August 3rd
The summer is quickly passing by. I totally skipped over July so I'll catch up some with July gardening. All my vlogs that I follow are harvesting buckets of produce now. I'm harvesting a few tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers. The buckets this year are struggling. First it was cold, then extremely hot and now moderate temperatures. The bucket soil got up to 98 degrees during the extreme not weather. I think that greatly affected the plants. They are producing but the foliage doesn't look too healthy. The two in ground tomatoes faired better.
The poor man's patio has really put on a show this year. I did it the same as last year but it sure seems to be having a better display this year. Well, there is one difference this year. I usually set up automatic watering but this year I didn't. It requires me to get up close and personal to every plant while watering it. I kind of like it better. Maybe that's why the plants are doing better. They like the personal attention.
The old water tank had to be retired. It was just too much to keep patching up the leaks in the tank. This one even though it's advertised as a six foot tank is smaller and hold 50 gallons less than the old one. I'm thinking about painting the tank but it's quite a process to clean off the oily film and scratch the surface with sand paper before painting.
August always seems to be out of control weed cleanup month. This August is no different. I've already harvested five bags of yard waste from just three beds and around the water tank. There's still much more to go. The tree sprouts alone will give me a ton of yard waste this week.
My idea of setting out potted flowers where the spring bulbs are has been a great one. The flowers are last sales of scraggly Walmart plants and grown from seed Marigolds. They are just starting to flower and will be putting a spectacular show during August. Well, I hope.
August 15th
Sheesh, the month is half gone; school for Bradley has started; and the garden is dwindling down. The bucket garden this year is struggling. The hot July week heated up the soil in the buckets to 95 degrees. It nearly cooked the roots. Next year will be a different plan of action. I'm thinking that the plants will be started in buckets but when the weather warms up enough they will be buried in the ground. The soil bucket will have the bottom cut out and holes cut in the sides. The soil bucket will have weed fabric that lines the sides to keep the soil from coming out the sides. The soil bucket will be set inside another bucket with the net cup. When the time is right, the net cup bucket will be removed; the weed barrier will be cut to let the roots grow out of the soil bucket and the soil bucket will be buried in the garden bed up to the neck of the bucket. In theory it all looks good in the mind. The biggest thing is the removal of the net cup bucket and getting the soil bucket into the ground without destroying the plant. If it works it should be the best of both world.
I always seem to forget to take a before picture. This was a four bag yard waste project. Every year about this time I start the yard and fence clean up that always is a major task. Trees and vines seem to love my yard. I would like to plant a Fall garden but I just don't think it will happen. The time is just not there again this year. Yard work won't happen again today, tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day. Well, I don't know maybe some today. Well, that is if it don't rain. A big storm front is headed this way. As I watch the radar, I see it dwindling away. That happens quite a lot. It must be the lay of the land for God's hand that directs most storms around Omaha.
August
August
August
August
