Approaching Hell

Wildfires are raging from Canada to Hawaii, and much of the mainland is experiencing devastating weather events. 

In mid-Missouri, it's about to get too hot to garden. 

So this post is from more recent tolerable, and even mild, weather.

Aphids have appeared on new rose growth, so I've been trying to stay on top of them - unfortunately with Sevin, but the last couple of years I tried to use only neem oil and soap, unsuccessfully.  This past week I've been in Chicagoland, so I don't know what I'll find when I get back, but the 'Mother of Pearl' I managed to propagate from a cutting (the mother of Mother of Pearl died over winter) was looking lovely when I left.

The whole of the garden was actually doing pretty well, considering all the crazy weather this season.

But not the cucumbers.  They're barely hanging on.  

I harvested less than half a dozen early on, and nothing since. I planted two varieties: 'Marketmore' and 'Beit Alpha'.  Neither has taken off. They should have those wagon wheels hidden by now.  That's two years in a row I haven't had a decent cucumber crop, and they're usually coming out of my ears.

Surprisingly to me, the 'Calima' green beans are still producing well.  Were, I should say.  Surely by the time I get back in a few days they'll be done.  But I've thought they were surely done several times already.

I have three varieties of celery that are all performing well, so they obviously have no complaints about the weather.

This is the one I bought from a nursery that was labeled only "celery".  It has the largest stalks of all the varieties.

This pink celery is one I grew from seed.

Besides the pink celery, I started a dark green variety as well. I don't know which seed produced this plant that has white stalks, because I didn't have any seeds that should have produced it.

This one 'Brunswick' cabbage plant has become a giant.  The others of its kind are about half this size and more what I would have expected.

'Brunswick' and 'Ruby Perfection' (bottom-most) cabbage

'Cardinal' basil is happy enough. No problems there. But I never have any problems with basil.

I got one - count 'em, one - decent cantaloupe this year.  The caged ones have produced essentially nothing, and the ones that sprawled on the compost hill were the Small Persian variety that tasted only barely sweet.

Small Persian melon

The wire net bags kept the raccoons from eating them, though.  So next year I plan to plant my favorite sweet variety 'Savor' in a space where they can sprawl on the ground and bag them this way.

I don't know if the damaged part is where raccoons tried to get at them or if they were the result of insects in the wet soil beneath the melons.  Maybe both.  Whatever it was, it didn't get through the rinds.

Fun stuff:

One day I noticed a group of ammophila wasps on the tarragon.  I noticed them because I was trimming the plant (that's now quite large so I cut it in roughly the shape of a pyramid with hedge clippers).  I didn't want to disturb them since they're a beneficial insect, preying on moth and sawfly caterpillars, so the plant didn't get a finished haircut.  I don't know which particular ammophila these are, as there are over 200 different species.

I assume this is worm casting.  It looks like it, but it would have been a very, very large worm if it is.

So...until next time (and hopefully the garden hasn't burnt up by the time I get back to it)...

Hot and humid - only moreso

'Razzle Dazzle' rose

I've been eating from my garden for a couple of weeks now.  The cabbages I planted this spring haven't yet started forming heads, but the 'Primo Vantage' plants that overwintered have harvestable heads that have been making good cole slaw.

'Primo Vantage' 

While I was away for a week, the 'Ruby Perfection' (planted this spring) that has grown the largest was ferociously attacked because it got no Bt spray when it needed it.

'Calima' bush beans are producing massive amounts of beans per plant.  

Even tomatoes are producing in this heat, and a few are beginning to ripen.

'German Johnson'

I had bagged a few flowers on the 'German Johnson' plants to prevent cross-polination with the 'Speckled Roman' plants, thinking I'll try to save seed this year, but I removed the bags when all the flowers seemed to be dying from the heat.  

I missed one...

'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes are producing well, but I don't think they're as sweet as last year's crop.

I'm going to combine them with the 'Speckled Roman' roma style fruits to make tomato sauce.  This is the first year I've grown sauce tomatoes.

