July weather definitely helped with our garden, although the last week of July was sweltering. I had to start protecting the tomatoes to keep them from getting sun scald. Aside from that, the tomato wind guard area seems to be working out fine. While I had originally planned on setting the bell pepper plants in that area, it's just not wide enough. I will need to rethink it if I do this next year.
The cucumbers are FINALLY doing their thing. The first planting didn't survive. The 2nd planting barely survived, but I didn't think they would, so I did a third planting... they also survived, but we will see it it was too late to get any cucumbers from them. At least we are getting some cucumbers at this point.
Acorn squash. First try. Finally starting to get female buds. For about three weeks, there were only male. I just read that as soon as the male flowers start showing up, to put a dose of fertilizer on the plant to encourage the females to form. Then watch closely, the color of the leaves. Keep them from turning yellow by regularly feeding the plants. We will see how this turns out.
Corn survived! The last time we had a summer like we had in June, my corn did not survive the month. This year, instead of trying to start them outside, I kept them in the greenhouse under a light and that seemed to do the trick. I pulled all the tillers off this year and this past week, have added a dose of bone meal to help with corn development. We should have some corn in another couple of weeks!
All onion are pulled and most have been cut up and dried. Pulled enough bush string beans to freeze for three meals. Plan to do that with the corn this year, too.
Have pulled most of the broccoli florets off to keep them from bolting. Cauliflower heads are finally starting to form. I have not grown cauliflower since the 1980s. I can't remember how long it takes. This has been a very LONG time, it seems.
Bell peppers have been attacked by bugs this year. They are doing better, but not as well as I would like. I think it is also a weather situation. This photo is a Sandpiper pepper. Curious to see what it tastes like.
Basil replant took hold. I normally can't get basil to come up in July because it is usually too hot by that time. But the June weather really took a toll on a lot of my starts. It will probably be a late August before I can start harvesting dill and basil. I'll take what I can get.
The Cornish Cross Chicks came in on Wednesday this past week (July 29). The last batch of Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock and the Blue Plymouth showed up on Friday (July 31). Lots of new chicks and their cute little peeps are in the garage.
