Dry, Dry, Dry!

Amid horrible flooding and storms in the Midwest and South, in this area we have been praying for the blessing of good steady rain. Funny how particular we humans think we can be when asking for something from God! We didn't want flooding, mind you, just some days of a gentle but soaking rain. (1, 2)

Through all of June our temperatures stayed in the mid to upper 90's with an occasional record-breaking triple digit temp. The rains we did get toward the end of May and first weeks of June were very heavy at times and accompanied by strong winds. Our green bean plants took a beating, but all the other plants were drinking in every drop. Our neighbor, Mr. Pete (Fulcher), and my sister Margaret reminded John and I that watering your crops is fine but it is not the same as "rain water." Of course they were right on and the squash and cucumbers plants took off! (3)

But we have learned much for use in the planning for next year's Giving Garden and this first attempt is providing a bounty of squash, cucumbers, some tomatoes, and some green beans.

Some of parts of the blueberry groves have burned in the heat, but the remainder of the bushes have produced some sweet, sweet berries. The apple trees appear to be dropping fewer of their fruits before they are ready for picking.

All in all, as the growing season continues, we are coddling the plants that have survived, and are thrilled passing on the fruit and vegetables to feed other! (4) l-r Andrew, Dylan, and Denise Boyles delivering bags of vegetables and blueberries to Patsy Skinner. Mrs. Skinner feeds the homeless and needy in her neighborhood once a week from her kitchen.

Unfortunately, we may have lost all of the tomato plants...we may not have eliminated the grubs before they damaged all the plants' roots. We will replant sometime this week, after we have treated the soil again.

We should be picking our first squash this week and will let you know when we have delivered these "first fruits"!

Late in May, we began to notice a problem with some of the tomato plants. We discovered grubs under one plant that we pulled up. Apparently, they love the tender tomato roots. The next day we treated the soil for grubs and also sprayed all the plantings for other pests with an organic oil (neem)mixture.

Thankfully, the other plants still appeared to be healthy!

I had such good intentions of keeping all our readers up to date but as you see, I haven't been very successful. I do apologize.

Since the end of April, the weather in Hephzibah has been extremely hot and dry. We have had some rain, but it has come in the form of severe storms with damage to some of our trees in the pastures, but thankfully no damage to the garden area or fruit trees.

Here are some pictures from early May. The first 3 are: green beans, cucumber plant, and squash plant. And one of the apple trees.