Heat Wave

 This is day three in a row of 100ish degrees. (37 C) And that thermometer is in the shade on the north side of the garden shed.  It is 90 in the shade of the front porch, and over 100 in the garden. Plus it is windy which is making it feel like a blast furnace.  Two days ago we had decent cloud cover which stopped things from roasting in the sun, but yesterday and today have been clear and sunny.

In heat like this, things are going to wilt.  Below are the two zucchini plants that I transplanted earlier in the week knowing I would not be able to keep them watered in their black gallon pots.  The one that I transplanted a week earlier is just fine because it has rooted in.  The plant on the left is in leaf mulch that I put down for the cucumbers and the one on the right is in bare soil.

I put mulch around the second one yesterday afternoon to see if it would make a difference.  Just a little bit.  Watering them at that point would not help because the soil was already damp and they can't take it up any quicker than they have been.  I stick to my regular watering schedule but check container plants in the afternoon to make sure that they had enough water to get through the day.  Providing the squash with a little shade would help them.

They are just fine in the morning.

I mulched around the roots of the tomato plants to keep the soil cooler.

I also put a shade cloth over them to give them a break from the afternoon sun.  They are flowering heavily right now and extreme heat and humidity can kill pollen and prevent fruit from setting.

I picked peas in the early morning while they were still fresh from cooler night time temps.  I planted a lot of peas this year because I was getting low on seed peas.  The past two years I only planted two rows which is enough to eat but doesn't leave much to save.  So I was still planting seeds saved in 2022 and 2023.  I planted every last seed I had and intend to save enough seed for a couple of years.  When I pull the peas plants I gather whatever dried pods are on the inside or low on the plants and got missed in the harvest.  This year, because I have plenty, I want to save some of the nicer, large pods for seed.  Which means I am simply leaving some of them on the vine.  Once the pods start to dry they get a textured feel to them.  They will have lost their sweetness.  These will be the ones I pick later and lay out to dry.

I am still picking a little from the first row planted April 1st, mostly from the second row planted a week later and just starting on the third row.  The fourth row is not ready yet.  There are a lot of peas.

Row #3

I have most of what I want to freeze already processed.

The Sweet Corn is visibly growing each day.  It loves the heat.

In preparation for the heat, I did relocate this pot of Begonias into a cooler spot. 

That's about all you can do in a heat wave.  Give things a little extra care and wait for it to break.  Next week we should be back to average weather.

Pumpkins Stage 2

 I have had the Pumpkins protected with wire cloches but they are out growing them.  Pumpkin vines are quite prickly, so I don't expect that the deer would eat them all to the ground, but I want to err on the safe side.  Today I removed the cloches, side dressed with fertilizer and watered that in.

Then I covered them with a floating row cover to keep the deer (and squash vine borers because I saw one of those today too) out for a few more weeks.

The plants are nowhere near as robust as they were last year but I don't know if that can be attributed to the later planting date or the cooler night time temperatures.  We will see.

Pumpkins July 2nd 2025

Today I also planted out my summer squash.  I really did not intend to plant any for myself this year but I seeded them for other people and when I seed something, I always have a backup.  So - now I have summer squash.  I didn't really have a spot planned for them unless it would have been the beds vacated by the peas in a few weeks.  But these are root bound and we are going into a heat wave, so they got stuck in corners.

They were getting a little wilty each day and now starting to bloom.

I picked my first two red raspberries.  Yum!

Today was lawn mowing day.  The lawn that has the three London Plane Trees was proving too challenging to mow with the large, 60" wide, diesel powered zero turn mower.  It is very wet in the spring and fall and with all of the turning and tight spots the large mower would either leave ruts or tear up the corners with the tight turns.  I was considering one of those robotic lawn mowers, but in the end we decided on a DeWalt battery powered, self propelled push mower and I have been mowing it with that while my husband cuts the rest of the acreage.  

This lawn has changed to much in the last 15 years.  Here is a before and after.

It is the prettiest lawn we have.

