Feeling the heat.

Sunday 6th July

Rising at 7-00am to a wonderful, bright sunny day here in Oklahomegrownvegland
Alvin checks the thermometer and reports that it's a pleasant 78F.


In summer he hunts all night and sleeps in air conditioned comfort during the day.
Alvin is one wise pussycat!
It will get hotter here today. A whole lot hotter!
So I'll check things out in the garden now before the high temps hit.
The Petunia hanging basket requires constant moisture.

After watering I give it a half strength drink of Fish Emulsion liquid fertilizer.
Flower bed 1 below is another area that requires constant monitoring..........

..........as it dries out rapidly in the heat of the summer.
Whereas Flower Bed 2.....................

...................tends to hang onto its moisture a little longer.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................

..........I really must get this fixed sometime.
I notice strange foliage on the small potted Petunia...................


........and discover a volunteer Tomato plant has moved in there with it.
Moving around the back to the vegetable plots .........................


...........I pick my first vine ripened tomato of 2008.


A Big Red variety and my second generation.
Higher temperatures, of say 85F and upwards, actually slow down the ripening of the fruit. I check thoroughly for any sign of sun scald but they all look OK.

This year I tried a new variety of sweet Bell Pepper called Yolo and boy have they done well.


I've already harvested 12 or more full sized fruits and every plant is back full again.


There must be at least 8 to 10 more ready to be picked right now plus more on the way.
Some will be used in a tomato based mixture which we freeze and use in pasta dishes throughout the year. It's technical name in our house is "Mick's Tomato Gloop"

The second row of potatoes are rallying and have even come into bloom.


I'll water them because this will be the period of most tuber growth and they will need plenty of moisture.
Hey what's this?


The birdseed Sunflower is around 18 inches tall and the first to flower.
These Skyscraper variety are living up to their name and tower over me.


No flowers yet though.
Of the Torch variety I planted, not one seed germinated.

The second cucumber is almost ready.

.
Constant harvesting of cucumbers encourages more to grow.

This row of onions are all crowning and around three quarters of the onion tops are over....................


........so I pull the whole row......................


....................and leave them out to dry.

On the subject of onions, I discovered Wild Garlic growing on the edge of my small copse....


....so I pulled some to have with a delicious Spaghetti Bolognese I made for dinner last night.
This is a good find and I've saved some bulbils for planting in the fall.

Oh, and the Pole Beans have arrived....................

These were definitely not here yesterday, I checked! Maybe they were hiding?

Things are starting to warm up.

Time for................

..........a cat nap for Tommy and.................

........Wilson agrees.

Me? ..........................................

I'm just happy to be here.

Not a day to celebrate.

Friday 4th July

Rising at 6-30am.

A small thunderstorm deposited a light amount of rain. Probably just about enough to make the day become hot and sticky as the temperatures climb.

Not a day of celebration for an expat Brit.................
We were fighting a war, thousands of miles away from home against a people who believed we had no right to be there and were willing to die for their cause. At the same time, other enemies were taking advantage of our over stretched resources.

It all sounds so familiar. Will we ever learn?


This day our British Union Flag will hang at half mast.

Here's something else not to celebrate......................


................finding Vine Borers inside one of the container Squash plants.


The larvae bore into the base of the plant and literally eat it from the inside out.
One plants is dead and gone. I'm watching the other closely.

Here's more bad news.........................


A second Watermelon suffers bird damage. I need.............................


...........bigger windmills. And if that fails I'll have to get some nets.

My first tomato of 2008 to ripen on the vine.............


..........is a Big Red from my own seed stock.

The first cucumber....................


....and a second is almost ready on the plant.

I've found that cucumbers are much tastier when they are picked around this size. Bitterness creeps into the flavour as they get bigger.

I pulled the last of the potatoes from the front row and a volunteer onion.


The potatoes have not delivered as much as hoped for, mainly due to terribly wet weather and the Woodlice attack. Next year I will hill with earth the traditional way and start the plants earlier. I'm thinking around Groundhog Day. I'll use a floating row cover and keep the plot Woodlice free with the iron phosphate. Maybe it will be 4th time lucky?


I dug over the vacant front half of the plot. One thing about growing spuds is that they really loosen up the soil and even my heavy clay medium takes on a friable texture.
The work takes around 20 minutes and by then I'm soaked in sweat. The humidity is off the scale, the bugs are out in force, so I retire indoors for a shower.................



.....and a light breakfast of low fat milk, toasted French bread, marmalade and a Navel Orange.





Breakfast reading...last years seed catalogue and planning the fall garden.

Possibles include some, but not all, of the following......
Broad Beans. (Windsor)
Brussels Sprouts. (Long island Improved)
Cabbage. (Early Jersey Wakefield)
Cauliflower (Early Snowball)
Kohlrabi (Early Purple Vienna)
And I'm going to start some Catnip (indoors).

Sunday 29th June


Rising at 7-30am

A sky of blue awaits me and the promise of good weather.

Are these the same skies I gazed upon yesterday? The veg plots are growing well........


....and so is the grass. There will be more mowing to do today.


Sunflowers and Pole Beans seem to competing for the highest plant award but the Sunflowers have yet to flower.....................


......and the Pole Beans have yet to bean.


But we do have the first cucumber...................



.....and the Watermelons are starting to form................



Tomatoes are green and some are huge...............


...as these Big Red variety show.


I pull a few potatoes...................


............a couple of carrots...................


....and a few onions. The onions will be left to dry for a few days.


Before it got too hot I thought I'd get the compost sorted out. I bagged what remained of the last batch and stored it in the shed ready for use......


.....then transferred the new batch into the opposite bay. I usually turn it at least twice a year.


This allows air to circulate around and helps with the breakdown process.

Then I have some basil to plant out, some which I grew from seed which can keep the Black Eyed Susan company...................


........and some cuttings from the African Blue. These were in a vase on the dining room table for a week or two and rooted well so I decided they could hang around.


Then to mow................

To me, mowing is one of those mundane tasks which, when complete, is a delight to look at.
Front.....

...rear......


....side..................


......and down by the creek.

Then I needed to get some mulching done.
The Fuji Apple Tree...............

.....the young Peach...............


......and the old peach.


Now I'm ready to relax on the patio and admire all the hard work whilst enjoying this...............

Rain stopped play

Saturday 28th June
Rising at 7-30am for Rington's tea drinking, Herald cryptic crosswording and attending to feline needs and desires. It's a dark and cloudy morning that greets me.....

Hey who's this?..................

.........is it trick or treat already?
This mornings task is to get as much of the grass mown as possible before the rain hits us.
I reckoned on starting around 10-00am.......................

.....but one look at the radar and I decide to start right away.
My timing is perfect. I finish mowing around the house at 10-05am. The rain hits at 10-06am.....
...and looks as if it's here for a while.

Well, the car needed a wash.................

..and our colours too.
So, what else can a happy gardener do in such inclement weather?

Eat breakfast....................

....and read instructions for new office toy......................

.....purchased to replace old office printer, which was picked up at a garage sale for $5.
Meanwhile I collect rainwater.....

....for watering the indoor plants. And the frog/toad pools.......

.......get replenished too.
Wilson overviews the proceedings.....................

......from the shelter of the patio.

3-15pm and the rain has stopped.
Time to go play in the garden.