And then summer hits with a bang!

Well, between the evening of July 4th and the morning of July 5th, we received over 1.5" of rain.  It was one of those nice soaking even rains that are just so good for the plants.  Plus. it filled my rain barrels with over 125 gallons of free, clean water.  But now, that has been followed up with probably the hottest weather we have seen in quite some time.  This presents a very difficult challenge for your garden.  Today's high was in the 90's with what I would characterize as high humidity.  You just feel it as soon as you go outside.  It's not oppressive but just give it time and it will be.
The challenge is to make sure your soil isn't drying out even though just about a day ago, you just saw some really significant rains.  Heat of this magnitude can sap the moisture right out of the soil just as easily it put the rains down a day ago.  Easy come, easy go anyone?  And your plants will not generally show the effects of this whipsaw until they have transpired the saved moisture in their leaves.  You can go to work and come home and it's like night and day.
To guard against this, you need to give the plants - as illogical as it sounds - a good watering to ward off the weeping plant syndrome.  That's where I will be this evening.  I will use my sprinkler as I do not want to overexert myself in the heat.  I will use the rain water in the mornings when the sun is not so powerful.
On a side note about watering.  There is new proof that watering your garden in the noon hours (12-2PM) is very beneficial to vegetables.  They actually produce better and more veggies.  So, if you can do that without putting yourself at risk, the rewards are reportedly worth the extra efforts from what I have read.
So there you have it.  The never ending challenges facing a backyard gardener.  Go out and give it a try folks.  Gardening is both a reward and a challenge.  Until next time, happy gardening.

Rain!

We've had a dry spell of late.  So much so that my rain barrels were becoming perilously close to being effectively empty.  But this afternoon, it has decided to rain and has been for the last 4 hours.  And, it has been a soaking rain.  I actually went out and checked my barrels and one is now full. Meaning, it has delivered 50 gallons in those 4 hours.  The forecast is for this to continue on and off until tomorrow mid day. Although it has ruined some 4th of July festivities, I still welcome it.
My garden needed this rain and I was at the point of turning on the sprinklers.  With this, I won't have to water until Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest. And when I do, I can use the rainwater and not municipal water.  Always a good thing.   Rainbarrels are such an important part of my gardening routine that I wouldn't know how to act using a sprinkler.  There are just so many advantages to using rainwater. So, I am hoping for more rain to replenish my barrels.  And as usual, mother nature is a much better waterer than I am.  Happy Gardening everyone!

And then, mother nature throws a curve ball!

We've had a fairly dry stretch here in the mid Atlantic recently.  I've run my three rain barrels almost dry so I have been using my hoses to water.  Watering has been an every day thing given the 90 degree weather. Today had promise of some rain here.
And boy, did it ever rain here. We had lightning, strong winds and very intense rains for a good 45 minutes or little longer. The road in front of my house turned into a virtual river.  The winds were very strong for a good 15 or so minutes and it was whipping out bigger trees around.
After the rains stopped and the water subsided in my back yard, I went to inspect my plants.  I was mildly surprised that only 1 tomato plant looked much worse for the wear.  I'll have to try to nurse it back to health.  I tied all the plants off in case the rain that is being called for tonight is as bad as today's.  Just like I always say, you can't control nature.  Happy gardening everyone!

Mid Point Review

I know tomorrow is the first day of Summer officially, but if you have a garden, it's the mid-way point of the growing season.  And, it's also that time of the year when the garden needs the most attention.  On this Fathers' day, I took inventory of where my garden is and what I needed to do to continue or improve the garden.
As we are heading into the heat of the summer here in Baltimore, I decided I needed to have a back up system for watering - a hose.  I usually hand water with rain water I store in rainbarrels but inevitably, I get too busy at times and may put off the watering given the 100 degree heat we have here.  So I set up a hose and a sprinkler as shown below.

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Notice the state of the art equipment I am using.  This is a Rain King rotary sprinkler commonly found in the 60's and 70's.  But it does a great job and it was dirt cheap to buy at an antique store.
And it works!
Here is my patch of 14 Pepper plants.  All looking healthy at this time.  These represent two successive plantings.  Don't need many of them but they are easy to freeze and great tasting to bring out in the Winter.

I also have 8 Cucumber plants that are just starting to grow up the trellises I made from various items I have scrapped over the years.  I another month or so, the trellises will be a flush of green.  Just need to keep training them up and they will do the bulk of the work on their own.

Next I have about 60 bean plants in various states of growth.  I have planted them successively for the last 5 weeks which should insure a constant crop over the next couple months.  

Then finally, I have my 14 Tomato plants of various types.  The summer heat will bring with it rapid growth over the next month or so.  As you can see from the one picture, there are buds galore on some of the various early type tomatoes.

So, all in all, and compared to my neighbors and what I am hearing from various gardeners I know, my garden looks productive.  I'll have to keep an eye on it of course and do the things that will keep the momentum going, but that's all in the nature of having a garden.  Till next time, Happy and productive gardening everyone.

Spring!

Yes, it is spring and it's now time to get the garden up and running for the new season.  We have had a up and down time from about mid-February till now.  But, given the recent weather, I think we are fine to begin getting the plants into place.
I have 3 Cabbage, 3 cucumbers and 8 each of Peppers and Tomatoes growing in my basement at this time.  They are making good progress so they should be able to be transplanted at or about the last freeze date for my region (7a) in the Mid-Atlantic.
Last week I cut down the final growth of the Winter Rye I planted last fall.  It was the third cut I made so that was a pretty good crop for this year.  I also lightly roto-tilled the beds last week after making the final cut of the growth.  I think I may have to do another cursory cut to kill the crop for the year.  I do shallow tilling so as not to tear up the root system of the Rye in the soil in order to allow for the plants I am planting to use the Rye root structure to give a better support to their roots. Plus, as the Rye's roots decay, they release their nutrients into the soil for the vegetables to feed upon all through the growing season.  I have noticed a difference each year since I started using the cover crops.
Well, that's all for now as I have to get out there and do some more preps.  I hope you are having a good start to the season so far.  Happy gardening everyone!