And just like that, real summer sets in. We got to coast through most of June with relatively manageable temperatures, especially as nighttime lows continued to fall at least into the 60s. But with the start of July came reality! It’s been in the 90s for the last several days and, boy, is it hot. I’ve been doing my best to stay out of the garden in the hottest parts of the day. However, with plenty of crops that prefer cooler temperatures still in the ground, it’s important to provide some overhead watering during the heat of the day to help keep them cool and prevent them from going to seed and becoming unpalatable. This is one of the few exceptions to the otherwise good advice to restrict watering to the early morning and evening.
What makes this a particularly challenging time of year is that it is both the beginning of the heavy summer harvest and, always sooner than you’d think, time to start preparing for fall. In the same week, I harvested the year’s first eggplant as well as seeding the storage carrots that we plan to harvest before winter sets in. Other preparations for fall include upcoming plantings of lettuce and escarole. These will be seeded in plastic transplant trays where they will grow in a protected, sunny spot for the next month before being planted into the garden in August.
Today, we’re getting a nice respite from the heat with a cooler, cloudy day and occasional rain. I’m enjoying a break from both the heat and the need to endlessly water everything! The cooler temperatures also make it a perfect day for the other side of gardening life- tonight we plan to can this year’s second batch of pickles once the cucumbers have had a good twelve hours to brine over the course of the day.
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