We're still dry with just 0.16" in the last 27 days. Another day of 100 before it backs off to 95 tomorrow due to a 30% chance of showers which never appear. It's also been insanely dry with humidity around 20%. Lots of black walnut leaves down crunchy grass and the fig leaves are yellowing no matter how much it gets watered. I don't think the little figlets forming will make it but the plant will keep trying.

Yesterday I prepped two beds for seeding more cukes and am experimenting again. I dug six or seven deep holes in each and the soil was powder dry as these two beds have been vacant since the peas were pulled out. One bed is in full sun all day and one gets shade from about 10:30 to 3:30. The holes were filled with with water several times. Today they'll be watered again, back filled, watered again and seeds planted. Then I'm going to put thick cardboard over the holes to try and keep the soil cool and check daily after three days to see if anything has come up.

On the bright side of things (and there usually is one if you look for it), the tomato plants are holding up, especially the ones by the house that get some shade mid-late afternoon. And the Silver Queen is starting to tassel. It's getting a lot of water twice a day. Ah, that makes two things on the bright side.

That's not a bad idea with the cardboard. Row cover is handy to keep the ground moist while seeds are getting started, but it does also raise the temperature some.
I was out planting the last peas today, and wow the ground is shockingly dry. We only got just shy of 10mm rain a couple days ago, then a hot day yesterday, and oh my. Water from the hose was just pooling on top. When it runs down you dig to put the peas in, dry as a bone below the surface! I had to water and wait and water some more before I put them in and THEN water of course.
On the plus side, we're having July weather already in June, so I've started some kousa, sunflowers, and even some corn! I had the seeds but didn't plant last year, but it looks like this might be the one... It's also warm enough to plant some buckwheat in the old garden, but I'll have to drag a hose over for that...

I got those two new cuke beds planted yesterday and used cardboard cartons left over from setting up the tomato pallets this spring. Here's one of the beds. Don't worry that we're becoming a couple of lushes here; it's just that the best cartons come from the liquor store!



There are three plants ready for transplanting into buckets today, a TAM mild jalapeno, a Pizza Pepper and a big slicer heirloom Daniel Burson tomato that came from the MMMM. Daniel Burson comes recommended from some here so it will replace the Rebel Yell I took off line due to funk issues.

One more bit of garden trivia. I never knew why the TAM was always spelled in capital letters and now I know. It was developed at Texas A&M University.

The cukes are up! I checked under the cardboard yesterday and they were just barely poking up through the soil so I removed the cardboard except one hill in each bed where they weren't up yet. One of those hills might not make it as it looks like the ants are thinking it's a good place to start mounding. Little do they know.......

@GoDawgs; lotta yer cardboard appears to be...um...Industry Specific...with some nice brands!

The Gotch

Cardboard sounds like a good idea.

When we have drought weather I keep a scrub bucket in the shower to catch the water that gets wasted when waiting for warm water. I usually catch about 2 gallons per shower and I take it outside and give my flowers a drink. There are 2 of us getting showers so that's 4 gallons per day that would just go down the drain while the flowers are wishing for rain.

I save my rain barrel water for the veggies. We have a well so I rarely water using the hose at the house.

Cornelius_Gotchberg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:01 am @GoDawgs; lotta yer cardboard appears to be...um...Industry Specific...with some nice brands!

The Gotch

Oh yeah. The best cartons come from the liquor store. Real sturdy for totin' those heavy bottles around. Unfortunately they weren't full when I brought them home.

Cornelius_Gotchberg wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:01 am @GoDawgs; lotta yer cardboard appears to be...um...Industry Specific...with some nice brands!

The Gotch

I thirst