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)...

Biding time, waiting for melons

My blackberries are suffering from a condition called white druplet (the little individual units are called druplets).

You can eat them, but the more white druplets, the more it tastes like cardboard instead of blackberry.

From a University of Arkansas extension page:

White druplet is associated with a drop in humidity and an increase in temperature. As this happens there is less moisture in the air to deflect solar radiation from directly contacting the berries. This increased solar radiation is blamed on individual or groups of druplets turning first white and then later brown in color. [...] ‘Apache’ is a variety that is more prone to this disorder.

I have 'Navajo', which sounds like it could be a related variety, and we have certainly had decreased humidity and increased temps this year.  Both my blackberries and raspberries (which produced absolutely nothing) would have benefited from watering.

'German Johnson' tomatoes are ripening.  It's suggested that they be picked early when they are just starting to soften and then let them ripen indoors the rest of the way, so that's what I do.  It helps me get them before the raccoons do.  But not always.

Pink celery:

The melons growing up tomato cages aren't producing anything.  They get more shade than the ones on the compost hill, which have several full sized fruits already, so that could be an issue.  However, I haven't grown them sprawling on the ground before, so maybe they just do better that way.  

I have no doubt the raccoons will be after them before they're fully ripe, so I've put several in wire baskets in hopes that will allow me to get some ripe ones.  I've read that, while melons will continue to ripen after being picked, they stop the sugar production process at that point.

I'll wait.

Hotter and hotter

The roses are flushing out again.  They're quite happy with the heat and lack of rain.

But I've had to start watering again for everyone else.

Thankfully, the 'German Johnson' slicing tomatoes did set some fruit.  I've gotten a few ripe ones, but now they're taking their time ripening due to the blistering heat.  It barely cools off enough in the middle of the night to reach the 50-80 degree temps required for ripening. 

The 'Speckled Roman' sauce tomatoes have been ripening all along, however, and have set lots of fruit.  Raccoons leave evidence daily.

I made a pint of sauce from the romas and 'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes (which haven't produced as much fruit as they normally do).

'Speckled Roman' and 'Supersweet 100' tomatoes

The recipe called for some sugar, and it's too sweet for my taste.  I'll have to add some lemon juice when I use it.  Neither variety has enough acidity to warrant adding sugar.  Next batch, I'll delete the sugar and add some basil.

I'm finally seeing some fruit develop on the small Persian cantaloupe vines.

In my attempts to keep melons safe from raccoons, I ordered these screen barriers for roots and bulbs to protect underground.  I got the idea from a video online.

Perhaps in an unnecessarily early stage, I wrapped a 'Sugar Baby' watermelon in one as a test.

The melons on the compost hill have grown over the potato plants that I hadn't yet harvested.  I thought I had more than one still in the ground, but could only find this 'All Blue' plant.

I won't be planting them again.  The spuds are small and turn gray when cooked.

I was disappointed when I thought I wasn't going to get many jalapeños this year, and then I found out I had simply forgotten which plants were which varieties.  There aren't many, but at least there should be enough for a batch of jalapeño jelly.

Now to go dance for rain.

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