Dog Dayz of August

It’s the first Monday in August 2020...must be time for a garden update! 

First of all, allow me to state the obvious: it is hot. And humid. When I clocked my morning walk today at 7:30, it was already 72° and 94% humidity. The forecast has a chance of rain today, but I’m not holding my breath...been there, waited in vain for that. You can probably tell how hazy that picture is. Hot and hazy.

Anyway...

It’s a good time to take stock of how this year is going in our gardens. One thing is certain, spending copious amounts of time in one’s gardens is a great pandemic survival technique! So, I will count “daily gardening” as a plus for this year so far.

We gathered an amazing amount of blackberries from the four 2-year old plants that are located in what we call “the fence garden.” It’s an area along the backyard wooden fence that runs north to south, which we have tried to protect from the dogs by adding a parallel wire fence, allowing for about three feet by thirty feet of fruit and flowers. Next year we hope to add some blueberries to the mix. The blackberries have finished for the year, so we will be cutting off the canes to prep for new growth for next year’s berries.

The year-old Rose garden is better than we’d initially thought, owing to our fear of losing so many new plants to the drought last Summer through Fall...when the poor babies had little to no established root systems. We did lose a few, but we’ve added six more from an auction of Alba’s roses (she the former president of the Gwinnett Rose Society who passed away late last year and who asked that her roses be auctioned for funds for the GGRS). Every single one of them seems to be thriving! And although the garden itself is starting to look weedy because it has been entirely too hot to work in it lately, it continues to give us bountiful blooms for our dinner table display. 

Also in the plus column was the decision to sow so many flowers in and around the kitchen gardens. The zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers have been attractive assets, both in color and in being pollinator magnets. From mid-morning to early evening, we enjoy the activity of a record number of bees, butterflies, and birds. And we pack the vases of roses with many more colorful blooms!

In thinking about the Kitchen gardens, I think if I had to pick a veg winner this year, it would have to be our beans. We have picked enough to eat and to freeze...and given several “messes” to neighbors. I staggered planting several varieties, starting as early as March, and I pick them on a near-daily basis in order to keep the vines productive. 

However, a remarkably cold and wet April delayed planting of almost everything else, meaning all crops are behind schedule as far as production is concerned. And then Mother Nature turned up the heat and turned off the taps in July, meaning more stress on the already-stressed tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and corn. More stress=less...and smaller...produce. Sigh.

Still we continue to enjoy our little slice of Heaven on Earth here in Georgia...hot and humid as it may be. I am spending some time, researching plants to create a Dye Garden, hoping to make a match between two of my favorite activities: gardening and knitting. Speaking of knitting...here’s a picture of a recently-completed cotton shawl that was done for a Ravelry Mystery Knitalong (MKAL) called “Dog Dayz.” Timely, yes?

Anyway...again...

I’ve identified the area of the yard that will be converted from lawn to flowers, and I’ve started purchasing seeds to start the plants for Fall. I’ve also designated my old crockpot for a dye-pot, and I’m researching how to create dyes from the plants I grow as well as how to dye different yarn fibers. More on that at another time...

Between now and then, though, we came up with a rather unique way to both kill the grass in that area AND beat the heat of August: a play pool on any old rug! Missy M ordered it to be delivered here in time for her week-long staycation this week; Mr. T aired it up with the air compressor; and we filled it and hopped in yesterday! Ahhhh...

The Good, The Bad, and The Wicked-Ugly

It's about that time. Baseball has its All Star Game, usually played on or near my birthday...the halfway point between Opening Day and The World Series. 

Here in Zone 7/Piedmont NC, it's the halfway point in our 2013 warm season veggie gardens, 3 months from the Average Last Frost Date (typically quoted as April 15) and 3 months until the Average First Frost Date (typically quoted as October 15). So how're things going, you ask? Let's take stock, shall we?

Starting with The Good, as you can tell in that photo above, the new tuteur in the Center Square of the Box Garden is a green success! The Kentucky Wonder pole beans are beginning to produce, now that the vines have reached great heights. And while the Scarlet Runner Beans (an old-world variety I'm trialing this year) haven't made any beans yet, they are showing off their striking red flowers (seen close-up). The dwarf sunflowers add contrasting color to draw the eye...and carry out the theme introduced in the stenciling I did on the topper.

