Cool Dry Summer

The weather in our neck of the woods has been quite a puzzle this year. We had a cooler and very wet spring, then a few weeks of really hot weather (90's) and Indian summer (pleasant days, cool nights) since then. It has felt like fall for weeks now. The really important factor for gardening has been the lack of rain for the past month. The weather has been so cool that warm living plants have not grown as well we are used to seeing.

Watermelons are a month behind last year. We have planted the melons amid the fruit trees which is wood chip mulched. Perhaps the wood chips are cooler for the vines to grow over, and we wonder if this is a part of their slow growth.


Harvests through August 6th

• Strawberries, raspberries provided a great harvest.
• Blue Berries provided a sample crop, which was tasty.
• Tomatoes are in good supply, though we have not canned any as of yet.
• We are getting plenty of green beans for fresh eating, but not enough yet for preserving.
• Peppers seem slow, though there are some that have matured.
• Beets have been good, but seem a bit small and have been drought stressed on occasion.
• Potatoes are ready to dig.
• Okra has been on for a few weeks, an d the supply is increasing as the plants enlarge.
• Onions and Garlic provided a nice crop. We are not sure how well the onions will store over winter. Some may have been sun burned during curing.
• Zuchinni squash plants have survived perfectly this year in the green house. No die off from squash vine borers! Pollination is by hand, which is a consistent task. Un-pollinated squash just shrivel on the vine like blossom end rot.
• We also put our cucumbers in the green house, and they are climbing up a net on the back wall (see pic above). This is working well, but pollination (or lack of it) may be decreasing the volume of harvest. No cucumber wilt seen yet!