More garden developments but not from me.

 We are buttoned up by 10 am today. It's going to be miserably hot so I got out as soon as I could to get pictures and check things in the garden, gave Rocky walkies and we are inside unless something comes up that we MUST go outside. I'm more tolerant of the heat than Jon but still, at least we aren't in 110 Phoenix or 115 Greece.

Yes indeed I ran out after dark because we didn't open up the blinds until then to open the windows. I think the cucumbers are going to be okay not being covered at night. I left the small one uncovered and now the big one and they both survived. I think it was timing, temperature and watering in the evening that was bringing out all the pill bugs and slugs.

 

So this is Dolores' set up now. She put a bag of the black colored bark on top of the leaves in her frame and has now added another pot and a planter box. It also looks like she has a worm bin and possibly that black trash can is for composting. I don't know where she was keeping all this stuff, maybe at her kids house because there certainly isn't enough room and awfully weird to have kept it in her apartment.

She's doing a full on set up along the wall and not exactly sure how that's going to work out if management sees just how much she's doing. Might try and clear the east corner of the actual garden and propose putting a frame over there. We need a spot though for tools and supplies though.

 

That tomato is almost ready! So excited! There's another on on the front bush that's coloring as well so I suspect in another week we'll have tomatoes ripening about one or two a week. Just from these two bushes. The south bed may be after that and not holding out anything for the north bed.

Here's hoping the cucumbers survive and thrive. I suspect the heat is not good for them to be growing but more for producing but will see what happens. I did a quick watering just to cool things off on the surface on all the beds and then high tailed it back to the apartment.

It is now 92 and will hold that for another three or four hours.

Yikes.

So, the north bed tends to hold moisture due to the shallow bed of potting soil in it. I have to wait until the sunflower is done before I can pull out the two tomatoes or that will end up being yoinked as well. But what to plant there that likes heat and slightly moist soil? In late summer and a warm fall weather?

Potatoes might be okay.

In doing my research for what to plant it seems that the USDA map is firstly, not accurate, and secondly immensely out of date for the type of climate we are having now. I just looked at a map that was last posted in 2005. The weather and temperatures are waaayyy different now. We are having record heat and rain as well as other types of weather that has been magnified over the past ten years.

 I found someone that is a bit more in tune with our local weather and conditions and it looks like I need to wait until October for the majority of seed planting.The blocks are for when to plant out,  not sowing, as it is noted, sowing is one to two months before that. So if I want to plant more garlic, have to do that in September, Cilantro is now or August. Lettuce is supposedly October for planting but for seed needs to be done August. 

That is if the weather does what it's supposed to do and not what it is doing now. That chart was made only two years ago so more accurate I hope than others. Carrots is listed but not radishes which I will lump together although radishes like a bit warmer weather than carrots do. According to this I should start seeds in another month. That chart also seems to follow the basic seasons are three months long which doesn't work here. June July and August are blocked out for most planting. Well guess what? September and October are going to be warm and our spring starts much earlier. So if we take carrots for example, knock September and October off and the same with brassicas.  

Onions need to be seed started next month but those won't be harvested until next year. One of the reasons I am steering away from garlic and onions now is how long it takes to grow. You have to have a dedicated area alone just for growing those. I don't have the room if I want to do a variety of things.

So anyway, looking forward to that lone tomato ripening in a few days and more following that.