Fenton Friday: Hot Enough for Ya?

Last weekend, we had good soaking rains and then the week started off hot, but that was nothing compared to the heat wave that has set in now. We are experiencing record temps. It is 100 degrees F as I write this.

Before the worst of the heat arrived, we weeded and managed to spread wood chips on our inner and front paths. Next week, we may get the wood chips down on the side and back paths. 

I planted the Potato 'Purple Majesty' seed potatoes, which had already sprouted in their box, in a potato grow bag. 

The African Marigold 'Lanna Lace' has one flower on it and the 'Citrine' Tomato is surprisingly producing more fruit -- most tomatoes slow down/pause in this heat stress.

 

The Okra 'Puerto Rico Everblush' and 'Thriller' Squash seedlings all tripled in size. The 'Rich Purple Pod' Heirloom Pole Beans are up and are almost 18-inches tall in just one week.

I harvested 3 Blackberries that all have bird damage on them. Not really worth eating, but I figured it was best to take them off to direct the plant's energy into ripening the several green berries still left on it.

I cut more Dahlia flowers and was able to snip a few early Lisianthus blooms to put in bud vases.

In the pollinator garden strip, the dwarf Sunflower is blooming along with Borage (see pic at top). The Marigolds are also flowering well in this heat. 

I'm watering every other day. I may need to increase that to daily, unless we get a good storm over this coming holiday weekend.

Next week, I still need to get the Pepper seedlings in and plant the Cosmos seeds. The Nasturium seeds never came up, so we will look at replacing those.

What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton"  into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).