Good morning, how wonderful to get .91 of an inch of rain last week and then this past
Tuesday night get another .41. Then again on Wednesday night another .82. I am beginning to see some greening on the property and especially on the right of ways. It always seems every spring that it will never be green again. Looks like chances for rain continue for a couple more days, then the heat returns with a vengeance. Weather underground has triple digits for most of next week. Not looking for that but it is approaching June and it is notoriously HOT! This too will pass. With any luck the heat will pull in rain from the gulf or Mexico. Everyone limit time outside and drink lots of water!!
I did purchase a shade cloth to erect over one of my Tomato beds. Instead of just laying it over the bed, I plan to suspend it on “T” posts and wire. My thoughts are with shade and an area for air movement, the temperature can be kept bellow 100. Temperatures above 95 force the toms into dormancy. Temperatures much above 100 can even cause flowers to abort and in worst cases fruit to abort too. This is what I experienced in 2011 with my Arkansas Traveler (indeterminate) tomatoes. I was strictly watering by hand, a thing of the past since I now have a drip system. The last couple of summers the tomatoes have completely stopped due to excess heat, it will be interesting to see how the shade cloth performs. I do plan to have a thermometer under the shade cloth and one not, so I can compare the difference. If June is true to form there will be high heat and low humidity so there should be a noticeable difference between the two.
Speaking of drip systems, they can be very useful to re hydrate wilted squash. With excess heat the evaporation/transpiration rate is too great for the squash even if the soil is moist. I like to turn it on for them so that they do not wilt so badly. I have experienced sun burn on the plants where the leaves have completely wilted. In worst case scenarios I will place some fabric over them. This appears to help boost humidity and leaf turgidity.
The garlic is harvested and curing, I have some volunteer garlic that will be in bags, bulb onion tops are falling over so this harvest will be starting very soon. Not so pleased with the bulb sizes, they are smaller than last year. This reflects how dry it has been, even with them being mulched and dripped on a regular basis. There are a lot of okra blooms so this harvest will begin soon. Chilies didn’t get clobbered with aphids like they did last year and there is an abundance of Big Jim’s sizing up. Tomatoes are covered in fruit. Most likely the cherries will ripen the quickest. Sweet potatoes are sending out runners. Lots of butternut squash sizing up, hope for the first harvest in June. Pleased with my spring parsnips, they seem to be happy. I am really curious as to how big they will be come December. Might need a backhoe to harvest them. I planted the second bed of beans so soon there should be plenty of beans for market and to pickle too. Peas pretty much have stopped blooming and the last peas will be harvested within the next week or so. The cucumber harvest has begun and the summer squash are cruising right along.
It is amazing what a little bit of rain can do. Life is good.
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