I wanted to share what is happening in my garden. It has been so hot for the last few days with temps in the upper 90s and the heat index pushing 100+. Thankfully, my garden did receive a small shower yesterday. It looked so "refreshed" after the rain.
I am trying several new adventures in my square foot garden. Below is a picture of my cantaloupes. I am attempting to grow them on a trellis. I will create a NEST for the cantaloupe either out of netting or by using pantyhose for a sling. It is taking some work to train the vine to grow up the trellis but so far I am pleased.
I also have okra, strawberries, tomatoes, green beans (bush and pole), zucchini, corn, and bell peppers growing in my garden.
I also have a new friend in my garden. I have been losing my tomatoes to birds. This does not make me happy!! So far Adam (named by my children for the singer in Owl City) seems to be doing his job!!
Thanks for touring my garden with me today.
Check out other gardens on Tuesday Garden Party. I hope I did this link right!
What do you have in your garden? Please share with me by leaving a comment.
Debbie
Lovely Veggie garden! Kudos to you! Paula from Idaho
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young and had a garden, I used to pollinate my squash family plants. Take a male flower, remove the petals and put the pollen directly on the female flower. ( I forgot the correct plant parts, but you get the idea. )
ReplyDeleteI found this helps nature with pollination and your plants will set more fruit.
You'll enjoy growing cantaloupes on a trellis. I can't believe you've already got okra ready to pick! Mine is probably 3 weeks away from happening.
ReplyDeleteOk, now I feel pretty slow because I didnt know there were female and male blossoms! Off to research this and see if I can help with pollination like anonymous, LOL.
ReplyDeleteAnd your garden looks great. Love the cantaloupe on a trellis! I am doing this with my watermelon. I ran out of room to do the cantaloupe too.
Paula, thanks for posting. I am enjoying my second year of square foot gardening. I only ask myself why I didn't do this sooner. So much easier than the way my grandfather taught me.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous... the bees were busy this morning but if I don't see anything happening soon, I will try your method.
EG, I may need advice on what to do with the canteloupe once they start growing. The okra is just starting and there is much excitement around my house. We look forward to the first batch of gumbo made with our tomatoes and our okra. I just put the harvest away in the freezer until we have enough. I planted 32 more okra plants a couple of weeks after the first group of 8 plants. I know. I am crazy!
Tosha, don't worry. I have heard people talk of the male and female blossums and it wasn't until a week ago that I took the time to learn. Amazing! You should have seen my husband's face when I had the sex talk with him about what I had learned about my blossums and self-pollinating them. (blush)
I wanted to say hi and thank you for following my blog.
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks great! Your summer veggies are a really nice size. What zone are you in?
Robin... I am in Zone 8.
ReplyDeleteGee, zones don't always tell the whole story, do they? The part of the NW I'm in is considered zone 8, but we are not having heat to make the peppers grow like that. :-) I'm hoping soon we we stay above 75 for more than a day!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Tuesday Garden Party (and you did the link just right!).
Jami, I am actually on the edge of 7B and 8A. Our temps this week have been mid to upper 90s with a heat index of 100+.
ReplyDeleteWould love to know the variety of okra that you grow. I had one last year that was a dwarf. It grew about 4-5 feet. tall. i couldn't find that same variety and planted the Clemson variety. I am afraid that they will grow too tall. The garden looks beautiful and zone 8 with those temps will have everything bursting in days.
ReplyDeleteJohanna, The okra is Clemson Spineless #80. It grew very tall last year - almost 10 feet tall and the biggest one was a little over 2 inches in diameter. (I need to post a picture!) We had to climb to harvest in the end and it would have continued growing if I had not finally pulled it in late October. It still had flowers and small okra on it but the days were getting too cool and I needed to prep my beds for a winter garden. I was amazed!!
ReplyDeleteThis year I plan to experiment and top some of the bushes off around 5 feet and see if they will bush out and continue to produce. (Part of the reason I planted so many!)
Okay - now I'm salivating for your bell pepper and those strawberries!! Love the name of your owl - we have some huge Owl City fans here too!
ReplyDeleteMelinda... Thanks for posting on my blog. We have enjoyed the berries but they are almost gone for this year. (sigh) My kids consider it a prize treasure if they can find 2 or 3 hinding among the bushes every few days. They have been so sweet.
ReplyDeleteThe peppers have really started growing the last few days. I hope to have some ready to harvest soon.
Debbie, you can also pollenate them yourself with a soft paintbrush! Just go from blossom to blossom, a few little circular strokes! I think a Q-tip might work, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying your blog and your garden! I've even shown it to Carey several times, working on his inspiration for building my raised beds next Spring! I even told him Larry would come help!!!
S.
S (aka Anonymous) Nice to solve the mystery and know who you are!! (smile)The bees did their job. I have tiny cantaloupe. YIPPEE!! We need to pick a weekend for us to visit Larry's mom and to help Carey build a bed or two so that you can have a fall garden. I can root some suckers from my tomatoes to give you a start!!
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