Rambling around in the garden

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Summer rolls along. It’s been so hot, too hot, here and in so many parts of the country. But we remain thankful for where we are: no fires around or flooding or buildings destroyed with storms. People have died from the storms. When the weather can kill people; these are scary times.

My lima beans dropped flowers for a while, with no production of beans. I read that it could be from too much heat. I’ve been growing beans for 20+ years and this never happened. But in the last week or so, more flowers are staying on the plants and now there are a few tiny bean pods forming. They look like little swords at first.

Cucumbers are coming along, and we’ve already eaten a few. Tomatoes are looking good. I’ve eaten a few grape ones and there are lots of them coming.

And the best of tomatoes, Mortgage Lifters, are getting ready to produce a bunch. This plant gets 7′ tall and I can’t get my arms around it.

I have a few kinds of peppers and one in particular might get very interesting. It was just something different to pick up as a plant at the greenhouse, when something ate some of my pepper seedlings. This is called pepperoncini. I get green pepperoncini pickled in jars at the store. But the tag that was with these shows them red, and from what I’ve read about these Italian peppers, they might light up my life, lol. There are about a zillion on the plant (slight exaggeration, but a lot) so I think I should have plenty to share with a couple people I know who like ’em hotttt.

I tend to crowd things together, but the cucumbers will be gone while the tomatoes and peppers will continue for the rest of the summer.

The old basket stands ready for a bountiful harvest. Like me, it’s really getting old, and last year it needed some repairs with some garden wire. But we hang in there and keep on rolling along, like summer.

Be well, take care and be kind to yourself. These are scary times for so many reasons. Today is the day, each day.

12 responses to “Rambling around in the garden”

  1. Thanks for the update about your garden and all the vegetables. It’s always a pleasure to see how all these plants are growing.
    Sorry to read about the deadly storms. We’re still waiting for summer to start in this part of the world. The weather is very unstable, a few warm days but still more days with a lot of rain. I’m having a garden party next week, fingers crossed for a warm and sunny day.

    • No I never did. I grew some called yard long purple beans for my DIL one year but they weren’t very good and we didn’t like the taste of them.

      • Oh, those are . . . odd. I wish that I could remember the sorts of beans that my grandmother grew, and I might identify them someday. She did not grow many different types. The primary green bean was the common ‘Blue Lake’. However, there was another that we sometimes ate as a green bean, but was grown for canned green beans. I mean that it was sturdier for canning or for stews, but it could also be cooked as a green bean. I actually preferred it to ‘Blue Lake’. (I think that ‘Blue Lake’ is popular because it is so productive.)

      • I’ve grown blue lake already and they were nice beans. Those purple ones were odd, but were fun to grow. Just not fun to eat. I’m not growing green beans this year; just King of the Garden limas. They were dropping flowers early due to our excessive heat, but seems to be doing better now with making pods. But my cucumbers, one of my favorite garden foods, have been slow to produce and what they’re producing are so bitter than they’re not edible. Beautiful large plants are stressed from the hellish heat we have had off and on for several weeks. It might cool off and return to our normal summer, hopefully soon. All the water in the world can’t make up for heat stressed plants. Yea, you know that…………..:)

      • Oh, we do not even grow cucumbers through summer, not because the heat is so bad, but because the aridity ruins their foliage during warm weather.Knowing how humid it must be for them to grow well, even if the fruit is no good, is cringeworthy.

      • Right now, at 7AM, it’s 88% humidity and 72 degrees. With no prediction of rain, again. We are in moderate drought here. We’re accustomed to humidity like this, but when the temp is 98 and humidity 88%, that’s a really nasty day. The cucumber leaves wilt and hang like the whole plant is dead now, every afternoon, and perk up again when the sun goes off of them. But all the water in the world can’t solve the problem of heat stress and bitter taste. Ohh they taste awful.

      • No, I’ve tried different melons and I think my soil just doesn’t have the right chemistry. I grow several different kinds of pepper but no standard bell ones. Bugs eat peppers plants if I plant them in the ground, so they are all in pots.

      • Bummer. Those are two types of fruits (or fruit vegetables) that I do not bother with because they do not perform so well here.

      • I grow lots of sweet and hot peppers, but all in pots. Melons come from the veggie/fruit man who has a stand near here, grows wonderful stuff.

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