N&C Midwest: July 2023!

**Scorpio Rising** 7/2/2023, 10:51 pm

Summer is here with a vengeance, folks. My garden has been late and started over a couple times due to pests and other ill fates.

Warm and sunny here with patches of rain, my garlic will be ready to harvest soon. My tomatoes are blooming and setting fruit!

What’s going on in your gardens?

Happy Independence Day to our Canadian friends, and we will soon join you!

OhioGardener 7/3/2023, 8:42 am

Hot and humid, July in Ohio! Need to get a couple sections of the compost tumblers emptied and the compost put on the beds, be we have had rain every day for over a week and we are supposed to have rain every day for the next 10 days. Getting behinder and behinder.

OhioGardener 7/5/2023, 10:24 am

Last Fall I kept two Leek plants to bloom in their second year, and they are now in full bloom. I'll keep the seeds off of them to plant next year. But, the blooms are as beautiful as the Globe Alliums we have in the flower beds.

**sanderson** 7/5/2023, 3:27 pm

**Scorpio Rising** 7/5/2023, 8:29 pm

Very pretty!

OhioGardener 7/7/2023, 3:29 pm

Had a rain free day for a change, and took advantage of it to catch up on some gardening. Emptied two sections of the compost tumblers and spread the compost on one of the 12' raised beds. Spread the three bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks over all five beds. Finally transplanted the gourd seedlings onto the fence where they become quite decorative. Pruned the Basil plants and hung the trimmings up to dry. Picked the lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard. Then, mowed the grass and called it a day.... Very Happy

**sanderson** 7/8/2023, 12:07 am

You had a busy day!

nrstooge 7/8/2023, 11:08 am

I'm so excited, I have baby tomatoes forming! The beans are up, peas are done - oh.. peppers are blooming as well though plants are still small. Nothing went out this year until Memorial Day, so a bit late for me.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/9/2023, 11:35 am

nrstooge wrote:I'm so excited, I have baby tomatoes forming! The beans are up, peas are done - oh.. peppers are blooming as well though plants are still small. Nothing went out this year until Memorial Day, so a bit late for me.

Late for me, too but I had some issues with getting started on time, pests, etc. All is well at the moment. I am going to go out and check my zucchini and other summer squashes in a few…

OhioGardener 7/12/2023, 1:29 pm

We have had daily rain for the past two weeks or so, to the point where the ground is saturated. Each day the gardens have been getting between 1/4" and 1" of rain, and the plants just can't use that much. The tomato plants are starting to get curled leaves, and the peppers are showing light green and yellowing leaves, from having their roots sitting in wet soil. Yesterday was a nice warm day with no rain, but more is on the way this evening. This is so unusual for July when we normally don't have any rain for weeks and have temps in the mid-90's. Things seem backwards so far this year - we had a hot and dry Spring, and now we are having a cool and wet start to Summer.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/12/2023, 9:39 pm

Agree, OG. Very strange year this far!

I pulled my garlic and it looked good! It is curing now in the garage. I have German Hardy and Spanish Roja (first time—very pretty!). Curing in the garage…

Also I was able to get a couple yellow patty pans, 2 cukes, and a few taters! Yukon Gold…

OhioGardener 7/14/2023, 3:16 pm

The Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce all bolted to seed, so I had to cut the plants off and get that spot ready for another planting of something. The Merlot lettuce is still doing great, and I might put in some more of that. It is slow to bolt.

OhioGardener 7/15/2023, 11:43 am

The bush beans are in full bloom now, so it won't be long before we are picking beans. These are Blue Lake Bush Beans, and they were planted on June 10th, just over a month ago.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/15/2023, 2:11 pm

Gorgeous beans, OG! Looks like a yummy dish or 3 coming your way!

I just made my first batch of pesto—garlic scape pesto with the usual ingredients. Used walnuts instead of pine nuts. And added about 1 1/2 c basil to ease up the garlic scapes! Froze 3 of the doses, and put one in the fridge in a jar for eating now! YUM—summer for sure.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/16/2023, 10:37 pm

Thinned the carrots, that is a feat! Otherwise everything is good. Harvested 4 zukes. 3 patty pans. A Beit Alfa cuke! Garlic will be ready to top this weekend!

OhioGardener 7/17/2023, 10:23 am

Have never had Swiss Chard grow like this Ruby Red Swiss Chard has this year. Surprisingly the leaves are just as sweet and tender when they are this large as they are when they are small. One leaf, though, can make an entire meal. Very Happy

The Kale growing between the chard and bush beans is also growing great this year.

OhioGardener 7/18/2023, 8:28 am

The Black Beauty Eggplants are growing nicely this year. They are full of blooms, and two fruits are set so far. There are tree plants, each one per square, but one of the plants is a little stunted. These plants have beautiful flowers, too.

OhioGardener 7/18/2023, 6:25 pm

The Yellow Zucchini is in full production mode, and it is getting difficult to keep up with it. This is one of three plants that I started this year by direct sowing seed in the bed.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/18/2023, 11:28 pm

Beautiful pictures, OG! I have one eggplant, Ping Tung, and it is blooming beautifully. I have harvested 5 zucchinis. I have given 3 away, lol! OK, I ate the first one (not counted).

I grew Early Prolific yellow (summer) squash last year. I was not a fan. Very watery and not tasteful. I don’t plant to grow it again. I didn’t have zucchini seeds, or my beloved patty pans—which are doing great! Not a repeat.

Sprayed insecticidal soap mixture (Dr. Bronners peppermint Castile soap) on my south annex. So, I checked today after spraying—it’s better, but not complete as far as whitefly control. very helpful though. I did add some peppermint essential oil (Walmart in the pharmacy area) to the mix. We will see long term!

OhioGardener 7/19/2023, 7:06 pm

When I set up my beds I carefully placed them 30" apart so there would be room for me to work on them, and plenty of room for pushing the wheelbarrow between them. Apparently the beans and zucchini squash did not get the memo, they are growing out into the path trying to reach each other. Very Happy

**Scorpio Rising** 7/19/2023, 8:51 pm

Maybe they are just reaching out as friends? I mean, all they need is corn for the trinity?

OhioGardener 7/20/2023, 8:15 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:Maybe they are just reaching out as friends? I mean, all they need is corn for the trinity?

**sanderson** 7/20/2023, 3:04 pm

Finally caught up on this thread. While some of my plants are dying in the hot and arid (plus insects), your plants are just coming into their glory.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/21/2023, 11:36 pm

Yes, it is peaking here in the Midwest, sanderson as far as garden output. I have had to water though, despite rain. My south annex (peppers, one tomato, and eggplant) are basically under an eaves and don’t really get full rain. Plus you know how containers are…

The insecticidal soap mixture is working really nicely on the whitefly sitch. Gonna go with it. The only plant I saw getting invaded was the eggplant. Sprayed it. It doesn’t seem bothered by the soap mixture either.

Going to water out back, and harvest squashes, cukes, and whatever else needs done in the morning. I will need to thin the carrots again—those seeds! So tiny!

Also, need to tend to the melons. Beans are just growing.

Looking forward to a nice, no obligations weekend!

OhioGardener 7/22/2023, 8:21 am

We had a thunderstorm with 70mph winds and hail come through the night before last, and it totally flattened the bush beans. I tried to straighten them up yesterday, but they still look like a mess. They have beans about 2" long on them, and were looking really good before the storm. Fortunately, the peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes were not damaged because the tomato cages protected them from the wind.

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