Texas Heat!

[Western]

RAIN.....

Finally got some much needed rain!!!!

But with it came wind. Apparently a lot of it too. Blew all my corn to about a 45 degree slant.

I think I will forget about the complaining.

Bart

That happened to me one year too, I had planted on soft raised soil and one good windy storm blew it like a West Texas dust storm. At least the cobs will be easy to reach coon's will be happy:laughing:

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

It rained. Oh my gosh IT RAINED!. I DON'T KNOW YET WHAT WE GOT BUT IT DID OFF AND ON FROM 5AM THIS MORNING.

Looks like we got around 1.5 inches, Yah!

But now it looks like the 50% chance of more is gone, to bad, we are only about 17 inches short.

 

[jinman]

Boy-oh-boy! We are a happy little bunch aren't we? A little rain sure can change your attitude.

I went to the garden this morning and picked a few cucumbers and sprayed insecticide so the squash bugs won't come back. I think we have the healthiest cucumber plants I have ever seen. They are so thick you have to move every leaf to search for fruit. Each plant is about 6' diameter, green, and starting to produce like crazy.:thumbsup: I'm finally picking a few tomatoes too. They will be going like gangbusters in another week or so. After the rain, they may be cracked. We'll see, because they are still pretty green. I looked up a pickled banana pepper ring recipe last night. I'm gonna be busy pickling peppers because my plants are loaded and I can't eat and give away all of them.

 

[markrahn]

Whooohoooo an inch and a half of rain for us. soaked right in. on the way to work this AM had to keep the wipers on for the fogged windows. Pretty humid. Buuuutttt. Now we are back to the hot/dry pattern for a while it looks like.

The garden has needed the water. What makes watermelons crack?

BTW. anyone know what this bug is?

 

[Bird]

You're sure right about the humidity. I mowed, edged, and trimmed yards this morning and I wear safety glasses when using the string trimmer and today they just kept fogging up making it hard to see what I was doing.

 

[mikim]

got 2.25" here yesterday...a good start....wish we could get somore .... betting it's still gonna be a long hot summer.

 

[Bartcephus]

BTW. anyone know what this bug is?

UGLY! :laughing: I wish I knew... I got 'em too. ANYBODY?

When you ask about the watermelons cracking, is that after a rain or just cracking while growing? I have had some crack in the past because they were traumatized by deer or other wildlife. I swear I think coyotes eat them too. Could just be coons though. Coons have a sense that lets them know when you are about to go to the garden to harvest. Some people say that coons know when the fruits are ripe, but I've seen stuff rot on the vine until the day I decide I can get in there and harvest.... then the coons wipe it all out the night before.

The humidity is definitely up there now. Need a lot more rain. An inch or so every other day wouldn't hurt for awhile... is that too much to ask for? In a month, we might be up to normal. Seems like the well at my lease garden is out of water. This is the earliest I have seen such dry conditions. Usually doesn't hit till August/September with the brutal heat. Turns the sandy soil to dust and the clay to rock solid concrete.

Did harvest some potatoes... sure wish my green beans had grown. One of my favorite garden dishes is a mess of green beans with new potatoes properly enhanced with a little onion, butter and salt. Numm Numm :licking: The rain sure made the digging easier, or was that because I accidentally let the water run overnight. (Really the spousal unit had done that.) Can't wait to see that water bill. That is a time I wish I was on well water at the house. The electricity to pump it is a lot less than the water co's bill.

Regards,
Bart

 

[Bird]

I swear I think coyotes eat them too.

Bart, when I was a teenager in Marlow, OK, I guess stealing watermelons from farmers was still popular, although I never knew anyone who did because we could buy watermelons at two for a quarter. But I still remember the newspaper publishing a story telling people first to NOT steal watermelons from the field because it was illegal, but secondly if you do, be sure you take one that is still attached to the vine. They claimed that watermelon farmers would pull melons off the vine and inject them with poison for the coyotes.

 

[Bartcephus]

inject them with poison for the coyotes.

Well that certainly explains the tracks in the watermelon patches....

This year I don't have watermelons yet. But I might try the same trick. Wonder what they injected them with? Anti-freeze? (ethylene glycol?)

Thanks for the post Bird!

 

[Bird]

Best I can remember the newspaper just said they were injected with "poison"; don't believe they even said what kind of poison.