Journal of a Gardener

July 6, 2008

Still no rain.  The hot climate is good for okra.  The raised beds at Culpepper Place are bearing cucumbers and tomatoes.  The vines look good.  We didn’t establish a harvesting plan.  Some veggies are being picked before they are fully ripe.  Nephew David and his son D. J. have a great crop of pumpkins.  The vines look healthy.

July 5

We got some zuchinni and 10 cucumbers.  Hannah pulled the biggest onion (golf ball size).  She scouted out the Japanese beetles and I reduced the numbers again by plucking and stomping.  Hannah thinks that is gross and wonders if I could just take them and release them somewhere else!  She also freaks out when a bee comes near.  They were working the big yellow blooms on the squash and the small white blossoms on the green beans.  We also are seeing a lot of spiders and some wasps or dirt daubers.  Patty started pickling about ten cups of cucumbers today.  They will be ready in a couple days.

July 4

Hannah and I got a few more veggies.  Okra is growing very well with warm days.  The cucumbers don’t climb as well as they did last year, but the vines seem to be shorter; and so far they are very productive.  Beans are developing low on the vines now.  Two of the spaghetti squash vines are dying.  I believe a vole has damaged the roots.  A tunnel runs under some of the squash hills.  So far, I am letting them take their share.  We brought in four to see if they are mature enough to enjoy eating.  Butternut squash vines are running like kudzu!  A few fruits are appearing.  I don’t see any acorn squashes yet.  The watermelons were planted late and the plants are only four inches tall.  I wiped out on cantaloupes.  I used transplants – for the first and last time.

July 3

Hannah and I got mixed lettuce, some cucumbers, a few zuchinnis and 3 yellow squashes.  She pointed out that there were lots of bugs on the pole beans.  I looked and found a few dozen Japanese beetles.  I pulled off as many as I could by hand and mashed them under my feet.  I prefer that to using a spray.  We set up a lettuce rinsing station in the back yard and brought in two or three pounds, some of which we gave to extended family nearby.

July 2

It would be good to get rain now.  The weather people offer the possibility, but the sky is too overcast to allow rain to fall it seems.   I don’t look forward to pulling out 250 feet of hoses and a soaker hose, but we are over a week without significant rain.  One benefit of tight clay soil is that it holds moisture very well – even when rain is scarce.

July 1

I introduced our 10-year-old granddaughter, Hannah, to the garden this morning.  We harvested 3 cucumbers and 4 zuchinni squashes.  Hannah insisted on pulling up some onions.  I agreed and showed her how to pull them from the tight clay.  She pulled up four landing on her bottom twice when the onion came up and breaking the green top off a third one.