Summer Rains

The rain  this summer has been keeping our July nice and cool this year. It's still been a little too warm for some of my tomato plants to produce well but they're looking healthy and I have hopes for a nice fall tomato crop.

They say it probably hit 100 degrees for a short bit one day so far but I don't think it quite made it where I was so I'm refusing to count it. The rain and warm weather has gotten my cucumbers to produce really well this year. We've eaten several of them so far and there are still more growing. Likewise the pepper plants are loving the weather. They would grow in hotter weather too but with the rain and nice temperatures there are plenty of peppers for making tasty meals.  For some reason the zucchini isn't doing so well though. They made some fruit and then began to die back. I thought people always talked about the plentiful zucchini but maybe I need to redo the soil. There's always next year.

The potatoes made little bitty potatoes after the tops died back. If there's anything else down there I haven't found it. It's possible that it's really deep though and I want to wait to dig any deeper so as not to disturb any neighboring plants. There are still onions in the ground nearby as well as some herbs.

Garden Harvest

The garden is growing well. Here are a few of the picks from yesterday.  We already ate one of the zucchini and a few of the cherry tomatoes.  The peppers we have planned for a curry although we haven't decided which kind to make yet.  It will almost definitely involve potatoes though since, as far as we can tell, potatoes seem to go well in every curry dish.

 

There are plenty more tomatoes out there as well as some more forming zucchini and peppers. There is also some squash that should be ready soon and hopefully some cucumber.

 

I planted some green onion from seed recently and it's taking off well enough.  It isn't huge but it's already a few inches tall. Quicker than I expected.

 

It's supposed to continue raining for some time this week which hopefully won't interfere too much with the outdoor activities we have planned. The percent isn't too high so maybe it will be mostly morning showers.  We can deal with that.

Zuchini

The zucchini plant has been growing fairly well. So far there has only been one female flower to speak of. When I saw it open one morning I made sure it got pollinated and voila it started to grow. now if only it would make more female flowers we could have a nice side dish with dinner, or maybe a baked zucchini dish. At any rate, only one will not do for anything but a quick snack, but oh what a snack that would be.

After the Heat

What's left in the garden?
At the back of the house there are still some tomato plants that have endured the heat and kept alive as well as some new tomato plants that have decided to sprout.
On the side of the house there's basil, beets and cucumber.
At the front of the house there's chives and fennel.
At the garden there are still the zucchini and squash plants as well as a little bee balm and onion. This fall they should produce well.
Pulled some onions from the back that seemed done for the summer and they were tiny. So maybe fall onions will be better.

Saving Seeds

With the terrible heat we've been having it's that much more important to be saving seeds. Not only are there that many less seeds out there to be had but the seeds that are available locally are more likely to be more heat resistant and able to produce in the conditions we've had.
Today I'm going to pick zucchini and see what else is out in the garden that's looking good. Maybe someone out there will be willing to let me have some seeds from their crops. If not, there's still some seeds I want to put in the ground for when the heat lets up. Who knows, maybe the seeds will sprout and stay shaded under the huge squash leaves.

Zucchini and Ants

So far my zucchini plants are doing pretty well even in this heat. The ants seem to like them too, posibly because they want to get out of the heat and the moist cool leaves are a great place to do it. It's not like they're moving about a lot, they're mostly hanging out on the lower leaves in the shade. They seemed to be getting rid of another bug last time I saw them.

Community GArden Update

I went out to the plot I have at the community garden last night and it looked like someone had taken over the plot and planted who knows what. It was dark and hard to tell from a distance.
Fortunately that hadn't happened at all. What had happened is that my neighbors are really nice and keep the plot watered. The squash plant had doubled back on itself and was growing like crazy. I pulled some of the vines back off of the path which it seems to have done numerous times now and checked for produce. Nothing yet but the zucchini plant did have about a six inch fruit on it. I'll probably let that one go to the food bank and see what else comes up. Nice to finally be producing.
Come fall I should have plenty of produce since the plants are nice and big. The stem on the squash plant is thicker than my thumb, and this in 100+ weather for some time.