August 20th Update

Its still pretty hot, but we've gotten some relief the past week. Most of early August was over 100, one day it hit 105.  But since last Tuesday, its cooled down to lower 90s and its been creeping up again, into the mid-90s.  We got a little bit of rain, but its mostly been dry.

Pumpkins/Squash 

In my last post, in early August, I had mentioned how I had started some new Rouge Vif D'etampes pumpkins in pots, and that I had planted some yellow crookneck and Benning's green tint squash and had them under tulle netting.  I had also cleared up a lot of dying Hubbard and Rouge Vif vines, and had cleaned up, buried, and watered some of the remaining healthy looking runners.

Those runners have done pretty well, and are still growing. I think they have perked up because of the more reasonable weather.  But strangely, those runner have no flowers at all..not even male flowers. Hopefully later in the season they will produce some more... otherwise I'm just wasting space and water with them, as well as time.  I pick many SVB eggs off of them and bury the new vine lengths every few days when I get a chance.  There's still a lot of eggs being laid. I also find clusters of Squash bug eggs too.   I have also injected the leaf stems with BT solution occasionally, so that if I missed an egg, and there is a borer working its way down into the main vine, it will get poisoned.  The picture below shows some of the Hubbard vines runners.  Also I went ahead and planted my two Rouge Vif plants I had in pots, and covered them with tulle.  Now I have a bit of a dilemma trying to figure out which direction I should train the new plant, and how long I should attempt to keep it covered, as it will start growing 4-6 inches a day, and that will make it very hard to keep it covered for long.

Here is the second one on the other side of the garden. Those vines outside are the older Rouge Vif, which are also alive and kicking, but no flowers..

Here are my patty pans and yellow squash. They have done great under the tulle netting. They have had some male flowers bloom, and I just stared noticing a few small female flowers forming.  I will attempt to keep them covered as long as I can. I will have to hand pollinate in a few days I bet.  But that should just be a brief time to uncover them, then I will put the cover back on. Its been nice to grow these so care free, and I highly recommend this, especially with the hoards of SVBs, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles out there.   As you can see, I removed the smaller tulle "teepees" and replaced with one big piece.

 But this was the odd one out.. the 7th plant.  It totally outgrow its small tulle cover, so to make use of the cover, I put a box around the plant, and was able to re-use that small section of tulle.

Okra and Watermelons

The "Emerald" okra seedling I put in a few weeks ago are doing great. Beautiful big green leaves, actually look a lot like squash leaves.  They have gotten attacked by some bugs... most probably cucumber beetles... hence some of the small holes in the leaves. But otherwise I have 5 big plants, and a smaller newer one growing. I see some flowers about to bloom.  

I also planted some watermelon seeds in small pots, but only 2 plants came up. Here are both of them. I put them in the ground a few days ago, in the original mound which I had put the Hubbard squash early this year.  They are looking pretty good. First time growing watermelon for me, so I hope I get something from them.

That's about it.  I just stared a few days ago  some seeds indoors for this fall. I started some lettuce, cabbage, Brussels sprouts,and cabbage.  The brussels sprout seedlings have not come up very well I only have 2 tiny seedlings that have sprouted and survived so far.  

Texas in August -- HOT!!

After a nice break from the heat during the end of July, August has come with a vengeance.  Its been over 100 for the past few days, and today it was about 102-103.  In Texas its like we have 2 growing seasons.. fall and spring.  Winter and Summer are in a strange way similar in that you can grow a limited  selection here during those times, but its tough, and only a few plants can take it.

Pumpkins/Squash

The Sugar Pie vines have all been ripped out and all those pumpkins have been harvested. I think the final count was about 17 pumpkins.   So the only pumpkin vines that remain are the Rouge Vif d'Etampes vines (or at least few runners that have survived!)  I've really debated if I should pull these out, or try and keep them alive though August, and hope they perk up and produce more in the fall.  But in any case, I do have some successors waiting in line.  I have them in pots, and covered with tulle netting, to protect them from SVBs, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles. (More on pests below).

So I'll have to decide where exactly to put these, when they outgrow their pots, which is looking like it will be pretty soon!  I will definitely have to keep them covered with tulle for a while, due to all the pests out there.  

The Hubbard Squash vines are still around, and there are 2 small squash that are maturing, but I dont think they are going to get very big. Their vines have been damaged by SVB, and they are not looking that great.  This weekend I cleared out a huge section of their vines.  I ripped out many segments of their vines that had been damaged, or looked sickly.  I think the combination of SVB damage, and the intense heat had really taken a toll on much of the plant, so it was time to prune it and make it more manageable.

I took the lawnmower and mowed down big areas of overgrown grass and sickly looking vines, but I did keep a few healthy looking runners that remained, and gave them some care, including picking off any SVB eggs, injecting BT into vines segments that might be infested, and I buried those vines.

Now that the plants are smaller again, and more manageable, it will be easier to get in there and inspect them, pick off SVB and squash bug eggs.   The vines looked pretty wilted this afternoon. We'll see if they recover tomorrow hopefully.  With how dense it had become, I had not taken care of them much. The area had been overgrown with tall grass, and was just a breeding ground for pests.  

But in the mean time, I am working on the next generation of squash plantings.  I am hoping while they are young then can survive the killer August heat and grow, and when it starts cooling off  (probably end of Sept) then they can start producing fruit.

The Pests

One mistake I made this year was to plant  too many pumpkins/squash too close, and then not be able to take care of them.  I think the effect was that I raised an army of SVBs and other pests.  I've seen tons of them the past few weeks flying around, and have killed many. And I see lots of eggs being laid.  I have also had squash bugs make an appearance this year.  Last year they were not a problem. They might be part of the reason so many parts of my vines looked rather sickly, and many leaves have withered and browned.  Also the cucumber beetles have been bad. Their number have decreased a bit the past few weeks though.  I have not sprayed any chemicals, ( I prefer to be organic) and especially since I've seen baby anoles around, and toads at night, and don't want to harm them or the bees.  I have not sprayed neem either because with so many vines it would be expensive and time consuming to cover them all.

But I think this weekend I definitely made a dent on the SVBs.  I ripped out a lot of infested vines, and took out grubs and fed them to my chickens.  Many eggs were removed from vines I kept.  I also resorted to spraying Sevin from a spray bottle to get the moths, which fly around very fast when its hot. I set it on "stream" mode, and got a few that way. 

So on my next batch of squash, mostly summer squash, and a couple Rouge Vif D'etampes, I definitely will keep them under tulle netting to protect them from the hoards of bugs, as long as I am able to.  A couple weeks ago I started some seeds in pots: Yellow Crookneck,  Bennings Green Tint Squash ( an hierloom patty pan type), as well as a couple Rouge Vifs.  I put the summer squash in the ground a few days ago.  Here is a picture of the seven plants, all covered by their tulle teepees, and well mulched.  When they outgrow their teepees, I will cut out a bigger section of tulle, and them cover them with a bigger teepee, and save this tulle for future use.  

Other Plants

The sunflowers are pretty much gone now, except for a lone plant close to the compost bin.  I chopped down many of them to clear out the old Hubbard squash patch.  I did plant the okra seedlings in in the ground too. They are Emerald Okra, which I started from seed a few weeks ago.  I put in 5 plants:

I have them in tomato cages to protect them from me stepping on them while I am working in the area.

Okra is one of those few type of plants that can take the extreme heat.    Peppers also do well, but I decided to not grow any this year, except a couple of plants my mother in law gave me last weekend. I put them in, but today they were looking pretty wilted. I am not sure what type they are. They were supposed to be bells, but are hot, and look more like poblanos. But they are thin fleshed... strange.