Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Hotsie Totsie

Wilted squash and bolting basil - wow - what a difference a couple of days make. It's 90 degrees at 1pm and the forecast says we'll hit 98 before the day is done. Hello Sac summer heat! Knowing we were in for a warm-up, I watered the garden thoroughly yesterday before leaving for work. I'm always careful about over-watering since I found mushrooms sprouting up under some of these butternut squash leaves.....and I know the zucchini isn't fond of too much water. The problem may simply be the temperature rather than the water level as butternut squash is more of a cool weather crop (hence the nick-name "winter squash"). For some reason I felt compelled to plant it in this summer plot and am determined to make it work.

As for the basil, I must be more diligent about snipping those bolting ends before flowers set. The plant is filling out nicely otherwise, but now I realize a daily survey is in order. I feel the need to whirl up a batch of pesto as the aroma still lingers on my fingers.
Today's bounty: more green beans (some bush beans, mostly pole beans) and the cucumber I should have picked yesterday. It grew at least 25% larger overnight! I sliced it up for lunch and though the seeds were large, they were soft and it tasted delicious on my sandwich.
This photo is of a fix-it job I performed a few days ago and am keeping my fingers crossed it works. As I was moving the branch on the right of the grape tomato plant to the inside of the cage for more support, I heard a snap. UGH! There are several flowers and fruit already setting above the break and this is my daughter's plant - she LOVES grape tomatoes. The first thing I thought of was tape - just tape it back together and it will be good as new, right? Fortunately, it's only a partial break and so far the scotch tape seems to be working. I figure as long as there are a few veins that can still carry water and nutrients up to the top, those guys have a chance.
Time will tell.

1 comment:

  1. The garden looks amazing. It makes my planter box look so tiny. The girls are growing up so fast. We hope to make it out in August. I'll keep you posted.

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