Summer Isn't Too Hot For Certain Garden Plants

    Rain, rain, rain. We aren’t complaining, but the whole yard is wet and growing like crazy right now. This hot, sticky time of year is what we always refer to as the green season, meaning it is time to get the bleach and the scrub brush out and start scrubbing the house for fall.
    The white painted wood of our homestead turns green from all the rain and humidity, and it is a summer ritual to give it a good scrub in preparation for fall. It isn’t fall yet, but blink your eyes and it will be time for pumpkins and scarecrows.
    We had a nice note from Umatilla Garden Clubber Linda Fox this week. She is a gardening enthusiast and was kind enough to share what she has been working on this summer. We can all learn from each other’s gardening victories and defeats.
        For health reasons, Linda couldn't manage a spring garden, but coming from Texas with even hotter summers than here in Umatilla, she knew that okra and jalapenos would thrive in the summer heat.
    Her summer garden has included a raised garden that started as a 4’x8' rectangle. It now has an addition of a 4’x4' square with leftover wood. The growing medium is 1 part garden soil, 1 part potting soil, and 1 part Black Kow compost, mixed thoroughly. All she had to do is add the same mix (1/3 each) and turn the soil after each harvest.
    Summer plantings included okra seeds in late May, transplanted jalapeño plant in early June, and about the same time she stuck two rosemary twigs off a potted plant into the ground after stripping the bottom leaves. No rooting in water, the summer rains took care of that. Looking at the okra bloom, it's easy to see it's a relative of the hibiscus that grows everywhere here in Florida!
    Thanks so much for sharing your gardening photos and knowledge Linda. We love it and hope it encourages others to share too. Keep growing!
    This week’s plant of interest is the spiked celosia. It is a perennial that thrives in the summer heat. Notice the honey bees attracted to its plumes of fuzz in the photo. We saw some for $5 a pot at BZ’s plants.
    Please send me a picture of what is in your garden this week to hollynewby1@aol.com. Keep growing…