August 4, 2016

Good morning, YESSS it is nice to see the weather moderate. What a joy to see overnight lows into the 60's instead of the upper 70's. There was a squash variety that a lady gave me the seeds to grow, it started to flower just as the hot weather hit. I did get one flower to take and produce a squash, all the other fruit shriveled and dropped off. This squash has very large leaves maybe twice the size of my butternuts. Where my butternuts would wilt these squash could very easily be compared to a Basset Hound's ears dangling to the ground. Even watering them in the heat of the day they still would wilt but not to the same degree. Since the weather has “cooled” I am beginning to see more fruit set. The squash I harvested is a bright orange red and about 2 to 3 pounds. Unless I get more fruit, I will be saving the fruit for the seed. I would like to try and plant it at the same time I plant my butternuts

Planting the butternuts in March I easily get two harvests and some times three. Last year was a banner year for the butternuts. I harvested close to 1000 pounds and had squash for bags into early spring. This year because the bees did not arrive as early, the first harvest was not near as good as last years first. The heat slowed their regrowth and thus their second bloom has been delayed but I am beginning to see fruit set and the bees are everywhere. Both honey bees and the Bismark sized squash bees. I love the buzz.

So next year I will plant a bed of each of these squash to compare productiveness and store-ability. The butternuts are easily a 5 to 6 month keeper and very productive too.

And now for the most baffling thing so far this year. One of my last sweet potato beds was a snow pea bed before it became a sweet bed.. I intentionally let the plants mature to harvest seeds. I left the pea straw for a mulch to grow the sweets through. Planted the sweets and covered them with 2 layers of 70 fabric. This technique did allow for a lot of weeds to sprout. With the first weeding I discovered there must have been 12 to 15 pea plants that germinated from the uncollected seeds . This happened right through the extreme heat. The soil had to be very warm. I had difficulty growing peas in October but July?

Well thinking these guys were short for this world and was sure they would fry when the covers were removed. They are now 12 to 15 inches tall and by all appearances are thriving. This year,I have had heat loving plants just drop dead for no apparent reason. But peas??? Well the sweets have just about covered the ground now and the peas are above the sweets. This is going to be very interesting. I do not know if by chance that I have found a heat tolerant strain of snow peas. What an amazing gift. Well needless to say there will be no peas for bags. I have got to see if this was a fluke or I can duplicate next year. Snow peas in West Texas is a challenge for winter/spring harvest but August?? I am gob smacked!!!!!! I have very little expectation but we will see where this takes us.

This has got to be the most conflicting and strangest year I have ever gardened in my entire life. What an amazing vocation. Never a dull moment.