July is over, and it has been a good month on the farm. The weather has been hot, with above average temps near 100 degrees, and, as is typical for our part of the world, essentially no rain has fallen for a month. So, irrigation and watering has been the name of the game. Fortunately, with the moderate and wet spring we had, the plants, especially the fruit, has had a strong foundation for facing the summer heat. So with careful attention to water, virtually everything has thrived.
The fruit trees as doing great, drinking water and making fruit with abandon. It will be a great fall.
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| Just one of our apple trees |
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| The little pear tree is bending its limbs with fruit. |
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| We're very excited about our plumbs |
The garden has indeed been a mixed experience. Our garlic has been harvested and we're happy with them. This year we properly cured them in the ground (by drying) so they will keep well. Our onions have been productive too. Unlike last year we got some full-sized, non-deformed looking carrots. By "some" we mean 2 carrots. For reasons unknown essentially all of the many carrot seeds that we planted didn't even start sprouting. Very disappointing. The real star of our garden has actually been fruit: our watermelons. With enough water the watermelons have been growing great-guns. The melons grow so much each day we almost don't even need a time-lapse camera on them to watch them grow. It's amazing. And our in-bed planting experiment has worked out great so far. In a little while we'll have about a close to a dozen yummy melons.
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| Two happy carrots |
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| Just two of our 6 inch diameter (for now) melons |
Our berry plants have been dong OK too. Earlier in the summer the raspberries gave us a large harvest. We now have a good amount of raspberry jam that will last us for months. The blackberries, which were such star performers last summer, have struggled. They fruited but then the plant withered and the berries dried up and stopped maturing. Only some of the plants did this, others are still healthy and green. They are well-watered, so it's a bit of a mystery.
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| The unhappy part of the plant |
The sundry other part of the farm are fun to see develop. Our walnut and hazelnut trees are coming along and the grapes too are developing. All-in-all it has been a fun summer to watch things grow. Now we are excited for some cooler weather and looking forward to harvest; though we've got a ways to go!
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| Little tiny grapes |
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| Racquet-ball-sized weirdo walnuts |
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| A cluster of hazelnuts, coming along. |