Kitchen garden - late summer, early fall

In late September there isn't much to do with your kitchen garden except clean up and recap. On the whole it was an OK year, considering all the garden neglect, but why the zucchini stopped producing while still healthy is a mystery. Tomatoes are just about shot although those magnificently indeterminate grape tomatoes will keep making a few fruit. Looks like a few late eggplant and peppers will be produced as well because they recovered somewhat from the blighty conditions. Late pole beans are just about ready to pick and maybe a few snap peas will make it too. The big surprise were the cucumbers which are still making some fruit. Usually the bacterial wilt nails them in August. No idea how these escaped, maybe it was a bad year for the beetle vectors. The wet spring and early summer may have aided the milky spore fungus that attacks beetle larvae because the Japanese beetles were not all that bad and June bugs were uncommon. 
Some fall lettuce will be ready soon, but the bloody squirrels dug up all the spinach, a downside of container gardening. This time of year the squirrels dig up everything. And now, as announced excitedly by the kitty-girls, they have partners in crime, a pair of chipmunks, which are rather unusual around here especially in town. So far no problems have arisen from their residency, and they are plenty cute.  Guess the gardens are wildlife friendly so long as the kitty-girls remain inside or on a leash, a binary choice.
Unfortunately a lot of lawn remains to be mowed and it has to be done before going to a dinner party later. Yesterday was spent digging holes, planting trees & shrubs, and watering those and other newish plantings before a dinner club wine and goodies party. The weather is quite beautiful in terms of temperature, but it's dry, dry enough to create a lot of early leaf fall, and so mowing will kick up a lot of dust and spores so TPP's sinuses and eyes will suffer. Apparently margaritas are an remedy.