The one word to describe my garden this month is "devastated."
It has been six weeks since it has rained and the temperatures have hovered in the '90s. Today's high will be 94 degrees (Fahrenheit) and there is still no rain in the forecast. Despite being watered, most of the vegetables have died.
The yard-long beans over the arch are still producing a few tough, short beans even though the leaves are almost all gone.
All of the other beans are dead except for the Limas.
I love Lima Beans.
This is the front middle of the garden.
This is the view standing in the middle looking right.
And this is standing in the same spot looking left.
Everything is suffering, some things have survived but nothing is thriving. We are still getting more than we can eat but that is only because I planted so much. It has been a big disappointment. Too much of my time has been spent watering. Even though we have cheap well water, the fear of running it dry is real. Sucking mud up into the pump would be an expensive repair so we can only water for short periods of time. Choosing what lives and what dies is mandatory.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.
As usual, all my peppers fell over. I tried propping them up with bricks, but then they fell the other way.
As an experiment, I followed the advice of another gardener, put them close together to avoid staking. Didn't work.
Crowding just made it hard to find the ripe ones and - SCOOTER! MOVE! I am trying to take pictures!
"I see a cat! I smell a cat! I hate cats!"
Anyway, there is still a little bit of life at the far end of the garden.
This is the sweet potatoes. If you look closely, you can see a few green leaves.
The yellow squash that I celebrated on my post last month, was killed by a squash vine borer and died a few days later. That makes squash vine borers 100 to my score of 0. However, the Long Island Cheese is still producing.
The vine puts down a deep main root and also additional strong roots as it travels across the ground. The lesson learned is to no longer run winter squash up a support fence because they need the extra roots to survive a drought.
It is still able to produce new squash - SCOOTER, GET OUT OF THE WAY! Stop sniffing the squash! I am trying to take pictures!
Sniff, sniff, sniff. A cat was here! I smell a cat!
Pardon the interruption again, okra loves heat and has been able to endure the drought.
The Lousiana 16 Inch Okra has grown so tall I can't reach the top without bending it over.
If I had to guess, I would say we could have had five or ten times the harvest we are getting now if it had rained. It is hard to know how to prepare for our weather. Some years it floods, other years it is drought. If it always flooded, I could raise my beds, but that would be disastrous in a drought. If it was always dry, I could put the hardy plants together and irrigate. It is the not knowing that keeps me off balance.
So I look ahead to the winter garden. The row in the center with the assorted unknowns was planted right before the drought began. It is doing well. Nothing else can be planted in dust so I wait for the fall rains to (hopefully) return. In the meantime, I water.
Your poor garden! I can sure see where you are between a rock and a hard spot with watering or with knowing how to plant.
ReplyDeleteJust noticed you in the okra...does okra itch you? It always did me some as a kid, but I could go on with it. Here about 4 years ago, I plants some in my flowers just cause I think it is a pretty plant, but I did pick the okra...it itches me to death now.
ReplyDeleteAnd where did you get the yard long bean seeds? I had never heard of them. and what do they taste like? I am full of questions.
Okra itches me also but usually I am wearing gloves. It doesn't bother me when I am cooking or eating it, isn't that odd?
DeleteI purchased the yard long beans from https://www.kitazawaseed.com/seeds_bean.html but I don't recommend them. Their shipping rates are OUTRAGEOUS! They had some new winter vegetables that I had not seen anywhere else so I splurged. If all you want are long beans, I recommend Baker's Creek https://www.rareseeds.com/ because they have five different kinds and often have free shipping. A few seeds planted in a flowerbed and trained up across a porch would be pretty.
The beans taste just like regular old green beans to me. Bill says there is a difference but I can't tell it. Right now they get tough quickly so I must pick them small. Snapping them takes forever so last time I left them long like spaghetti when I cooked them. Worked just fine. All my other beans are gone but these are still managing to produce some.
thanks for the reply....I was thinking they would be fun to watch grow and hear the comments. But would want to taste them, too.
DeleteOh, Jeannie, I will stop complaining about the situation in my gardens. My challenges cannot compare with yours. Wishing you more success with your winter garden. P x
ReplyDeletePam, keep complaining! Misery loves company and I long for some miserable company. It makes me feel comforted.
