July 21st Update

Okra

Even though almost all of my garden is now taken up by squash/pumpkin vines, I am starting some new plants from seed for the second half of the summer.  I decided to try growing some Okra.  Its been about 8 years since I last grew okra.  Since it likes heat a lot, its a good choice summer time here in N. Texas.   Here are my first seedlings to sprout. I shouldn't need more than 5 or 6 plants to feed us all the okra we want.   Hopefully these guys will do well.  

In a couple weeks, when these guys are bigger, I will have to find an open spot to transplant these.  They are usually pretty tall plants, so they should be able to grow above the vines.    

SVB Battle

The pumpkin. hubbard squash, and acorn squash vines have been a huge jumbled mess.  Once again, I probably planted way more than I should have in my small space I have.  With such a tangled mess, I had not been able to inspect for Squash Vine Borer eggs, or spray anything for them, or even try and cover them with Tulle.  So I just let things go and run their course.  I have buried vines whenever possible, but many of the vines I just could not, especially ones that grew up onto the fence.  I can now see much of the damage the SVB have done so far.   I think the first generation completed  without me noticing much, and are now we're into the second generation of them.  I see many sections of the vines that have big holes in them, as shown in the pics below (Sugar Pie Pumpkin vines)

Most of the damaged vines have big gaping holes, and when I have inspected them, no more grub inside, so I think they exited the vines and dug into the ground to form cocoons.  I have also found empty cocoon shells on the ground too, indicating the second generation is out flying.  I have seen many eggs laid the last few days, and have killed at least 6 moths this weekend.  They are usually see flying around at mid-day.   It seems the hotter it is, the faster they fly.  

The interesting thing is that despite the damage, the plants are still able to produce.  Now the two vines I took a picture of above actually have 2 pumpkins on them that are just about mature:

I think these vines have probably put down a few more roots further down, (but I actually didn't bury these vines) or maybe there was just enough connection left in the chewed up vine to keep providing for the plant.  Either way, it seem often the Sugar Pie pumpkin plants can either outgrow or deal with some of the damage of these SVBs.

Unfortunately I think I have raised an army of SVBs.  I saw a bunch today flying, and killed as many as I could.    My plan is to pull out the remaining Sugar Pie pumpkin vines, and clear out the space when the last 4 pumpkins are ready to pick. So that will probably be in 2 more weeks.  Then I will start a  fall planting.  I will for sure have to cover them with Tulle if they are to stand a chance, to protect them from the hoards of SVBs and cucumber beetles out there.  We'll see what happens!

But up to now, the harvest has been pretty good so far.  I have already picked 1 large Rouge Vif, 1 large Hubbard, 1 small Hubbard, 14 Sugar Pie Pumpkins, 12 Acorn squashes, and at least 20 ball zucchinis.  

Sunflowers

The volunteer sunflowers are still doing great. Here is another Mammoth Sunflower that popped up right next to the edge of the garden bed.  A couple of Hubbard squash vines are growing up it.  The flower head is huge, and full of seeds,and it seems like it going to topple the plant over.  I ended up picking the other big head I had, since the squirrels had eaten about 1/3 of it.  We've been snacking on the seeds the past few days. I hope they don't mess with this one.  

Mid-July Garden Update

Been around 3 weeks since I last posted.  July is here, and its been pretty hot! Actually, we had a hot end of June, then we have a nice week in the low 90s during the 4th of July week, but then last week it was back to being "stinkin' hot" with highs in the upper 90s and up to 102.  The forecast calls for a relief from the heat again this week with highs in the upper 80s and low 90s again. Very nice for being mid July here in Texas!

Chickens

The chicks are looking a lot more like chickens now.  They still make the baby peep sounds, but occasionally I hear a chicken cluck too, so they are in the late  teenage stage now.  Here they are sitting atop their chicken tractor.  I tie up the dog and let them free roam some mornings before I go to work, then I put them back in their coop.  

Squash/Pumpkins

I finally decided to pick my big Hubbard squash.  It was not growing any, and the skin had gotten pretty hard, so I brought out the pruning shears and cut it off the vine.  It wasn't quite as heavy as it looks, its probably about 15lbs.  Haven't decided what I am going to do with it yet, maybe some pie, some bread.  Looking forward to see how it tastes. But in the meantime, its sitting in the pantry.  I also picked the smaller one, because some earwigs were starting to damage it on the underside.  The skin was hard too, so I think it was ready. When I pulled it up, I noticed the vine was pretty damaged from what I think was SVBs.  So that's probably why that one didnt grow too much.  

Unfortunately have not had any more Hubbard squash set... all of them get aborted. Now that its been so hot, I am not to hopeful. I am hoping if we have a cooler week we might get some more to set.  I've read that in temps above 90, they have a real hard time setting, and the plants tend to abort the female flowers.  

I am definitely seeing some effects from SVBs now.  My vines are so big and rambunctious that I have had a hard time checking all the vines for the eggs. I have also not been good at spraying the neem oil.  I guess I've gotten lazy, plus that stuff is expensive. and since I didn't see much activity, I didn't bother spraying it much.  I've seen damage on some of my Hubbard vines, Rouge Vif D'etampes,  ball zucchini, and on my sugar pie pumpkins.  The sugar pie pumpkins are mostly done now.  I've picked about 12 of them now, and there are about 5 other ones still maturing on the vines.  But I think they will be done in a few weeks, and then I might pull up all those vines.   Some of the sections of the Rouge Vif vines have died off, but there are some big sections of the vine that are still growing well.  But no more pumpkins have set. They have all withered and died :(

The ball zucchini has done pretty well, despite some SVB damage, which I treated by extracting some grubs, and injecting with BT to kill any other ones. We've gotten at least 15 nice ones from 4 plants.   Today we grilled some on the barbecue grill. They were great that way. 

I am trying to decide when its time to pull up all the vines and start my fall planting. I might evaluate within a month, and in the meantime start some in pots.  I think I will focus on Rouge Vif, more acorn squash, and some patty pan, yellow squash, and ball zucchini for the fall.   I'll keep the existing Hubbard vines, and hopefully see if they can produce more later on.  

Sunflowers, Etc.

The only other things that are growing now are pole beans and sunflowers. The pole beans are huge, with lots of flowers, but no beans!  I think it might be the heat.  Again, am hoping that the forecasted cooler weather fixes this problem. 

Here is yet another volunteer sunflower.  I think its another one of the mammoth varieties.  

In this picture you can see it, and some of the other varieties behind it.  They all have been doing great, and thankfully, the squirrels have left them alone!

The bees are really liking my garden, between all the squash/pumpkin blossoms in the morning, and all the sunflowers.  Here is another kind, with a good shot of a bee on it.  

This is the first mammoth sunflower, as of today. The seeds are pretty much ready to eat. We've been snacking on some of them while still on the stalk.

 Another bee magnet.. morning glories.  These are also volunteers from many years back. They come back year after year, reseeding themselves.  They are almost weeds now but every year I let a few grow.