Back in the game...

I spent most of May and June out of town, and am only now getting back into the gardening groove. I set up a micro-sprinkler system for my vegetables and fruits, but greatly underestimated how much water I needed on a daily basis... I think the wet season must have started late, and combined with hotter than normal temperatures... well, let's just say that my tomatoes and cukes didn't produce this year as well as expected. It didn't really matter to me, as I was gone and nothing important died... Apparently my peach harvest was first-rate this year--I missed it entirely, but friends made sure nothing went to waste.

Anyway, I'm back in the game again, though I'll be traveling extensively in late July and August, so who knows how things will work out.

Right now, I have a great crop of watermelons growing--six nice big melons in a very small area. It's "Asian Sweet" from Evergreen, and, if the melons are tasty, it will take a permanent place in my lineup for summer planting. My trombone squash (Tromboncino) is hellbent on world domination, and has started to set fruit. Metki (Painted Serpent, I believe, but we'll have to see) has finally started setting fruit. Limas are late this year, but starting to produce. Cowpeas (Mississippi Silver) are producing nicely. My eggplants nearly died while I was gone (watering issues), but now that I've been taking care of them, they've tripled in size and are finally setting fruit. Same goes for my peppers--it might be too late to get a crop, but they've started to flower and put on a lot of growth since I've watered, weeded and fed them.

Sweet potatoes are flourishing. Grapes are prolific and large--I guess they should start to ripen soon. Finally, I have several pomegranates of nice size--the first crop on this tree. We'll see how they taste. My experience with them in Florida hasn't been great.

One final note--when I got back, I found one large, beautiful apple on my Anna tree. I ate it at the beginning of June, and it was fabulous. A first-rate apple. I've got three of apple trees now (Anna and Dorsett), but only one, growing on a trellis, is large enough to produce fruit. Next year, I'm hopeful, with another summer of growth and some pollinators around, that I will get a nice crop.

While gone, I "solarized" half my garden, and I've just this past weekend gotten around to planting it with peanuts and okra for late summer and fall. I've started some tomatoes