After a few more days of HOT, terribly dry weather, while busy with other things, I went ahead and harvested one of the potato beds in the satellite, since the tops were pretty much 'flopped' over. The soil is dry in spite of watering, and it didn't seem like much more potato growth was likely.I mixed in compost, set up a couple of trellises, and am now thinking about whether to plant yard-long beans, pole beans, or squash. One of my personal 'rules' is that gardening (whether vegetables or otherwise) should be fun, and once I start worrying about 'chores' -- this is not a good thing.
Having too many beans, or squash, or lots of anything to preserve that requires lots of prep work -- this is not fun. Productive and sustainable, yes, but some things are more fun to do than others. Slow-roasted tomatoes, for example.Actually, yard-long beans are super easy to prepare and squash and zucchini, too. But I'm looking at the potato and garlic beds yet to be harvested and thinking about things there, too. Hmmmm, maybe some more tomatoes?
Or mulch until planting the fall beds (in late July, August, and September?) I think I need to rotate even easy to grow plants like garlic, so I'd better make a couple of notes about which bed had what in it!I think I'll put in a mixture of yard-long beans, cowpea, and 'Italian summer squash' - Lagenaria siceraria 'Longissima' edible when eaten young and then growing into a gourd.
Since gourds and squash cross pollinate readily, it will be interesting to see what these are actually like. All of these are vigorous growers, appreciate heat, tolerate drought, are disease and pest-resistant, and are tasty!And they like to grow on a trellis.
