Is it hot enough for ya?

June 29, 2009 at 11:34 pm (Uncategorized)

104° today, welcome to a Redding summer! The mild beginning with its thunderclouds and cool weather has certainly changed to the blistering heat we all know so well.

Watch those potted plants, it doesn’t take long for them to dry out.  As root temperatures get to be around 90°, they start to die, so any added stress from lack of water will only make damage worse. I usually do not use straight potting soil for my outdoor pots. I mix my own soil out of 50% loam and 50% potting soil for added water retention and insulating abilities.

My compost experiment is doing well. I have a blanket of compost/mulch from two to four inches deep composed of lawn clippings, garden waste, leaves, barn cleanings and anything else of plant origin.

Underneath the soil is still moist, and that is from the last rain we had! The bottom layer is starting to darken and decompose.You can see one of the compost beds, with bonus volunteer pumpkin plants, with the other one hidden behind the cauliflower. The walkways are covered with pine shavings that my neighbor brought over from next door. You can see his pile just peeking over the fence in the background. I’ve grown better overall gardens, but what I am growing is doing better than it ever has before, thanks to deep soil preparation and utilizing organic fertilizer and soil from the barn floors that has been drenched in animal droppings.

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I am trying something new this year. Rather than spraying my apples with pesticides to control codling moth, I bought a bag of ‘footies’ just for fruit. These are little nylon socks that fit over the developing fruit to prevent apple maggots and codling moth infestations. They were something of a pain to put on (nearly 300 of them!) but it will be interesting to see how the fruits come out–bug free!

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Another non-pesticide method of insect control I am utilizing this year is Tangle-Trap spray on yellow surfaces. I have been using these yellow Solo plastic cups, but they are impossible to find in town, now. I did order some on the internet, however. Yellow is the color that attracts many insects, and after it has been sprayed and set out in the garden you will see it fill up with bugs, fast. I am also experimenting with yellow paper plates. Above are some of my dry beans with a sticky cup. Below is a close up of a buggy cup tucked under the squash.

 

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These photos are for someone we know who loves bees! They make tricky subjects but I have so many at least some of the shots come out. First a honey bee on sedum:

This one is on allium:

And this one is a carpenter bee, often mistaken for bumble bees. This lazy bee pierces tubular flowers (shown here on a wild pea) at the neck to extract nectar without having to climb into the flower! I worry about the injury and disease propagation that this sort of circumvention causes.Bees must have been special, indeed. With no sugar available, honey must have been a prize to have back ‘in the day’.

 

If you are using the Ro-tape drip system, make sure you go out and drench your rows with a spray head on occasion, especially in this heat. The water will tend to drop down and not move to the sides, and by rewetting your row tops, capillary action will tend to draw the moisture out more than just down!

 

Yirmeyahu 9:23-24

23 ‘Thus says YHWH, “Let not the wise boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty boast in his might, nor let the rich boast in his riches,  24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am YHWH, doing kindness, right-ruling, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” declares YHWH.’