Boise’s five warmest months since 1864:
1. July 2007 83.1 degrees
2. July 1874 82 degrees
3. July 2006 81.5 degrees
4. July 2012 81.3 degrees
5. July 1960 80.7 degrees
The mercury hit 100° nine times in July, including a scorching 108 degrees on July 9 and 12.
Today's high was 106°, beating the record high of 104° in 1892.
It is too hot to do anything, but I was restless enough to try at trip to Lake Lowell last Saturday. Lake Lowell is next to Nampa, about 30 minutes West of Boise if you drive through farm country and stay off the freeway. It was not a great picture taking day, here is the lake and some of its flowers,
Bass fishing starts on Lake Lowell in July.
Due to my lack of experience, I have no idea how the record heat is affecting my garden.
The cauliflower that I grew was self-blanching. That means that the outer leaves curl around the head to keep it white. Without self-blanching, you have to tie the leaves around the head yourself, or the head turns yellowish brown. This is July 30th,
Once the leaves curl around the head, the cauliflower should be ready for picking in about a week or two. I thought it had been two weeks, and although the head still seemed small, it looked pretty yellowish brown, so I picked it on August 6th,
After picking, you soak it in salt water to remove any nasties for 30 minutes. After soaking, I tried a piece raw and it was so terribly bitter, I spit it out. It will get bitter if it is on the plant too long, or maybe it was just bitter. It looks better, whiter on July 30th, maybe I should have picked it then. I was happy to dig up the big cauliflower plant and give the green tomatoes more sun,
I pulled up the peas that could not grow in the shadow of the cauliflower and started some late season seeds indoors, spinach and onions, to put in place of the cauliflower and the broccoli.
On my drive to Lake Lowell I saw a whole lot of corn and I notice they grow them really close together, like maybe 6 inches apart with a few feet between rows. Mine is doing really well,
The raspberries are full of new ripening berries, which is making them arch down almost to the ground. Underneath, one of the blueberries is growing more and getting flowers,
I don't remember the blueberry doing this last year, and the other blueberry looks the same. Today I sat underneath the raspberry arches and trimmed the grass underneath them. This is very hazardous, due to the happy bees buzzing overhead, but I do not want rampant grass stealing water from those raspberries until I am done eating them.
As far as the broccoli, I chopped off the rest of the sprouting center and am giving the side branches a little more time,
You do not get as much (what do you call it, head, flower, sprouts?) on the side shoots, I think you eat the stem. I should have the broccoli harvested by this weekend, then I will pull it up, although I am not having the same trouble that I was with aphids. Maybe it is too hot for them, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment