The Challenging Weather in August - My Garden Journal
Greeting to all Hive Gardeners and Hivers!
I hope all of you are doing fine! I am sharing with you my Garden Journal for August. It has been raining for so many days now and that is good not only for the farmers but also for the drying rivers in Europe and many parts of the world. The weather in our place is changing and it´s becoming cooler in the night. We no longer have 30+°C and to think it is still Summer our skies are always cloudy... due to global warming, perhaps?
I do not have much to boast about in the Community since I only have a container garden on my balcony. This year, to be honest, my plants did not thrive well compared to last year. The plants suffered and have had parasites not only aphids but molds and other issues. My homemade anti-parasite sprays did not help much. Those cold temperatures last April damaged my newbie plants and they almost died-off. This year, the tomatoes took too long to develop. I can also forget my eggplant bush now even if I have removed the affected leaves...it is becoming too late to start blooming.
However, the good news is, the beefsteak tomato which had been robust at that time, did not suffer that much and to my astonishment, it is thriving well that the harvests are huge in size. The green ones below will be getting ripe in about 4-5 days, so I am anxious as I am planning to make them into our favorite antipasti called Oven Roasted Garlic Tomatoes.
As far as I remember, the only parasites in my containers last year had been the white grubs. And although I was able to eradicate them by tilling the soil to look for them, the elongated pepper still grew to be so resilient. I was so shocked to find 2 dozen of them crawling in the soil, so I gathered them and moved them to the nearby farmland.
I tried planting lemon seeds 2 months ago and they have grown into these now. I will transfer them soon in a bigger pot.
The bell peppers are still small , they also suffered from the April cold weather. But I think they will grow big til Sept.
The basil plant suffered too but they regain strength later and even now has lovely flower blooms below.
The blackberries are really really slow in its ripening process and they are still red. I picked about 3 berries that became black, they were soft, probably they needed more time because although soft, they were sour, lol.
These 3rd batch of lettuce are also slow in growing, but just alright with healthy leaves...I will soon harvest them to make into a green salad.
You can see the no thorn blackberries are still red, I am still wondering how many more weeks to go before they get black. The Raspberry bush behind it has been trimmed-off with its branches.
Another pepper variety which I think will become yellow when ripe... and the elongated sweet ones below are now getting red.
I am glad that even in such a limited space, I am still able to do my gardening.. It is so much fun to be able to sow the seeds and watch them grow into a huge plant and harvest the fruit of your labor!
Happy Gardening!
What a lovely garden though it is only in a small area but a lot of necessary plant we need daily. How to be you?
Hahaha ..you are making a nice garden already at your boss's garden... Thank you so much..are you now in K.S.A? I hope your flight had been fine.
Its great to see that your plants are doing well. The worst of summer has passed so my peppers are rebounding strong since I've been giving them good amounts of water lately.
Yeah, that is good..well we had hot days in July. Now in August, it's not that hot but just as you say the weather is good for our peppers. Thanks and cheers!
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Hey @mers, lovely post. Great to see your garden is still producing some things even though there's been failures in others. I think we all need to adjust our gardening and perhaps stagger plant grows over the weeks to cope with the changing weather, but that's harder in a smaller space.
As I read these #gardenjournal posts for the wrap up I'm noticing a lot of strange weather globally, it's a concern for all us gardeners!
It really is a huge concern all over...the farmers are losing their existence...Have seen rivers drying out and no ships could sail to transport harvests and other goods to the end consumers when the sandbanks are exposed in rivers...too bad for us too, the drought is here and many people are hungry. hoping for the best my dear friend.
If I might offer a suggestion, perhaps feeding the afflicted plants with a complete, but lower nitrogen foliar spray once a week, starting the week they are planted might do a lot more that trying to deal with the pests later.
But do check the nitrogen level as too much nitrogen will make the problem worse...
That is a very good tip about nitrogen. thanks! I will consider it very much in the next season's planting. We are nearing Fall now so I will start in Spring. Have great days in gardening.
Actually it's the end of the season when the plants most need fed....
Unfortunately, I had to throw all the plants after I made the harvest especially when the planting season has ended. I need to clear the pot, remove the plant and roots and store the soil in containers for the next season. I can do what you suggest for the blackberries and the raspberry since I just leave them in their own pots in the balcony. They are winter hard so they can survive the minus degree temps. Thank you.
What a bountiful garden.I really admire you for that.Keep it up.👌
Thanks for the compliment darl.
Yes so true gardening is really very fulfilling specially during harvests. Pests are bad but think of it in a different way they are good because it will make you a good gardener/farmer/tiller for you will really look for ways how to eradicate them. You will do research and find ways so all your plants will be healthy and beautiful.
Same with life, if all is just well and good always it makes life boring so hurdles are needed so we can grow as a person. For when the time comes for us to meet God we all have good, healthy, happy spirits. We are like those huge yellow peppers of yours Tita, so sweet to eat... haha.
Happy gardening.
Hahaha...all true indeed darling, thank you for the nice comments. Haven't seen you for a long time.. all is well in the family and hacienda?
your welcome po, your post po deserves those beautiful words. Yes po medyo nabusy sa work tuloy-tuloy. Medyo ngayon lang po nagkatime. I miss posting here and sharing our daily life experiences. Medyo 2 months na ding hindi nakakapasyal sa manggahan. Probably after netong rainy season pupunta kami para mag clearing and grass cuting. Hayaan muna naming dumami at humaba mga damo para minsanang linis nalang.
See you around po. Take care always.
Oh wow, you must have plenty of mango trees! How many are they and what do you do with the fruits when harvested? Do you sell them big scale?
Wanna taste the blackberries😁
Do come over, I'll tell you when they are ripe.
Hi, your garden looks very beautiful and fresh but you said the aphids and parasites disturbing your plants. Here we had the problem with aphids we use the old style soap which is used for household cleaning. we call it grønn soap made of fat and potassium hydroxide. Otherwise using garlic and chili spray helps to control aphids and parasites. You can research about. hope you will get rid of them. greetings 😊
Thank you so much for the tip..I also did the water and liquid soap+the oil .. but the plants were already damaged from the beginning because part of the newbie plants were frozen due to minus temperatures in April... As for the molds, I used the soda water spray I got rid of the molds but the aphids came back..but I will be careful in the beginning of planting next Spring ...thank you for your suggestions and for visiting.Have a good day!
That happens to me also in April all plants were frozen. So we tried again to sow new seeds. and it is late for the season. this year was not good for our squash and beans and tomatoes are just flowering. But this is nature. we have to go with that. take care and enjoy the summer.🌞😊
Thank you so much.... if we still have summer at all...I might enjoy the last days..Lololols!
You've got a lot of tomatoes there good for salsa.
I am make them into oven roasted garlic. Very delish. Thank you.
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Thank you.
What a nice balcony jungle 😁 I wish I can make mine like yours next year. Great job as always, @mers!