The heat is on

   It's about 99 degrees outside, with a heat index of 113. The later number is said to be at 116 by 4pm. I am off today but am avoiding the dangerous heat outside. Actually, I woke at 5am to get an early start and beat the heat. I watered both gardens, cut out some more squash leaves damaged by stinkbugs, squash bugs, and  cucumber beetles. I put out the Rescue Stink Bug Trap at both gardens. So far, I've only caught two wasps (which is a shame, because they are beneficial insects for gardening.) Earlier, in the back yard, I watched a very large mantis eat another large mantis. I've heard when mantids mate, the female eats the male. Hopefully they mated and we'll have more babies next spring.

   It is becoming increasingly difficult to manage both gardens. Although my aunt's house is only 10 minutes away, it's that extra 20 minute round trip several days per week that cuts into my hectic schedule. I am not certain what Deb & I will do at the big garden next year. The best idea we have so far is to plant easy, low maintenance, pest-free crops so that we would only have to check it once a week. Carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and artichokes would be good choices for plant and forget crops.

  I got a letter from the home owners association today,  asking me to "mow the lawn". The funny part about it, is we have no lawn. The whole back yard is garden beds full of plants and walkways. I'm not quite sure what they want of us, but after receiving the notice, I've been trimming back some of the flowering herbs, and cutting down some of the weeds that are rising up in the walkways. Each corn stalk that has already been harvested is coming down. I cut about 12 sunflowers down today, to harvest the seeds once they dry. I'll start pulling up any carrots that appear mature. Full sized carrot plants look a little unkempt. Maybe the HOA thinks they are weeds. The asparagus bed is going to be a tough one. From a distance away, to the untrained eye, asparagus fern can look like tall, overgrown grass. I don't plan on cutting down the asparagus bed without a fight, so we'll have to wait and see what the HOA says about my trimming progress..or should I use their word, MOWing progress.

Today's harvest yielded 4 ears of corn, 11oz of cucumbers, 12oz onions, 13oz tomatoes, 15oz zucchini, a 3 lb pumpkin, 1 little cherry tomato, 30 oz of carrots, and 1 oz of green beans.

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Total produce count for the year:

25 ears of corn

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

12 blackberries

10 blueberries

3/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

2.76 lb assorted (green)bean pods

5 .68lb cucumber

10.31 lb zucchini squash

2.25 lb yellow squash

4 lb butternut squash

3 lb pumpkin

3.31 lb tomatoes

1.45 lb cherry tomatoes

1.7 lb kohlrabi

3.84 lb  onions (bulbs)

8.77 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

1/8 lb potatoes

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.8 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4.8 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions, chives, stevia