'Speckled Roman'

They're so pretty, but not the right taste for a sandwich or salad tomato.  The foliage is shrivelly and curly - finely lobed - and not very attractive, but I guess it puts all its beauty in the fruit.

The 'Navajo' thornless blackberry plants are finally maturing enough to produce a small bowl full of berries every few days, which is a thrill for me, sprinkled with raw sugar and left to sit for a while before gobbling them down.  

'Calima' beans, 'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes, 

and 'Navajo' blackberries

None of my raspberry plants were able to set fruit in the dry heat.

I don't see any fruit forming on the melons I have growing in cages, but they're mostly hidden by the African marigolds I planted all around them to mask the smell of ripening melons hoping to discourage raccoons.

But over on the compost pile, the small Persian cantaloupe plants and one 'Sugar Baby' watermelon are lush and forming fruit.

'Sugar Baby' watermelon

Small Persian cantaloupe

Meanwhile, perennials and roses are showing off, and I'm loving it.

Russian sage (Perovskia)

'Shazam!'

My rose cuttings survived and seem to be thriving.  I caged them to keep raccoons from digging them up while they're small.

'South Africa'

'Mother of Pearl'

I was so happy that the 'Mother of Pearl' cutting took root, because the mother of 'Mother of Pearl' died over winter.  I hope the baby is hardier.

'Passionate Shock' daylily

'Scarlet Marie' double petal daylily

My lilies have not performed well this year.  It could be the lack of rain, the heat, or maybe they're too crowded.  I'll spread them out this fall.  'Casa Blanca' has done the best.  I never noticed before this big of a difference in the size of anthers on the blooms of a single stalk. Interesting.

Enjoy the heat.  It's only going to get hotter.

'Luna' hibiscus

Hot, hot, hot ... and dry

So I'm back from my two weeks away, and the garden is overgrown with weeds. Some vegetables didn't survive (there was .6" rain in my gauge), but the garden is a riot of color, and the roses have absolutely outdone themselves.  

'Zepherine Douhin'

'Shazam!'

'Razzle Dazzle'

'Neptune'

left to right: 'Grande Amore', 'South Africa', 'Shazam!'

foreground: 'Neptune'

Hollyhocks only had buds when I left.

After a couple applications of dicamba, I've finally managed to get rid of weeds and crabgrass in the paths around the flower plots.  I'll seed the bare ground this fall.

Some vegetables didn't get nearly enough water.  Peas are scraggly and drying out.  Kohlrabi that wasn't shaded by adjacent rhubarb has burnt leaves.

Five cucumber plants dried up and died.  Only two survived.  Fortunately, one of them is the new variety I'm trying this year - 'Beit Alpha'.  And the other is my staple 'Marketmore'.

Most lettuce is ready to bolt.  'New Red Fire' has matured to nearly all green.

I really like the variety 'Rouxai', a new one for me.  It may well be a new one for everyone.  The seed was expensive.   The leaves are a beautiful dark wine. 

I only have a few plants (the ones below were nearly lost in weeds), so I'm going to let them go to seed and have a bigger stand next year.  That is, if they're come true to seed, and they might not.

The arugula stand is quite lush.

Baby beets, arugula, and, surprisingly, the cantaloupes look fine.  I imagine it's because they get a certain amount of dappled shade under a mimosa tree.

The 'Savor' cantaloupe plants that were scrawny when I put them in are smaller than the small Persians, which was expected, but the plants look healthy now.

'Savor'

Small Persian cantaloupe

The weeds have had a two-week-long party.

'Calima' bush beans infested with purslane

I weeded the lettuce plot and the bean & pea plot this morning.  It took me 4 hours.  The picture below shows the difference in weeded vs not yet weeded halves.

Peppers look pretty awful, but they're alive.

Jalapeño peppers

sweet snack bells

The 'Seaside' spinach is bolting, so I sowed more seed.  It's got a nice flavor and texture.

I've got a LOT more work to do, but the flowers are making it tolerable.

Tiger swallowtail on butterfly milkweed