Summer veggies and looking towards fall

The squash, bean and tomato plants continue to produce. I've never had summer squash in this quantity before; somehow the squash vine borer population is greatly diminished this year, so the Cocozelle zucchini, Ronde de Nice (Eight-Ball), and Summerstick are doing well (in contrast, my tromboncino vines seem to be the favorite of the (currently) resident woodchuck.

Tomatoes are ripening rapidly in the dry summer heat; I've been impressed by the Sungold tomatoes -- I love their sweet-tart flavor, and they're certainly productive. A delicious fresh tomato sauce for dinner featured a tomato mix -- yum, with fresh squash as a side dish, of course. The beans are taking a rest. This was a harvest from last week!


Tomorrow, I'm going to begin sowing broccoli and brussel sprouts seeds, and maybe a bit of experimental Pac Choi, for transplanting in 4 weeks or so, in mid-August. I'll also try a first sowing of fall carrots and beets, along with more basil and summer lettuce.

It seems nuts, but now's the time to do it.

Dry weather

A tremendous thunderstorm in the North Carolina mountains last night was a surprise. It wasn't in the forecast, but the rain was welcome there. June was dry in the Piedmont and mountains, and the lush spring green is starting to look crispy around the edges.

The mountains are doing better than we are in the Piedmont, however; we haven't had any rain here for about 3 weeks, with temperatures well over 90°F for some of that time. Coming down the Blue Ridge Escarpment towards home today, I was wondering how my vegetable garden had fared.

Happily, the tomato and pepper seedlings in flats in the shade were fine, thanks to a friend checking on them yesterday on a 'emergency' basis, and everything was OK, although dry. The brutal drought years of the last decade (and especially the last three years) have made me wary of planting anything that's not drought-tolerant, and able to withstand hot, dry weather without visible stress.

But, now even the deep-rooted meadow plants are looking droopy in the afternoon, especially the ones planted last year. They're in full direct sun from late morning until early evening -- a tough site, to be sure.

Lots of things to reflect on

This is a time of year that bursts with observation and activity.

There are so many things to reflect on -- the first blueberries harvested (huge), the first pole beans, Ronde de Nice squash almost ready to harvest as 'baby' squash, and tomato and cucumber plants growing like the vines they are. Thank goodness for a normal rainfall spring. It makes a HUGE difference after the decade-long drought that we've had. The front meadow is lovely, as is the side border.

Coming home from the mountains, it's nice to see a green landscape, instead of a parched one. But even with that, it's always revealing to see how the containers and window boxes have managed for several days, even planted with drought-tolerant plants.

We're expecting 96° F afternoon temperatures by the end of the week. Bleech. Soft young leaves encouraged by abundant rain will need to toughen up!

The benefits of rain

After several years of drought (quite severe), it's been a relief (a joy, really) to be able to be away for a few days without coming home to drought-stressed plants (vegetables and containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets).

It's early in the growing season, to be sure, and we've got LOTS of hot weather ahead, so I'm still working with an array of drought tolerant species in my containers.

But I do hope that we'll have a respite from the unrelenting drought of the last decade or so, minus a year or two!