July is beginning, many harvests are finishing up, many are just now putting in gardens. For me, summer has begun to burn everything around. Love your pictures, love to hear from everyone. How does YOUR garden grow!?
Where we came from...
https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1526633/
seedlings , hot weather lots of doing .
Only seedlings I notice are for weeds, so I think you are looking very well indeed Ju.
about to go remove some over propagated prairie phlox, I've got to move my peonies before the heat gets any worse, they are getting the phlox bed
good looking seedlings Ju. I've got habaneros up but the other ones never did sprout
So tickled at my wittle melons, wish I remembered what I have planted. Watching for signs of ripening tho. Have some overripe tomatoes I am plotting where to incorporate into the landscaping for next year, chuckl. My freezer is full and I am out of jars!
Crepe Myrtle looking good, for Keith, and I dunno what to call the variegated plant, one minute I think it is liriope and the next time my daughter calls it vanilla grass, at least it grows well, will have to cut it back if it ever gets over 3' tall.
not sure what that grass is Kitt. looks like variegated rush but definitely isn't. I don't have any melons set yet but the one I put in the front yard is blooming.
Chuckl, yup it can get 3' tall my daughter says, deer like it, but I am going for variegated liriope. Shrug, good enough, but time to get it back in ground. I got too hot this morning, but got bed leveled, liriope watered, tomorro after Dr visit I will add the dirt I have been collecting for it before the fence planks get put back in. Cold shower felt good after overheating.
Watch yourself you two in this heat. It can take you down fast. I walked the dogs twice today but our greenbelt has a lot of shade areas and we had a light breeze.
I was going with a liriope because of the flower. I love anything variegated. Going to be a brutal week starting Saturday. But I do not like the cold and that is why I live here.
Brutal here already- humidity makes me feel like I am swimming and breathing water. Ugh, it is only Wed-I was convinced it was Thurs til I got to town. I have to take some ant poison out to my car-I found some refugees moving eggs along a trail in the step. So, today I have to get out there already. Just eyeballing where the tree shade lays heavy til I get out there. I loved Vegas heat, hated the static in my hair tho. I believe it is liriope, too. Hummingbird came back, only drinks thru the night, then hides mostly in daylite. Catch ya all later, time to get the grandson up for night shift.
Thise are some strange looking tomatoes Kitt. Melon looking good. Thanks for thinking of me with the crepe myrtle shot. I'm not getting all that soil shrinkage in my beds Kitt. Maybe because I had my wife into there arranging and packing the rotten wood. She's a good packer
Just got a bunch of african violet leaves in today- which was a wonderful surprise since I wasn't expecting them until tomorrow! But between getting those started and trimming back some of the Tradescantia tomorrow will definitely be fun.
I cleaned up sumac leaves and cleaned and back washed my KOI pond. About 3 hours worth of work but I was in the shade.
Kitt, our heat today was 106 with 2% humidity. Going to garden tomorrow so I am hoping for a few clouds and a slight breeze.
I discovered today I was dead heading dahlias wrong so I have a bunch of back tracking to do on the dahlias. I am keeping up with the geraniums.
My tomatoes are still ripening so I am a hit currently with the neighbors.
Before and after with the leaves. I blew them up against the wall in the back. The gardener's pick them up on Fridays. This is one days droppings. Hopefully, they are just about done.
You can see the edge in the right corner showing how much the bed has dropped- it started off as high as the edge in Feb. and may also be the amount of water and the dirt I used. That cuke is gone now, but produced really well while it was growing. I really love those Opalka tomatoes- froze them in qtrs, but you remove seeds and juice. Each one had maybe half a tsp of seeds and liquads.
The Cherokee Purple have quit, and I am removing them. The cherries are still producing.
For Keith. The Opalka is an Hungarian paste tomato, the small ones are end of season here. The lack of seeds and juice makes them great for slicers too, chuckl, pic 2 is quartered and cleaned to freeze, that is all the seeds &juice in that one tomato. Flavor is better to me than the Roma
Drat, had one more picture, quart freezer bag of the Opalka going in the freezer and the guts that came from those. I can thaw and puree when I need tomato sauce.
