Monday, July 30, 2012

Heat in the garden

I have done some light weeding in the side bed and it's already taking a toll on the plants.  The 4 o'clocks really don't like the heat on the ground and are showing it by having wilty leaves.  I have since put some of the dried weeds back on top to give it some shade and hopefully keep the heat off a little better.  It's a hard battle in DFW between weeds and mulching in the heat which always comes and eventually leaves it's mark on crops.
I have watered enough to keep the cantaloupe plant happy and growing.  There's even a new shoot producing nice size leaves.  If it keeps up I hope to have more cantaloupes in the fall. One of the cats loves them.
I found wasps trying to stay cool as well by making a nest on my rose bush.I haven't gotten it out entirely yet but also don't want to be stung.  I'll try again today and see how far I can get.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Wonderful Weeds

The heat is up and all of my plants are growing like, uh well, weeds.  All thanks to the actual weeds growing in among the plants  The four o' clocks especially are blooming in the morning. By this time they are usually just hanging on and waiting for September to roll around.
The cantaloupe plant has started growing again after fruiting and I hope to see new flowers soon for a possible fall crop.
The tomatoes in the back are a healthy green with many flowers. Trying to pollinate early in the morning before the heat rises in hopes of having more tomatoes.  Not much of a crop yet this year.
Planted some leek bottoms which are already double the size they started out as and are still very healthy looking. Hopefully they'll keep it up and we'll have leeks available all year.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Middle of Harvests

We went to visit family and found out that there is very little being picked at the moment. It's too late for figs and citrus, or too early depending on how you look at it, and it's too early for grapes, pears and peaches.
There are a few tomatoes and peppers out there and an occasional veggie that's ripening all alone but for the most part it's time to water and wait.
I still have the amazingly big beet root growing and a couple more beets growing nearby. I'm hoping they bolt soon or I'll have to eat them. They just look so tasty.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Fig Harvest

Our fig tree has produced at least five pounds of figs so far.  With this we've made preserves, fig spread, and a tart. If you looked at the fig tree today you wouldn't know that we'd even picked any off. The birds help with keeping the tree from being overloaded and make sure I know they've been helping  by whistling away while I pick some myself.
I could probably pick a cup or two each day if I wanted to but instead I go out every 3 or 4 days and  pick more at a time. I can see some of the fallen figs that I otherwise would have had if I did pick daily but that's more work for less yield and the birds will get to those in due time.
The weather hasn't been bad either for ripening them up. We usually get a cold snap or a strong wind storm that knocks most of the figs off and sometimes the heat just makes all of the figs shrivel up to nothing and makes the harvest inedible. So far this year it's been the best producing plant in the bunch.