A cool-down is coming

I started a substitute teaching job at a local school district. This 12-hour day has kept me busy even on weekends, just trying to get caught up with the book material, grading papers, etc. My garden has been neglected.

But...the stray tomatoes are finally turning orange! That means by the end of October we will have fresh ripe tomatoes and Kevin can make his chili. Many of the bell pepppers died on me while still bearing fruit. The beans are still coming, though but even they are starting to wear thin on us as we have a whole refrigeratore full of beans.

Metereologists have said that this summer was a mild one. We only had four days above 100F and ample rain during the monsoon. The gardening season is coming to a close. But I'm still fighting mosquitoes, moths and praying mantids. (The latter are welcome, the others aren't.)


September

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Temperatures are cooling off

We had our first sub-60F overnight low on September 12th. The highs are still in the lower 90Fs though.

Yesterday Kevin cut down all the infested corn stalks. We will throw them all away. The stray tomatoes are bearing large tomatoes, the shell peas are coming up, and our turnips are HUGE! I will soon start my fall crops. I have carrots and onions coming up too, and the strawberries keep on growing new runners.

I noticed a small colony of Praying Mantids by our front door last night. There were at least four outside staring at the bugs around the front door's light.

Monsoon ended as well on the 12th, but I am still using harvested water for the garden.

Weather during the monsoon

The backyard is finally looking green, but I still have bald spots and patches of tumbleweed and punctureweed to get rid of, all manually. I don't even want to calculate the hours I spent on the backyard. Only my aching back knows!


Our beans are coming to an end, I picked the last few beans yesterday. The Husky Cherry Reds ar still growing and so are the lettuces, peas, spinach and cabbages although the damn cabbage looper has eaten a few too many holes in the outer leaves to my liking. And I'm finding lots of wooly caterpillars in the garden.


July


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August

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Four hours of heavy rains

After a week of a reprieve from the monsoon, we were hit hard last night, starting at 7:20pm and raining past 11pm. It was a slow-moving storm from the south. The rain gauge said we got an inch.

The oldeanders and photinias are still looking good with their red and pink blooms. Several of my flowers in the front yard are on their second bloom: the pincushion, salvias, heliopsis and lantanas are back in color. I also discovered a new palo verde seedling growing not too far from the parent tree. Three more Yellow Birds of Paradise are also growing. (They probably won't make it through the winter, but I will try to keep them warm enough).

The front yard is slowly going through a change. There will be more trees and shrubs in full growth next year at this time. I will let the flowers and shrubs that don't make it die a natural death and replace everything with more native shrubs. I will most likely still recycle my shower water for the foxglove and daisies.

The grass in the backyard is also coming along. I de-weeded another hour this morning, threw down more Bermuda seeds in the bald spots. Sadie and Sara like to dig in the fresh soil, though so I have two holes I will eventually have to redo before the fall hits.

Nonetheless, my hard work in the back yard is paying off. The yard looks good and cultivated!

Next year we will finish off the northeast corner of the yard where all the rocks were strewn by the previous owners. There are heavy weeds there as well: silver nightshade, tumbleweed, morning glory, burclover. My big focus is the pricklythorns. I've made a noticable reduction in the amount of goatheads the dogs bring inside. I rip out every plant I can find, especially those in yellow bloom. The tumbleweed will be next, but I will do better once the plants are a few inches taller and are easier to pull out by the roots.

This rain should revive the beans, peas and the seedlings growing in the containers. If only the tomatoes would flourish! We will be eating beans for several weeks.

Remnants of Hurricane Dolly

We had strong rains all weekend long, starting Friday afternoon. Our gardens were flooded and some of the vegetables are starting to turn yellow from too much water. The added rains are great for the Bermuda grass I have in the back yard (the lawn is about 1/4 done as I solarize small sections at a time before laying the seed down).

We continue to get beans every day, both Waxbeans and Bush beans. The pole beans just recently started coming out. We have had two ear of corn already although the most has yet to be harvested. Cabbage, lettuce and beets are still coming.

I hope the rains continue as the monsoon has brough life back to the Photinias and Oleanders marking our perimeter. They are finally showing new buds this year. The Oleanders even have red blooms on them.

Wax beans

Yesterday we ate our first batch of yellow wax beans. Yum! There are more wax and green beans to be harvested and more peas should be ready in another two weeks.

I planted more snow peas that should be harvestable in 55 days. I will continue to plant as much as I can for as long as the weather allows.

Our first harvest

Last night Kevin made a rice medley that contained spinach, sweet peas and two tomatoes from our garden. The sweet snow peas were delicious! I can't wait for more garden nibbles. The Romaine lettuce is ready for harvest. Just the pole beans are still without fruit. The sweet corn is a month away from eating.

Only the cabbage seems to have fallen victim to the cabbage looper.

Monsoonal rains arrived ten days ago. I haven't watered the yards all week and even rolled up the hoses for the season.