Nother melon,
It is so hot outside I can't get enthused to go out in mid day. Got a bit of watering done, but will mow after 3 pm. Dr gave me my refills, sent me to set more apps, and I am home looking at the front yard. No, I am not throwing frisbees in this heat guys, just not gonna try.
Wow Keith, your crops grew so fast, I envy all the beautiful veggies you all are growing, I sure wish I had the room for raised beds like that, of course our wet humid summer would do them all in.
Kitt, like I said before, you've done yourself proud in the garden this year.
Ju, glad to see your milkweed blooms, the hollyhock is looking fine too. All looks lush.
Gypsi, sorry to say I don't know what the tropical lily you posted was on last thread, so no help.
You all be careful in that heat working so hard.
I hope I am home. Going to cut the grass in the morning while it's cool, cut the cherokee purple tomatoes and any others not producing back, and pick some bell peppers soon. I have red jalapenos.
I had 2 service calls yesterday, and 2 basically deliveries today, although one was a fountain installation - pulled off the white pvc one and put on a painted one with an extension to center it. , and the other was algaecide, which I don't use much, but concrete ponds get algae and that one didn't get sealed last winter...
somewhere i have a picture of the bag those lily bulbs came from Sun, I may find it eventually. Off to the mask making. I cut a bunch of bias from muslin last night. Not sure that that will be as good as broadcloth bias would have been, but I have about 9 yards I decided NOT to back quilts with. (it's too hot to sleep under)
One of these days I'll start keeping better track of when I last fertilized things instead of struggling to remember each time.......
Out of curiosity, does anyone have a process they do for going from water roots to soil? I tend to just go straight from one to the other and maybe water a bit more at the start and it always works out fine- my dad is always vaguely shocked by this and is for a more gradual transition.
watery dirt that is too wet, like a bog, can cause problems for some kinds of plants. I go water to dirt, or I use a bog tray with a pump aerating the water on it
Depends on the plant, depends on the weather, depends on the soil. That said, if it is late Feb, March, and even April here, overwintered in house basil water roots do great buried deep outside in the raised beds. Tomatoes, I just pluck the suckers and stick straight into the garden dirt. I suspect mints would too, but mine overwinter outdoors. Doesn't mean our July heat won't kill them, so I grow a lot of African varieties of plants more successfully than I could the ones you grow L&L, From now thru August my plants die from heat while I get ready for Sept harvest on others. TIMING is important.
That's what I was thinking of Gypsi- I've had issues with root rot before so the idea of keeping the soil too damp makes me hesitant. I'll probably just stick to from water to dirt like I have been doing.
Kitt your garden sounds so impressive- I definitely have enough issues with how hot it gets here in summer, I imagine Texas would be so much harder.
I didn't venture out today. Too hot. News says 115. My phone said 109. Doesn't matter. It was also windy. No watering on Sunday so garden will be very happy for it's morning irrigation.
I took the dogs for their walk today but we stayed in the shade of the streetscape trees and in the greenbelt we stayed on the grass if there was no shade. As soon as they did their business, we turned around and went home.
I did pick some delicious tomatoes this morning. Had a shrimp cocktail with a tomato, onion and cucumber salad for dinner. Could not bring myself to eat anything hot.
Good thing I love the heat.
When I have chilled, I head outside and the heat feels delicious- even if I am 'condensating' so heavy I have to keep a towel to dry my sweat off, chuckl. My great grandson helped me so much today that my garden is ready to rearrange and there are more green cherry tomatoes on the burn pile, 12 dead leaffootted bugs and one shield bug crushed, sweeping needed again, but that is morning chores while the kids run down to visit the beach-probably Near Galveston- before he has to return home. I need to spray spinosad before the bugs eat everything, and I hate to do it since I have one carpenter bee busy on the flowers. Peppers are coming on good now, and I don't seem to be able to stay up with watering as the beds are dry the next day. Guess it is a good thing or I would be boiling the plants watering them under the sun. May make a run to HD or Lowes, but I hate going so really bad it takes a miracle to get me in motion. Still, I need to get a few strategic sun shields in place now I yanked the jungle apart. And I have a hole in the fence to block my dogs from visiting the horse yard,
Trying to figure out if I want to plant something sun loving, but think I'll just wait til Sept.
