In the Gardens Again

62°f, 16.7°C at 8am. Another cool, dry, sunny day, high of 81. Bliss.

Well, we had no rain, but thankfully we have cooled down considerably, and with low humidity the weather is about as perfect as it can get. The drought will continue this week, no chance of rain until next weekend. So we will continue watering daily. The vegetable gardens look like green oases amidst the browning grass.

You are probably tired of garden talk! But it is what preoccupies us these days. 

This is Larry's garden. In front is Tenderette green beans,  which are now blooming. Behind them is Early Sunglow corn, a short season variety that only gets about 4' tall but has the sweetest ears. Behind that corn are two rows if Better Boys tomatoes, which we planted for late tomatoes, and are just now ripening. To the left is the lima bean arch and under it and out of sight are the late cucumbers.  Larry is standing in front of the Hickory King corn, a dent variety that we are growing to make hominy. This corn gets very tall! The stalk behind Larry is about 12 feet tall.

Here is one ear. They get 9-12" long, and are not harvested until the husks are dry and brown.

My garden is looking bedraggled and worn down, as it has been producing since April, but it is still green, and still feeding us everything from broccoli to zucchini.

Apparently we planted a few yellow tomato plants, although neither of us remembers it. They are doing very well, and giving us some nice slicing tomatoes.

This weekend was all about canning. Saturday we made tomato juice and applesauce. Today was zucchini pineapple and grape juice.

Zucchini pineapple,  made by peeling, de-seeding and cutting up zucchini, then heating pineapple juice, lemon juice and sugar, cooking the zucchini in this for about 10 minutes, jarring up and water-bathing for 15 minutes. Simple and tastes exactly like pineapple, and has a good firm texture.  You can find the recipe here.

There are still a few hardy flowers blooming, bless their hearts.  The flowerbeds just look awful now, and all I can do is try to keep as many plants alive as I can. Many have already died, even though the beds are mulched and we water as often as we can. It just wasn't enough to defeat the heat. 

The roses don't seem to mind this strange summer weather.

The bee balm has had a hard time with deer, but after we put up a chicken wire barricade, it seemed to revive.

Deer will not eat Lantana or wormwood, so next year I will be planting a lot more of both!

Zinnias amidst the tomatoes,broccoli, and there are leeks in there somewhere.

Self-seeded cannas. Deer won't eat these either.

Deer are not fond of coleus, although they will sometimes nibble on it.

I have made a list of the flowers I have discovered the deer won't eat, and this will be my shopping list next year. There are quite a few actually, which is encouraging.  

Bed time for me, as we havevan early date with some high tunnel tomatoes tomorrow! (Not for us, but for a friend.)