I can happily report that it finally rained this past weekend! First rain in over three weeks. We got 1.5 inches, and even that has made a difference in the garden. You’ll see in today’s pictures how heat and drought stressed my plants have been. At least now, the soil is not so dry. We’re supposed to get more rain today, and I hope the weatherman is right. Meanwhile, my garden is holding on in the continuing heat of summer temperatures, and I’m still unable to plant my fall garden. I’ve been putting off planting indoors under grow lights, hoping for cooler weather; but I don’t think I can put it off any longer if I want a fall crop before frost. At least, I still have plants striving to live and give me what they can.
WHAT’S NEW:
Even in the heat, my Seminole pumpkin is creating new fruit for me.
Seminole pumpkin
Unexpectedly, I found two new Black Swallowtail caterpillars on what’s left of my curly parsley.
Black swallowtail caterpillar on parsley
Black Swallowtail caterpillar on parsley
Most of my melon vines are now dead, but one rich sweetness melon vine is trying to make a comeback.
Rich sweetness melon vine
IN THE GARDEN:
Before the rain, I took a few pictures of my most stressed plants, showing the effect of long periods of high heat without rain. The leaves aren’t healthy looking, or they fall off. They need fertilizer, too, but it’s not good to fertilize stressed plants. (The fertilizer would cause them to put forth new growth, taking energy away from the plant in its attempt to survive.)
My filius blue pepper plants look naked, but they’re still trying to give me a few peppers.
Filius blue pepper plant stressed from heat
My petunias are on their last leg. But hey…they lasted longer than anyone thought they would.
Petunias dying in the heat
My chili peppers don’t look very strong and healthy. If they can only hang on a little longer – til the cooler weather comes.
Chili peppers stressed in the heat
Well, whatever was eating my elderberries snapped the stem, leaving me with this. At least, I only have a couple flowers on my new trees, so I don’t feel I’m losing out on much. However, next year, I will be draping my trees with netting!
Dead elderberry cluster
Now for some good news. The few key limes I do have on my one tree are growing.
Key limes
My two pumpkin vines have almost taken over their corner of the garden. You can see them covering the bed they were planted in, growing towards the bottom of the picture, growing up towards the chili peppers (towards the top of the picture) on both sides, then up the fence behind the peppers! (They’re mixed in with the morning glory vines I am in the process of pulling out. Too invasive!)
Seminole pumpkin vines
Speaking of morning glories, here are flowers opened up yesterday morning. Enjoy now because I’m sorry I planted them. They self-seed so easily, I have them all over my yard as well as my fence. OY!
Morning glories
After the rain, the critters came out. Take a look at these two Carolina anoles on my fence. One is on the left of the weedy tree (yep, that’s gotta go, too), and the other is crawling towards the top on the right of it.
Carolina anoles
While trimming the morning glory vines off of my pumpkin vine, I saw a huge bumblebee fly into the pumpkin flower on the top of the fence. It was difficult getting the camera over the flower, but you can still see the bee inside.
Bumblebee in pumpkin flower
While I was over by my eggplants, talking to my neighbor, a small dragonfly alighted on one of the stakes. He sat for the longest time, like he was staring at me. He then flew to a nearby stake and continued looking at me. I figured he was posing for a picture, so I took one. He flew off shortly after I took it. How cool is that?
Dragonfly posing for me
IN THE KITCHEN:
I sliced up my first strawberry watermelon. It wasn’t quite ripe, but the vine they were on had died. However, it was still fairly tasty.
Strawberry watermelon sliced
I finally had enough chili peppers to make two batches of hot pepper jam. One batch was my usual, made with a mixture of chili peppers – pepperoncini, fish peppers, cayenne peppers, jalapenos, lemon drop peppers, rocoto peppers, and filius blue peppers.
Hot pepper jam
Because I had so many lemon drop peppers – a Peruvian chili pepper that has a citrusy aftertaste – I decided to try a batch of hot pepper jam with only lemon drop peppers. I licked the pot before washing it, and was it good!
Lemon drop pepper jam
Click here to see the bounty from my “little engine that could” garden.
What’s happening in your garden and kitchen?
Sanctuary Gardener 
In Summerville, we have gotten rain the past 2 or 3 days and my garden is reviving. Even the struggling raspberries are producing a few decent berries.
I am most pleased with my two toned yellow zepher squash. It is still producing and has never wilted. Keeping it covered with an insect barrier row cover has made all the difference. I hand pollinate daily. The self pollinating squash I was growing stopped producing when the weather stayed in the 90s. Next year I will grow zucchini under a row cover, too.
That’s awesome! In Ladson, we got a half inch of rain Friday, then 1.1″ overnight Friday. Nothing on Saturday. It started raining after supper in my garden yesterday for a bit, then a lot of rain overnight by the sound of it. I haven’t checked my rain gauge yet. (It was still dark when I left for work this morning.) I’ll check it when I get home.
My garden is surely happy, too. I’ve been picking raspberries for the past couple of weeks, but I have noticed not as many big ones. Hopefully, the rain will help them. I have dozens of flower clusters and new berries still to ripen! I hope the temperature starts decreasing, too. We need to get our fall crops planted, but it’s too hot still.
All my squash vines are dead now, but my Seminole pumpkin vines are going strong! They’re amazing! They’re native to the Florida Everglades, so I guess they’ve enjoyed this summer! 🙂
Beautiful!
Thank you. Maybe if the temperatures would finally get below 90 degrees on a regular basis, I could see more green! 🙂
Ah, but then winter/fall will surely set in. The weather changes drastically here. Our fall has arrived and I dearly miss summer.
Not so here. Our temperatures are still regularly in the 90s, and it’s preventing me from getting my fall crops in the ground. (Too hot!) Our first frost isn’t until the week before Thanksgiving, and our winters are usually mild. I’m originally from New England, and I do miss my four seasons. Then again, it’s nice being able to grow without row covers 10 months out of the year!
I love the heat… We only have one season here for growing. Harsh winters, unpredictable storms in fall and spring, beautiful summers form mid 80’s to mid 90’s. Summers are just to short. But it does get warm enough to plant tomatoes and corn.. some years good, some not so good.
I lived on the Oregon coast for many years. I hear the weather is similar to New England… wet.. Hey, send some heat my way and I’ll send you some lower temps and rain. 🙂
Sounds like a deal!
You bet! 🙂 Happy fall, may the rain come your way
Reblogged this on Travels with Mary and commented:
Beautiful! Makes me want to jump into the picture and pick a lime or two to add to my morning tea.