The heat of summer is coming. We’ve been hitting the the high 80s and even 90 the last week or so. Everything is blossoming though, adding a nice bit of yellow in the morning—-no blossoms have come in yet that aren’t yellow and can still be seen from a distance. The lemon tree’s blossoms are a nice white with some purple coloring. The beans, squash, tomatoes, and lemon tree are all blooming. Even the volunteer prickly pear I’ve been avoiding the last few years when I mow has produced its first blossom.
The heat and lack of rain mean I’m keeping a close eye on the garden. Each day after work, I usually walk around it picking tomatoes and pulling a few weeds. In the morning, I glance out the window and see the huge yellow blossoms on the squash plants. Not enough is at the point where I can go out in the morning before work and pick my lunch.
When I am outside near the garden, I check to see if the plants need water. I look to see if the plants are as rigid as they usually are. If they might be wilting slightly or if the ground looks dry, I dig down a few inches in an unused square and see how dry the soil is. If that’s dry as well, then I pull the hose over and give everything a good soak. I don’t run a sprinkler—-I want the water in the garden, not running away from it. I try to water away from the edges of the beds as well so I don’t have a lot of water running out into the area I walk in. Right now, I’m watering every 2-3 days. As the heat increases, I might be watering every day or two.
The cherry tomatoes continue to produce about four tomatoes a day. They’re set to explode soon. There are quite a few bunches of green tomatoes just waiting to turn red on me all at once. The other tomato plant isn’t doing quite as well. Some of the lower leaves are turning yellow. This could be an iron deficiency or a disease. It could also be a lack of water because the healthier leaves seem not as turgid as the cherry tomato plant.
The squash are coming along. All three squash varieties have little baby squash with blossoms attached. The cucumber vines have blossoms, but no noticable fruits. The beans have a few pods almost ready to pick and a lot of small, white blossoms that look like little beans.
I harvested some of the khol rahbi leaves and swiss chard. Combining that in a sauce pan with some olive oil and small tomatoes was a very nice light dinner. Total produce: 30 grams tomatoes, 17 grams khol rahbi, and 22 grams swiss chard. Total monetary equivalent at $2/lb ($4.41/kg): $0.30. Not much, but that’s the best I can do for a report on the week’s garden savings and local/non-local spending. My iPhone in which I was managing that information was replaced a few days ago because it stopped charging or syncing.
Sounds great! I picked a few green beans yesterday and more today. I have kale, onions, sage and lambs quarter ready to pick. Tomatoes are numerous - just waiting for them to ripen. One bloom on one of the cucumber plants that I noticed last night. Isn't this all very exciting! Sounds like you're a bit ahead of us on the harvest. Enjoy!