Ben good and warm here with high humidity and dew points , and more to come ,
reading here enjoying ,the chat ,
seedling sprouts contain maltese cross ,perennial snapdragon silver grass Amorpha fruitcosa and gaillardia
Hello everybody ,,smiley
Ju, prop thread had a fellow asking about pepperomia, I don't grow it, couldn't answer him too well...any of you guys grow that?
Kitt I don't grow it either , brings to mind prayer plants and polka dot plants ,
Watermelon developing. Wendy is going to pick up some mesh laundry bags to support them.
Watermelon developing. Wendy is going to pick up some mesh laundry bags to support them.
Keith looking good ,,
everyone's garden looks good. Sprinkler going this morning. My growing Cockscomb Celosia from seed is really doing well this year, plants are in bloom and beautiful, Amazon delivery person stopped by when I didn't have a package to ask about my flowers. will try to get some pics later, after the feed store for chicken feed.
Was doing some experiments with African Violet propagation (soil vs water, full vs cut leaf, ect), and with them all starting to have baby plants it just hit me how many I'm going to end up with XD
Although sadly I'm pretty sure I've lost the lemon tree I had started to bonsai, so guess I have a bit more space now.
Would definitely love to see pictures Gypsi!
I unknowingly planted Sugar Baby- experiment- the melons have been sinfully good this year. Just picked my 2nd one- having issues with sun, water, and my memory on when planted. Sugar Baby fools ya- it had all the signs of done and could have used another week or two on the vine. What had reddened inside was good and sweet, but it wasn't done. I started too late and it was way too much drama-am going back to the heirloom types I remember. A sling would work, Keith if you had a pole to hook the sling to...
I have lots of short pieces of rebar to anchor them to
I planted 2 watermelon seeds in my front yard where years ago I grew 9 big melons from a seed a kid spit. Hoping for fruit. I don't grow sugar babies, I've had the same results you had Kitt
Today's job was finishing that replant of the Aztec Grass in front of the Lorapetulums. I wasn't much help, I wouldn't have gotten off the ground if I had been on my knees, I watched angles and she moved the one clump and set her stone border in, then we mulched across the front of the grass. Now when the boards are up on the posts the area will be done. I will do layering on the burgundy lorapetulums as it is so old it is no longer sold. Now my daughter has the other side of the driveway about to be shook up and reset, chuckl. Yeah, it needs it since we did it so long ago. I get to REST tomorro. Yippee!
Mostly peppers left in the garden, I ripped out the melon vines today. Thinking I will bury that straw in the beds, but making sure it is what I want before I do it. Would hate to end up with Adobe in my raised beds, chuckl.
I know people who control their flowerbeds better, but for some reason mine look more like Chaos than flowerbeds.
Nice Kitt
Watermelon update. Only have 2. About 6 inch diameter right now and growing fast in the heat we have been having. Bit of an attempt at support but material is not stretchy so may need to be done again. Used laundry bags for delicates. May have to cut them up and sew together to make bigger slings
PS. These are Shiny Boy
Well, one site shows it as an F1 seed (seeds grow true to parent) and another site calls them hybrids. 75 days to maturity from transplant, and weight average is 20# but can weigh more. No way to simply hammock them instead of bagging them? Apparently this melon has great reviews....
Happy Birthday JU. Hugs, Mother Winter...
I mostly propagate water lilies, working on lotuses though
late night 4 Oclock
Cockscomb Celosia producing seeds for next year
The flowers when still pretty
Aquatic Crinum Lily and Firewheel land flowers
