"And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress and keep it". Genesis 2:15

Monday, July 13, 2009

Keeping The Garden Going In The Heat

The last couple of weeks have been blazing hot! In the last 12 days it has been over 100 degrees 9 times. Yesterday it was 104! Needless to say I am struggling to keep everything watered and alive. The Laundry room water has been a great help in this, plus the 1/2 inch rain that filled 4 rain barrels. Most everything is doing alright, except the tomatoes which usually dont survive this time of year anyway.

I am in the process of getting the fall garden planted with new tomatoes, peppers, and various squash. Most everything has taken the heat just fine except for the new tomato  transplants - they were wilting badly every afternoon even with good water. My solution for that was to rig card board shades on the west sides of their tomato cages. I simply cut up some cardboard and used clothespins to attach them to the west side of the cages. This way the tomatoes get shade in the hottest part of the afternoon.

I am happy with what I have been learning in the water conservation area. What with rain barrels, grey water, and sub-irrigation pots I have drastically reduced my usual water bill, while actually doing a better job of keeping everything happy.

2 comments:

  1. that is rely interesting =0
    keep up the good work ; D

    kitten mittens

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  2. Hi!

    You commented on my blog asking about the weather here.....well, for July, it's rained a good deal. Yesterday evening we had a big down pour....so big that a tree in our front yard got struck by lighting, fell, and hit the electricity wires making the power go out!

    I'd say the average temp. each day is 85 to 93 roughly. Not too hot. We're going without air condition so it seems much hotter inside!

    So far we haven't had that much trouble watering our garden. When it doesn't rain, we hook up the hose to a sprinkler.

    Thanks for the comment!

    {Camille}

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