This program aired in August 2021
I'm quite pleased with how my garden has dealt with the summer heat. I've been diligently watering it, I made sure to mulch the soil, and I kept an eye out for bugs and diseases.
My broccoli heads were a bit rough looking; poorly domed, lime green in color, rough, and had quite a bit of leaf growing through the heads. These are all signs of heat stress.
My beans perform nicely and we're into the second planting harvest. When water-stressed, flowers are bored and pods don't fill out completely. So, the extra water helped a lot and productivity are good.
My lettuce did okay, a little bit bitter, but overall seem to take the heat quite well, if I kept more water to it. However, my spinach bolded early and our radishes did the same thing. I'll reseed all of this starting again in mid-August.
My peppers are just okay, they caught a virus, and plants' leaves and fruits are much smaller. I tried to get them to grow by giving them some extra care, but they didn't respond. There is no vaccine for these viruses. And I didn't pick up on it early enough to replant.
So, try again next year.
Tomatoes are producing nicely but size down and the skins are a bit tough. Normal responses when exposed to extra heat. Plenty of squash and cucumbers, they like the water and the garden keeps producing nicely, but I need to put on about an inch and a half per week. I'm putting that on two times per week. So, three-quarters of an inch per application to get me that one and a half inches. That will change some when it cools down a bit.