July Garden Journal

Nothing much happens in my garden in July. During July were blessed with cooler temps and some rain. We are so grateful! My plants really suffered in June and now they are trying to make a come back. I hope to plant again in August but we will see how I am feeling. Summers are pretty hard on me.  

This bed is thick with watermelon vines. As they grow over the edges I just throw the vines on top and now it is rather deep with vines.  After I got rid of the roaches, little melons started growing again. I have 6-7 in there rite now minus some that split from a lot of sudden rain.

And, I have a new pest. Squash bugs! They are bad news and they like watermelons. So I have been picking them off but with the heat I am not that dedicated. Here's a link about squash bugs.

I am so happy the Mullein is growing good! (remember they don't grow here in the desert valley ;) I use them as medicinal tea during cold and flu season. The leaves are bout 18 inches long. When it flowers, hopefully next year, I will use the flowers to make a medicinal oil. 

I still have collards to the left of the Mullein.

The spearmint is doing well.

This loofah vine has really taken a beating from the wind during storms. It has new growth from the rains and cooler temps, but no blooms. I am wondering if I should just take it out. I got one loofah from it.

My tomatoes just have not taken off. They are leggy and have produced a few tomatoes but something is clearly wrong. I'm thinking it's a soil issue, perhaps not acidic enough.

The cotton is enjoying the heat and rain and has started to grow a little and bloom more.

Asparagus is very content and happy where it's living. That makes me happy too! One success story at least.

I can't figure out whats wrong with the sweet potatoes. If I water them a lot they look worse. If I don't water them at all the look terrible. They had vined out some and then died back again. I will plant them somewhere else next time.

My neighbors prickly pear didn't produce enough fruit this year to bother making jelly. Fruits are also rather small and dry.

Plantain still surviving. And I had a surprise okra plant come up there behind the plantain. 

Toothache plant burned but living. 

The oregano is alive but not looking happy.

All of my roses look bad. The heat about did them in and to top it off, I forgot to deep water them. They are on a watering system but once in a while they need a slow deep soak. Yes I forgot, in the heat I wasn't thinking about anything outside. I have stayed inside working on a quilt most of July for an up coming birthday. 

My other beds and trough have nothing in them currently. We will see what August brings. The kids are back in school in a couple days!!!

 I almost forgot about these guys! They are Gambel's quail. My daughter had a nest of them in her garden. A cat ate the mother so she brought the eggs in and put a heating pad under them. They hatched in a couple days. Well my daughter and family went on vacation so guess who is looking out for these cuties! 

So tiny! They have been so much fun. 

We found that a good mother substitute is a feather duster. They snuggle under it and sleep.

I link at these parties.


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