Summer Gardening Question

[stormy]

We started our garden early this spring. So far we've enjoyed 3 clippings of great spinach, amazing radishes, carrots, and cilantro, and we're now getting really yummy green beans. Still growing are the green & yellow onions, grape, roma, & big boy tomatoes, corn, and chile de arbol peppers. So, now that it's getting hot, spinach is going to seed and a 2nd planting of carrots will probably not do well in the heat, and we're looking for a couple of replacements.

What do you gardeners have luck with growing in our Texas heat? We're thinking jalapenos, garlic, and maybe some pinto beans? Any suggestions/advice?

[CenTexDave]

Okra

[engteach64]

We tried gardening when we first moved here, but didn't realize how hard it would be in this heat. Everything died except the jalapenos. :) I guess they were hotter. :)

[stormy]

Well, we've bought some jalapeno & tomatillo plants (everything else we've grown from seeds), so we'll see how they do!

[engteach64]

Grow from seeds? How do you do that? :) I'm too impatient, so I buy plants. I figure if I'm going to kill something it should have a head start on me.

[mac]

my bush beans came on 'bout 2 weeks ago and are really good this year.....really good. peas will be ready in a couple of days. i don't plant anything that needs summer time.........i only have early summer and early winter harvests......actually, my broccoli will hold till way into winter.....mac

[HS_Teacher]

We planted Thai Basil, zucchini and tomatoes. The rabbits loved the zucchini but left the basil alone. It is still doing well in the heat.

[corgifan]

Basil is one tough little plant.

[babyblue]

We tried something new this year. We bought one of the garden tarps at Home Depot that is supposed to block some of the UV rays but allow light and rain to go through. The plants that are under it look beautiful. We do have a smaller garden so it covers most of it but I will probably get another one next year to cover a larger space. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and squash. My squash would bloom but not produce anything and my cucumbers were on the edge of the tarp. We have had several wither on the vine.

[corgifan]

We tried something new this year. We bought one of the garden tarps at Home Depot that is supposed to block some of the UV rays but allow light and rain to go through. The plants that are under it look beautiful. We do have a smaller garden so it covers most of it but I will probably get another one next year to cover a larger space. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and squash. My squash would bloom but not produce anything and my cucumbers were on the edge of the tarp. We have had several wither on the vine.
How is the tarp mounted?

[Ludwig]

One possible for the squash blooming but not fruiting is the lack of bees which has resulted from last year's drought. You can overcome that by using a cotton swab and moving the pollen from the male blossom (the one without the baby squash and which you can then harvest to fry up for breakfast) to the female blossom (the one with the baby squash). Do this early in the morning since the blossoms wilt quickly.

[babyblue]

My husband built a stand to mount the tarp.

Thanks for the information about the squash. I will try that.

[Imagine]

We tried something new this year. We bought one of the garden tarps at Home Depot that is supposed to block some of the UV rays but allow light and rain to go through. The plants that are under it look beautiful. We do have a smaller garden so it covers most of it but I will probably get another one next year to cover a larger space. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and squash. My squash would bloom but not produce anything and my cucumbers were on the edge of the tarp. We have had several wither on the vine.

Thanks for this post. I wouldn't have thought to look for something like this. I tied a couple of old sheets to some wooden posts I stuck in the ground around my tomato bed, and that looks like nothing on earth. I'm sure the neighbors feels sorry for the lady with the tacky laundry. I'll go looking for one of these tarps.

My tomatoes are looking pretty puny. I think I may have worked too much organic material in the soil this spring.

[HistoryTeacher]

Mini bell peppers are doing amazingly well in pots, but we had to put a cover over the tomato trellises. The heat is killing them and we just planted them today! Everything else is green and lovely. Rain made our yard look like a golf course!