Sky was overcast, with clouds making it seem a teensiest bit cooler. The low was 76°F and the high 94°F, still higher than what our norms should be for September. They say next week we should see a break in the weather, and I’ll be glad for that so I can finish the fall bed planting.
I started off trimming the now‑neutralized diseased limbs on the six tomato plants in the Pickle Patch. I decided I would only do so many per day so it doesn’t cut into my watering time, since watering has to be done early while the ground is still wet with dew, which helps with absorption at the base of the plant.
If you are going to trim as a precautionary measure, make sure you wipe your scissors between plants with 70 percent rubbing alcohol. I had sprayed copper fungicide on Monday, and once copper dries it stops the disease from spreading. So I’m not trimming because the leaves are still actively diseased — copper already neutralized that.
I’m trimming for performance now, because with this heat and temperature pressure, the plant shouldn’t waste energy trying to support sickly limbs and spotted leaves. Removing them helps the tomatoes breathe better, get more light, and focus their strength on producing instead of maintaining damaged foliage.
Since this heat dome stalled fruit set, my tomatoes should have fruit by now, but they don’t. Trimming them should help get them back on track for a fruit set when we finally get cooler temperatures next week. They still have time to set fruit and ripen before our frost around November first. If they are green, they will still be edible as fried green tomatoes.
To help boost them into production, I am going to give them a gentle nudge with my dry fish fertilizer and then follow up with my bocking 14 tea. Bocking 14 has great N‑P‑K in its leaves. It is so versatile for gardening, and I have it spaced all along the edges of my gardens except for RRR, which is just on loan to me this year.
Once done, I commenced with my 2–3 Mississippi watering. I also drove over to the Learning Patch, picked, and watered. The White Spine cucumbers are starting to decline. The watermelons are looking great. My only fear is that even with a fence that is not locked, I have a feeling someone will have sticky fingers. Someone took a few watermelons around the corner from the Learning Plot, but his was not fenced.
While I was finishing up watering in the Pickle Patch, two things happened. First, I found fire ants in my A‑framed trellis bed, and I think they were taking the sap from the bean plant as it died. I put out some Fertilome Come and Get It, a granular spinosad that is safe for garden beds. Boy did they like it. I sprinkled about a tablespoon, and when I came back a little later it was all gone, so I sprinkled some more around. Their nest must be under the landscape fabric I have in the middle to help keep the weeds down.
While I was doing this, Morino said, “Look on your post — a hawk.” Sure enough, the Red‑shouldered Hawk was calmly perched on my retractable hose post, looking for his prey.
I do hope Peter Rabbit is hidden enough, but I don’t mind if the hawk gets the rats in my garden. I’ve grown fond of Peter, but would prefer he not make his habitat in my garden, even though his rabbit poo is actually one of the best manures you can get — it’s a “cold” manure that can be used immediately without composting. I just hate having to construct rabbit fences inside my supposedly rabbit‑proof outer fencing.
This nicely leads me into my next chore: fall bed rabbit fence. I have to say by doing building it in phases the last phase adding the the fence went without a hitch. I first had to take it off the Chinese long beans. A little update I spotted a couple of beans. I might start harvesting in the next day or two. I had the right sized section to fit in the gap and then take my roll and start rolling and attaching with zip-ties.
I decided not to pin the fence down as I have wood and bricks that are snug against the fencing. People might think my garden is a junk yard, but all the great finds from clearing out old plots are really a garden tinkers dream. This bed is temporary as next year it will be part of my tomato bed. I love that I can keep reusing my junk.
I was getting ready to leave when two back-to-back gardeners came within 20 minutes of each other. Tracy her Americanized name came bearing produce I have never seen or eaten before called a winter melon. This melon is not like a watermelon inside the flesh is white and she told me I have to cook it. With a little googling I found it is used in Asian and Indian cooking. So, I will need to research recipes as we like both cuisines. The research said if stored in a cool place it will last for months. I really don’t have a root cellar or a cool place, so I better start working on a recipe.
The next guest to my garden was James the tiller tinkerer, and he brought my mower back. He took the carburetor apart and cleaned it and put a new gas line on. It started right up. James won’t let me pay him for fixing my mower, so over Labor Day Weekend High Mowing Organic Seeds had free shipping, and I bought some seeds he wanted to try — regular Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Carbon Hybrid, parsnips, and some fava beans. I might give him a jar of something I either canned or dried. He can also have some more bocking plants too! It will be nice to surprise him with the seeds, as I know he will love these, and I will also try them too as we both want to experiment with them.
While here I showed him the rabbit fencing and my blackberries, as I have never grown them and was asking him for advice. One suggestion was to top them so they grow wider. I will need to research this — when should I do this? We also discussed how the okra is slowing, but we think for once it is due to the heat. Even though they love heat, they just don’t love 100°F days in a row.
I will close with it is always nice to have visitors in my garden, be it hawks, frogs, or humans. Keeping always real… in the patch.