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Good – another failure. :o)

Failures are good because I know that doesn’t work so another failure down. Have to get all the failures done before the SHTF. The bean plants growing on the lattice on back wall are being cooked by the heat and sun and they are dying. There are five or six of them planted to see what would happen. The lattice is white and the sun beats on that lattice from before noon until the last ray goes down in the evening. The temperature of that white lattice with the vine wrapped around it has to be extremely high, cooking the vine, plus with the rays of the sun, the leaves are dying too, being cooked. My temp today, Thursday, will reach 100. Tomorrow, Friday, the forecast is 104, as is Saturday. You just can’t imagine how hot it is out there. I can’t use that lattice for vining veggies – better to know it now than later. The large containers with attached lattice will have to be used for vining veggies. I’ll use that ground in front of the hot lattice for planting Jerusalem Artichokes Sunflowers, the Fuseau strain, for the tubers that make large potato type tubers for eating. Those Sunflower tubers can’t be bought now but can be bought before delivery time in March.

I have planted Mortgage Lifter Red tomato seed using Johnny’s method for growing plants from seed. I did use Espoma Organic Seed Starter mix in the cups that is supposed to help them germinate. I also used the plastic seed planter thingy to put seeds in the cups and was able to place each seed with that instead of glopping seed everywhere trying to do it by hand and losing seed. I’ve also planted 12 Sunspot Sunflower seeds in cups and if those grow, will put them next to a side brick wall. They only grow to two and a half feet and have 10 inch flowers with a center full of striped seed to eat. If they don’t make it in the heat after planting, will plant more in the early spring.

I need fruit to grow out there. I read up on growing blackberries in containers and that can be done so I’ll use the large containers with trellis included. I’ll order Arapaho 2 yr. plants that ripen the beginning of June and 2 yr. old Ouachita plants that begin to ripen mid-June. These come from Arkansas near the Un. of Arkansas that develops strains of blackberry plants. I read information from a Texas grower of blackberries, and he said the Ouachita are great growing in Texas.

I feel like I’m in a holding pattern with not much more I can do until maybe the middle of July when I can start some seed for fall planting. Wish I could do more but starting as late as I did and having to learn and fail leaves me where I am today. :o(

I see all your great gardens and would like to walk through all of them and ask questions and sit down and have a cup of coffee with each one of you. I take cream in my coffee, please.

Come on over, I would love to take you on a tour. I’ll be taking pictures during the rest of the summer, untill I get a roll of film used up. Then I’ll figure out how to post some of those.

Now about that hot spot where the lattice is. You could try using some shade cloth or even a sheet over that area. I used a sheet over my tomatoes last year, and it helped a lot.

I attached it to the fence, and used some pvc pipe I had on hand to anchor the corners. (Think roof of lean to shed). Three sides were open so air could pass through, but when the sun was directly overhead, the white sheet helped.

“I see all your great gardens and would like to walk through all of them and ask questions and sit down and have a cup of coffee with each one of you. I take cream in my coffee, please.”

I sure wish that could happen! I could not have said it better. Wouldn’t it be great if all of us could sit down and have coffee (or coffee like substance) together at some point? In the meantime, I’m grateful to greeneyes for providing this thread platform.

THANKS GREENEYES FOR THE THREAD!