Droughts: Posting, Rain
The garden’s mostly dry — even with frequent watering, I can’t seem to keep it alive right now. Half of it caught spider mites, the other half caught some sort of fungal blight, and even the Marigolds ended up attracting a host of bugs and wilting to death. Well, except for the Luffa. They seem to absolutely love the dryness, and are growing like there’s no tomorrow. I have probably a dozen GIANT luffa.
In other news, based on Pam Penick’s visit to Inner Space Caverns outside of Austin, I visited West Cave Preserve today. It’s a gorgeous spring-fed grotto with a small cave. Unfortunately, it was abused for many years before the land was acquired for the preserve in 1976. It’s been well taken care of ever since, and the amazing number of natural species that can be found in the grotto was wonderful to learn about. The guided tour was well worth the money, and the guide was an expert in the natural flora and fauna in the area and could probably have talked for hours about the different types of trees, their ages, and the way they fit into the micro-climate ecosystem. It was a great (and relatively cool — only 85 degrees or so down in the caves — I did say RELATIVELY!) way to spend two hours on a hot Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately, I didn’t remember to bring my camera, which was left in the spare bedroom with it’s charger. *sigh* I guess that means I’ll have to go back.
Ooooh, are the luffas the same thing we ladies use to exfoliate? I’m mad jealous if you can grow them there.
Sheesh. I’ll stay near the coast, though, if luffa growing requires 85 degrees on a cool day. Man oh man. Give me Humboldt weather any day!!
Genevive: Yes, they are! But shh– don’t tell my female relatives that I’m growing their christmas presents. Even though I have no problems with it, one or two of them might!
Luffas are just summer squash gourds — in the same family as zucchini. When dried, their insides form the exfoliating “sponges” that you know and love. If you can grow zucchini, you can grow Luffa gourds… and I think that my raised bed was getting too much water for squash of any type. I was watering heavily in order to keep the cucumbers and tomatoes alive. I lost both my zucchini plants, and the luffa weren’t doing well until I stopped watering in frustration.
With most of August still to go, we’re only 10 days from breaking the record for the most days at 100 degrees or higher in one year! That record was set in 1998. August is traditionally the hottest month in our part of Texas.
It seems your garden went pretty much the way mine did. I too was assaulted by mites big time. My cucumbers in a tub did not do well at all. In fact, the only cucumbers I’ve eaten so far came from a lone volunteer cucumber plant that grew on the ground. I ended up trimming all my tomato plants to one vine and I am just now beginning to get the next volley of tomatoes. The volunteer cherry tomatoes –about 10 plants have provided a steady supply of delicious, large cherry tomatoes. Again, the plants on the ground have out produced the ones that I put in 5 gallon buckets. The temperatures around here finally went south of 90 but I expect them to rise again soon. My total success story lies with the peppers. I have so many I eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And what is it about pepper plants that caterpillars love. I did not have that problem this year but I have in the past. They love Cayenne peppers as much as I do!
How did you do with the hanging tomatoes? Only one of the three upsy turvy tomatos is producing fruit regularly, the other two just grew leaves. I may try them again next year, or I may not.