Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Herbs do well with moderate heat. High heat and humidity stifles any plant, as respiration increases. Keep the soil well-mulched and keep the soil moist. There may be some wilting in the heat of the day, but they will spring back. Morning sun, afternoon shade will probably be more beneficial.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

About all I would add to this is try to do your watering in the mornings so the moisture will dry off the leaves before nightfall (also good advise for tomatoes and peppers).

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

You guys live in heatland. How you plant there is beyond me. Last year was so dry when I went through VA that I was afraid one spark would take the whole state in a flash fire. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and we've had years of drought on end.
It's that "coupled with intense heat" thing that really makes things tough.
Growing herbs here is like growing weeds, literally. Plant them once and you never have to do it again. I always put them in thinking I'll use them in my sauce, but I never do. Weeze cooks with them, so it's nice to have them around nowadays.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

We used to have long hot dry summers here. It's been three years since that happened. Most herbs are from the Mediterranean area, which is the same type of climate I'm supposed to have here. I use rosemary as a landscape shrub, thyme, sage, oregano and marjoram as border plantings. Deer and gophers don't eat them and they require almost no care. Mint grows wild. Dill, cilantro, parsley, basil, chives, other annuals go in the garden. Dill reseeds everywhere, cilantro used to. Fresh herbs are the best.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Sweet. I shall plant herbs this weekend.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

That wicked vine has me itching from fingertips to armpits. Arggg!!

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Rained day and a half ago. Garden went crazy! Corn doubled in height, all vine plants putting out runners like crazy. Weeds having a field day! I spent almost three hours tilling areas between watermelons, cantaloupe and sweet potatoes to turn weeds under. Rain expected again in two to four hours. So, some of grass will re-root, but I'll still be way ahead of them!

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/813c10c3.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/94ff8340.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/6ab5a6e3.jpg

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Looking good, Cliff! When you get enough, send some of the liquid sunshine our way. I can't remember the last rain.

On a side note, I stayed on top of that poison ivy with my creams. It's all but gone. I sprayed every leaf I could find this weekend with some double-strength Round Up.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

And they shall do good. Very good soil up there. Our plants always did good, once we got the limestone taken care of.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

LOL. I'll see if I can bottle some of the rain! Congrats on kicking the Ivy's arse!! BTW, Ace Hardware has a weed killer that has the same active ingredient as Round-up, at half the cost (on the concentrate). I have some left, but it's out in the workshop, and rain just started falling. If you have an Ace nearby, I'd recommend it. It is a stronger mixture, and works faster and better than Round-up, IMO. As soon as I know I have a good 48 hours of sunshine coming, I will go thru about 6 gallons (mixed) of the killer around the house, barn, fence and yard areas. That should take care of the need to weed-eat for several months!!

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

I got the big bottle of super concentrate from Costco a couple of years ago. Still have 1/2 left. I believe the recipe calls for 2 oz per gallon. "Calls for" is the key word, especially when ivy is involved. I don't use it much on other stuff. Weed-eating is my favorite outdoor chore.

Is that a horse or cow in the background of your last picture?

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Horse(s). They belong to my neighbor. I used to have a couple of Quarter Horses, but they have both passed on (each was around 28 years old when they died).

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Some photos of veggies and fruits developing. I'm thinking I'll have fresh squash this weekend!

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/ec77f84f.jpg

Corn is already tasseling, and approaching 6 feet tall:
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/41f0c8f8.jpg

Lots of tomatoes set, including the Better Boys and the Grape Romas:
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/9f172004.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/c9c87441.jpg

And Broccoli heads finally starting to materialize:
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/b9065dde.jpg

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Then, there's the fruits - Blueberries, Blackberries, Figs. Mulberry trees have a decent crop, but it was too dark beneath covers to get a decent photo:

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/68d45b85.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/cdd05de0.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...d/0d372fdf.jpg

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Sweet!

We got an inch of rain this afternoon. We were dry, dry, dry! Grass is growing as I type.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Arrrrrggggg!!! How many rocks can my garden grow???? No mater how many I throw out of garden, there's always more waiting. And I'm not even gardening in a rocky soil!!

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

My dad has at least an acre planted, all times of the year. Always has. It used to work me pretty good growing up. He gives away more than we eat. My mom is a chronic canner/jarrer, too. Now that I have kids, it's great getting them out there picking garden peas, picking up plowed potatoes, and all the other "fun" stuff gardens present. I've been trying to get him to plant peanuts for many years, as we all love boiled peanuts and I remember us growing them when I was a kid. Problem was, we never had good crop of nuts for various reasons. Finally he buys into it this year, only to find there's a shortage of Valencia peanuts due to the drought issues last year. Luckily I searched around and found him a 50 lb bag on line, $150 delivered. He now has enough to share with three of my uncles, who also were having problems finding nuts. He has sandy, well-draining soil, so I'm making sure we have an initial dose of potassium-rich fertilizer and a good dose of gypsum when they set flowers. We're going to crush them this year. It's gonna be a great 'I told you so' situation, plus it's good for the kids to see where those tasty boiled peanuts come from.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

I'm finally putting my real garden in. It's a wonderful day. :D
Now I can learn all about killing Ohio bugs and how to grow plants in clay.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

Just about finished planting. Next is water and support. I'm still watering by hand.

Re: Gardeners in the Asylum
 

I got started really late this year, but so far I have about 10 rhizomes of hops down, various mints, brocolli, and lettuce. Planning to add in some tomatoes, various hot peppers, chives, rosemary, and perhaps Ill try my hand at red beans