Last night we had a terrific thunderstorm. It rolled through dumping 4" of rain,1/4" size hail,and heavy winds. At least I didn't have to water the garden! ( And the corn stayed up,YAY!)
This morning it's gorgeous-lovely breeze,bright blue sky,and a beautiful sun. After the all the heat we had ( in the 100's last week) I am happily embracing this cooler weather.
My poor garden took a hit with all the heat,though. My peas have some vines that look quite sad,brownish and limp.Some of my cuke vines have yellowish leaves on them. I keep hoping they will come back,but I am more optimistic about the cukes than the pea vines.
One of the things I have discovered about gardening is it's trial and error,timing,and Mother Nature playing nice. When we sat down to plan our garden this year,we wanted to plant more to can,and hopefully sell a bit. We did get a late start,by not planting until early June,so we are behind,which could be why we haven't had a lot of produce so far. I just started picking cukes. My spinach was a bust-it all bolted as soon as the leaves sprung. The chickens enjoyed it,anyway.My radishes didn't go over so well,either. I think I let them go too long.Next year I will put my spinach in an area with more shade in the afternoon. My broccoli seems to quickly go to flower too. Since this my first year with all three,this is my learning year.I have learned that I must be more diligent and keep an eye on these plants.
My lettuce,carrots,and cukes are coming along,and the corn is wonderful and green-I am starting to get tassels.The beets are doing well. I have a few small green peppers.The zucchini and summer squash are producing. My tomatoes are 100% better than last year,and I have many green fruits coming out.I don't think I am going to have enough strawberries for jam-maybe I need to plant more plants,or perhaps this next round of harvest coming up will be better. It will be a few years before my blueberry bushes are big enough to really do anything with,save for picking some for snacking.In the meantime, I will visit my local farms for the berries. We have two clusters of grapes on our grapevine-first time since we planted it in 2005! And we have the most apples we have ever had growing on our Jonathan apple tree-about 50. I just hope they all stay on and we can benefit from all of them!
How are your gardens holding up?
Your garden is doing much better than my little plot. We did get a good little crop of radishes. Lol! My husband is the only one who like them and the chickens enjoyed the tops. Lame excuse or no...I've just been having a tough time dealing with the mosquitoes when I'm working in it. No type or amount of repellent seems to work and they are relentless. I'm going to have another go at some of it later today. We'll see...
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