Mid Summer Update

Its almost the end of July, the hottest part of the summer.  Here is an update of what's going on in the garden.


Last year I had one of my dry birdhouse gourds break open at the end of the season, and some of the seeds scatted in the area.  This spring they sprouted, and since we've had a pretty wet spring and summer, they have grown well without any care.  I did start watering it a little a few weeks ago.  Here it is today, growing very nicely. 

Speaking of the gourds, the ones from last year are mostly completely dry now. I cut a hole into a couple yesterday, and will try to start using some of them for crafts. 


A few days ago we planted some jack-o-lantern pumpkins (saved seeds from a store-bought one someone gave me). Here is what they look like today, under their protective tulle tent.   Hopefully these will have good pumpkins by Halloween.  These don't stand a chance if it wasn't for the netting, unless I spent lots of time checking for SVB eggs, which is not fun.

jack-o-lantern pumpkin seedlings about a seek since seeds were soaked

Today I also just planted some sugar pie pumpkins in this other area of the yard. I pulled out a huge sunflower plant to make space.  There are some of the tomato plants that are still alive...  the pumpkin vines will grow around them if they still alive later this summer. 

just planted sugar pie pumpkins here

Below are the  sweet peppers that I mentioned starting from seeds in the last post.  About 7 seedlings came up, and I put them in the ground. One is dying, so there are 6 plants that are looking like they might make it.   They are pretty slow growing... as I remember from past experience, peppers start off slow. 

sweet peppers a few weeks old

 Here are the cucumbers.  They have been hit by SVB, as I have found some of the vines wilting, and have found grubs in them. But the main trunk doesn't seem to have been hit, so many portions of the vines are still alive and producing still.  Cucumber beetles have been bad, but have not caused a big problem yet.  Next to it are some of my basil bushes. These are regular volunteers in my garden. 

the cucumber are hanging on for life

And here is my tomato jungle.  The "sweet 100" cherry tomatoes have produced well lately, but seem to be taking a breather with the recent very hot weather. The Rutgers vines are also still alive, but have not produced anything in about a month. Its just been way too hot for them. The vines I had buried have certainly been helped, as I have seen fresh new growth, but no flowers or fruit though.

 From the previous post, I had mentioned I was planting some round zucchini, and that 1 seedling had come up.  Well that was the only one that came up.  I suspect my seeds are getting old. So I sprouted and planted 3 more seeds, which did come up (out of about 8 soaked seeds). So these plants are about 2 weeks behind the first one.  One of my goals with these plants is to let one squash grow to maturity so I can get seeds to replenish my supply. When these mature they are like small yellow pumpkins.

Round zucchini under protective netting

To report on my experiment using aluminium foil, I can say it didn't really "foil" the SVBs.  I've had lots and lots of the moths flying around trying to lay eggs, (the second generation this year that came from my spaghetti squash)  and I did find a few eggs on the leaves, despite the foil. So I think it did help a little bit, but not enough to prevent infestation.  I did pick off those eggs I found, and then covered the plant with tulle netting.  When the plant got bigger, and the newer seedling started outgrowing their smaller individual tulle nettings, I erected my bigger netting set-up shown above.  Flower are starting to appear on the big plant, but haven't opened yet.  I did see two female flowers forming. Hopefully we get a dip in the heat when those are open, and the fruit sets.  This week should be in the mid to upper 90s.



In my last previous post from July 3rd, I had shown my okra seedlings.  They have grown quite a bit since then, and are close to 2 feet tall now.    I thinned them down to 4 good plants (about 7 had come up).

Summer in North Texas

Summer is here, and in Texas, it mean extreme heat and dryness, which make it very hard to maintain a garden. Its been in the mid-to-upper 90s most days, and haven't had any good amount of rain in about 2 weeks (while we were on vacation).

Pretty much all the stuff I planted in the Spring is done with.  The onions, squash, garlic are all picked. The rutgers tomatoes are done producing too.  But the cherry tomatoes, being much more heat resistant, are still producing. The plants have gotten huge, and very long, so I have started burying many of the tomato vines so encourage more rooting, so that they might produce more later on.

cherry tomatoes can take the heat better

These cherry tomatoes have been great.  The ones that escape the mockingbirds, I often pick and eat them as a snack, as they have a very good flavor.  The rutgers tomatoes are all done producing, Unfortunately the mockingbirds ate a lot of them, in spite of that we  still got a pretty decent amount of tomatoes from the plants.
 I have layed down their long vines and dug trenches, and dug in the vines to encourage more root production.  Hopefully if the plants stay alive they produce more in the fall. ( may be foolish thing to do considering the water I'll have to spend to water them) but we'll see what happens.

buried tomato vines under a sunflower (being propped up by a stick)

 In late spring my son Andrew wanted to plant something so I helped him plant some cucumbers.  It was kinda late in the season but I thought was worth a try.  He seeded them in a large pot, and later he transplanted the plants once this space was available( where the snap peas has been growing).  His plants have grown pretty big now, and are producing. These are the "straight eight" variety. We have picked 3 nice ones, and a few more are growing. There are lots of cucumber beetles on them, and a few squash bugs too, but I have not wanted to spray anything on them.  Hopefully we can keep getting some more until they succumb to the heat and bugs.

cucumbers with some basil nearby.

 There are many volunteer basil plants and some milo plants around which I water occasionally.  I very much welcome the basil.  They have been coming up every year, and I just let them grow where-ever they pop up.

New Plantings

One of the reliable hot-summer plants is okra.  I seeded a few plants a couple weeks ago, and they came up.

Emerald okra from seeds saved from last year

I have the chicken wire over them for protection since we have a small dog that sometimes goes into the garden has tried to make holes.  This is to give them a little protection until they get a bit bigger.  I have 7 seedlings, but once bigger may thin down to 4 since that should provide more than enough for our needs.


 I also planted 4 "Round Zucchini" seeds last week, and 1 has come up.  Not sure what to expect since it will be growing maturing during both the hottest part of the summer where the pest are in full force too.  But my plan for these is to:
- While small, monitor every few days for SVB eggs, and keep area clear to prevent squash bugs.
- Put some aluminum foil around base and as mulch to see of this keeps SVB from laying eggs, (I've read about this but have not tried it.
- Once plants are bigger (maybe 2 weeks from now)  do a good inspection for eggs, then cover all the plants will tulle netting.  (not doing it now since I want them to get full sun so they grow fast and strong in their early life)
- Once female flowers appear, then hand pollinate, as long as aphids don't start being a problem and force me to remove the covers to deal with them.  Eventually just remove the covers.


The other thing I am hoping to grow during the summer is peppers.  Last week I bought a packet of sweet peppers:

I just planted 10 seeds in small pots a couple days ago.  Hoping they come up soon.  I thought about just direct seeding them, but thought it would be easier to keep the soil moist by planting them in pots, and putting them in the shade, until they germinated.