August Gardening Notes

When I last wrote, the weather forecaster spoke of back to near 100 every day and Dog Days of Summer. Instead, we are still having mild temps. Highs in the upper 80s and lows breaking record lows. Last week we had one morning with 57 and one with 62. Both broke longstanding records. The cucumbers have not quit producing although they look sad. The melon bed has been devastated by squash bugs. I look across all the beds of plants long gone and what do I see? Basil. They survive everything. Bugs and heat. The mints at the front door are completely gone. The grasshoppers stripped them to the stems and then ate the stems. Sigh. 

I started to take a picture of this huge sunflower plant by the house. 6 foot tall and nothing left but the frame. The hoppers ate everything; first they ate the flower petals then they ate all the flower heads and leaves and most of the small stems. So sad looking that I just pulled it up and tossed it into the brush pile. There are no sunflowers left now. 

There are still lots of tomatoes, blackeye pea beans and sweet peppers. The heirloom tomatoes, Brandywine, that I had such great hopes for sharing made not one tomato. The best have been the Park's Whopper. They are not whoppers by any means, they are at best, about 2 inches across but there are lots. The early tomatoes are not even making any blooms. The season should be winding down but has yet to really start. Stunted by the move from the greenhouse. That was not a good idea. Oh yes, the corn has been wonderful. We could not find the mineral oil to treat the tassels but there has not been one bug in the lot of ears picked. The variety was for the tiny ears. Edible from small size to bigger. Except that they don't ever get very big. As they leave the tiny size, they get out of proportion, small and big. But oh so sweet and good. We wouldn't otherwise have any corn. The stores don't ever have any fresh so this has been heaven. I know the plants are much too close together but I had little hopes for them to be anything but raccoon food as soon as the kernels were planted. But they have thrives. All the okra I had planted either is growing so slowly that they might not make any okra or just didn't make it past the 2 inch tall stage. One bed got stepped on; bad location.

My next project is to take down one of the current garden fences and move it across the back of the section between it and the new chicken yard. When we opened up the new yard, we were left with a long section of fence and posts which I want to use to make the front of the new garden. Handy to say the least. When I can't figure out where to store something, I look to finding a use nearby. It will work fine and fit just right. I was needing a new shady bed for the cucumbers next year. Now, it will be handy for using the chicken manure; when we get the shredder repaired, I will be all set to make rich and ready for next spring garden beds. 

These are the "Dog Days of Summer" and seeing as we are finishing up a few weeks of below normal hot and miserable, we hate to see the mild days go and the really hot days start. We have had only one day over 100 and that is considered a mild summer for us. This is the season of over 100 every day with nothing below 80 at night. I got a note from my niece in Arizona saying they don't get below 90 at night right now. They want to move back to Texas where it is cooler. I had not thought about us having cooler temps that much of anywhere. Even the Mohave Dessert is tolerable with the 0% humidity. Most of our low humidity days fall during the winter.

I confirmed my fears in the melon garden. The soaker hose is either broken or disconnected. It is making a pool of water about where it connects to the water hose. That would mean that the water is going no further.  Being two feet deep, I cannot just dig it up and fix it. Those pumpkin plants are looking sickly and have lots of the same bugs that got the squash plants. We did get lots and lots of cute little pumpkins. Unfortunately, Randy has several bad teeth and can't eat anything crunchy right not which just means more roasted pumpkin seeds for me. The pumpkins will store well so I will put them aside for another time. The melons react badly to a water sprinkler and our hard and heavy mineral content so I shall endeavor to soak down the area and keep them all going as long as possible. I did not add the wood ashes to their soil and most all the melons so far have gone bad to the blossom end rot. 

The corn plants are actually making ears already. Exceptional! Forever we have read how you must get Mineral Oil to pour into the tops when the little hairs first appear. Just try to find it in the stores anymore. We'll see if the corn makes edible ears or not. This is a variety that can be picked small or allowed to grow larger. I had thought the blackeyed peas were a bush bean but in the last week, they have taken to putting out vines and they have no place to go. I was sad that the yard long beans had just about quit making new beans when I discovered that there was easily enough for a meal on the blackeyed pea plants. Now, they are producing wildly. Okay, it seemed like a good idea at the time but I planted a row of okra in the middle of the peas. Yeah, the okra are so slow to grow that they are barely taller than the peas but are yet trying to grow. No flowers and no fruit yet. Usually by this time, I am picking a few every day. Randy doesn't like them but I sure do. 

