Frost damage on August 9th ??!!!!

Holy cow! Got home Sunday evening from a weekend absence; went out into the garden to check up on stuff, and found frost damage on many squash leaves and a row of beans! What a shock & surprise that was! This is a first for my summers in this area - to have to be concerned about frost damage (thus, no output) this soon. Usually I wouldn't think about it a lot until early September.

I think a harbinger of this has been the cool nights we've had much of the summer; very few nights in the 50's, most in the 40's. And not high 40's either - many low 40's.

The photo to the right is of one of my summer squash with the frost-damaged leaves.

Everything else, except the one row of bush beans shown left, looks OK. At this point I don't know how much impact this will have on production. There are still lots of good, intact squash leaves; not sure the same can be said of the row of beans. They had just started producing small beans; this cold bout may slow that process down enough that production of fully grown beans won't happen.
Plus it takes a while for the plants to recover in the morning from such cool nights; that too will slow production.
The low temperature at our house August 9 (yesterday morning) was 36.5, this morning the low was 37.5. I suspect the actual low temperature 150' away (from the outdoor thermometer) in the vegetable garden was a little lower.

Rain, weeds, rain, weeds, rain, weeds

It looks like the land of Russian thistle here; if there were more weeds I could easily identify I'd list more. Over the past week we've gotten nearly 3/4 inch of rain, which for this high, arid desert seems like a lot. I'm seeing growth in plants that haven't done a thing the past 3-4 years.
All of my yarrow are blooming, rabbitbrush is just beginning to put on beautiful yellow flowers, Russian sage is looking great, as are gaillardias, monarda, Mexican Hat, and more. Jupiter's beard, planted less than five weeks ago, is blooming. My Scarlet Runner pole beans (planted just for the hummingbirds) are climbing rapidly and beginning to flower; nearly endless squash blossoms but I'm not doing a thing with them. By the way, I had my first cheese-stuffed squash blossoms at Rino's Italian Restaurant in Salt Lake City back in late June - was very yummy. I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience to make something like that.
Lettuce, greens, Swiss chard are all being harvested in abundance, kohlrabi in less abundance but still good.
I purchased 35 lbs. of canner tomatoes at a local greenhouse and will be spending quite a few hours making "Firey Salsa". My recipe includes jalapenos, onions, garlic, lime juice, red bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, vinegar, & salt. I found this recipe in Parade magazine (Sunday Denver Post insert) a couple of years ago, and it has become my favorite salsa recipe.
Whew, that's all for now.

Thinning in the garden

I don't necessarily enjoy thinning, but tonight, after being gone for three weeks, thinning was essential - due to lack of time I was only able to thin some of the carrots, beets, and radishes; over the next couple of days I'll have to hit all of the other stuff (greens, lettuce, more carrots, more beets, beans, more other stuff).
When we returned from vacation a couple days ago, Caddy-dog found the sugar snap peas which she was able to grab through the fence that surrounds the vegetable garden. They're now history, as she was able to get inside the garden, underneath my row covers, and totally chew up and de-pea all of the vines. I have no idea how she got under the row covers. Little buttface.
The hummingbirds are thrilled we're back to refill all of the feeders; they're being very territorial and noisy in their own little way. I have little raspberries on some of my canes. The bumblebees are out on the nepeta (catmint) in force.
Ahhh, garden life goes on . . .

Wilds of Idaho

Away from my gardens for a while; instead spending time in northern Idaho on the Selway & Lochsa rivers, visiting in-laws & friends scattered here & there. Above is a shot of our campsite on the Selway above Mooose Creek, before the big day of rapids. The Selway River is a premier whitewater wilderness river; only one permit per day is handed out during the boating season, and a certain percentage of those are for commercial trips. So to be on a private Selway trip is kind of a big deal unless you happen to know lots of boater people who get lucky. It was a great trip - lots of excitement, beautiful clear water, great weather, people & food.
Caddy the dog is at camp with her maternal "grandparents" for the duration of our vacation. She likely has forgotten we exist.

Amazing what a little rain can do

My blooming perennials seem unusually vivid and early this year, don't know if it's my imagination or real. The pasque flower (lower left) and basket'of'gold (upper left) had great displays, and the latter is still blooming. We had about an inch of rain over a two-week period in late May/early June which may be the reason. I love going outside and hearing all the little pollinators zipping and buzzing around. I saw a beautiful bumble bee today - searching for an ID site I came across http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=10749, which is a USDA site that advertises a wallet-size bumblebee ID card. Unfortunately, I didn't get a close enough look at the bee to be able to ID it - all I remember is that it was big & yellow, with an orange band in mid-body area.

At the end of last year I realized it was short-sighted NOT to plant some pollinator-attractor plants in the vegetable garden, so I put three Russian sages in a corner; realized this spring that wasn't the best place because they were outside the irrigation system I'd set up. I moved them more into the thick of the vegie plantings and on a drip line, but now they're being slow to grow because of the adjustment I've forced them to go through. Maybe by next growing season they'll do what I have asked them to (bloom & attract bees/flies)!

Litter-picking

People can be such slobs. I don't know what it is about fishing that brings out the litterers. I took the dog on a walk around our local fishing and wildlife lake this morning - trash (AKA recyclables) galore.

Since we discontinued our garbage pick-up service less than a year ago, I tend to gravitate more to picking up only the recyclables when I go walking, and believe it or not, I still get LOTS of those. Many aluminum cans, and plastic and glass bottles.

One pattern I've noticed during my litter patrols: if I come across ONE beer bottle, the other five that were in the six-pack will be not far away. That then makes me wonder what the drinking pattern is of the people who toss their beer bottles. Do they drink one beer, throw it out, then quickly drink another and toss that one? Or do they drink them all at a more leisurely pace, and then pick one up from the pile on the floor, toss it out, then leisurely pick up another one and toss that one out? The spatial spacing of the beer bottles along the road leads me to believe it's more the latter. If it were the former, the drinkers would have to gulp, and toss, the beer very speedily to match the pattern I see on the landscape.

Ahhh, the deep philosophical thoughts I have on my walks . . .

Wow, time flies during planting season

Can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've written. We were on vacation and then I spent every waking hour (or so it seemed) outside in the garden. When we returned to town on June 1, the yard and area looked like WI, because RAIN had actually come down during our absence. Granted, not much rain, but for here it was significant - over the course of 10 days about 1" total. So nothing died from lack of precipitation.
WE've already been fortunate enough to harvest greens and spinach, and radishes will probably be ready within a week. I madly planted annuals, herbs, and many more seeds this past weekend - the seeds that went in were more carrots, various green beans, more lettuce & greens, parsnips, sunflowers, more kohlrabi, and don't remember what else.
I'm in Cortez working this week, and indulged in a shopping spree to Four Seasons Greenhouse this evening. Some people shop for clothes, some for expensive cigars, but Marianna goes to greenhouses to spend her money.
I have vowed to stay away from perennial plants that have failed in the past - that list is getting mighty long. Ice Plants are at the top of the list, along with Alpine Poppy, Colorado Gold Gazania, and at least a dozen more. Am getting weary of spending money on plants that last only a season, and then kapoof! they're gone.
Bruce emailed me today that we have a fledgling robin and a parent hanging out in the yard; let's hope Caddy the pooch doesn't find them.