The Ornamental Vegetable Garden: Zi Su

I've heard that phrase "dog days of summer" as long as I can remember. But I always assumed it had something to do with being dog tired and hot. Finally, I looked it up. According to Wonderopolis, it's called that because the Romans "associated the hottest days of summer with the star Sirius." Sirius, as you might know, is the brightest star in the Canis Major (large dog) constallation. Space.com further defines it as the period July 3 through August 11 "when the Dog Star, Sirius, rises in conjunction (or nearly so) with the sun."

So, there you have it. Today is the last dog day, technically. But by the common interpretation that I'd always believed in, this whole summer has been dog days. And we're still not getting any rain to speak of. The nice grass is brown and crunchy, and the crab grass and weeds have taken over.

The garden is dry, but supplements of well watering has kept things growing, if not necessarily thriving.

Tomatoes have grown erratically, and produced poorly. I'm sure it's due to the extreme heat. There are obviously other factors as well, however, as is obvious looking at these two 'Missouri Pink Love Apple' plants. The one on the right is much taller and greener with larger leaves. Neither has produced much fruit.

'Mr. Stripey', 'Missouri Pink Love Apple', 'Carbon' and 'Copia' tomatoes

'Marketmore' cucumbers

The cucumbers have produced well, as have the cherry tomatoes.

'Sun Gold'

The okra has produced well enough even though I've not paid it much attention. It's much shorter this year than in years past, and I planted much less.

I've decided not to plant okra next year - or any year in which soybeans are the crop planted up near the garden, which will be odd numbered years. The incidence of Japanese beetles seems to be so much greater on soybeans, and their third favorite plant next to roses and soybeans is okra. It's too difficult to keep the hordes off the plants without spraying toxic pesticides, so I've decided it's not worth the trouble.

The cucumber plants are drying/dying out at the bottoms, but the growing ends running across the top of the trellis still look good and are still producing good fruits.

Alas, the lima beans are not setting fruit any better than the tomatoes. I guess they don't like the extreme heat either. Just like the spring peas, this year I planted lots more limas, and just like the peas, I've harvested a fraction of what I was expecting.

While they have lots of foliage, just like the runner beans I planted on the cucumber trellis, the flower spikes are setting very sparse fruits.

I may not be getting many more melons. While there are a few small green ones still on the healthy vines, somebody else finds them tasty as well and gets to them before I do.

Speaking of creatures, I've been seeing lots of shallow depressions about 6 or 7 inches in diameter showing up in the spaces that have already been harvested and which have turned very dry.

From a quick internet search for possible culprits, I've settled on birds taking dust baths. I have noticed that a small flock of birds takes off from that area of the garden whenever I approach, but I've not actually seen them creating these divots. Still, I'm feeling quite certain that's what's happening.

The Zi Su plants are kind of pretty, but I don't find them edible, and their leaves are too large and don't hold up when cut, so they don't have any use at all beyond keeping the ground covered.

Over in the cut flower garden, the Cardinal basil is blooming and looks very nice as long as I keep plenty of water on it. Unlike the Zi Su (which certainly won't get planted in my garden again), it does very well in flower arrangements. Also, it tastes good.

One of the Lupines I planted this year has decided to send up a flower stalk. I hope these that I put in this year will survive to be company next season for the one that came up from last year and put on such a beautiful show early in the spring.

The cut flowers have saved the brutal year from being a disappointment in the garden. I've gotten many pretty bouquets.

Queen Lime Zinnias, 'Pat Austin' Rose, 'Acropolis' Rose, Globe Amaranth

Mexican Sunflower, 'Cardinal' Basil, Queen Lime Zinnias, Globe Amaranth,

'Black Pearl' Pepper, purple Yarrow, China Aster

'Cardinal' Basil, Queen Lime Zinnias, Globe Amaranth, 'Black Pearl' Pepper, Marigold,

Purple Yarrow, Chili Pepper, 'Shazam!' Rose, 'Acropolis' Rose, Delphinium, Perovskia

(same as above)

Queen Lime Zinnia, Baptisia foliage, Rhubarb flower, Purple Yarrow,

'Black Pearl' Pepper, Globe Amaranth, 'Julia Child' Rose, 'Cardinal' Basil

The rose garden has grown up, and if not for those damned Japanese beetles, would be chock full of beautiful blooms.

