A Cool Pickle Day

 This week of July is typically the hottest week of the year for us.  And that's exactly when Pickle Day usually happens.  But today is rainy and cool with a breeze and right now, at 3:30 pm, it is only 62F (16C).  

We use the turkey fryer to process pickles so we can keep a lot of the steam outside, and we had to move the turkey fryer to the corner of the deck because the breeze kept blowing out the flame.

The turkey fryer basket holds seven pint jars which is perfect for the amount of pickles we eat each year.

I cut enough cucumbers to have two or three pints of refrigerator pickles and had brine left over which will keep for another week.  When I get more cucumbers, I will make a batch of dill pickles, and I will have the option of processing more bread and butter.

The refrigerator batches are my favorite.  They are so crisp because they have not been cooked and we have been out of sweet pickles for over a month now so these will go fast!

Early July Vegetable Update

 These twice monthly status reports are very helpful to me to look back on and gauge the relative progress each year.  I checked back to last year's post and I can see that the corn and tomatoes are doing well, the cucumbers are ahead this year and the beans are behind.  This is due mainly to the weather because the weather initially dictates when a crop can be seeded and then the temperatures will makes changes in the growth rates.  Initially, cold night time temperatures in early June stalled some things (tomatoes) and then the extreme heat affected others (pole beans).  Overall, it is a good year and things are on track.

Solstice Sweet Corn

Gotta Have It Sweet Corn

Both varieties of sweet corn showed tassels this weekend so I side dressed with fertilizer and put another layer of string to keep them from being blown over in the wind.

The cantaloupe vines are short but flowering.  The Sunflowers down the center are doing great.

I think the cucumbers are ahead.  There is fruit set on the earliest vines.  The zucchini are flowering like crazy, but the male flowers just started so the earlier flowers did not pollinate.

The Blackberries and Black Raspberries are growing great and I will get some Blackberries to taste.  This bed will need support, but I want to see the growth habits before I make any final decisions.  I think I will sink a post in the middle of each end and run a cattle panel down the middle.

Grapevines

The Pole Beans are behind despite getting a good start.  They suffered in the extreme heat, and I should have gotten them mulched ahead of time because the leaf tips nearest the soil burned a bit.  Now that they have mulch and cooler roots they are growing again and putting out flowers.

The early peas are pretty much done.

The vines are dying and I can start pulling dried pods.  Harvesting for seed is different than harvesting to eat and satisfying in a different way.

The later peas are in their prime.

The tomato plants are doing very well.  They have been trimmed and supported.

The early fruit set from when it was transplanted is growing, and the vines are flowering again.

The bell pepper plants are looking terrific.  These were pretty pale and spindly when I planted them, but they love the container set up and the partial shade from the fence rail and they are branching out well from the lower leaf nodes despite having shed all of the original lower leaves.

They are flowering and setting fruit.

My Havasu Hot Peppers are having a great year.  They grew well under the lights and were setting fruit at transplant time.

The peppers are just beginning to show some ripe (orange) color around the stem.

The onions are behind this year but I side dressed with fertilizer and they loved that heat wave.

All in all it is a good, average year.  No disappointments yet, and just your average challenges.  I didn't say much about the cole crops because I was too lazy to uncover them.  The Broccoli was good and the plants were healthy enough to leave standing for side shoots.  The Cauliflower has been slow and small.  The one that we already harvested was small but exceedingly sweet and the next one is about ready.

The Romaine Lettuce has been excellent and the Cabbages are ready.

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.

Cool Weather

 This growing season has been a challenge because of cool weather, especially at night.  Today's forecast high is 59F (15C) and that will be brief.  Tonight's low will be 48F (9C) and there are several things in the garden now that do NOT like to be velow 55F.   It is very overcast.  We got a wonderful drenching rain yesterday evening which was much appreciated, and now the rest of the week will be cool but mostly sunny.  

I still have my sweet potato vines covered because of the night time temperatures.  The first batch planted in May, gave it up pretty quickly.  I didn't cover those because I was being stubborn.  Their leaves dropped off pretty quick, despite being hardened to the sun, but the stems remained green and I thought maybe they were rooting in under the soil.  But then one night a racoon climbed the fence and rummaged through the entire grow bag.  I only found two of the five stems and they were not so good looking.  After that the electric fence went on.  I replanted (always save backups!) and covered them and they are doing well.

Looking a little pale and shivery this morning, but putting out new leaves.

Another do over was the sweet corn.  I had great germination from the replant so I must have gotten the seeds too deep the first time.  I planted the second batch with a marked dibber so I got them exactly 1.5" deep.

Third replant of the day:  the grape vine.  My Dad told me that he tried growing grapes and they "died back then came back up and the grapes were awful".  Yup, his must have come up from root stock also.  This one is safely growing above the graft.

My first Dahlia bloom of the season.  This is a border height (2 foot) Dahlia which reach mature height and bloom much earlier.  I need more of these for annuals.  A few years ago I planted Pablo in front of the house but all of the tubers had leafy gall so I tossed them.  I had planted Geraniums in that area several years in a row so the leafy gall was probably in that soil.  Next year I'll try Pablo again in a different area.  Border Dahlias are a pretty efficient way of getting annual color and not spending a fortune year after year.

