this is the time in the summer garden when its almost
too hot to garden
some things do well right now
like okra the hotter the better
other things in my garden like basal peppers like banana
bell poblano jalapeno and egg plant are doing well
my left over tomatoes from the spring are ending their
tomato producing careers
so
i have placed a solar cloth over them to keep the hot
summer sun off of them
the tomatoes probably will shut down soon but
the other things will continue on until the fall then
take off when those fall temperatures start to drop
in fact in the fall they are more productive and the fruits
are so much bigger than in the spring
if of course i can keep those pesky grasshoppers off of them
im trying nollo bait which has a fungus in it that infects the
hopppers when they eat it
they die
other grasshoppers will cannibalize the dead ones
the cycle continues
i also have sowed black eyed peas on the beds that have
been harvested like the onions and potatoes and garlic
the peas are a cover crop that fixes nitrogen in the soil
plus if im lucky i will produce enough peas to have a
mess or too for eating with my wife shes cornbread
yes she cooks it in an iron skillet and flips it over
half way through the cooking
speaking of onions
my mom in law is here visiting and one of the jobs
we save for her is to put up the onions
so we had close to 200 onions to put up
how do we do it
we place an onion in an old pair of pantyhose
in the leg
swing it around
tie it off
then add another onion etc etc etc
thats how we get our onion chimes
i know its hotter than hell here but its also time here in
central texas to plant the fall tomatoes
so
i went of course to one of the top nurseries in the us
the natural gardener in austin texas to get my tomatoes
they are hard to find anywhere else this time of year
i planted them in a bed where the peas were growing
i cut off the peas at the ground leaving the roots in the soil
to continue to breakdown and provide nutrition to the soil
i then added 4 inches of dairy cow manure i bought since my
country n compost isnt ready yet
then i added a scattering of an organic fertilizer over the compost
i used ladybug 8-2-4
then i added a light dusting of cottonseed meal
then i gently worked this into the top 2 inches of the soil
sometimes i just plant right in the compost
in the hole for planting i sprinkled the earthworm castings
thats worm poo
then i watered the tomato plant in well with liquid seaweed
then i put a small collar around the base of the base of the
tomato plant with a sliver of wet newspaper to protect it
from being cut down by the cutworm
then i covered the soil with a thick layer of mulch
which was leaves that had been partially composted
and made that layer about 4 inches thick
to hold moisture in and to protect the soil from the sun and heat
then i set up pvc pipes and covered that with some row cover
to block off that mid day and afternoon sun
then all i need to do is keep them watered until the fall
i use drip irrigation with my rainwater i collect
here is one of my milkweeds i planted this year
i have 5 of these planted
to help those monarch butterflies as they migrate through this area
i am looking forward to the monarch display this fall
so there is stuff to do in your garden right now to get
ready for the fall garden
try getting your beds ready with the compost and fertilizer and
mulch so all you have to do this fall is plant the stuff
remember around here the fall is the best time
to garden in this area
the organicgreen doctor
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