Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Mid-Summer Garden

It's been a crazy year for gardening. We had almost no spring at all. The hot weather started in early and has hardly let up. We also are in the worst drought this early in the year, according to farmers in the area. I've been struggling to keep the garden productive. My broccoli and cauliflower didn't produce at all. My onions bolted. My broccoli raab bolted. Ack! I was also falling behind on my gardening chores because, well, who wants to work in that oppressive heat? I took a day off last week to take advantage of the cool temps (only around 85 degrees) so I could get some garden work done.

Here is the section of the garden that I attempted to plant no-till this spring, simply because I didn't have access to a tiller before it was time to plant. The bermuda and crab grass had completely taken over. I tilled the area (with our "new" tiller that was generously given to us by a friend) and planted a row of green beans, a row of beans for drying (pinto beans I think) and some flowers.


Here is the "after" picture. My cabbages are hanging in there. I've got 2 heads of red cabbage ready to pick, and the regular cabbage isn't too far behind.


I weeded out all the bolted broccoli raab and now it's actually possible to see the carrots!!


My eggplant is blooming and growing pretty well.


Sorry for these next few pictures. I uploaded them from the flash drive, and apparently you can't flip them right side up once you put them on the flash drive!

There are a few celery plants growing well, and some are hanging in there.


The beans have been giving us a fairly decent harvest. I'm not getting as many from this variety (Jade) as I did from last year's (Blue Lake), but that could be because of the weather.


My squash and zucchini have been producing like gangbusters, but they're starting to slow down.


The popcorn isn't doing so well. This heat is just beating it down. I've been watering every day and this is still what it looks like! I'm hoping I'll at least get some popcorn from it.


My potatoes are just about dead. I'm not sure why. It's either the heat, or it could be a disease. I've read about Early Wilt Disease, but I'm not sure if that's what it is. Hopefully there are still some taters under ground.


On to the second garden....

This is how the cucumbers look every day, despite being watered regularly.


The tomatoes are producing lots of fruit, but I've only gotten a few red ones. There has been some blossom end rot too. I put some calcitic lime in the hole when I planted the plants, hoping the extra calcium would prevent blossom end rot. I'm thinking this case is caused by the lack of regularly moist soil. Hopefully they'll pull out of it soon.


C'mon little babies....ripen!





Is anyone else having gardening troubles this year?

7 comments:

Jen said...

Weeds, weeds and more stinking weeds here... man I hate weeds. We lost our leaf lettuce, radishes, and I do believe most of our beets.

Kim said...

Your garden looks better than ours. But ours isn't dry. It is drowning! We have had so much rain in Okla. it is starting to seem like Seattle. Our tomatoes are wilted as are the green beans. We harvested most of the onions so they didn't float away. The blackeyed peas are still growing but I still have some in my freezer from last year. My chicken run is a total mess. The chickens are up to mud halfway up their legs! What a wierd summer we are all having!

Foothills Poultry said...

Your garden is doing better then ours. Over half our garden is dead and the rest is dying. We water and water, but that just barely keeps it alive. All we can do is hope that it starts raining. If not it will just finish dying. I did get my first cantaloupX today.

~~Matt~~

Becky said...

I think your garden looks great considering the conditions you've had! :) I didn't get any broccoli or cauliflower either this year :( Just big ol' plants.
That eggplant flower is so pretty! Your zucchini plants look so healthy. Mine are puny this year because they're not getting enough sun (I think). I'll cross my fingers that the rest of those tomatoes ripen without rot.

Deb Johnson, Quiltbeeme said...

I think you're garden is doing good consider the awful weather this year. I have no tomatoes yet, and might only get some green beans. Do you find that your wilted garden depresses you? I think I'm so nutty that I feel the plant's pain.......silly??? Hang in there and congrats for keeping so much going with all this. Forget the no till crap! Grass gives off a chemical that impedes the growth of other plants. Also, your blossom end rot is due to the fickled rain or lack of. It will clear up on it's own if Nature gives us some danged rain. Love you, Momma

Dad said...

Your poor, poor thirsty garden! I'm so glad it's pouring raining there today KK. You definitely need it. The plants are just going to soak up the wet. love you.

gz said...

The drought seems to have broken here- we'll need a fair bit to catch up- no complaints if it arrives by night!
Being St Swithun's Day, we are supposed to have this for forty days.........
I could believe it, weather does nothing by halves nowadays.

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