July 31, 2010: Garden Blogger's Death Day

Is it really the last day of July already? How can it be that my garden is putting forth only 1/3 of what it grew last year at this time? Where are the tomatoes? Where are the cucumbers?

July 26 through July 30

2009 - 2010

394 oz. - tomatoes - 99 oz.
170 oz. - cucumbers - 36 oz.
120 oz. - potatoes - 63 oz.
38 oz. - bell peppers - 13 oz.
5 oz. - jalapenos - 0 oz.
27 oz. - strawberries - 15 0z.

loads of blossoms - morning glory - not even a flower bud

There was an article in our paper this morning, saying even green thumb garden masters have been challenged by difficult growing conditions this year, and novice gardeners may become discouraged.

On the bright side, nothing has died in my garden again this month. For Garden Blogger's Death Day, I will give you what I have purposely killed (removed).

A lovely volunteer yellow crookneck squash was mercilessly uprooted. It had to be done. If you've ever grown them, you know how humongous they can get. I had three of them volunteer this year, and this one was between me and the tomatoes behind the shed.

Now the area is cleared, so I can get to the tomatoes. If I can find them in this jungle. And if they ever ripen. I did pick a handful of cherry tomatoes from the unknown variety on the left. They had come from a packet of Angora Super Sweet seeds, but have an entirely different leaf and color. The flavor was really quite good, although I have yet to eat a truly sweet tomato this year.

Then all of the borage was pulled. I let it volunteer this spring, as the bees love it. However, the bees have now forsaken my garden and flown on to greener pastures, and the borage was threatening to consume the entire northeast corner of the garden.

These cherry tomatoes were drastically pruned. I'll still need a ladder to pick the top ones, but I cut back a lot of the side growth as it was getting so heavy the vines were breaking.

Sometimes when I'm pruning I get carried away. There was an occasional "oops".

Another determinate will have to be cut back a bit today, as the rain really flopped it over. This one, second bucket from the left, was supposed to be a Cherokee Purple, but it's fruiting (and tasting) like an Early Girl, with similar bright red tomatoes. I didn't plant Early Girls this year.

There are baby carrots beneath the indeterminates that must be allowed some sunlight to grow.

Three tomato plants were composted. Two of them were Gartenperle, which was a pretty little container plant, absolutely loaded with the worst tasting tomatoes I have ever tasted. The third was the Minigold, which was in a pot that was smack dab in the middle of the butternut squash patch, and impossible to pick. I have a second Minigold, and that is just plenty for all the tiny yellow tomatoes we might want to eat.

The corn was a failure this year. I really do blame the seed/variety, as it was grown both in a protected semi-shade area and in the open in full sun, with the exact same results. Both areas were well fertilized and amended with compost, both areas got sufficient water, and the spacing of the plants, at 12", should have been sufficient. I refuse to take the blame for their failure to produce a decent crop.

Mr. Granny actually went into the garden and helped pull the corn stalks from the large barrel containers and the center of the squash patch, then he helped me move the container of cosmos from the garden to an area next to the shed. This container of cosmos is taller than I am, and wider across too! I love the flowers, but it has been very stingy with its blossoms.

With the cosmos moved, I can now see the zinnias and marigolds that were on the other side of the bed, and hidden by them.

The weather has been hot, in the high 90s to low 100s. It was predicted at 90-96 for the next seven days, but it's 71F and raining and thundering today, so we're getting some unexpected relief from the heat. It thunder-boomed and poured down rain intermittently all night. Of course, I had just given the garden a good soaking yesterday.

Birds have ravaged the garden again. My fall planting of beets was looking really good until the quail came through and took them right down to the ground. The sparrows did the same with the lettuce seedlings I'd set out a couple weeks ago, so I just pulled up everything from the lettuce beds and replanted.


I used seedlings in the first bed, then installed plastic netting around them for protection. They took right off, and are doing very well under their shade structure. It seems odd to be on lettuce hiatus for now, after all I have picked this year.


The second lettuce bed was planted with seeds of spinach, carrots and lettuce. I'll be covering that structure with protective plastic netting too. Both beds will be easy to cover with plastic when the weather turns cold, hopefully extending the season.