Late spring garden...

This Sunday, where normally there is a crafty YOP post,  gardener me is popping in with a progress report on growing things. 

It's been a great spring here for gardening - better than I was prepared for in March and early April.  I wish I had planted peas earlier this spring so we'd have gotten more.  As is, I planted peas in April, and now in the middle of June, with temps in the 80's they are slowing down to the point where I'm trying to decide when to cut them down and plant something summer-loving in their place.

I only planted two trellises worth (above).  My thought process in April, not really knowing if I was too late planting peas, was that I'd plant this many and if they produced enough, I'd practice blanching and freezing some to see how they fared.  Well, I was so excited to see peas, I just started picking them and eating them, and now, all of a sudden, the plants are slowing down and I may have missed the opportunity to do a trial run on processing them.

So...  my very loose plan now is to plant some more peas later in the summer and hope for enough peas come autumn to process.  But we'll see if I have the gumption for that when/if I see winter any winter squash on vines healthily sprawling. I didn't have success with winter squash last year, so this is another test.  If I don't grow autumn peas, there will be next spring to try again.  

Three kinds of green bean plants are thriving so far.  I labeled them at the time of planting, but some of the popsicle stick labels have disappeared and any that remain are pretty badly faded.  So, I'm discovering what some of them are as they start to produce.

While I've been picking peas, and harvesting garlic scapes (more on that in another post), next in line are Dragon Tongue beans (above).  While their purple speckles are fun, these beans evidently turn a yellow-green when cooked.  

I failed to read the seed packet or the online description when I ordered Dragon Tongue seeds, and I only just realized today that these are bush beans. The trellis I planted them around is completely unnecessary, and frankly a bit in the way of future picking.  I also planted a couple of cucumber plants on the other side of the trellis and they are just about ready to start climbing.  Since it's supposed to rain tonight, I'm leaving it all "as is" for another day or two and I think I'm going to pull the trellis out, and maybe transplant the cucumbers and plant more in a different spot - maybe where the peas are currently.

The sweet corn (above) is doing pretty well (planted in two square patches).  I'm trying to stay hopeful that racoons don't make a meal of it before we can.

Last week I planted some winter squash seeds amongst the corn, thinking that if corn is harvested (by us or racoons) in late July/early August, the squash will have room to spread out the rest of the summer and fall.  I kind of regret devoting nearly a third of the garden to experimenting with sweet corn, and now winter squash, but it is what it is now.  I don't plan to interfere anymore - unless it's to plant more squash seeds if I think the space can handle more once I see them sprouting.

Moving on (and trying to ignore all the grass I need to take a hoe to)...

On the south side of the corn, where there's plenty of sunshine, I'm experimenting growing sweet potatoes (above).  If I remember correctly, this was a total impulse move when I found the sweet potato starts on clearance a few weeks ago. I thought for sure I came home with five good sweet potato starts left in a 6-pack, but within a week of planting I only had four.  Do critters eat these?  It seems odd that four are there looking perfectly wonderful and one just disappeared.

Behind the corn, on the right side of the hose (above) are three mounds of zucchini and yellow squash.  

Everywhere (above) that there is a wooden stake, there is a tomato plant.  Twelve Romas meander across the garden.  I like to imagine I was being creative with my planting layout, rather than just looking for anywhere to stick them in the ground.

Kentucky Wonder Green Beans (above)

and

Kajari Melons (below)

They don't look like much yet, but I'm excited to see what these Kajari melons look and taste like in person.  But, if you're curious here's a video:

And near the Kajari melons are some Blauhilde beans.  More beans that grow one color and turn green when cooked.  I can't wait 'till those start showing up!  And I have some pepper plants.  I think they're called Big Bertha.  I couldn't resist - again, on clearance at a local greenhouse.

And below is normally my favorite view of the garden where I can sit and put my feet up for a bit.  It's not so pretty at the moment, as the spot (bottom center) where I've reserved for the butternut squash to grow into is in serious need of weeding.

And somewhere in there, near the tomato plants are a couple of okra plants.  I failed to label them, but I think I found them sprouted yesterday. I need to put a tomato cage around them so I don't step on them. Those were a 100% spontaneous decision after watching a video of someone growing okra, and shortly after seeing seeds discounted at Tractor Supply.

Oh!  And I almost forgot!  The garlic is close to picking time!

Once those come out, in another week or so, I'll weed the strawberry patch, fertilize it, mulch it with more straw, and let it grow.

It's hard to believe today is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year!  And it's doubly hard to believe we're now headed toward the days getting shorter, and my countdown to autumn begins.  Okay...  I don't really start counting down to fall the first day of summer, but I do look forward to it.

Happy Summer!

The Dog Days of Summer...

Did you know that there is an official time frame assigned to the Dog Days of Summer?  I had no idea the saying was based on an annual astronomical event that occurs after the summer solstice when the star, Sirius (aka, the Dog Star), rises and sets with the sun.  Behind the sun, from the view of earth, Sirius was thought by ancient astronomers to add to or increase the heat that the sun produced.  In the northern hemisphere, the official time frame for all this is July 3 - August 11.

So... the dog days of summer are officially past, but it still feels miserably hot and humid - I'm assuming throughout most of the US, at least.  I know you folks in the southwest and west experience plenty of heat, but I imagine you chuckle at us mid-westerners, (and I expect mid- and south-easterners) who complain about wilting when the humidity coincides with pretty much anything above 80 degrees.  

