A Couple of Late Season Plantings

Still hot down here in August.  Since it was so wet in the spring, we experienced lots of crop failure.  I've tried some things in the garden that I've never tried before, putting in crops in the heat of the summer rather than waiting until later to try to make up for some lost time.  If it doesn't work, it doesn't work

In the first photo below, I started some seeds on the back patio in early July so that I could get them in the ground as soon as I could.  These are pumpkins - New England Sugar Pies and Sweet Dumpling Squash.  I generally try to have these planted on July 4th.  I love pumpkin pie in the fall and hopefully the seedlings you see will produce nice pumpkins that Tricia can transform into delicious pies and cheesecakes.

Our yellow crookneck squash and zucchini squash were attacked by squash borers with an absolute vengeance this year.  Perhaps the fall planting will provide better results.  I've said this a million times, but as many times as I plant, I'm always amazed with the miracle of a seed.  A dead-looking seed is placed in soil, watered, and in a few days things start happening!

The seed pops through the soil with such determination, pushing the soil out of the way and reaching toward daylight.

Finally, the cotyledon opens!

We'll get these in the ground later this week.  In other garden news, we planted a bunch of cucumbers and transplanted them to the trellis bed, the last of the corn is tasseling, the sunflowers are about to bloom, the sweet potato vines are expanding all over the garden, the green beans are blooming, the okra are about to begin producing in massive quantities, the zinnias are blooming, the late planted cantaloupe and watermelon are vining and blooming, the luffa and birdhouse gourds are vining like crazy, the purple hull peas are yielding great and the blackeyed peas are about to begin producing.

We sat outside this evening with an uncharacteristic breeze blowing, talking about how many days until cooler weather comes in.  Wow!  Cooler weather has me thinking about planting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, chard, kale, and all those great cold weather plants!