It’s about that time of year when everything gets a little fried around here. And I’m not just talking about the residents. Phoenix in July is brutal with monsoon season making everything extra hot and sticky, and August doesn’t bring a whole lot of relief. Here’s what’s happening around our garden right now.
We had to clear out the pumpkin patch due to an infestation of several varieties of bugs, including squash beetles, ants and white flies. The vines were looking a little sad. I also trimmed back a tomato plant and removed the other entirely because it was not going to make it.
Since I was going through and tearing things out, I decided to clean the garden area. The BEFORE shot is above, and below is the AFTER.
Here are a couple more shots of the cleaned up area, just because I was so proud of myself!
Sadly, we also lost the vine that was covering our back wall this year. It was some sort of mexican rose variety, and for the last five years it has been low maintenance and beautiful… I’m still trying to figure out what happened, since we didn’t change our watering schedule.
There was a little life left on the vine, so we decided to cut it back to the stalks and see if it would revive once all the dead stalks and leaves were removed.
The hubby insists that it there is still hope. I’m not holding my breath. But my fingers are crossed, nonetheless!
We still have eggplant, basil and bell pepper. And if I get my act together this month, we’ll be starting seeds of summer squash, brussel sprouts, celery and dill soon. To prep for September’s garden, we should also be starting seeds indoors of carrots, cauliflower, collards, kale, lettuce, snap peas, sage, swiss chard and thyme by month-end. Whew! I’m tired already…
How is your garden growing this time of year?
