The hot season arrives for real today. Over the past few weeks, July weather has been fairly subdued. No more. The highs will top 100 today and tomorrow, and look to do so again next week. Thankfully, whoever controls the weather will slide the heat dome back over to Arizona over the weekend. 

So I went out to the garden this morning to make sure my photosynthesizing friends are staying hydrated. As is typical with gardening, while out there, I noticed a number of minor tasks that needed doing. I weeded the asparagus bed, made sure the strawberries had mulch over their roots, and dug two more potato plants.

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All the asparagus, except one, a first year plantings. Keeping grasses from overgrowing young plants in their first year, and lots of water, ensures they'll survive, and make it to year two. In year two, you can start harvesting until the first of June, then you should let them grow until the first hard freeze kills the above-ground portion of the plant. After year three, one can harvest as much as one likes. Once established, the plants will give you 15-20 years of funny smelling pee. 

Great success!

As for the strawberries, last summer was a disaster. I mulched them way too late, and the two months of 100 plus weather and practically no rain fried their roots. There were not survivors. But like the Spartans at Thermopylae, they did not die in vain!

To tackle the hot summer weather this year, I've made sure to provide them with a thick layer of grass clippings atop their root beds. The downside of using grass clippings as mulch is twofold: if you mulch too deeply, the water will bind the grass clippings together and form a solid mat that can smother plants. But if you don't mulch deep enough, the heat can still reach the soil and roots. So, I companion planted runner beans above the strawberries, and heat loving watermelons as ground cover. 

This is a little bit of an experiment. I don't think they will completely shade out the strawberries, and I do think they will provide a much-needed buffer against the hot sun of late July and August. If the strawberries were still putting on fruit, I'd be more reluctant to shade them, as it would cut down on sugar formation, but at this point they haven't flowered in weeks. Once cool mornings return in October, I might cut back the shade plants and try to get a fall harvest out of them before covering them up for winter.

This fall's seed taters up top,
eatin' taters down below.

Digging the potatoes didn't yield quite what I'd hoped. The one in the planter didn't yield much, and neither the in ground one planted over by the asparagus. Companion planting potatoes with asparagus is a bit of a no-no, as their root systems can get tangled, and digging the potatoes can harm the asparagus, but I already dug the trench and didn't have enough crowns, so in went the seed potato. It was fine for everyone involved. 

Anyway, that's all for now. Off to write more fiction. Take care!