Stayin' Alive

This year we're trying something new for us: temporary shade screens. I got the idea from some Facebook gardening groups I'm in, and Mike figured out how to build them. We have a couple of different designs. The simplest ones, shown above over the tomato plants, are just 30% shade cloth from Arizona Bag Company.. Here's a link to a Youtube video on how to construct these. The instructions are for young fruit trees (see picture below) but we just made a bigger one for the tomatoes.

Our new Ein Shemer apple tree (planted this spring) was really suffering from the heat. I'd painted the trunk earlier in the spring, but it just doesn't have enough of a canopy to protect it from the afternoon sun. The leaves were becoming dangerously singed around the edges as our temperatures soared into the teens. We hope that by providing it a little extra shade this summer, it will survive and grow big enough that it won't need the shade screen next summer.

We also expanded the shade screen over the blackberry bush to cover our new Brown Turkey fig tree (planted last fall). It was thriving until the heat set in, and produced several dozen figs which are ripening now. This design is made out of PVC pipe, with the shade screen held in place by grommets. It's a little sturdier, but also more time-consuming to construct. We purchased all the materials at Home Depot, and I'm not sure what percentage the shade screen is but it's more than 30%. I got the idea for this one from pictures people had posted in this Facebook group. and Mike adapted their designs for our needs. Once an engineer, always an engineer...and a very handy one!

This month in the garden

I've been neglecting this blog, but have been fairly diligent about posting a picture a day to my Facebook gardening album, which is easier than thinking of something clever, inspirational, or educational to post here. Plus I think most of those who read this blog are also my Facebook friends.

We've had an unusually mild spring so far, but summer is here, and I tend to let the garden go because it's too hot. As you can see, zinnias are taking over our largest raised bed, which we planted in February with tomatoes, squash, beans, and eggplant. We're working on thinning them by "chop-and-drop" method, which means cutting them off and ground level and cutting into smallish pieces to use as mulch. This time of year plants can use all the mulching they can get.

Mike built a shade structure for one of our blackberry bushes out of PVC pipe and shade screen. Here it is behind the fig tree.. It has been a success...we harvested blackberries for the first time this year. In the past they've dried up before ripening.

Speaking of figs, they are also beginning to ripen. We planted a Brown Turkey fig last fall to replace the Ein Shemer apple that died after we converted the grass lawn to gravel. The small tree is loaded with figs.

We continue to harvest tomatoes and squash, but they're fading fast. The green beans have about had it too, but the eggplant and melons are beginning to produce. I didn't even plant the melon..several vines came up as volunteers, including this one in the gravel pathway! Part of the fun of gardening for me is unplanned surprises like this.