We are officially sitting in the middle of the horrendous convection-oven Hell heat conditions that comprise Phoenix in June. Now that we're easily crossing the triple-digit threshold (and are well into the triple digit teen temperatures), I was fully resigned to the fact that the roommates and I would be going into pure, straight-up survival mode with the plant residents in the garden.
I was wrong.
This morning I pulled three big okra pods and a little yellow crook-neck squash out of the beds. Checking the other plants, we have a jalepeno plant in flower, and the other bell pepper plants are holding their own. I thought all forms of life just stopped growing/moving/changing once we hit 110 degrees here. I'm excited to say, I'm pleasantly surprised!
I'm currently constructing shades for the boxes to remove some of the stress of full-on noonday sun. The eggplants won't make it if I don't. There are signs of life from the second round of carrots I sowed a while back, so I'm trying to protect those as much as possible. We're watering twice a day now, morning and evening, so hopefully the shades will help with water retention. The tomatoes in their planter, I've moved from the backyard to the front porch, which receives dappled sunlight throughout the day, thanks to our lemon tree. This was on a recommendation that we may actually be able to continue producing tomatoes if they're out of the direct sun and everloving Hell heat.
Pics to come! And then that's pretty much going to be it from me, for awhile. Stay cool. I hope that wherever you are, your gardens are full... and if you're sharing the Hell heat with me, that you're still experiencing some degree of produce bounty.
See you on the flip side in September!
I was wrong.
This morning I pulled three big okra pods and a little yellow crook-neck squash out of the beds. Checking the other plants, we have a jalepeno plant in flower, and the other bell pepper plants are holding their own. I thought all forms of life just stopped growing/moving/changing once we hit 110 degrees here. I'm excited to say, I'm pleasantly surprised!
I'm currently constructing shades for the boxes to remove some of the stress of full-on noonday sun. The eggplants won't make it if I don't. There are signs of life from the second round of carrots I sowed a while back, so I'm trying to protect those as much as possible. We're watering twice a day now, morning and evening, so hopefully the shades will help with water retention. The tomatoes in their planter, I've moved from the backyard to the front porch, which receives dappled sunlight throughout the day, thanks to our lemon tree. This was on a recommendation that we may actually be able to continue producing tomatoes if they're out of the direct sun and everloving Hell heat.
Pics to come! And then that's pretty much going to be it from me, for awhile. Stay cool. I hope that wherever you are, your gardens are full... and if you're sharing the Hell heat with me, that you're still experiencing some degree of produce bounty.
See you on the flip side in September!
