The super hot weather has calmed down lately, but it is still pretty warm with daytime highs in the 90s. But the nights have been OK. From a garden standpoint, since we have plenty of water, the plants are doing well! This area of our yard is a little more shady than the bins in the front of the main house (last year’s growing area) so the plants are not as baked or winded out. But the Lakota squash are not doing well at all. We have 3 squash but the longest vine is only 8’ at best. Last year we had some 20’ vines! The trellis system between the bins is also working well and it looks very pretty out my front windows with all the green leaves!
The herb garden is doing OK – the basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary are growing like mad. The stevia is also hanging in there, considering I planted it in afternoon sun instead of morning sun. Oops. Luckily, the sun is already starting to shift so hopefully the stevia will survive. The cilantro and parsley did not survive the heat. I’ll try cilantro again in a month or so. Maybe parsley too.
The permanent “berry” garden is fairly quiescent right now as everything grows and gets ready for the fall. The kiwi berry plants continue to grow so there is hope for next year. One of the raspberry plants has some flowers since it is a double bloomer, and there are a few stragglers on one blueberry plant. Gabe gets a couple berries every 3 days or so. The big exceptions are the strawberries (producing sooo many sweet fruits) and the tomatoes. The tomatoes have pretty stunted plants but are starting to produce fruit, tasty fruits according to the kids. I started hand watering it until we can put a second dropper in them and added some regular organic fertilizer into a three week routine. Nothing like the crazy bushes we had last year. The cherry tomatoes are finally ripening which is good since those are Gabe’s favorites!
The orchard is definitely in quiet mode and I need to get it fertilized for next year. We are talking about expanding the orchard and adding some later developing fruit- maybe peaches and nectarines. And some apple trees. And some pears. I still want a lemon tree and cherry tree on my little front yard property! So far I do have some Mexican sage which should grow pretty big next spring. Going for a living “fence” idea!
Then there are the front bins that were the “garden” last year that Jenny is practicing with different veggies for next year. She grows amazing sunflowers and her eggplants are flowering now. Some of her beets and carrots have also come up. Too bad I seriously dislike eggplant- the flowers and fruit are so pretty. I’ll leave those to her!
My seasonal garden bins are doing pretty good. The cucumbers are already dying back so I planted a couple more seeds and we’ll see how long it stays warm and if they produce fruit. There were a ton of fruits earlier and many pickles were made! The Lakota squash just didn’t show any robustness this year and I also planted another couple plants. Just so I can see their big beautiful leaves even if they don’t fruit. I also did a late planting of soy/edamame where the pumpkins on a stick failed to thrive and they’ve come up strong so maybe they will give us some beans this year. Last year was a true learning year for me, and I’m still learning a lot this summer. The Delicata squash are just coming in and were a hit last night at dinner. They are fun on the trellis, until I hit my head into one! They are very hard! The vines have crossed over the apex of the trellis and are still producing new fruits on the other side! The butternut also did not do as great this summer as last but we do have 4 squash almost ready for harvest and three baby ones that might make it. Then the summer squash- so many zucchini, yellows and patty pans! We did figure out that oversized squash are a great snack for chickens! So we can relax about trying to use all the frozen, grated stuff from last year so fast! Less than last year but it seems they can grow inches a day!! And they hide somehow in plain sight. The carrots are very sweet and fun to pick as needed for my salads. And the green beans have so many flowers and baby beans!!
The melons are also starting to come in and I harvested the first one today. I had to give support to a couple honeydew melons hanging from the trellis because they looked so precarious! The watermelon are still growing vines and flowering, but there are four melons close to harvest. Last year I was too late harvesting them, and they got mushy. Might have been because they were underneath the patty pan plants and San Marzano tomato plants! This year’s spacing is better but I might need one more bin as the squash spread out everywhere!
And the peppers are finally starting to ripen. We have harvested a couple jalapeño and one bell pepper. We have some sweet peppers (both little round ones and cute pointing straight up ones) almost ripe. A second bell pepper will be ready by the weekend. There are cute little Serrano and poblano(?) peppers also. And finally some tomatillos setting. Getting ready for salsa.
Then there are the flowers. We have many flowers around here- 2 large bins dedicated to flowers. It is funny watching and listening to Dave and Jenny talk flowers- especially zinnias!
And finally, can’t forget the hens! We are not getting a lot of eggs right now even though most of the pullets are laying. It is just too warm. The older Orpington are not laying at all, and I imagine they are pretty hot. Hermie is starting to molt and looks ridiculous. Aurora and Obsidian (beautiful Barnvelder hens) are incredibly noisy and adventuresome. They fly over the chicken yard fence and go up to their original barn area to lay sometimes. The eggs we get are quite a range of colors and even the browns are diverse. So much fun!
