We are into week three of 100+ temperatures. The garden and the gardener suffer every year at this time. I'm stuck inside and only go out to water twice a day. The ooze tube failed on the squash, but four tomato plants are still alive. I let the others die.
The only plants that are flourishing are basil, okra and peppers. This will be the last year I try to keep squash or tomato plants alive after July in hopes they will come back thriving and bring me a fall harvest. It will simply be cheaper to buy new plants in September or grow them from seed now than to waste all that water on them only to have them curl up and die anyway.
In about four weeks, when it cools off, I will start the fall garden with five new tomato plants and maybe three or four squash plants. The cool season stuff won't go in until the end of September. That gives me about six weeks to grow the broccoli for Thanksgiving. Just imagining the fall garden makes me feel better.
In the meantime, I am going to enjoy making salsa, Afterburner Sauce and George powder from my bounty of hot peppers. I do believe I could be a successful pepper farmer. Hot peppers seem to like me.
Those peppers look awesome! I thought the same thing about squash plants. I finally pulled them out. I thought I could keep them alive but no. Not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you in spirit and in suffering! We've just broken the record here for highest "low" -- it was 83. When 83 is as cool as it gets, it's too much to go on.
ReplyDeleteTake heart, though! The nights are every so slowly getting longer.
Elizabeth
Look at all of those awesome peppers! I regret not growing many this year.
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