Mostly sunny. Low 74, high 92°F.
Phew, I am glad the heat dome seems to be done for now. It looks like we are now in the low 90s—our typical weather. Now that I have acclimated to 100+°F, 92 feels rather cool. 🙂
No unusual nature sightings to report today, just the usual gardening. I started with early morning watering—with moisture meter in one hand and my retractable hose in the other. I started in Rudy’s Radish Ranch. I probed each plant as the watering needs can change sometimes per plant, and they could only be a few feet from each other.
My garden is mulched with sometimes a combination of chopped leaves and pine needles or straw. This causes my clayish soil to really hold onto the moisture. According to the moisture meter, peppers, India and Armenian cucumbers, and tomatoes didn’t need watering. The only veggies needing watering in RRR were the yellow and zucchini squash.
I did the same testing in the other plots—Back 40 and Pickle Patch. Chinese cucumbers needed watering in Back 40, and the only veggies I watered in the pickle patch were 2 peppers, a couple of the tomatoes, my raised bed pole beans, and Chinese yard-long beans.
By studying my plants, I saw my eggplants wilting and dying because 2 inches down the soil indicated it was overly moist. I learned that even though it is hot here, if my plants are mulched, they stay wet longer and do not follow the typical watering pattern of every 2–3 days like the unmulched plants my fellow gardeners water every 2–3 days. I am guilty of just looking at the top of the soil and the number of days and have been doing this since the heat dome started, as before the heat we were getting sufficient amounts of rain.
With the watering completed, I was ready to work on my next task, and I finally have enough boxes to complete the boxing of the cage area. Boxing makes better sense as it will choke out the weeds better than the landscape fabric. This is actually a win‑win because I have now set this up so that if I don’t need the storage cages and want it to be a planting area, it is all set. If I continue to use it as cage storage, then the cage area needs to be topped off in the spring or early summer with another layer of boxes and mulch.
I am going to wait a little as the grass and boxes need to get a good seal. I will probably add more grass as it settles. I forgot to mention I had to take the first layer of boxes off as there were some stumps poking through. I didn’t want these weeds to grow again, so I took my hatchet, split and chopped them flush to hopefully be snuffed out. Once I feel it is sealed, then I can fill it up, and I will be sure to share a photo of my beautiful cage storage. I know—not beautiful, functional.
While I was finishing, my garden neighbor Jonn came to water his purple sweet potatoes. I told him that all the Chinese cucumbers he gave me germinated and he had to take a look. He was very impressed that they were doing so well, as I direct sowed them and he uses transplants. In amongst my cucumbers is a watermelon seedling. It must be from my compost I added to the soil before planting. I plan to move it to the Learning Plot watermelons. I have no idea of the variety, but I want to give it a chance in a bigger spot.
Jonn was still here after I harvested the okra, and I asked him if he would like some, as we are getting okra’d out. I already have several pounds that I still need to dry for my sister. I just hate the thought of cutting them into small slices; that is the longest part.
Anyway, I noted that I will have some eggplant to pick. This is another vegetable my husband is just okay with and was growing for my daughter. I think I will pick it, as we will see her at her work tomorrow.
I will close with my new saying—keeping it real in the Pickle Patch.:-)