Border Dahlia Art Deco

Hardening Off

 This morning we had a Freeze.  A Frost occurs when the air temperature is 32F-36F (0C-2C).  A Freeze is anything below 32F.  This morning it was around 28F (-2C).  The 10 day forecast has warmer night time temperatures so it is time to start moving my more tender Pepper, Tomato and Coleus plants out into the cold frame.

Hardening off is the process of getting plants grown indoors under a grow light accustomed to cooler temperatures, wind stress and most importantly sun.  I keep the workshop under 70F (21C) so they are used to more mild temperatures, but sudden extreme heat would affect them.  I keep fans on my seedlings so actual wind is not such a big deal.  Sunburn is the most damaging problem.  

The accepted program is to bring seedlings out for an hour each day, increasing by an hour each day until they can be out all day.  Then they can be transplanted  That process takes at least a week. You already know how "lazy" I am about hardening off the Cole Crops.  I have a shortcut for hardening off the rest of my plants too.  I am blessed with this cold frame.  The polycarbonate panels transmit only 80% of sunlight preventing sunburn.  If I bring the plants out to the cold frame for a week, they can then go from the cold frame directly out to the garden without sunburning.

I have had Marigolds, Zinnias and Dahlias out here for a week.  They have weathered several frosts out here because the cold frame generally stays about 10 degrees warmer than the night time temperature.  Now that we have little risk of frost for the next 10 days they can go out in the garden.  I am not going to jump the gun and plant them out yet.  I moved them out to the raised bed garden, which is warmer anyway because of all of the gravel, where they will be protected from critters.  They can get used to overhead watering, and more wind and direct sun before they get transplanted.  I remember one year I planted out four dozen Marigolds, and we got a frost a few days later.  I had to cover 48 individual plants.  With pots mostly.  With a rock on top of each pot to keep it from blowing away.  I'm not doing that again.  Last year I had most of my vegetables either in the ground or potted up into larger containers, when we got  days of cold rain.  I'm not doing that again either.

White Marigolds and Profusion Zinnias

I am really looking forward to planting these out.  Usually when I finally get out to the local greenhouses to pick up what I have not grown, I am tempted to buy more big, beautiful annuals.  Not this year.  My annuals are looking amazing.

Dahlias from seeds (left) and a tray of mail order Perennials

There is no sense in taking unnecessary risks.  I pinned some frost cloth over them.  This cloth blocks 50% of sunlight.  If I keep them covered all day that would actually move them backwards in the hardening off process.  I will just put it on in the evenings.

Now I have room to move more tender annuals from the grow lights to the cold frame.  My Tomatoes are coming out and my Coleus cuttings.  Coleus is very sensitive to cold.  I didn't want to knowingly expose them to frost.  

These El Brighto Coleus are from four plants I bought mail order back in 2024.  These are a Proven Winners variety that are impossible to find locally. I took cuttings and over wintered them from 2024 to 2025.  Then last fall I took more cuttings.  I lose a few cuttings each winter, but I have enough for what I want to do with these and this fall I will probably take cuttings again.  I was planning to order in a few more of their varieties this year, but I don't really have any other spots that I want to use Coleus right now.  I just can't lose my stock, so I have a spot where they will work.

Today I also started putting out my Dahlia tubers. Its a big project and I am easing myself into it. We are going to have a couple of days of rain, but I'll get back to that project later this week.

The Waiting Place

 I have started moving trays out to the cold frame.  The Waiting Place.  In a cooler, less lighted environment, their growth will slow and they will have to hang out there until better weather comes.

Marigolds

I am so proud of my tray of white Marigolds and my Profusion Zinnias.  A commercial grower couldn't do any better.  I also have my Dahlias grown from seed in the cold frame.  This frees up space under the grow light.

Zinnias

We have a 10 day forecast of cool, gloomy weather. The lower graph is cloud cover.  I wouldn't mind the rain if it would clear up after and give us a little ray of sunshine.

wunderground.com

Moving three trays out into the cold frame frees up space under the new grow lights for some of the second string plants.  A few days after their rotten FedEx ordeal, the Romence annuals are putting out some blooms.  But the first thing I see when I walk through the door is the baby tomato on the Orange Hat micro tomatoes.

The new Dahlia tubers that are being "woken up" in a tray of soil are doing well.  I even tried pinching one back and rooting the sprout.  I have a plastic bag over the pot as a make-shift humidity dome.

The past few years I have direct sown Durango Marigolds at the feet of the pole beans.  I may as well start them indoors on a heat mat.  When I transplant them into cells they can go out into the cold frame.

My Ornamental Peppers could stand some leg room.  I need to transplant them into 3.5" pots.  This will require some culling as I have 36 cells and the tray will only hold 18 pots.  Okay, I seeded some extra just in case and at this point it is time to let some go.  What I will probably do is plant into two trays and one will stay under grow lights and one tray will go out to the cold frame to continue their role as spares.

Peppers

The Indeterminate Tomatoes are doing well.  Probably no need to bump them up to larger pots.  If they start to get root bound that will just slow their growth until they can go outside,

And outside, the Strawberry plants are blooming their heads off.

As far as I can tell, there is still at least a week until the Dahlia tubers can go out into the bed and two weeks until the Tomatoes and Peppers can go out to the Cold Frame to begin the hardening off process.