While I wasn't looking

I consider the squash experiment a success now that I have harvested 3 lovely squash off the plants. I may not get much more than that given that squash borers moved in while I was busy setting up my home office and not paying attention. I'll try another BT injection on the yellow squash vines, but one of the patty-pan plants is beyond hope. Actually, none of the patty pan plants are doing well, even without squash borers because their mound is now shaded most of the day. On my existing yellow squash plants I can easily tell the difference in how much sun each one gets during the day. The plant that sees shade earlier in the day is half the size of the of the one in the most sun and this more shaded plant has yet to produce any squash, though it may be that it's just growing much slower and hasn't reached maturity.

The shade pattern in our front yard has definately changed from when I first mapped it out about five years ago. I hadn't thought about how much the neighbor's trees have grown since then and so at first I was surprised. Then it hit me and I said, "Duh!" I'm wondering though, if the shade might actually be an advantage in a few more weeks when things really heat up around here. Only way to find out is to try and, as I've mention before, seeds are cheap.

I'm sending Rob out later today for black plastic to put down on the grassy area that I was unable to weed because the bermuda grass has a very tight hold on the area. A month covered in the heat might do the trick even though the roots go very deep. And there are still things that can be planted here at the end of July including, much to my surprise, carrots! I would have thought July and August were WAY too hot for carrots to take hold. We have an old rubbermaid tub that I'm thinking about using for a raised bed (after cutting the bottom out) which would be the perfect height for carrots.

I'm very glad I started gardening again this year. I been having a rough time and no matter how down I might be feeling, I can walk out, look at my squash plants and get a smile on my face. And that's even when the plants aren't doing well. It appears that gardening is good for the soul.