July Garden Activities

Harvest black berry's.
Enjoy fresh salads
Pull up garlic bulbs when the tops start to yellow and dry. Do not wait until the leaves are completely dry or storage life may be shortened
Keep beans, cucumbers and other crops harvested so plants remain productive.

This is the height of weed season. It’s easier to control a small weed than a large weed. Organic or plastic mulches can help you keep weeds under control.
Water you garden as needed. This can be the start of the driest part of summer. Plants need at least one inch of water a week.

Remove any stagnant water to avoid mosquito problems. Consider flowerpots, gutters and birdbaths.

Watch for insect and disease problems with all crops
Watch for tomato hornworm on tomatoes and peppers. Remove by handpicking.
Inspect squash plants for the presence of egg-laying black and red squash vine borer moths. Stems may be protected from egg-laying by wrapping them in foil or old nylon stockings, or by placing a cardboard collar close around the base of plants. Row covers can also provide protection until plants start blooming. Otherwise, dust or spray the bases of plants with organic insecticide to kill hatched larvae before they tunnel into the stems

Side dress vegetables such as corn or tomatoes as they start to set fruit.You can use compost or manure. Coffee grounds, etc.

- Plant fall garden beets, broccoli, beans, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and cucumbers.

Deadhead perennials as they finish blooming.

Mow high for season. Long grass blades shade the ground and reduce soil water loss.

After strawberry harvest is complete, be sure to renovate the bed by mowing all the tops off, fertilizing and rototill to narrow the rows.

Enjoy the beginning of your your harvest.
BBQ and have fun with the family & friends.

Sit back and enjoy your flower garden

A very hot day

I have never seen a day start like this one Temp: 91°F Heat Index: 102°F before 7:00 am. It is not the temp as much as is it the moisture in the air. The grass is glistening in the sun as normal but I could not take a photo with out wiping off the lens. Also the purpel martins are missing. Normally by the crack of dawn they are making all kinds of noise. Chirping away and feeding. The windows are all covered like frost in the winter but it is moisture.
Hot out side and cooler inside.

I final have the photos under control wipe and shoot.

This cuke is blooming away.

The cauliflower leavers are getting big but no sign of veggie as yet.

The beans are flowering and healthy

The newest tomato is perked up well in the self watering bucket.

And this hosta is blooming away today

Tiny harvest

The first day of summer brought in my first harvest.

There is only 2 of us now so this will do.

I will add potatoes and bacon and make this a soup.
I was up all night and waiting for the sun rise on the first day of summer.
I have to learn to rejoice in this event as I am a spring person.
The heat of the summer is hard for me.
So I will try really hard this year to overcome and have fun.

You can see the sparkle of water droplets in the grass tonight.
My cat Reba above was out with me to harvest this morning.
She and Crash in the photo below, are the guardians of the yard.

I am finally learning to take better night photos.
All I did was lighten them up a bit.

I have Loosestrife 'Firecracker' (Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker')
It has the yellow flower to the left of the photo.
Center in ball form is Elephant Ear Garlic
Right is Hosta Abiqua Drinking Gourd'

POW WOW photo's

I was amazed to see a star still visible in the sky at sunrise this morning.

Click on photo's to enlarge.

It is below the top line in the photo.

We joined in on the annual pow wow by my home last night.

My pow wow photo's were a surprise to me.

I have other video's taken with the same camera on my other blog
The empty nester
But they are not so abstract.
These 2 turned out a bit magical looking
Like capturing the spirit of the dance.

They remind me of art rather than blur.

The grass sparkled with droplets of water all night last night.

Deep root watering

I am going to try to control the water to my tomatoes by Deep root watering spikes.

Maybe this will help control the early blight I have been fighting this spring. And the over watering in my upside down tomatoes.Caused by all the rain we have had.

I have placed them around some of the ones on the ground.

See the withered leaves are from to much water then not enough.

tomatoes need about 1 inch of water per week 3-5 gallons of water per plant. With the the summer heat , they need 11/2 to 2 inches per week. If the roots are shallow the plant will likely dry out faster (causing wilting). Watering once every 2-3 days is a good idea. By using a stick to check the depth 8-12 inches deep is about right where the water should reach.

But there is hope. I have my first tomatoes started

An over view of todays garden.

The garden is blooming !

This is elephant ear garlic getting ready to bloom. Bush bean

Bush bean

Self watering bucket

I recieved some more tomatoes from my daughter. So I built another self watering container from a food grade bucket and a strainer I bought fo a dollar. I placed 4 screws around the outside to hold the strainer in place. Then inserted the basket and drilled the screws in deeper. I added water to the bucket the organic potting soil.
I removed the bottom leaves as they were dammaged. I placed the plant to the area with the arrow in the photo. This will develope more roots and make the plant healthyer,
I added a top layer of composted manure and filled it to the top with more organig potting mix. I will then cover it with red plastic to hold in the moisture. And add a stake or cage to the top. This will suport the plant as it growes. I drilled a hole about 2 inckes below the screws this will act as an over flow and O will use a bendable funnel to fill the bucked.

The water over flow is at the red arrow.

Todays garden

Hosta collection















You can see the red is making the plants a bit larger,


Cabbage












Galardia.



Stella De Oreo DayLilly


Ires seed pod.

First Tomato Blooms

Yellow Pear Cherry Tomato

Brandywine Pink

Sweet 100 Cherry tomato Hybrid