Hot, humid, and bone dry here in Central Missouri this past week. Ten days ago things were in decent shape here but without a good rain soon it’s going to get ugly. I noticed yesterday the leaves starting to curl in the neighbor’s cornfield. Mrs. Augie ran the sprinkler yesterday on a couple spots in the yard that were starting to get crispy. Not good.
The sweet corn that I planted last week has started to spike. I’ve had water it almost every day since it went in. The tomato plants are starting to look like they want to take off and grow. Cucumber plants look great. Zucchini and spaghetti squash not up yet. The cayenne pepper plants are recovering nicely since the dang deer ate the tops out of them.
That will be all I plant out there until cooler weather arrives in the fall. In the meantime I need to do some fence work, finish the hoop house, and build some raised beds. I spent a little time over the weekend making 2’ diameter 2’ tall cages from hardware cloth. I finished five of them and I’ve got enough material left to make two more. That won’t be enough once I’ve got the new garden patch fully operational, but it’s a good start.
We’ve got a bumper crop of cottontail rabbits here that are already planning their attack on the cabbages that I’m going to plant this fall but I’m determined to get the upper hand on the rascals.
KS/MO Border...it's cooled down from 101 F to 95 F. (Would still not want to be in the park watching the Royals playing!) Given the temperature I have watered twice today and it needed it! Three days ago I planted bush beans (Contender--45 days) and I hope the germinating seeds do not cook in the ground! Supposed to be heat tolerant and mildew resistant. so far so good.
Have either of you ever tried growing beans in an 18" grid pattern rather than spaced every three inches in a straight line? If you have, what were the results? Trying it this year. (More room between plants is supposed to result in a larger yield.)
I Set out squash--Italian Striata and Cocozell zucchini, and Early butternut--and Beit Alpha cucumber plants. I have a small Trellis frame and hope that the Butternut can be trained climb onto that trellis. I will cover the cucumber with insect barrier since it is parthanocarpic and does not need insects to pollinate it.
I lost 1 of 3 okra, but since I was told not to grow them by herself I can live with it. Sweet potatoes (Carolina Gold) are growing in "bottomless" pots along the fence. I expect the vines to grow all over the fence and looking for some larger tubers this year since I am not allowing the runners to set down roots anywhere but the pot. For fun I put some Dwarf grey peas into the pots with them to see if they benefit from nitrogen fixing by the peas. So far so good!
I found a volunteer squash growing in one of the Sweet potato pots. I replanted it outside where it can have some running room. I can't say what variety it will be. (Based on last year's squash purchases the seeds in my compost would be butternut or possibly Red Kuri.)