Garden Update

We're in the midst of a serious drought, yet my garden is small enough that I can water it as needed and keep things growing. It's been so hot, though, that very little is producing like I had hoped. We pulled up the onions and carrots today...sigh...such a dismal, grubby bunch....stunted...desperate. I may not try growing either of those for a while. Carrots will return sooner than onions, if I can just prep the garden bed deep enough for them to stretch out properly!

The green bean and lima plants are bushy, green, and flowering but absolutely barren in this heat. I'm leaving them in place until frost just to see if we can get some sort of harvest in the cooler fall.

I just did a little more reading on strawberry plants and it turns out they kinda fizzle out after 18 months. You essentially need to buy new plants every year, or propagate them in a high-maintenance way. Our berries have done really well despite the heat, and they're still giving us 1-2 cups of berries every other day or so:

This is the south side of the berry patch, farthest from the squirrel hole in our netting. The squirrel nibbles and enjoys the north side berries. He hasn't ventured this far, yet, and I haven't mustered the energy to fully squirrel-proof the patch. It's clear, though, that we could plant these guys much closer together in the bed next time. So much wasted space! I like the fresh berries all summer, so I'm probably going to order more berry starts next year. Long term, I may decide to save money and learn the high-maintenance propagation method.

Our large tomato variety is finally turning red! We'll see how greedy the squirrel gets with these guys:

 

And the sunflowers! I love our sunflowers. I'll plant these again next year, for sure. Low maintenance, rapid growth, and beautiful blossoms with excellent food potential. The seeds on this one are just starting to get their stripes. Each seed has its own tiny yellow flower for fertilization:

The apple trees have both developed Cedar Apple Rust (CAR). It's a very common fungal disease in the midwest:

Image source: http://www.apsnet.org/publications/imageresources/Pages/rust044.aspx

I should have done more research before selecting the apple varieties I did, however, because it's pretty hard to grow Honeycrisp and Red Rome Beauty apples organically. Those varieties tend to be "susceptible" and "highly susceptible", respectively, to CAR. Check out this University of Arkansas bulletin for the full list. So, I'm faced with a choice: 1) take on a high-maintenance organic treatment regimen (depending on the state you live in, some fungicidal sprays are approved for "organic" agriculture), or 2) rip out these susceptible varieties and plant resistant ones next year. 

It's only two trees, really, and it's easier to take them out now than in 10 years, and new trees will only cost $20-30 each (I don't know how much 10 years of fungicidal spray will cost) but I'm not convinced (yet) that the resistant varieties will have the flavor and eating qualities I'm looking for. Gotta do more research...sounds like a good winter project when I'm just sitting around with nothing to do...LOL. While I'm at it, I should also take a good look at ALL of the fruit tree/cane/vine diseases common to my area and find resistant varieties to plant...again.

I am tempted to grow only fruit next year, 'cuz I know we'll all eat as much as we can of it :)