I'm proud of this lawn.  The lawn clippings get bagged and go straight into my compost pile.  This view is from the neighbor's driveway.  They get to enjoy it more than we do, and it isn't really visible from the road.  But it is the best lawn we have.

Early June Update

Just some snapshots to record progress this year.  The peas look lush and full and the leaf lettuce at their feet has filled in well.

Pea Plantings 1 and 2

Pea Plantings 3 and 4 as well as lettuce

The first planting from April 1st is finally blooming.

The cole crops look good.

A couple of the broccolis and cabbages are forming heads.

Tomatoes, Onions, Basil

Pole Beans

I have a tray of Durango Marigolds ready to plant beside the pole beans now that I am done covering them.  They are hardened off and are going to have to deal with hot weather this week as a transition.

Durango Marigolds

I planted out the cucumbers that were ready.  Two picklers and two slicers.  The later sown plants will be ready on a few days.

It is amazing how fast things pick up when given room to grow.  The zucchini plants have tripled in size in three days.

The direct sown cantaloupes are sluggish, but now they have a row on sunflowers down the middle to set a good example.  Because the sunflowers were a little leggy I gave them some wind deflection.

The Vanilla Cream Marigolds and Apricot Profusion Zinnias are beginning to show some nice color along the Dahlia bed.  All of the Dahlias are up although I did have to take one out and put it in a pot in the cold frame to get it going.  It was a Bloomquist Jean which did awesome the first year but lagged way behind and never flowered last year.  I will have to remember to give it a head start next year.

After I get the rest of the Cucumbers and the Durango Marigolds transplanted, everything will be in the ground and I will be in the Weed Water and Wait stage.

Cukes and Zukes

 The pickling cucumber seeds I sowed on May 20th had some poor germination.  I resowed them and they came up well.  This is the end of my old seeds and next year I will start with fresh seeds.  I am hoping for some rain on Saturday, and if we get it I will go out and transplant them so they have better transition day.

I potted up my summer squash, two varieties (Dunja and Clarimore) in each pot.  One will grow left and the other right.  I will keep these in smaller pots until I plant them out when the peas come out.  From the 4" pot they will be bumped up to gallon pots.

The Coleus that I accidentally broke off on May 20th has put out beautiful roots.  I potted it in soil today.  I will leave it under a grow light for a few days before hardening it off to be planted out.

I also filled in gaps in the sweet corn seeds.  Again - older seed.  

Success in Succession Planting

 My Clarimore Zucchini plant is finally getting tired.  This plant has pumped out dozens of zucchini.  There are usually two or three getting big on the vine at any one time.  But now you can see that the base leaves are yellowing and there is some powdery mildew specs on the leaves against the ground.

If you look at the growing end of the vine, the new blooms are slowing down and the last one did not get pollinated.  It's time for the plant to come out.

Back in July, after a rainstorm, one of the base leaves wilted and I feared it was a sign of a squash vine borer or some viral disease, so I planted a few seeds in a pot and set it aside and in due course I transplanted that resulting plant to a gallon pot. On August 11, after I had pulled the main crop of cucumbers, I set that plant out in the empty space created.  I have already picked the first zucchini from this plant a week or so ago, and there are two new zucchinis just about ready.

Out with the old - In with the new.

Picking and Poking

Today I picked enough beans to freeze a gallon.

Then I caught up on picking pickling Cucumbers.  A few got too big.

And I planted the spare Clarimore Zucchini plant where the slicing Cucumbers were taken out.  Back in the high humidity of July, after a rainstorm, the original plant exhibited one very wilty leaf.  Concerned that it was the beginning of wilt disease or an indicaton of Squash Vine Borer damage, I immediately cut that leaf off and sowed a potential replacement.  It has been hanging out in a gallon pot where it has recently decided it can't make it through the day on its allotment of water.  It will be easier to keep watered in the ground and it can go ahead and crank out too many squash.

A morning Sunflower....

