Garden Blog July 20 & 21
7-20-20
Today I threw caution to the wind and decided to plant left over seeds I had in a few of my packets. I have put very little effort or giva$hits into this planting. You see with the year we’ve all been having I decided to just do something solely for fun.
I tilled the radish bed in the back yard, added some old potting soil, weeded it and watered it thoroughly. After about an hour of letting everything settle I planted (willynilly) some green bell pepper seeds, some carrot seeds and some tomato seeds.
Prior to this planting I’ve always been sparse with seeds and never wanted to thin them because I didn’t want to waste a single one. Well I decided it’s time to lighten up and the fact that these were open seed envelopes with seeds that probably won’t grow I was very generous with them. I’ve marked the planting areas and will just sit back and watch to see what grows.
My front garden with it’s one sickly overheated tomato plant needed some TLC. So I weeded it, churned it and added some rotten eggs to the soil. I was sure to leave about 4 cracked eggs on the surface or my resident racoons would surely dig up the ones I put in the ground.
The last time I added rotten eggs to my tomato garden I had a cherry tomato bush that went wild and for three years came back year after year. Unfortunately I had ants and didn’t know how to control them. Now I use dry instant grits to rid large anthills near my plants.
We’ve had a major heat wave the last week or so and a storm is predicted this afternoon or evening. I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. But I will make it a point to water again tonight.
In this type of heat I water my plants at sunset, soaking the beds and pots liberally so by morning any water on the leaves, has dried out. There is nothing more damaging than watering plant leaves during the hottest part of the day. It literally causes them to steam in the sun’s heat. If you have to water in the day be sure to run the hose until the water is cool then only water the ground around the plant making sure not to get the leaves wet.
One bright spot is my Basil is doing quite well even though I’ve taken tall sprigs from them several times they still keep growing. It’s all I can do to keep them from flowering. I think I’ll bring some in and see about trying to dry them. This ought to be fun. I’ve never dried herbs so this will be a first for me. I’ll be sure to document my progress or failure, whichever the results are. Hey we can all use a good laugh right now! Right?
Happy Gardening!
7-21-20
Well I was right it never rained. Mother Nature threw some grumbly thunder claps at us but not a drop of rain. We aren’t expected to see any for several days also, so it will be a challenge to keep the ground moist so the seed will germinate but not bake in the heat. I’ll be applying some mulch tonight and hopefully that will work.
If nothing else it’s a learning experience and like I said yesterday I have low hopes so I won’t be too disappointed with failure, but if I have success the gratification will be off the scales.
Stay cool and safe during this heat wave!
Colonial Beach News 