July 30, 2017
Now that the blossoms have fallen from the red hot poker plants the dragonflies perch on the upright stalks. They dart up to get passing mosquitoes then return to the same stalk that they left. Sometimes skirmishes occur if they don't get the stalk they had claimed. The poppies have already reseeded themselves and form a green carpet across my latest corn patch. The hula hoe works excellently on them..
Two of the hollyhocks are over 8' tall and constantly sway in the wind . You may not feel a breeze but they show you otherwise. Dried seed stalks are everywhere. We have been told to cut the tops off when they go to seed, but I really enjoy the look of dried seed stalks, so I'm forever cleaning up around them when they sprout..
August 04, 2017
Kale seeds are still germinating in the row I planted July 1st. I guess when you harvest your own seed you get them in different stages of maturity, and they can continue to ripen underground until viable. The cauliflower and Brussels sprouts planted mid July are already ready to transplant. Things grow so quickly in the heat, including bugs. I lifted a leaf on my zucchini plant and discovered a whole mess of squash bugs. I couldn't even reach in to squish them because there were so many of them and they looked like spiders. Total gross out..
I started spraying soapy water so vigorously that I broke my spray bottle. They are called stink bugs because when you squish them they emit a distinctive smell. I used to think it was sweet smelling like cherries, now I don't. I once discovered a golden fuzzy fly and wondered why I had never seen one before. It was beautiful. Then one day I walked by a cow flop that was covered in those golden fuzzy flies and realized that one was beautiful but "en mass" an ugly blight..
August 05, 2017
Now is the time to plant your fall crops of peas, spinach, lettuce and carrots. The summer lettuce I have growing in afternoon shade is doing excellent. I'm not eating as much of it as I thought I would because the tomatoes are so prolific and sweet. The Perpetual Spinach is still leafing but I'm going to put in a row of Bloomsdale Long Standing because we've never had too much spinach. I found another spray bottle and went down to the garden last night to do battle with the squash bugs..
It turned out kinda fun. The spray bottle is an old Windex bottle and gives a wide spray, and the squash bugs turn from gray to brown when they get soaped, so I could pretty much stay in one place and hit them as they darted in and out from behind the leaves and stems. It was like an arcade game, or for this generation, a video game..