 

First Tomato and August Update

 I picked the first slicing Tomato today.  It is my PaPaw's Tomato.  Not a surprise.  It is often the first to ripen.  All of the Tomato plants are covered in fruit so soon I will be giving them away.  But tomorrow, this will be my lunch!

Right now it is all about Corn and Beans!  We are finishing up the early Solstice Corn which has been awesome, and by next weekend we will be starting on the larger Gotta Have It variety.

Gotta Have It

Seychelles

I am having to make water choices now.  I am half way through my water tank and just a 50/50 chance of a thunderstorm mid-week.  The late Corn and the Beans get as much water as they need, and after that it gets rationed to the containers with Sweet Potatoes, Peppers and Eggplants.  The Tomatoes are fine without and the Cucumbers are wrapping up.

I fully expected to pull the Pickling Cucumber vines first.

But today the Gateway slicer vines went over the hill so those came out.  They were showing the first hint of wilt, and since they had no babies coming along, rather than let the wilt get worse I just pulled them out.

Zucchini with Dahlias in the background

Dahlias and English Cucumbers

I have Chelsea Prize English Cucumbers blooming now.  They are obviously not bred for disease resistance because they are a greenhouse Cucumber and usually greenhouses are much more protected environment.

Chelsea Prize English Cucumbers

Last year I did not water the Compost Volunteer Cantaloupes even once, so I am taking the same route this year.  The Pumpkins don't get water because they are just for fun, but the Pumpkins are gaining size anyway.

Cantaloupe and Pumpkins

Last year I religiously watered the Belstar Broccoli and got an exceptional second crop.  But then I did not have Sweet Corn hogging the water.  This year I am watering sparingly and they are still putting out new branches.  You can see the fresh, bluish foliage below.

The Tomatoes and Bell Peppers are disease free and producing.  I would say that the plants are not as thick as they were last year and that is probably due to them stalling out in early June from the weather.  But I also have one less Tomato plant in the row than I did last year.  So far I think that the fruit production is going to be comparable.

Wall-O Tomat-O

The Sweet Potatoes and Carrots in containers are growing well.  The Carrot greens are beginning to get weary.  I haven't pulled a Carrot recently but I am sure they have reached the bottoms of the containers by now.  I also have a row of YaYa Carrots fending for themselves behind the Strawberry cages.  I pulled one yesterday for a snack and they are doing well.  I will leave those in the ground past frost to use for autumn cooking.

Sweet Potatoes and Carrots

Beans!  We have lots of Beans.  I have picked many meals from them a handful at a time and then made my Dilly Beans and tomorrow I will start picking to freeze.  We go through two gallons of frozen beans a year.  I water them well at least every other day.  They have Marigolds at their feet to keep the roots cool and shaded and I haven't had much trouble with them wilting in the hot afternoons.  We are pushing 90F now and they are very happy.  You have to be more careful when maintaining Bush Beans because if they wilt they stub the Beans against the ground and you get a lot of curly Beans.  Pole Beans are comparatively easy.  These look even better than last year.  Last year the yellow Monte Gusto variety had quite pale vines and I never got them to green up and look nice.  These are very happy.

Monte Gusto on the left and Seychelles to the right

The Dwarf Tomatoes and Onions are doing fine. but the Kookaburra Cackle and Summertime Gold varieties are showing quite a bit of disease.  It is not really passing to the Adelaide Festival plant at the head of the row.  Last year that one was very disease resistant.  

The Kookaburra Cackle Tomato will be the first Dwarf to ripen.  It is a brown Tomato descending from Cherokee Purple. We'll see if it is a keeper or not. 

I am down to just a handful of container plants.  A backup Zucchini plant, some Strawberry babies and ornamental purple Peppers.  

Once again I am fighting a losing battle against flea beetles on the Eggplant, but Little Prince does not seem to mind and is producing "an abundance" of fruit just as advertised.

Just look at all of those lousy beetles

The landscape is looking nice and not presenting any problems.  

I just have to keep my eyes open for the occasional weed! 

Turn your back just for a minute!