Success vs. Failure

To garden in June, argh. I do not know how I forgot how trying it is to garden in June in the upper desert. Although I have had quite the successes, the failures are daunting and a buzz kill to say the least. My rockin' out cucumbers attracted aphids, and I hate the plant attacking creatures. In a few short days the beautiful flowering plants have been close to demolished. I whipped up a little concoction of Ecover, oil, and water to see if I can suffocate those little bastards and have a few pickles this year. Only time will tell, and I am wanting to do a little pickling, so I am hoping this works. Another failure I haven't been able to remedy yet is a bit of soggy bottom on my paste tomatoes. All the others are superstars while this particular kind is being a failure. I will keep plugging away at them, but my hopes for their production is being greatly minimized as the minutes pass. Oh did I have thoughts of grandeur on the multiple things that can be done. Paste, sun-dried tomatoes, salsa, well, about everything. Maybe I will find a fix to this problem.

Cucumber plants under attack

I did learn an important lesson with this heat, so not all is lost. I thought the thing to do was start many seeds early, so this year I did. Come to find out only a handful of things will do well through this heated month. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, and flowers will probably be it in the future. Next year I will try everything else a little later to tie in with the cooler days of monsoon season.

Thinking back on things there have been many successes along with the failures. The sweet taste of a cherry tomato right off the vine is a daily occurrence. There are so many, and it is hard to walk by without grabbing them to eat. I love being able to incorporate homegrown tomatoes with dinner, if they even make it into the house. They are yummy good for snacking. All the other varieties are flowering: Zebra, Cherokee purple, Honeydrop, Black crim, and Tomatillo. There will be tomatoes a plenty very soon.

Ready to ripen

Peacevine cherry

 I was a bit bummed that some key seeds ordered did not come up in the nursery (possibly planted to early, lesson learned). I gave them a second try and viola! They came up. Pretty stoked about this so far. I didn't have anything in the middle section of the bookcase. With it being prime real estate in the gardening business, it is now home to Leeks, Radish, and Shallots.

Leek, radish, shallot popping up

One particular section of the tire tower is just going nuts. I have a sneaking suspicion they really liked the bat guano I used to burst the flower power. Gotta love that NPK. Another section's flower buds have been snacked upon by the Curved-bill thrasher, and the other section is coming along and should have the first Harlequin marigold blooming soon.

A lil burst of beauty when you enter the gate

Squash is quietly growing daily. I think this thing will have a fruit on it soon, and I am ready. The pic below is about a week and a half old and this thing is getting huge. I think I found a good place for it to grow this year.

A bit of nature has kept the place looking great without me tending to it. A House sparrow built and nest and is raising kiddos on the porch. It is so cool to see the dad singing his heart out as he watches the nest. He seems to stick around and it is fun to watch the dynamic of this little birdie family.

Prickly pear flowers can only mean one thing....tunas in a few short months. And if there are plenty to go around, I might just try another batch of PP wine. I bet that would be good to use for sangria. And the bees pollinating the flowers is an interesting action that captivates me. I do feel like a voyeur when I watch them too long, not sure why.

Waiting for bees...

I headed on over to Douglas for their Mercado and picked up a Blackberry plant. I cannot wait for it to produce! And since I have the urge to pickle I found jalapenos at 3 lbs for $1 and am going to do that this week. The perks of living on the border, yummy food from both sides at reasonable prices.

My trials have given me a little grief the past few weeks, but the benefits I am beginning to reap are outweighing the tribulations. It is just a hard month to garden in the calor of the desert.