Gardening Chores in Between Hot Temperatures

I took advantage of the cooler dry weather we had for a couple days to get some chores completed in the garden. We’ve had some hot and humid weather lately, but Thursday and Friday were much more pleasant to be outside with less humidity and a light breeze.

The Roma Tomatoes were getting crowded in the Self Watering Containers (SWC). So Thursday evening, I gave them a good pruning so air can circulate among the stems. Ah, much better:

There are some small tomatoes growing:

And a lot of blooms:

The pea pods were still attempting to produce even in this heat. I can’t believe how they have grown to the top of the 6-foot trellis and beyond:

Unfortunately, the trellis the pea pods are growing on is desperately needed by the San Marzano Tomatoes that are planted right in front of them. So on Friday, I harvested what I could from the pea pod vines, carefully snipped and composted the plants:

It’s obvious the San Marzano Tomatoes in this SFG have suffered from sharing their space with the peas:

They are thin and spindly in comparison to the others growing in the SFGs right next to them. I added a layer of fresh compost, gave them a shot of fish emulsion fertilizer, and wove them gently into the nylon trellis. Hopefully they will catch up to the others. Here is a picture of the San Marzano Tomatoes growing in other SFGs that didn’t have to compete with the peas:

In other garden news, the melon patch is filling out quickly:

Intertwined in the patch are Charantais and Fastbreak Melons and Sugar Baby Watermelon. There are so many blooms and little melons growing. It looks like we are going to have a much better melon harvest this year:

It also looks like the cucumbers will be plentiful this year. There are a bunch of blooms and baby cukes on the cucumber plants in the SFG:

However, the first cucumber will be from one of the extra plants that were planted near the raspberries. This one will be ready sometimes this weekend. I hope I get it before something else does:

The beans are climbing the trellis. The Kentucky Wonder in front has filled out more, but Purple Trionfo reached the top of the trellis the quickest:

Yesterday I also weed whacked the paths in the garden and got all the clippings raked up and in the compost pile early this morning before the day began heating up. Warm temperatures are supposed to return this weekend. Although great for the vegetables, high 80s and 90s are too hot for me to work in the garden. So I wanted to take advantage of the comfortable weather while I could. By 11 am this morning, the gardens were trimmed, weeded, watered, and ready to face the heat once again.