The only Zinnias to make any flowers yet are those that came back volunteer from last year. The other fancier ones were started much later than usual but I was able to cut a big beautiful bouquet yesterday and they are on display to be enjoyed while fresh and so pretty. There is a squirrel that has been digging in my shady garden. It would look like he is seeking water but there is a water pan within feet of the area. About 6 weeks ago, something went through the garden and dug it all up, perhaps an armadillo? There was a spot where it pushed its way out of the fenced area. Looking for seeds perhaps? But everything that had been planted did not sprout or was dug up and killed. I had a bunch of Celosia to do well from seeds so I have planted it in the empty spots. I have given up on one entire side since that is where Mr. Squirrel seems to enjoy digging the most. Go figure.

The Hibiscus in the shade are easily 5 times as big as the Hibiscus in the sunshine. But there are still no blooms. The ones in the shade came back from last year and are doing so very well. Only one time have they been wilted from lack of water, they are indeed hardy but I am so anxious for a beautiful bloom. The get a bit of early morning sun. I had planted dozens of seeds and always get two. Amazing. The two that get sun get it in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is very hot and they wilt as soon as the sun hits them. That bed will disappear next year. A little morning glory tried to grow about a foot outside the bed but disappeared quickly.

So far I have picked 5 tomatoes. I got one off the Cold Start variety yesterday. That was sure a waste of time and effort. Perhaps in another climate but they were slower than any other variety I tried. The cherry haven't made one yet but the "Whopper" is the one making lots and lots of fruits. The heirloom variety I had such high hopes for have yet to produce one flower. Sigh.

My plan for the fall includes burning some wood to have plenty of ashes for this coming year's gardens. From burning a brush pile years back, I stored about 5 gallons of ashes in a plastic bucket and had plenty for two years. I will start the beds as soon as I get the area cleared again and fenced. I want to have the chicken manure and hay and some kitchen scraps working along with the wood ash, making rich soil for next year. I was looking at the new chicken yard and the old sunny garden and realized that if I move the middle fence to the back, all I need is the front section which is lying in front after it was removed from the middle of the chicken yard. They should all fit just right. It will make a perfect spot for the cucumbers of next year. I want to take down the melon garden's fence and move it entirely into a new spot. There were so many bad bugs in the shady garden of this year that I can take down the fence and move that garden as well. We are getting the camera just any day now and can begin the building of our new house as quickly as we can save up more money. 

The house of the future will be of the type more easily built by one person. It won't be big but can be added onto as we go along. Randy will be recording all work, materials and progress so it can be sold as a CD or DVD. 

Around the house will be the gardens for attracting the hummingbirds and butterflies. Already I have some vines started where they are growing up trellis materials and into the trees. No Asarina blooms yet but they are so very pretty and the hummers just love them. I am planning a wildflower area and an area where the plants that birds like will grow. Perhaps some regular grass type plants around the house. No stickers! No devil bush or trees. No wild Elms. 

The poor grape vines are so out of easy reach that with this latest dry spell, they stayed dry for too long and look sick. The early fruit they put out had been eaten completely by the grasshoppers. I hope to take down the dying fence that keeps me from getting to the vines. I had actually run a water hose out to their area but it became impossible to get to their space. The best I can do for this year is to trim them back and remove the invasive weeds. We had a wonderful soaking rain about 5 days ago and the timing would be perfect for a fertilizing and mulching.

I almost grabbed a big wasp nest the other day and got Randy to burn it out. But they tend to find spots that I come close to but just slightly out of the way. They never bother me when they are at the water hydrants but just don't get near their nest. Oh no!

In the Reader's Forum Section, I am collection all the hints and tips on repelling insects and what to do for their bites. Right now, I have a bite on my left eyelid. Sounds like a minor problem but it has continued for two weeks now and is most annoying. There is nothing I can put on it to help. I wake with my eye glued shut and even now, the top lid droops and I have a most difficult time seeing. This year has been worse than ever and probably because of the generous rains we have not received in recent years past. I have tried every remedy at every stage of the chigger bites. They first make a blister that hurts big time. It is reported that once the top is broken and blood appears, the tiny critter is long gone. I had always heard that putting a coating over the blister would kill the bug but there is a very short time before the blister breaks and the blood appears. I tried the slapping the new blisters to see if that would kill them; no effect at all. Slapping the wounds does make the itching let up so I can go to sleep at night.