I am beginning to re-think growing my own food – in the middle of the summer in Phoenix! Today was the 5th day in a row over 110 degrees, it has been 75 days since the last rain fall and the low temps are still in the 90’s. Every morning I get up to check on the plants, water them, and hope for the best.
I practice safe gardening – I mulch the soil, shade the plants and deep water. Yet when it is this hot and dry (did I mention no humidity?) the plants get stressed. Seems like the only thing I can do is add more water. I need to water more frequently as the soil seems to dry out more quickly, especially when the wind picks up even ever so slightly. My water usage is double what it was last month and no one is visiting me use the household water – it is all going into the vegetable garden.
I get so much more from my garden than just food, but it is usually when I am puttering in the garden beds. This time of year who even wants to be outside? My morning routine is consumed with jumping out of bed and dashing outside to check the garden before it gets too hot for me or them. Walking the dog takes a back seat to the garden. Seeing those sad puppy-dog eyes is hard, but the plants need me too!
Yet I can’t just stop watering either now that they are growing. It would be akin to killing them! I couldn’t even kill the one-legged grasshopper I found in my bedroom today (thanks to the cat). He seemed half dead, so I pout him in the kitchen compost pail. I will et him die naturally while nibbling on the vegetable scraps! But I digress.
It’s all in the planning – time make a note in the calendar of the garden journal for next year to remind myself to get the summer plants in early enough so they provide a harvest earlier in the summer and I can put the garden bed to sleep for the summer. Then I can take some time to get out of the heat!!
How is your garden handling this AZ summer heat?
Stay Cool,
The garden Goddess
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/
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