Summer time is heating up here in the south. Most of the plants are starting to suffer at this point and I am having to look at replanting many of what we started out with, but it will just have to wait a few weeks because between the extreme heat, humidity, weeds and the bunches of creepy crawlies almost nothing survives August here. Being Organic is very tricky and challenging. I guess it is time to look at starting a fall crop of seedlings in the next couple of weeks.The mystery vine in the compost pile turned out to be a pumpkin. On the whole vine(and it was huge) so far there are two pumpkins that are growing. I have never seen a pumpkin vine
with leaves as big as these. The kids could use them as umbrellas, really.
The eggplants that were planted are still struggling to grow and the leaves are beginning to get eaten. I refuse to use anything on the plants to keep the bugs away. I have noticed several good bugs in the area that I am really excited about. We have seen several praying mantis in the
garden in the last few weeks.
The squash started out doing really well and was beautiful, then they produced a few squash, we were able to pick one and the others just disappeared. I'm thinking rabbit. It just got too hot for them and they would wilt in the middle of the day.
All of the pepper plants got eaten by some kind of bug, and most of the onions are just gone. Our cucumbers just never got established very well and are barely hanging in there. I am pretty sure that we have some soil adjustments to make for next season.
The tomato plants are having a hard time in the heat and with the nasty tomato hornworm(the chickens love the worms), but they are hanging in there and starting to actually ripen some really great tomatoes. We have been picking some cherry tomatoes the last couple of days and just recently our larger varieties are beginning to turn colors too. I just can't wait to bite into one of those beautiful yellow boys that are growing.
The watermelons are growing and so far there are 4 small sugar baby melons growing. The moon and stars have not started flowering yet, but are beginning to grow to. The cantaloupe are struggling at this point and we just may have to wait until next year for those.
The blueberry bushes still have some unripe blueberries and are not in the ground yet, because I want to wait until fall and still haven't figured out which area of trees to clear out to put them in.
The chickens are doing great, we are eagerly awaiting our first eggs which should be soon.
We've had a hard time growing things this year, too. I think part of it is being "in" the woods. All kinds of bugs and animals enjoy feasting on the garden. We put up fencing around the newly planted stuff (started my "fall" garden a little early) and that is helping a great deal. The chickens are helping to keep the bug population down, though before the fence, they were eating more of my garden than the deer and rabbits, lol.
ReplyDeleteWe should also start seeing eggs pretty soon. My Dad gave me his two hens who are only about 3 weeks away from laying and our other 14 hens are about 7 weeks away from laying. We are so looking forward to farm eggs :)
Miss you!!