Summer is officially bearing down on us down here in South Texas. Boy, is it hot! If you garden: you sure don’t want to do it in the middle of the day when it’s over 100°F! However, all the things down here that I choose to plant will usually sail through the heat as long as there’s enough water.
So, every other day I drag my hose around and water my trees, bushes and vegetable garden. This year I put some perennials in my raised garden beds. Raspberries, blueberries, iris and plumeria. I intended to build up the strip along my fence for these perennials, but I just didn’t have the time (which means I have a ton of cardboard on my porch and I haven’t moved the straw away from the banana bed.) Eventually I will move them to their permanent home, but I know that for now they are going to do really well in my raised beds.
I mainly run an organic set up. Although, I use Roundup in the spring, just not anywhere that I grow food crops. I’m on a quarter acre and weeding the entire thing is too much. I focus my weeding in my vegetable beds and use the Roundup on encroaching Bermuda grass (man I hate that stuff!) I strike a balance that I not only can live with, but that I can manage too.
Since I don’t use a lot of sprays I do go out and remove leaves by hand with spidermite infestations and aphids. Once I start seeing a problem with those I usually spray them down with a water hose. Until… they get out of control. I usually switch to a spray once the powdery mildew starts because sprays of water will only make that worse.
When I need to switch gears: I mix up neem, some vegetable oil, some mild dishwashing detergent, milk or baking soda (both of these stop powdery mildew) and some aromatherapy grade oil of oregano for the mildew (ingesting food grade oil of oregano is great for stopping colds, too. It’s a powerful oil. I don’t do the “essential oils fix everything” stuff that was popular for a while. This has just turned out to really work well, so I continue to use it.)
Another thing that I could do (that I could spend way more money or time on if I tried to) is use organic grade miracle grow. But, I’ve been using plain old miracle grow my whole life and I don’t see a need to switch. So once a week I get out my miracle grow sprayer and soak my plants in its goodness.
Deep soil, no weeds, miracle grow and a neem oil mixture for pests and disease are the foundations of my successful gardening adventures. I have figured out how much I should be watering, when it’s this hot, and I do little chores each day: like winding vining plants up my supports, cutting back and thinning out my bananas, reseeding when birds steal my newly sprouted seedlings (because I forget every once and a while to protect them.) Just, diddling out there, finding some thing that needs doing.
I’ve decided I need to give up on my thought of simply sitting and enjoying my garden. I can sit out there for a maximum of about ten minutes before I notice something “quick” that I need to do. And once I do that thing, I notice something else. I’m never done. This artwork is never finished. My painting is never put away or hung, forgotten and left for others to enjoy, although other people do enjoy my garden. I just can’t stop interacting with it. After 10 years of installing and caring for my garden I am as interwoven in it, as much as anything else out there.
However, having such an active hobby has made my family regularly live into their 90’s and beyond. I become a part of my garden, not just an observer. Every year my land supports more and more life. From birds, to lizards, to beneficial insects. And in turn, that web of life rewards me with more and more food. And honestly: just an enjoyment and appreciation for God’s creation that I am lucky enough to get to participate in.
I hope you are enjoying your time in your garden this year. If you find you are struggling: I have a 4 part, free class that you can access here to get you back on track: https://crazygreenthumbs.com/2022/02/26/beginner-gardeners-walking-you-through-what-you-need-to-know-4/
Good luck and go get your hands dirty!
Crazy Green Thumbs
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Do you grow ‘Kokopo Patupi’ banana? I just got a pair of plugs, . . . as if we needed more bananas. All of the bananas here are young, but there are several cultivars, including some that are unidentified.
I do have one but this is it’s first year and it’s too small to fruit. The rootball should be big enough next year to watch for bananas. I also bought some coffee plants, for fun, that like understory conditions. I will need to clear out some of the Gros Michel to put them in that bed though.
Beautiful garden! 🙂