Having written all that, though, I've noticed in recent days that neither our temps, nor our humidity in central Indiana have actually been terribly high, but it feels oppressive outside for some reason. I've also noticed on my weather app that the air quality during the daytime hours has been poor here in recent days.  Maybe our atmosphere has been affected by the Canadian forest fires more than the eye could prove?  Whether it is or not, it has to be mild compared to what our northern neighbors are experiencing.  

Cicadas are riotous (day and evening), so much so they almost drown out my ever present tinnitus - that sounds remarkably like cicadas on a still summer evening.  I find their translucent exoskeletons scattered throughout the garden plants.  It's a little unsettling to push the leaves aside as I hunt for green beans and be greeted by the dried up shape of fat cicadas.  I don't know how many times I've reached for one thinking it's a dried leaf that needs to be plucked only to realize at the last minute it's cicada skin.  Ick.

I wish this was a better picture, but you can perhaps see how in my peripheral vision, I sometimes start to pluck these cicada skins off thinking they're dead leaves.

And sweat bees or hoverflies (I cannot tell which they are) have become an ever-present nuisance in recent weeks.  Everywhere - even in town.  After coming in from the garden, I still twitch and itch imaging I'm feeling them buzzing around or crawling on me. 

Heat and humidity and insects aside, it has been a good summer for us.  More on that in another post.  Still experiencing wonky internet service, I am going to try to catch up with my fellow bloggers while the signals are flowing.

Soon it will be very hot here...

Billie Jo at Afternoon Coffee and Evening Tea made me smile today with her honest post about preferring the indoors as the weather heats up.  I relate completely.

And it stirred up this post in me. 

Writing recently about putting a garden in, and showing some of the pictures, while I think I've been honest about it being a bit more of a challenge for me this spring, it's easy to make gardening look and sound somewhat idyllic.  

The truth is, it's a lot of hard, sweaty and dirty work - for anyone - to put in a garden.  If the sun is shining, and the temperature is anything above, say...  68 degrees, and depending on how hard I'm working, I turn into a sweaty mess out there in fairly short order.  Because of that, if possible, I save showering for after working outside in the morning.  But that isn't possible every day. 

If I can't garden until the afternoon or early evening, presumably I've gotten myself in presentable condition for whatever I needed to do in the first part of the day.  As I change my clothes and put on "gardening shoes", I begin an internal discussion about how hot it is, how sweaty I'm going to get, and how I'm going to need to take a second shower afterwards.  The worst is actually when it's a coolish temperature outside, and I can probably work "sweat free", but if it's been rainy, it's turned buggy, and I know the smart thing to do is use a bug repellant.  Whether I'm hot and sweaty or covered with bug spray (or both), I'm going to feel compelled to take another shower when I come back in from working outside, and while I enjoy the clean feeling afterward, I hate the idea of getting wet all over again.  

In fact, I dislike it so much, on a comfortable day when I don't anticipate getting sweaty or dirty as I work outside, I sometimes forego the bug spray - just so I don't have to take a second shower.  I take my chances with the mosquitos, and almost always regret it.  Mosquito bites that turn into painful welts aren't pretty, and they are maddeningly distracting for three or four days.  The whole situation - painful welts, valiantly resisting scratching - it's pure misery.  And ridiculous.  And probably not even smart.  But I repeat this scenario over and over again.  All because I don't want to take a second shower.

I probably have a whole blog post inside me about how much I can drag my feet like an eight year-old over taking a shower - let alone two showers in one day.

But that's a post for another day - or probably not. Today, inspired by Billie Jo, I just wanted to write something I don't know that I say very often.   

One of the things I appreciate about gardening is that it gets this seriously heat-averse gal outside in the most miserably hot temperatures, when my natural bent is to stay inside where it is cool and mosquito free.  It's been a lot warmer here than normal since March, but our truly miserable heat is expected come July, August and September.  The early part of October can even be hot here, though the humidity seems to lessen by then, making the heat more tolerable.  And the promise of the first frost and falling leaves makes October's hot days kind of nostalgic feeling.

When our boys were young, I'd take them to the public pool at least a couple of times a week during the hot summer; in one town we lived, we'd visit a nearby lake.  On days we didn't go to the pool or lake, we might pull out the sprinkler, or fill up water balloons.  Oh, and water guns - those were a favorite, I'm now remembering.  It seems to me that we all enjoyed summer.

When the boys got older, and going to a crowded public pool ceased to be as much fun, I think that's when a dislike of summer started to settle into me.  Summer became something to endure.  That's been my attitude for years now.  And I've always felt kind of bad about it.  To dislike a season that is responsible for providing much of the world's sustenance seems pretty ungrateful.

I don't know how long we'll live in this place that has a nice garden spot, asparagus and strawberry patches, and a couple of fruit trees.  We may live here longer than either of us has the strength or desire to garden.  I don't know the future.  I only have today.  And today, as much as I dislike getting all sweaty, or using bug spray, and taking more than one shower in a day, I'm realizing one of the great benefits gardening is to me, is that it gets me outside - pretty much every day.  And the biggest surprise is it also has made me not dislike summer quite so much.

When the temps here get to be 90 for a stretch of time, and it hasn't rained in over a month, I may still complain. Ask me to travel south between the middle of June and the middle of October, and I'll probably groan.  And, if I absolutely have to attend an outdoor event on a hot, humid day (or evening), I'll consider it something to endure.  Yeah...  I don't think I've fully embraced summer and all its sweaty heat, but I don't seem to hate it (so much) anymore. For that, I am grateful.

And sometimes...  like today...  we get treated to a pop up rain storm that totally refreshes everything, cools things off.   In the spring, these showers are expected from time to time. In the summer, a shower like this feels like a gift.