July's Garden (2021)

 

The garden is in. We are eating from it constantly and I'm trying to preserve as much as possible. I go outside at sunrise to harvest, come inside to cool down, and then head to the kitchen. That is life during July.

The potato patch in the mountain of horse manure has done better than expected.  They are being dug a few at a time and eaten fresh (after being thoroughly washed, of course!) Mowed grass is below the tarp and will be spread over the empty area. Butternut squash planted in two corners will then take over.

The two yellow squash plants in the front right corner of the potato patch haven't stopped producing after the soil was amended to cure blossom end rot.  So far, no squash vine borers have attacked them so the Viva scent traps seem to be working. Successful summer squash is new to me. I didn't realize how big they would grow. Yes, I have seen large ones in other people's gardens, but never in mine.  I slid the vines into the yard onto cardboard so the potatoes underneath could be dug.  I really expected the squash to be dead by potato digging time.

As for the other yellow squash in the back corner of the potato bed, it has been tied to a stake. This is the first time I have tried running them up a pole. The leaves on the path side are chopped off to make room to walk.  The garden is getting crowded.

Evidently, it isn't a good idea to plant potatoes in fresh manure because it could cause them to have scabs but thankfully, this didn't happen. The manure quickly decomposed under the hot summer sun.  

It is a solid mass of potatoes underground when I dig. 

Last year's potatoes didn't last long in storage since my basement is warm.  Maybe putting more space between each one will work.

Only a few have been dug because fire ants have invaded the area.  Their colony can't always be seen under the mulch.  Disturb the soil and an army of thousands march to attack. 

Their stings hurt (really hurt) and they often cover you before you realize it. The commercial poison that kills them will contaminate my garden soil and might seep down to my well water so I won't use it. Instead, I put a spoonful of mineral oil with a few drops of Joy dishwashing liquid into water and spray the nest as they swarm. I squirt, quickly bolt away then return and do it again. Eventually, it will kill enough so I can harvest some of the potatoes.

Fire ants rushing out after being disturbed.

As for the rest of the garden, we have had plenty of rain and it is thriving.  The first few rows have all grown together.  

Cucumbers are running down the short outside fence by the lawn.  Two rows of assorted peppers stretch above them to reach the sunshine. To their left is a row of flowers, herbs, beets, plus a yellow squash shoved in an empty spot at the beginning of the row. It too is being run up a wire and its path side leaves have been trimmed. Lastly, cantaloupes spread below hunting for empty spots.

It has become a jumbled-up mess (even too chaotic for me) so pipes have been tied to the fence to allow the cucumbers to climb higher.

It looks as if it is too shaded but a view from the other side shows the afternoon sun is able to penetrate.

Next is the first row of tomatoes with a watermelon and a cantaloupe growing below.  The tomatoes have been picked because a neighbor is stealing the ripe ones at night.  

We don't mind sharing, one here and one there (we are good people after all).  We offered him unlimited rotten tomatoes in the compost pile but oh, no, no - it wasn't good enough. He was sneaking one bite from six different vine-ripened fresh tomatoes every night. A sun-marinated can of tuna fish trapped this greedy thief. He isn't dead, just playing opossum.

Gluttonous little bandit. He was sleeping off his night of revelry and was angry at being awakened. 

Bill set the trap again, and his drinking buddy, another party animal was also caught. Seeing his friend go to jail didn't teach him a lesson.

Maybe next month there will be some tomatoes to show but in the meantime, this is the watermelon growing below the tomatoes in the first row. 

Under the cascading arch of leaning tomato plants at the far end of this row is a cantaloupe. The lettuce is gone and the calendulas are dormant in the hot weather. They will begin blooming again when it cools.

No need to show the second row of tomatoes since they are also stripped bare.

When I impulsively ran the watermelon vine up the fence and above the short Super Beef Steak Tomatoes, I didn't think it through. What will I do when they begin forming multiple twenty-five-pound melons?  

The biggest one has already become wedged in the fence.  Bill pried the wires apart so it could be slipped out. We made a sling to hold it as it grows but we aren't confident it is secure.

The corn patch is almost ten feet tall. We weren't expecting that.  Years ago, before the trailer loads of horse manure were added, my corn never got more than a few feet tall (disclaimer: When Reese planted corn kernels beside mine in the garden, his grew 15 feet tall). 

At the end of the row is the bucket which keeps the garden hose from smashing plants as it is drug.  It is full of dirt (everything in my garden is full of dirt and has something growing in it) and it has a zucchini! I have a zucchini! Watching summer squash grow and not die from borers is really exciting! I'm still not convinced it will survive since it is a distance from the scented trap.

The next row to the left is the later planted corn. The original idea was to run an Ambrosia Cantaloupe and two Black Futsu Squash down the twine which was strung between the fence posts inside the corn patch. The string broke and this jungle is now out of control.  One melon has ripened but it was stolen by our neighbors.

There is another row further to the left but it is impossible to tell where it begins.  It has celery and Swiss Chard in the center, an Ambrosia Melon vining down the outside of the row, and a yellow squash at the far end.

 

The next row has a volunteer amaranth and then Purple Hull Peas.  It is in the same spot where last year's amaranth was located - seeds were dropped everywhere.  Each year I tell myself I'm going to collect them and grind them into grain. Maybe this year will be different.

The next rows were planted late. Everything is growing rapidly trying to make up for lost time but nothing has produced anything yet. 

Up against the front metal fence is one watermelon, pole green beans, sweet potatoes, and beets. The watermelon and pole green beans will go up the fence, the sweet potatoes will spread below and the beets will push up between the potato leaves.  All were planted late so it is a gamble whether there will be much of a harvest.

The second metal fence in the back has melons and tomatoes with carrots in the empty spaces.

The back of the garden has really changed in a month's time.  The okra has FINALLY started producing about one pod on each plant every other day.  Better late than never.  Instead of planting beans below it as I said earlier, I put zucchini under it.  I feared the pole beans would overtake the slow okra and choke it.

The cabbage and most of the beets are have been eaten. The cucumbers on the support fence are beginning to wane and we harvested the Sugar Baby Watermelon.  

The cucumbers were bigger than the watermelon.

Bill had one bite and I had the other. 

The mystery volunteer squash plant that appeared in the early spring is a spaghetti squash! Which makes sense since there was one close by this spot last year.  Of course, we won't really know the truth until we cut it open. 

At the far end of this row is another squash, a new variety Yuxi Jiang Bing Gua Squash. They have both grown so much that the two are intertwined.  Underneath them is where the broccoli plants were growing in the spring but they are long gone. 

Behind the spaghetti squash was the kale and collard rows. They are gone.  I had hoped they could tolerate the heat better in the shade but it didn't matter. A pumpkin will soon take over this empty area.

Nothing to report about the back corner. All of the onions have been harvested and everything else is busy growing. 

The onions are drying on the love seat on the front porch. We aren't entertaining outside in this blistering heat anyway. Our company always prefers air conditioning. The onions are intermediate day length. The varieties are Candy, Super Star, Red Candy Apple, and an unnamed yellow bulk variety from the local farm center.  However, the mail-order varieties were expensive but the unnamed variety was cheap and just as good.  In the future, I might try growing something fancy from seed, but for now, I will be sticking with the storebought sets.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to follow and asked about my blogging absence. I have missed everyone's comments.  My health has finally improved and I feel well enough to start writing again. (Bill and Dustin are tired of working in the garden while I sit in a chair and boss them around.) Now, if only something would happen so I could have something exciting to write about!  Never mind, it doesn't matter - I'll just make something up.  

Last Month's June Garden (2021

Last Year's July Garden (2020)

Through the Garden Gate