Heat and Humidity

I am truly sick of the heat and humidity. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in about two weeks. I don’t have air conditioning and the ceiling fans can only do so much. It doesn’t help the sleeping situation when Max (now down to a slim 72 pounds) insists on sleeping in bed with me – and I mean right next to me. Some part of him always needs to touch a part of me – even if it is just his paw across my leg. I usually don’t mind but it is so friggin’ hot! Ok, I am now whining….off to the garden.
The heat has been good to get a jump start on all those veggies that normally don’t come out until August. I have corn ears already – and have had them for a few weeks. It was only 49 days after planting them. But the raccoon have already found them! Carl the Coyote has arrived and I do have a picture of him to post – but again I am at work and do not have access to my files here.
The spaghetti squash is looking good. I think there are about 10-11 of them so far – which isn’t too bad for 6 plants! It is climbing all over the corn stalks – so much for the 3-sisters method of having the squash grow along the ground to keep out the weeds!
Both types of melons are growing nicely. Lots of flowers! But they don’t seem to want to climb up the trellis I so diligently built for them. They prefer to ramble along the ground twisting themselves in the hay. They require daily intervention to make sure that they stay the path.
The first sowing of edamame has already started to produce beans. I need to keep an eye on them because the harvest window is so short I don’t want to miss them. The second sowing is just starting to flower.
At last the tomatoes have picked up – the Sungolds are starting to turn. I was able to grab a few as snacks the other day – while I was patiently trying to train the cucumbers up their trellis. Apparently this is the year for all tendril growing veggies to ignore the given growth pattern of up – and just grow anywhere they please! I have only been able to snag two zucchini so far. Which makes me sad – there are so many gardens that I see when out walking that are exploding with zukes. I am just hoping that I am a late bloomer.

Holy Heat!

All this heat and humidity is really starting to get to me (not to mention everything I am trying to grow)! It hit 100 yesterday and according to the news that has happened in July since 2002. It has been in the high 90's for about 4-5 days already and today the forecast was to be cooler. My thermometer says 82 - and that is in the shade. Ugh.
I did pick my first zucchini over the weekend and there is another one on its way. If this heat keeps up I think it will be ready in about 5 minutes! My rain barrels have been empty for weeks and dragging around that friggin' hose everywhere is just a pain in the butt. But you do what you gotta do to keep things growing.
The random tomatoes that came from my compost are some sort of cherry tomato. They all have flowers in bunches. I can't wait to see what type they are. I am hoping for some yummy heirloom. Just please don't let them be Sweet 100's. Too many of those last year - I want something different.
Here is the one that is growing out of the bin.

Right above it you can see a ventilation hole. That is the size of the hole that this sucker found and decided to grow out of! I took this picture at about 11:00 this morning so you can see that it gets very little light. You can also see that I do not weed anything over there. Dandelions, clover, ridiculously long grass. It is very unsightly over there but I have bigger things to worry about and take care of. Maybe if I didn't work I would have the time to handle every little inch of my yard but then I would be poor and wouldn't be able to afford any of the tools to do so! Ah - the perfect Catch-22.

Bugs, Critters and More Tomatoes

It is now completely out of control! I now have a tomato plant growing out of my compost bin! I guess that kind of makes sense seeing as the random tomatoes that are growing around the yard all came from said bin. The holes along the bin are not that large so this lucky tomato seed found just enough light to sneak out and start spreading. This particular one does not have any blooms yet but all the other wayward ones do. I am thinking about leaving it alone and see what happens.

As far as my aphid invasion - it seems to be under control. I used a bit of the saucy spray and they seemed to have found another place to go (I am hoping over the fence and to my neighbor’s yard).

The corn has already started to tassel which of course means that something found its way into the plot and gnawed down two stalks! I made a make-shift chicken wire fence around the remaining stalks. I made sure that the wire is curled out and then for some added protection I cut some of the wire so if anything tries to get over they will get poked. But you know it will be me that gets poked - not them!

The Fastbreak Melons are starting to flower too! They haven't even reached 5" high yet but there are two tiny yellow flowers already. The weather has been so friggin' hot lately - the melons must be in heaven (while the rest of us feel like we are in hell).

Tomorrow's forecast is 70's, sunny and no humidity - perfect day to get out there and get some overdue chores done.

