Now we're talking!

Mother Nature has been extremely cruel to the gardens this year...since September I have only recorded one and one-half inches of rain in my rain gauge.  To make matters worse, the wind screeches every single day and night...out of the S/SE, gusting over 20 mph.  Any moisture that finds the ground is immediately blown out.  I saw the local well service guy last weekend...he's anticipating that without a good soaking rain, the acquifer from which I get my well water could be in hazardous condition within 6 months. 

The good news:  for now, the gardens are producing.  Here's a pic from today:

The squash is producing nicely, the cucs have their teepees to vine on and are showing flowers, the peppers are putting on, and the beans are blooming and little tiny beans and black-eyed peas are making.  I just pulled the cream peas (only got 2 small portions as I expected...they don't do as well as I might hope...I don't think they like the heat) and replanted that area with more black-eyes.

The big tomatoes are doing well, although I am concerned about blossom drop on the top sets...I've been studying the possible causes and have decided that it's the wind's fault...like I said it blows day and night, hard.  The temperatures have been swinging too...just last week it was down in the mid-50's at night, upper 80's during the day.  Added to that is the fact that are loads of fruit on the lower portion of each plant.  So I think that all the energy the plants have are going to the fruit and what little energy reaches the upper parts of the plants isn't enough to keep the blooms going in the wind.  Just in case, I'm starting some new babies in the greenhouse...if we can't overcome the blossom drop in the next few weeks, once the fruit ripens I'll pull the plants and replant later in the summer for fall tomatoes.  Playing it by ear for now.

The most amazing thing in the garden, to me, is the corn.  I've seen miles of corn growing in fields all my life but I have never paid attention to how the ears come about.  So watching it up close has been a real education, and makes me thankful to be witness to a real wonder of nature.  Here's how it goes...first, the plants come up with these great wonderful, broad leaves.  Before you know it, out of the top comes this big flower, with one part that stands straight up (the male?) and 8-10 smaller ones hanging around it (females?).  Once the flowers got up high, the bees went nuts, crawling and slurping the pollens which then fall into the base of the big leaves..that's when the lottery occurs. 

If properly pollinated by my flying buddies and enough water and food in the plants themselves, the next thing you see is picture to the left. The tassles start growing right in the crevice between leaf and stalk.

 And before you know it:  An Ear O Corn!

                   AMAZING!












Now if I can keep the critters away!