The beetles don't seem to bother the red varieties, but the pretty lemon 'Winter Sun' and gorgeous lavender 'Neptune' can't catch a break. It has meant I cut the buds as they appear to bring in, and those bushes never get a chance to show blooms. Hopefully, they'll keep blooming past the time that the beetles are active and will be loaded with pretty flowers in the fall.

Center: Perovskia; upper right: 'Grande Amore' rose

Foreground: 'Shazam!'; background: 'Pat Austin'

I won't ever buy any more David Austin roses. I got two plants year before last, and the best feature of 'Charles Darwin' is its delicate foliage. 'Pat Austin' has the most goregous orange blooms, but they're borne on flimsy stems that droop, so that their heads usually face the ground. Both plants have thin, flimsy, arching stems.

'Pat Austin'

Clockwise from top: 'Grande Amore', 'Pink Enchantmen', 'Dark Desire'

Clockwise from top left: 'Grande Amore', 'Neptune',

'Dark Desire', 'Grande Amore'

'Dark Desire' and 'Neptune'

'Winter Sun'

'Dark Desire', 'Neptune' and 'Pink Enchantment'

Stay cool, and if you can't, keep your cool.

UPDATE 8/13:

This looks fantastic! I hope they're right.

UPDATE 8/14:

The trend has been typical this year - a tease, and then a drop.

This unrelenting, oppressive heat may be preventing me from being out in the garden, but the garden is happily taking good care of itself.

The cucumbers on either side of the entry arch have met each other at the top, and the cucumbers have been plentiful.

All the onions have been harvested and are drying out in the cellar. Well, that's the idea, anyway. The cellar is quite humid.

The lima beans are now setting fruit.

The 'Savor' French melon cage is covered with vines.

Can't wait to get into those melons.

The 'Bull's Blood' beets are lovely. The greens are delicious steamed with a little vinegar in the water, and the beetroots are mildly sweet. This variety has performed the best for me, but they don't make a dark red liquid when canned like the 'Shiraz Tall Top' and 'Detroit Red' varieties.

Insect pressure hasn't been so high this year, but the manageable Japanese beetle population is no doubt due to the fact that soybeans aren't planted up near the garden this year. That doesn't mean I don't have to keep after them, and I missed this little rose:

Another rose showed this funny feeding pattern:

That's a sign of leaf cutter bees. Unlike the Japenese beetles, however, I won't try to stop them. They're pollinators.

While we're on the presence of insects, I got this shot of a tiger swallowtail on the monarda in the wildflower garden.

I won't be planting Zi Su again. I didn't think much of the taste. The leaves are pretty, but slightly hairy, and they taste like what I imagine weeds might taste. I thought they might make pretty inclusions in cut flower arrangements, but they drooped and wilted quickly.

Purple Zi Su and red-veined dock

Foreground: Queen Lime zinnias and marigolds; mid-ground: lima beans and cabbage;

background left: beets, right: zi su

At last, the spicey bush basil is making a nice little hedge, and the 'Red Rubin' and 'Purple Ruffles' basil is finally filling in behind it.

The tomatoes are lush and full. Several large green ones are on each plant. It may be a long time before they're red, since, according to something I read, they ripen between the temperatures of 50 and 80 degrees. The weatherman says it's going to cool down this weekend - to 88!

'Copia'

'Carbon'

Foreground left: lima beans; right: carrots

Background: tomatoes

The cherry tomatoes - 'Sungold' and some from seeds I saved from a neighbor's garden last year - are producing tasty little orange-gold fruit. They're a nice size on the plants in the garden, but quite small in the large pot I have on the patio.

The roses are doing well, but I have to keep them sprayed with Sevin to keep the Japanese beetles from destroying them. I'm going to try a different insecticide next year for two reasons: 1) insects can become resistant to insecticides that use the same method of toxicity, and I've already used Sevin for three years in a row; and 2) Sevin leaves a white residue that's obvious on the leaves and on the dark colored roses.