What may not be evident from that picture is how over-the-moon happy I am with the raised beds in the Box Garden. Although I have long enjoyed using landscape timbers and recycled crates to create (mainly flower) beds for aesthetic reasons, I have resisted joining the raised bed army now for years, mainly because I simply didn't understand how veggies could do as well in intensive growing conditions as they could in regular garden rows.

I have maintained a healthy skepticism, say we say, about the almost religious fervor some folks use when singing the praises of the intensely-marketed Square Foot Gardening, mainly because (1) Mr. Mel takes credit for "inventing" something (intensive garden practices) that have been in use for a couple centuries in France and other countries...what he should be credited with is inventing a catchy name and a clever way to market the concept in order to garner fame and fortune; (2) in the Way Back Kitchen Garden, we have plenty of room for "raised rows," 40' long x 4' wide, with 3' aisles; and, (3) truth be told, many intensively-planted raised beds tend to look...well, 'unkempt' is the kindest word I can use.

OK, sign me up as a soldier! I am a convert to raised beds, primarily because I can control the soil-mix, allowing me to grow decent carrots and beets for the first time here in our hard-pack, clay-soil heaven...and I figured out that I can keep them from getting too rangy-looking simply by daily maintenance. Plus, I can garden intensively without feeling the need to hammer-and-nail a square-foot grid on my boxes...which Mr. Mel insists makes them SFG-official. So there!

Also in The Good column here at the midpoint, I have to sing praises of the two varieties of bush beans (all seeds of which I got at the Seed Exchange at Old Salem last January) which have been extremely productive, and of a new variety of salad tomato I was encouraged to try by MG friend JA called Sun Gold. At this point, I'm almost ready to start looking for the 'pause button' on both of these, as I cannot just stroll out to the garden to observe anymore...I must take some kind of container to harvest (bush) green beans and Sun Gold tomatoes!

In the "coming along nicely" category are the three varieties of okra (a beautiful row as you can see above, just starting to flower) and the trellised Kentucky Wonder pole beans (just beginning to flower and produce), below. The peppers are starting to yield a green one here and there, with several jalapeños and one giant sweet red on the vines. The newly-planted pumpkins (replacing the two rows and one grow bag of garlic) have all germinated and are adding inches daily. And, slowly but surely the replacement cantaloupes (from seed) are starting to flower (but not fruit)...remember, lost the first seedlings to cutworms. 

The rest of the row of tomatoes are loaded with green and ripening fruit. The pink-fruited heirloom/OP German Johnsons (below) are ripening daily, and I picked my first ones today, including those two you see below. The Celebrities have one or two ready every couple of days, and the Big Daddys have one about every three days. And you should see the salad variety I started from seed, the Juliets...just loaded with green tomatoes!

Mmmm. Tomatoes. That leads me into The Bad category. I have fingers and toes crossed that I will be able to harvest all the fruit currently ripening on the tomato vines...since I have seen evidence of blight on the leaves. Late blight, not typically seen outside of the Mountains, has been confirmed in Guilford County, and I think all this wet weather we've had this season will only make fungal problems worse. I've used Neem oil, which has some fungicide properties, but it has been raining too much to apply Serenade...my next and only remaining organic line of defense. I do have seven replacement plants ready in containers if necessary to pull any (remember the suckers I started earlier this year?), but we are nearing the last date to plant tomatoes (July 15). I feel like it's a race at this point.

Also in The Bad category falls the cucurbit row, in general. While I have harvested enough Straight 8 cucumbers to make dill pickles; enough yellow squash to eat and freeze a few; and enough zucchini to have them grilled as well as grated for zucchini bread (making the latter today), I see signs of fungal damage here, too. Losing leaves at a rapid rate on all. Had to take out at least three squash plants due to wilt. And the squash bugs are still laying their eggs on the remaining leaves. Grrrrr.

But nothing...nothing...compares to the downright Wicked-Ugly category. I have lost my entire crop of ripening watermelons and corn...to raccoons. Remember, I thought I'd lost the corn to wind damage? Well, it righted itself and set ears...and now all I have to show are empty cobs and stripped shucks. Here's the heart-breaking evidence...first, today's destruction: the remaining 6 Sugar Baby watermelons; next, the remains of the Silver Queen crop.  

Makes me want to whack something with my National Wildlife membership card.