Record heat the past several weeks, and no relief in sight for the rest of the month. Then we go into August.
And so the garden is being somewhat neglected. Last year it flooded. This year, it's in drought. Of course, we're not alone in weather woes this year. The entire globe is suffering record heat, and half of it is on fire. End times? Well, until then, on we go.
The daylilies are managing, but are not at their best.
'Black eyed Stella'
This next is one I got from a friend last year, along with several other varieties. It had gotten mixed in with those labeled 'Passionate Shock', but turns out it is 'Scarlet Marie', a double-flowered variety. The first double I've ever seen. It's a gorgeous color.
'Scarlet Marie'
Over in the vegetable plots, it could be worse, but due to the adverse weather and the fact that I didn't plant nearly as much this year as in previous years, it's "slim pickins".
'Carmine Splendor' okra, 'Marketmore' cucumber,
'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes, 'Calima' green beans
The onions are doing okay. I'm sure they're helped by being watered a couple of times, along with the rest of the vegetables.
My onions always push themselves above the soil surface. I sewed them deeper this year to see if that made a difference. It didn't. The first year, I planted bulblets. They didn't push to the surface, and it was one of the best onion harvests I've had. I don't know if that's because of the difference in planting bulblets vs seeds or if that year was just a great year for onions. It was the first use of the soil for vegetables. But I imagine I also planted the bulblets deeper than I plant the seeds, just to get them covered. I don't want to sow the seeds any deeper than I did this year, because I'm afraid they wouldn't come up. I could probably experiment with that. At any rate, it doesn't seem to be a problem. In fact, they stay cleaner this way.
'Stuttgarter' 2022
Mature onions in 2015
2015 onion harvest
The cucumbers are rapidly covering the makeshift trellis I erected. I only had a few seeds left from previous years in the freezer, and they didn't germinate well. I finally got three or four plants, but it turns out at least one of them was a volunteer melon! And I can't extract it from the tangle.
There's also a volunteer melon over in the perennial bed. I'm guessing raccoons are responsible for that. What I thought was a volunteer melon earlier in another spot turned out to be a hollyhock. My whole garden is in turmoil this year.
'Marketmore' cucumber, and 'Savor' cantaloupe
'Savor' cantaloupe on the cucumber trellis
Tomatoes are at least getting larger. Some of them anyway. In this heat, I don't expect them to ripen any time soon.
The 'Missouri Pink Love Apple' plants that don't get as much sun as the other varieties are actually doing just as well. I thought they might even do better now that the temperatures of Hades are besetting us, but I can't see any noticeable differences between them and the plants that are never shaded. The difference is in the growth habit - 'Missouri Pink Love Apple' is a much less dense and much less prolific variety than 'German Johnson' - not in the growth.
'Missouri Pink Love Apple'
'German Johnson'
'Supersweet 100'
I'm surprised that the cabbages are still even growing. 'Omero' still looks puny compared to the green variety 'Primo Vantage', but even they're not looking so bad these days.
'Omero'
The okra looks content enough and has been harvestable the past week or so.
Flower of 'Carmine Splendor' okra
Roses are holding up okay, but the humidity isn't doing them any favors.
'Mother of Pearl'
'Grande Amore' in early morning dew
Til next time I can stand to go outside...stay cool. Don't overdo it.
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