gardens and the heat

[americanvalkyrie]

A big loud clap of thunder woke me up this morning, and I could hear rain hitting the house, I'm a happy man. It's not raining hard, but it is raining. It rained about 10 days ago but only enough to see that it was raining then it quit. This looks like it'll be a good soaker.

Ooh, I'm jealous. We have thunderstorms in the forecast, but it's just enough to cloud the sky over and light a few wildfires. Last summer, we only had one rainstorm that was heavy enough to wet the ground, and it lasted 10 minutes. This year, I'm charting my garden produce and expenses, to see how much food I actually get for the cost of the water.

 

[locke2121]

I'll say one word..MULCH...lol. Deep and lots of it. Ever walk around in a pine forest in the middle of summer, everything is dry...but you dig through that four or five inches of pine needles and the ground is cool and slightly damp? Thats the ticket. Almost anything can work as mulch, from the store-bought stuff to shredded paper. Just be sure to water the ground good, then layer the stuff on. Six inches of newspaper wouldn't be too much...eight would be better.

A good sunshade can work wonders too. It can be anything that will shade the plants, but let some sun in too. I've seen people use everything from burlap sacks to wooden lattice, all suspended on poles. Works really good...can lower the temp a good 5 to 10 degrees on a hot day.

 

[kmatt87]

its been 100+ here with humidity under 10%..... i water, ALOT. My green beans still got fried and i think i'll have to replant later in the season and i might get another crop before we get some snow.

 

[3forfree]

We got a good rain yesterday after I posted. Wind picked up to about 25-30mph, rain was going sideways, but it was nice to see. It's not often we don't get rain, but this heat is unusual. We get 90's usually once or twice during the year, but this year it's been a week at a time. We didn't have a cold winter, my fishing hole didn't freeze enough to be safe to go on, and now we're getting more heat than we've had in a l o n g time. Don't know what to think. I'll have a fire going outside and some cold beer on dec. 21st if anyone wants to stop by see what happens.

 

[Life is Good!]

Our larger leaved varieties of squashes/cukes/pumpkins all 'wilt' their leaves during the heat of the day, then towards nightfall, they come back. Very interesting, as I've not noticed this happening before.

Our peppers and tomatoes look good thus far.

The onions are finished what I think is much too early, so I suspect they're not getting enough water. As are the carrots - I've not seen them 'rise' up out of the ground like this before! (10+yr gardener).

Of course, this is a highly unusual summer in Chicagoland...drought, high temps, blasting sunshine...gotta love summer!

The nice part though, the weeds are few and far between (I hand-water everything, and only the plants I desire) and the bugs seem to be less. Although that could be the 9prs of barn swallows, 6prs of house wrens and various other backyard friends keeping bugs at bay. Even the mosquitos don't have enough liquid to hatch in! Bwahahaha! Love it!

 

[RTL]

It has rained for 5 days here, after a scorching drought. My garden is really struggling, and I noticed this morning that some of the leaves on my beans are rotting due to the rains. I've had to replant a good part of it. So far this year we have fought bugs, ground squirrels, deer and now raccoons. The coons are pulling back the shucks before the cobs are even full. I don't know what keeps us doing this year after year. It is so discouraging.

Has anyone noticed the yield on your beans? The bugs have eaten so many of the leaves they look lacy-like and there do not seem to be many blooms. I don't think they are going to produce well this year. Anyone else note this?

 

[cva34]

How are you all protecting your gardens? It has been above 100 degrees for 4 days. The plants are not fairing well.

Sounds like your close to me...Okra look ok egg plant ok Peppers look like they been scalded .Got the rest of mine tilled...cva34

 

[3forfree]

My tomato plants have gone crazy. Don't know if it's the heat or what but they have gotten over 6ft tall, with big and small tomatos everywhere. I have cages on them but they have grown up and out, last night I put a 2x2 next to the cage and tied the longest arm to it already had one break and crash to the ground.