Done for the summer

I guess I posted the title as "Done for Summer" but really I am just celebrating putting away my pickling equipment.  I did make it to 62 quarts, not my best but considering I feared the new Queen Creek virgin earth garden would fail me the first year I am satisfied with its performance!

So for the summer I have my pumpkins and watermelons in with a soaker hose running along both rows, this will help with the summer water bill since the water can run underneath the canopy and directly onto the soil.  Remember to keep the two apart since they are both curcubits like the cukes and can crossbreed and become some combo of the two (pumpmelons? waterkins?)

I'm also really going to add stuff to the soil all summer, moving all compost activity directly to the garden area and till multiple times until the melons cover everything up or burn up in the summer heat and die, I have never had much luck with either two crops but experimentation is a huge aspect of learning so I keep trying.

I have been being asked more about the watering of the fruit trees throughout the hot AZ summer too.  Remember to always water deep!  More water/less often.  Established fruit trees love a deep drink once a week until fall.  Think of it more like irrigating a field, they don't do it as often but when they do they dump a good amount of water into the soil.

Basil is another question I have been getting.  This weed loves our summer and the more you use it the faster it grows.  Do try to keep the flowers cut off and if its in a pot it tends to get root bound and need more frequent watering than if its in the ground somewhere.  As you can see I need to spend some more time with mine and clean it up, been busy pickling!

While we are on the subject of herbs, I have had a lot of spittlebug activity on my Rosemary.  Luckily
they are pretty easy to get rid of.  Its a little bug that gets in there and basically makes a foam around itself that looks like someone spit on your Rosemary plant.  Just hose it off with a good stream of water and it leaves the insect exposed and most of the time ends the problem.

For the last part of this post I will hit on insecticides a bit.  I really try hard to not use them but sometimes they are absolutely needed.  When I do need them I try to start with the weakest and move up the chain if the first one doesn't work. Pyrethrins are made from a chrysanthemum plant and are generally not as hard core but pretty broad spectrum.  If they don't work I would move to a Permethrin which is more of a man made version of the pyrethrins and a little more potent.  From there you can go into the deltamethrin, cypermethrin etc.  There are other organics to use too such as the spinosans (A&B) and for caterpillars I love Bt which is a bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis) and only really harms caterpillars like the ones that get in the cabbages, texas mountain laurels and passion vines.  Carbaryl (Sevin) is a good one for the veggies that isn't horribly toxic too. Just try the version that might not destroy your soil microbes, the bees or any other beneficial organism first.