Field Notes from the June Garden

We are hitting a bit of a transition point in our growing season where the early summer garden is either near or past its peak in many respects, leaving way for the heat-lovers such as okra, black-eyed peas, and sweet potatoes. There is still a surprising amount of life here, despite the triple digit temperatures we have been encountering, but a noticeable shift is occurring.

Every year, when the seed catalogs arrive and the garden plans are discussed, we strain our minds to try to remember exactly what worked and what didn’t in last year’s garden. Maybe next year this blog post will remind me.

The bean field. It was one of those things that we knew was a bit ambitious when we first tilled it up and honestly it was originally a possible potato field. Well, early March rolled around and it simply wasn’t ready so we planted potatoes elsewhere. Then May rolled around and it became a probable bean field. Other things came up and I just couldn’t get to moving enough of that hay out of the way to plant. So, four rows of black-eyed peas went in and less than half germinated when we had heavy rains and much of the rows were in a low spot.

So, maybe next year?

Sweet potatoes. We hadn’t even planned to plant sweet potatoes this year and frankly I didn’t know that we’d be able to even get some in if we did have slips. Well, the Lord had other plans and we ended up with couple of small bunches given to us. Elijah and I managed to move enough hay to form an L-shape with the aforementioned beans so we got around 30 plants in the ground.

Cucumbers. This is our first year growing cucumbers in Texas and we couldn’t have been more shocked by the results. Something changed in our soils a couple of years ago when we discontinued wood chip mulch and began adding more hay and manure. So we planted these Armenian Yard-Long Cucumbers since they seemed heat and drought tolerant and boy are they ever. We’ve been harvesting 3-4 huge cucumbers per day, the equivalent of probably 8-10 regular cucumbers. So daily cucumber salads and over two gallons of fermented pickles might just be the beginning with these guys.

Verdict: Saving seed and definitely would plant more next year if the Lord allows.

Bush beans. I think we’ve tried bush beans four of the six summers we’ve been here and never really had a great turnout. Those first few years, of course, I supposed it was the soil that was the problem. Well, this year the plants got huge and super bushy but so far the leaves seem more productive than the beans. There are a lot of flowers and smaller beans on them all of a sudden, though, so perhaps I am not being patient enough?

Verdict: Give it a few more weeks and compare yields to the pole beans in the Pallet Garden.

Okra. After we pulled the garlic, we planted the okra in the same bed not 24 hours later. There sits three long rows, the most okra we’ve ever planted. I just thinned it this week and it surely needs a great deal of weeding but so far it seems to be loving the heat.

Summer squash. This very weedy row contains somewhere between twelve and sixteen plants and it has been surprisingly productive. When the heat set in, I thought it was done because, despite the plants overall vigor, the blossoms all but stopped. But mulching and some epsom salts seemed to perk it back up so we’re still harvesting. Between canning and fermenting we will be eating this stuff for some time to come.

Verdict: Saving seed and Stewart mentioned doubling the amount we grow next year to feed to pigs and chickens since it is just so productive.

Pumpkins. If I counted correctly before the vines of these Seminole Pumpkins began to take over, we may have 16 plants in the patch. This is one of our least-worked areas in the field and these pumpkins have surprised us all. There are now fruits throughout the patch so we will see how they survive the rest of the summer.

Verdict: If these continue as they are, we hope to save seeds and plant again next year.

So now I guess we just wait to see how the okra, beans, and pumpkins do through the summer heat. What’s growing in your garden?