My garden is not a happy garden
Jun. 14th, 2011 03:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beltaineladyThe extreme heat is taking it's toll on my little garden. It's a container garden, which is harder to maintain than a conventional garden but I've been diligent in watering the plants either early in the morning or late evening so the sun doesn't burn the plants.
The only plants that are still thriving is the patio tomato, the jalapenos and the oregano. The bell peppers are holding on, as is the Stevia, but everything else is dying. There's no way I can salvage the cucumber -- it's dead. The roma tomato isn't doing well, I had to cut down the basil and hope it can recover and my green beans are hanging on by a thread.
This is sad. Last year, it rained so much most of the plants drowned. Yes, I have drainage holes in the pots and also use perlite or small pebbles to allow for more drainage. This year, they're wilting from the heat and there's no where I can put them to make it better. When it's 97° in the shade, it's just a bad summer. And it's not even really summer yet.
*sigh* Guess I'll have to shop the farmer's markets again for enough produce to make pickles and such.
The only plants that are still thriving is the patio tomato, the jalapenos and the oregano. The bell peppers are holding on, as is the Stevia, but everything else is dying. There's no way I can salvage the cucumber -- it's dead. The roma tomato isn't doing well, I had to cut down the basil and hope it can recover and my green beans are hanging on by a thread.
This is sad. Last year, it rained so much most of the plants drowned. Yes, I have drainage holes in the pots and also use perlite or small pebbles to allow for more drainage. This year, they're wilting from the heat and there's no where I can put them to make it better. When it's 97° in the shade, it's just a bad summer. And it's not even really summer yet.
*sigh* Guess I'll have to shop the farmer's markets again for enough produce to make pickles and such.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-06-15 12:38 am (UTC)Sometimes a shade cloth can save a garden.
you Ideally want something that wind can get through, old thrift store curtains,gauze, nets..
sheets tend to become sails, so rig them well , or cut holes in them,
I have been known to sink my pots into dirt,or pile mulch around them
This is in a garden, where pots keeps the pocket gophers out of plant roots
It Also means they become 'not quite pots' as far as watering them goes.
A bigger box full of wood chips, or peat, or something,-(*IF* there is room for such a thing.)
-might fit around your pots and help keep them cooler, so they don't dry out----might even hold some extra water