Berries and Bugs

There is nothing better than fresh picked berries - and I have tons!
All of these raspberries came from one corner of the humungous bush. I didn't even move around. Just top to bottom. The container got full but there are still plenty more to pick.
Found some interesting bugs around the yard too. Look at the size of this dragonfly!

It was hanging out on my back porch for pretty much half the day. I thought it might be dead - but really, how could it hang there if it were dead? Eventually it took off. Well, not sure if it flew off, but it is gone and not on the porch floor.
I also found this little guy hanging around the huechera plant out back. Hopefully it found lots of bad bugs for dinner.

And speaking about bad bugs. My Picasso Petunias are COVERED in aphids. They can hang out there if they want as long as they stay away from my eggplant and any other vegetable I have growing. I am going to brew up a batch of 'saucy spray' just to be safe. Saucy spray is:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1/8 teaspoon liquid soap
It works on leaf hoppers, aphids and pretty much any other pest. It can also be used to deter raccoons. I haven't tried it on them yet, but the corn is looking really good so I guess an extra big batch will be made today.

More and more tomatoes!

Oh dear - these tomato seeds are a lot hardier than they are promoted to be. I was out weeding the garden and found eight random tomatoes growing around the zucchini. Now that dirt came from my worm bin, not the outside compost bin. Apparently this is Mother Nature's way of telling me to grow an abundance of tomatoes. I pulled them out and put them in the yard waste bin - I am taking no chances. The so-called marigolds I planted along the potatoes are also tomatoes. Just a big-ass welcome sign for bad bugs! Speaking of tomatoes here are the first Sun Golds of the season


Not only are the tomatoes spreading like wild fire this is the first year in I cannot remember how long that the hydrangea bush is exploding




Typically I get one or two blooms and was actually thinking of pulling the whole thing out this year. Apparently it knew it was on the chopping block and is putting on an amazing last ditch effort to survive. Although it is extremely early for it to be in bloom. Everyone around here has full blooms on their hydrangeas and really, they shouldn't be in full bloom until August! I guess the heat is getting to them too (but in a good way). Here is a close up of one of the numerous blooms.

It has been so freaking hot and humid over the past week here that everything needs to be watered every day! God forbid I have a life outside of these plants, which I did last night. I went out straight from work to meet friends and just to spite me my petunias decided to die. I watered them heavily when I got home from work tonight but not sure if my CPR efforts were too late. Stay tuned

A Big Oopsie!

I really wonder where my head is at sometimes. I was out picking the peas (which are growing up and along the tomato cages) and I noticed what I thought was a an escaped tomato branch. Nope. It was a whole nother friggin' plant! I dug up marigold seedlings from one of my containers and planted them around the tomatoes. Turns out they were tomatoes, not marigolds. I have NO IDEA what type of tomatoes they are nor how the heck the seeds survived over the winter in my compost bin. I also planted some in the Victory Garden around the potatoes to keep away the beetles and haven't gone over there to check if they are indeed marigolds or wayward tomatoes.
The potatoes that were also growing in the bin are doing quite nicely in the yard now. However I noticed a few more in there when I was turning it the other day. No more potatoes, please.
Not so sure how well the melons are going to fare. The previous owner of Victory Garden home came by (he definitely does not own the house and was trespassing just as much as we are) and decided he didn't like the trellis so he took them down! Trampling all over the itsy bitsy melon seedlings in the process. I planted what I had left of the seeds about a week ago and still nothing. The melons were a stretch anyway. It was just something new to try.
Oh and last but not least - the caterpillar is an American Lady

What caterpillar?

Out weeding today - damn maple tree - and I found this guy hanging out. I went through 12 pages at bugguide.net and haven't been able to find it! Not sure if it a 'good' bug or a 'bad' bug. I am thinking black swallowtail but sent an email to my regional field coordinator for butterflies to check. Usually they don't have the red dots which is why I question its kind.

Staked the tomatoes today and the Sungolds are starting to flower. My handy book Trowel and Error says it is now time to water with epsom salt. 1 tablespoon to 1 gallon of water. The raspberries are now in full harvest mode. I am thinking I have gotten at least 2 pints in the paste 3 days! I love fresh raspberries.
So, I planted Garden Purslane a l-o-n-g time ago in some window boxes and was caring for what I though was purslane very diligently. Apparently they were weeds! The purslane has succulent leaves and they finally emerged from the soil. Light dawns and out went the weeds and in more purslane seeds. Now I think I got it down pat!