Our home and vegetables in summer

It will be the summer solstice tomorrow. It has been like mid summer here for the last several days. Hot, sunny and wet. Dazzling sunray all around. Quite aberrant weather. We used to have this kind of weather in the last part of July to mid August only for 3 to 4 weeks. Global warming sure comes on here.

When I was crazy for ham radio, around this time in a year, it was the time of summer withers, of course, on the propagation. It seems to become literally summer withers season for now. 

Ume trees and a magnolia tree are so vivid and grown thick. 

The summer vegetable I first think of is tomato. I have planted several plants of tomato together with bitter melon. The latter is told to get rid of insects which aspirate and ruin tomato fruits. I won't use any insecticides and hope this companionship may work well. Already several fruits are bored borne even though still green.

                                                                                            

Another summer vegetable is okra. Very strong against heat wave. It may produce fruits until fall. A seedling growing on the ground. Whenever I talked of okla to Ellen W1YL in this season, her reaction was just as if she got bored with such as okla. She used to tell me she and her OM Bob used to have tomatoes canned in summer when they were in the New England state. A lovely memory.

A pumpkin plant is growing. Already a small fruit on a branch. I am planning to plant more seeds in order to get them matured in the end of fall. They say it is the winter solstice pumpkin. 

There are a lot of summer vegetables growing at present such as egg plants, paprika, sweet melon or carrot. No pesticide nor herbcide is given to the farm. Only compost and small amount of organic fertilizers like rice bran are used. Of course, some are bitten and eaten by bugs. Weeds around vegetables could be food for those bugs as well. More seeds are planted than necessary to compensate the possible loss. Grass mulching would become natural compost and enrich the soil in years.

Marie gold is a stout flower living long untile the beginning of fall. As well known, It will suppress the growth of nematodes. That effect of this flower is beneficial for such as tomato.

 

All of them will keep me busy. If you see an old guy sitting on a tiny chair on the ground and concentrated on caring for the vegetables and cutting unnecessary weeds, he is me.