Recently, Lamont lost a pepper plant to blight and he reminded me that the Great Potato Famine of Ireland was caused by blight. Then I read an article mentioning monoculture, which is growing a single crop in the same location year after year. (Polyculture is the healthy rotation or mixing plants together, as in companion planting.) Read the rest of this entry »
Ok, I’m trying to learn something new. My friend Lamont grew an heirloom tomato this spring. I have avoided heirlooms because I thought they were more susceptible to disease, so I waited and watched to see how Lamont did with them in his Tucson garden. Nothing… no news about blight, tomato septosporia, leaf spot, nothing. Then, Read the rest of this entry »
As of August 18th it is reviving. Daytime temperatures are still over 100 and it wilts midday, but evenings are becoming much more comfortable for all my garden plants. Look at the progress…..
This is the green bell pepper that I had cut off to a 2″ stub and was going to pull it out, but before I got around to it, it sprouted new leaves, so I let it grow to see what it would do in the fall. It’s new foliage is several weeks old now. Think I’ll get any new bell peppers from it? 
If it does produce any bell peppers, and, if they are good, I’ll repeat this same action to all my bells when the summer heat hits, and just let them revive for a second harvest when the temperatures cool down a bit.
Well, it’s now August and my bell pepper experiment is going right along. These are the two scraggly peppers doing their best to beat the heat. They were twice this size, but when everything else died from heat exhaustion, they lingered on. I cut them back to half their size, I think it was early July (wish I had written that down now), to help them deal with the stress of the heat. They lived on, and you can see that the leaves are chewed up and curled, but, oddly, they live still. I’m wondering if they will revive when the heat abates, and the evenings cool a bit. Perhaps they’ll put out some more peppers?? They have a couple of flowers, and I’m watching closely. They do wilt midday. Normally I would have pulled them out by now to save myself the work and water, but curiosity saved them.
In the pots with them are the remains of Marigolds (companion plants), which are themselves suffering from the heat. Behind them just a month ago were my beloved tomatoes…now gone. In their place I’m planting beans. That’ll be mid August.
This is a little tidbid I read out of The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible: “Corn has the highest sugar content early in the morning. So pick it then, before it’s warmed by the sun, and refrigerate it in the husk until dinnertime. You’ll get the best tasting corn with the morning harvest.” I wish I had read that before I harvested my corn in July. Mine was sweet and really fun to just pull a couple of ears off for dinner, but it could have been better, and there could have been a whole lot more, if I knew then what I know now. It was my first year for corn and it seems every time I plant something I planted before, I learn more and get better, so next year my corn will be better. Read the rest of this entry »
In Tucson the season for growing Broccoli has just begun. Plant it between July 15th and October 1, according to the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Office. It has 4 main types: Large-headed varieties (Belstar is one I just ordered from Johnnyseeds.com), need plenty of space and crowding them reduces head size. Romanesco varieties need lots of space, rich soil, regular and temperatures in the 80 degree range, and produces nice crunchy heads. You may be familiar with this type: Broccoli raab. Vigorous, fast growing in cool weather. Leaves and stems are as edible as the buds. The last type is Sprouting broccoli (includes the Calabrese….I planted these seeds a couple of weeks ago and now have 70+ starts sitting in my kitchen). I picked this type of broccoli because it produces small, tender heads, grown best from midsummer to fall and from fall to spring where winters are mild. Our winters are mild in Tucson. Read the rest of this entry »
Plant compatibility has many aspects to consider. This post addresses the issues that I experienced associated with the proximity between peppers and tomatoes.
Taking from the ideas of “Square Foot Gardening” I attempted to maximize my limited space by alternating and nestling my pepper rows between my tomatoes. The idea was that I new the tomato plants would require a significant amount of space on both sides for maintenance and harvesting and that the peppers which would not occupy much space could coexist near and on one side of each row of tomatoes. This plan, at first had great merit and immediate benefit but as the season wore on it became clear that this was not the best idea. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s just about time now to start our 2nd season, or extended season, or fall planting….whatever….. We should be well into our amending and soil preparation for August planting. I’m ready for some more big ‘ole juicy vine ripe tomatoes, that I’m not finding at the grocery store. Some that have that excellent vine ripe quality that can only come from home grown. My spring tomatoes are long gone, and I’m missing them already. My soil is prepared and “cooking”, now is the waiting, and watching the garden centers to get the best pick of fall starts. Patience, girl. Read the rest of this entry »
Kingdom Likeness
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