It’s Been a While

The last few days broke the dreary spell of more than two weeks of overcast mornings and daytime temperatures below 80 F. Saturday, August 4, hit 100 F. The summer crops are soaking it in with a burst of productivity. In the old days, in California, 100 F was the average daily temperature for more than a month during summer. I sometimes fantasize about gardening in California. They start harvesting field-grown mixed melons in Southern California in May.

Pendulous yucca and ice plant, Lampranthus aurantiacus and
Yucca recurvifolia, growing in the California sun. The plants
were living in the Upper Sacramento River Valley as of June 2005.

Here in the gloomy Northwest, I began harvesting cucumbers from the food bank plots. The beets and peas are tapped.

Some Boothby's Blonde cucumbers harvested for the food bank.
They were direct seeded June 1 and harvested August 6.

Boothby's Blonde cucumber was the first vegetable I successfully grew from seed. It is an heirloom from Maine. I have grown it at the community garden site for three of the past four years and always get a large, early crop. I seeded some Straight 8 cucumbers the same day and in the same location as Boothby's Blonde. I have harvested one Straight 8 cucumber so far. That variety didn't germinate as well as Boothby's and its overall production will be less than half of its blond cousin.

A Howden pumpkin showing its first blush of orange. The good thing
about pumpkins ripening in August instead of October is they are
less likely to be stolen. Two were nicked last year.
This is the only fruit I got from a three-plant hill.

A Jarrahdale pumpkin on the vine. Named after the Western Australia
town, Jarrahdale pumpkins ripen to a grayish-blue.

A Prescott Fond Blanc melon about the size of a handball on August 4.
Four Prescott starts were transplanted to the garden site June 28.