Sunday, August 29, 2021

Midwest Gardening: End of August---Intense Heat and Humidity.

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Last Sunday in August....Intense heat and humidity! 

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I haven't posted anything, because frankly---being outside simply is AWFUL. When you get older, your body can't seem to adjust to the very hot or very cold temps. Even watering the pots was an ordeal, early in the morning.

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Hubby completed Tomato-cide and Zuchinni-cide in the garden Friday, brought in all the produce and pulled the plants up. Despite all our watering the plants were simply dying.

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We've had tons of yellow summer squash and zucchini up until now.

The ripe and unripe veggies were simply falling off the vines. I've never had soft green tomatoes before.  Not rotten, just boiled inside the unripe skins. We experimented and put the green ones in the freezer to make green relish later. 

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Old photo of pickle relish...in the making.


Pickles are done...green beans are hard as rocks. My flowers are bursting, though---and we will have a few cool days this week, so I will take photos. 

Late Lettuce is small and already bolting. To say end of August is the pits...from Hell...is pretty much the description of gardening here in NW Chicagoland. Grass is scraggly and long---Pumpkin vines are everywhere with only tiny pumpkins on them. We do have two larger pumpkins...trying to survive.

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I have canned tons of tomatoes and sauces this month. and made 77 zucchini muffins. We eat summer squash or zucchini at every meal. Sigh!

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What we still have in the garden are turnips, winter squash, pumpkins, lettuce, peppers (very unhappy), carrots, beans maybe if the vines can hold on. We have the first rain in three weeks, today---I don't know if it will be enough.

About Flowers, with the trends of hotter summers, late springs, and longer fall season---I will no longer be planting petunias along with no geraniums. Even my trusty marigolds have been struggling. Dead heading seems to be a career with them. 

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Successful this year...Mandilla, New Guinea Impatiens, Coleus, Caladiums, Elephant ears, prairie grasses, Hollyhocks were gorgeous but short lived, as were the Day Lilies.  My Phlox have had continuous blooms, and are just now ending. Notice a trend---tropicals and native 'weed' type flowers.


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If the trend, Hotter for everything....continues, midwest gardeners will have to re-evaluate and adapt! 

How's your late summer garden doing?

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