DeleteI'm glad you're still able to harvest some things. It had been the same here, but we blessedly have had a few showers in the past several days, even though the forecast showed only 10-20% chance. I hope the same happens there.
ReplyDeleteWe had one storm blow in and we sat on the front porch and watched it rain in the far distance. Never rained here though. I was glad at least someone got something. It is the heat that is driving me crazy. It should be cooler by now but according to the weather, we still have one more week of 90's. If it had rained, and fall was late, I could have had a massive harvest...oh well, there is always Kroger.
DeleteAt least you have a garden ~ all I had this summer was two half rows of sweet corn, two rows of purple hull peas, and "wild" tomatoes, meaning they were overtaken with grass. Fire ants have taken up residence in the garden, making it dangerous to step inside. Spring was too wet to plant, then it got too dry to plant. It is the life of a farmer I guess, so maybe next year will be better. I hate to have to buy vegetables!
ReplyDeleteI was ready to give up and let the garden die until I bought groceries. The price of vegetables has skyrocketed and this is peak season! What will happen this winter? As I was standing gawking at the prices at the store, other ladies came up and began expressing shock also. I must start planting my winter garden soon but I don't know what to do if it doesn't rain.
DeleteFire ants have made it to Tennessee and they are horrible. We have fought them constantly. They hurt when they bite and it keeps burning. Bill finds mounds all over the yard every time he mows. They move in from the fields around us. We have to poison because we fear Scooter might lay down on a hill. We have found plowing up the garden a few times causes them to leave.
Usually at this time of the year most gardens do not look very glamorous. But I understand that
ReplyDeleteso many weeks without any rain and high temperatures are disappointing for the gardener. The
temperature in our area is around 60F and we also had rain several times. Today I planted some
onion sets for next spring. I love these early spring onions and also the tender onion green.
It is also the time to plant garlic. That is the way we do it here. The weather in your part of
the world will also change soon and then you can start with your winter gardening.
I have often read the word "squash vine borer". I do not know this pest, but it must be a real
nuisance.
By the way, that cat (a wild one?)looks rather unfriendly. No friend for Scooter.
Christel
I wish we had your 60F days. It hit 97F today and it won't cool down until Monday if the weather report is correct. On the radio today I heard people talking that this is the hottest beginning month of October on record. However, we never reached 100F at all this summer. The weather is really crazy.
DeleteThe wild cat is not a friend of Scooter's but it does not seem to be mean. It was just the face it made in the picture. It won't get close to us unless we are putting down food. It has gained weight and is not as ragged looking. Hopefully, it will learn to catch mice.
Your poor garden has been suffering with the lack of rain. It must be so frustrating after all the hard work that you had put in earlier in the year. Thanks for joining in 'Through the Garden Gate,' again this month.
ReplyDeleteSarah
Thank you for the sympathy Sarah. I just came inside from watering for a few minutes. Now I have two small trees I planted about 10 years ago beginning to wilt. TREES! I don't want to lose my trees! It has been heartbreaking watching it all suffer and die. Next year's garden must be smaller, but then I always get excited in the spring and go wild.
DeleteSo sorry to see this hands on experience of trying to grow food in a drought - we still have wide areas of South Africa where our farmers are desperately trying to find a way to survive the long drought.
ReplyDeleteIt is discouraging. We spent the day in a town 15 miles from us and it rained all afternoon. We were happy and didn't mind getting drenched as we ran to the car. The creeks were full and there was a flash flood warning on the television. When we got about 8 miles from our house, it was still dry - not one drop of rain had fallen. Now THAT was depressing.
DeleteYour fallen peppers still look way better than any pepper bush I could grow this year! Just saying😄😄
ReplyDeleteWe are still eating them and it is almost the end of October. They have survived a few frosts. I picked most of them but have left a few on one bush to see how long they will last. Two of the bell pepper plants I bought were labeled wrong and were hot, very hot peppers. Now I have more than I could ever use so they have been dehydrated and saved for later. It might take me two years to use up all of these hot ones.
Delete