Heat Results?

Anyone losing anything?

Personally, I haven't. Beans still going great. No one will believe my diatribes regarding Simpson Elite lettuce, but I have three squares that refuse to bolt even in the 2 weeks without rain and 10 days of 95+ temps. Take that for slow to bolt! How 'bout NEVER bolt?

Cukes coming along fine. I have two more peppers on the bush (YAY!), and did I mention the beans? My God, the beans!!

If we can just catch a break in the long range forecast, I will jump at the chance to start some lettuces, broccolis, and caulis inside for a few weeks to get past the worst of summer.

My Slow-Bolt Cilantro bolted. I guess it was slow and not no-bolt. My tomatoes are FINALLY getting some color. Haven't lost anything. It's all been good.

Overall, we have been pretty lucky. My onions put up flowers during a freak hot spell in June and have petered out because of it. On the vining plants (squash, watermelon and cantaloupe) a lot of fruit did not set because of the heat (I think). It seems to be improving now that we are at more normal temperatures. Today, I saw a bunch of bees just hanging out inside some of the flowers on the butternut squash, like 3 or 4 bees per blossom!

Right now, I can find about 8 or so squash fruit that are maturing, I wish there were more, but I lost A LOT because of the heat.

Both the watermelon and the cantaloupe have just one or two fruit each.

On the other hand, the tomatoes are going like gangbusters. I was looking today and saw that one of the branches has started to break one the determinate. Now all of the toms are on the ground, but they seem to be doing okay. I hope they start to ripen up soon...

In Indianapolis we have had almost no rain for over a month plus the heat, etc. My peppers stopped blooming and the fruit stopped growing, the plants look very stressed; the beans quit blooming and the few pods set seed immediately; cukes and toms are going great; corn has tasseled and silked, but the ears are thin. Our community garden is 300' from the water source - makes watering challenging.

I've gotten a lot of cucumbers, green beans by the bowls full (just froze up 4 qts today alone), some tomatoes that the raccoon hasn't gotten to, lots of swiss chard and some onions. I've left the rest of the onions in the boxes, hoping they will get a little bigger.



I'm now planning on what to plant next and will start planting new bush beans and more onions this week. Thank you Cindilou, for the help! BBG, I will have to plant some more Simpson Elite and see if it will weather the heat. I'll shade that of course.



I'm taking advantage of the hoops and using shade cloth for my pepper plants. When I didn't cover them with shade, a few of the peppers got sun scalded. The poor plants look so sad with this heat and extreme sun if I don't give them some shade in the middle of the day. They are loaded with peppers, but none have turned color (like yellow or red) yet.



The potatoes got blight and never produced worth a darn. My canteloupe have set a couple of fruit this week, but it's getting late in the season, so not sure what will become of that.

Most everything has survived. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town last week in the worst of the heat, so the only attention the plants got was a sprinkler watering around 4 am for 30 minutes. It clearly wasn't enough, because when I came home the container tomatoes were looking pretty bad, like they were starting to burn. The roma I'd damaged early in the season isn't looking great, but I think the others will rebound (a moreton, a ramapo, and a sungold from a cutting). Also, my zucchini isn't doing too well, but I can't figure out for sure what the cause is. I picked one very large zucchini yesterday that I'd hand pollinated, and a second smaller one that looked like it was starting to rot on one end. When I cut off the rotted part, I found a worm or larva of some kind inside, but it didn't really look like the pictures I've seen of squash vine borer larvae. But I took a look at the main stem, and it's definitely looking like it's been attacked near the base, I see a fair amount of what appears to be frass. I'm not sure the plant will make it.

If you plant lettuce, carrots, or other cooler season crops right now, I'd suggest starting them indoors. I have tried, and failed, a couple of times to plant in the garden this summer. The soil is just too warm right now. Lettuce won't germinate well if the soils are above 77°. I haven't cross-checked with Mel's book, but that is what I've been reading everywhere I've looked on agricultural sites.



Oh, and carrots don't transplant well. If you attempt to start them inside, they have to go out immediately after sprouting. Dunno what that will do for carrots. Lettuce does transplant well, and the couple of weeks inside under the lights will help buy time for the heat wave to pass.



(I am posting on the "potential" of this heat wave breaking down soon in another thread.)

I haven't lost anything but the "heat tolerant" bush beans have had a poor germination rate due to the heat. I've increased my watering to prevent any loss also. Next week is supposed to be low 90's with rain this Sat and next Wed/Thurs. Here's to praying to the rain gods! LOL