm has some beautiful ones in several colors.

I love onions but raw not so much. The best way to enjoy them in a salad is to slice them thinly and soak in red wine vinegar while preparing the rest of the salad. They have all the crunch but none of the “bite.”

In the spring I seeded some Little Buddy Gomphrena and some melampodium. It is a great combination for the edge of the border. They are both under a foot tall but keep right on blooming with zero dead-heading.

A late-blooming annual that will spruce up a shade garden is plectranthus. I like the cultivar Velvet Elvis. They are half-price at some of the nurseries right now and will perform right up until a freeze.

Because I was less than consistent with my watering, my favorite fall astilbe, Pumila, did not live up to its potential. I like it as it blooms very late summer and spreads to form a nice ground cover. This year, it dried up before it even bloomed — totally my fault. The good news is that it will be back next year. Hopefully, I learned my lesson. As if!

Between the Bob Woodward book and the anonymous op-ed in the New York Times, our president is having a pretty bad week. I guess he never learned as most folks do by his age to wear the world as a loose garment.

He has absolutely no ability to let go of any perceived slight. He is always talking about how no one is treating him fairly. Who has had a more fair life? The man actually has a gold toilet in Trump Tower.