Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Back Again

I'm still here, believe it or not. I created a Facebook group to post ideas and such, and while I have a lot of followers, there isn't much interaction and I couldn't do long posts. So I'm back here blogging, at least for a bit.

Anyhoo...the weather here in Texas is its usual, unbearable summer self. Nearly 100° every dang day. How are we supposed to garden in that? Well, we aren't.

Of course, the triple digit temperatures didn't stop me from ordering some coneflowers and daylilies that were on sale at Garden Crossings. Not sure how long that sale is going on, but I highly recommend GC for their robust plants, as opposed to the pathetic little 3" pots that other mail order companies will charge $20 for.

It has been a cucumber-laden summer for me. Last year was the first time I grew Burpee's 'Yellow Submarine' cuke. I got two huge fruits toward the end of the season but that was it. Well, this year has been a different story. I check the two vines every other day and routinely come back with six or seven gargantuan cucumbers. I don't know how they get so big so fast. It's creepy, really. Fortunately, they stay very yummy up until they get to a foot long (and I've harvested several of that size, believe me). Pickling has been a great way to use them up and they have made absolutely delicious dill spears.

Truth be told, though, the only way I'm going to stop the production of these monsters is to pull the plants up, which I'll be doing this weekend. It's time to start some fall veggies anyway.

Hope all is well with everyone out there.