That's it. The temperature is only reaching about 28C (82F) but the humidity is 80-90%, then you get 6mls (1/4 in) of rain which does nothing for the soil but everything for the mould.
Assuming it is sufficiently warm will the growing season be long enough?
DI like the grape idea. I've already tried blueberries, and it hasn't worked out. Perhaps I need to start out with adult sized, 3 or 4 year old plants, and transplant them. In any case, this is the second time I've tried blueberries, in 2 different parts of Ohio, and they have died both times.
I already have 1 pear tree with 5 fruit varieties on it, 2 hale haven peach trees, a nectarine and a plum. I don't think there is really room for another fruit tree in the area, because I would need to plant it close (right on, really) to the property line, and the neighbor would not like it because that would be pretty close to the gate he used to go between his fenced back yard and his front yard.
So, I am limited to perhaps planting something small right up against the house, and maybe a row of something out closer to the property line. Either or, or perhaps both, if both plants are pretty orderly and not sprawling.
I like the idea of grapes, because I've always wanted to grow them, and I've seen that they can be pretty productive. How long does it take to get a harvest from them?
Other ideas I've had are rhubarb or everbearing raspberries, such as heritage. Anyone have thoughts on these? My parents always got a good harvest off of the rhubarb, and never have to put any time into them, other than good soil preparation up front, with some cow manure at the bottom of the deep pits.
Hmm, that's another good idea. I don't have a good place prepared for them right now, and that certainly would be a good area for growing them. Lots of sun, and they do seem to like heat.
If I don't grow tomatoes there, however, I can grow them along the chain link fence that goes along the entire south side of our back yard. I was planning on getting that set up for vegetables early this spring.
Now I'm torn between the various choices.
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IMO rhubarb would do better on the north or east side. it doesn't like the heat. I never had any luck with raspberries at all, but it seems like they might be better suited.
Mine grows on an abandoned compost bed - only gets 5-6 hours of sun a day, and stays fairly moist. it thrives through July- then sort of peters off & gets tough.
Jim
Just wondering how you harvest it. Do you pull it or cut it?
That's your best bet. They'll love the extra heat.
Start looking right now at some varieties you can't get at the local nurseries. Start your seeds in a few weeks.
Plant a few varieties as you never know which one will like this summer's weather best. One year my plums will be larger than my beefsteaks-- another year the early tomatoes don't fruit until after the plums.
Put some odd colored tomatoes in the mix. I don't know if they taste all that different, but it really impresses non-gardeners that you have purple/yellow/pink/orange/green/'black' or spotted tomatoes.
Plant them on trellises & make a shady spot to sit and eat them.
In my garden I *have* to have at least- a couple cherry tomatoes a few pasta tomatoes a couple early a couple huge a lot of celebrity- my favorite tasting tomato most years a few of something new a few more 'new to me' varieties
That ought to cover that space nicely. nice thing about tomatoes is soil prep isn't too bad. Dig a hole- amend it- mulch around it. Straw/newspapers/carpet/pavers all make good paths through the tomato space.
The hard part of that is weeding both sides of the fence. If it is a boundary fence you neighbor will spray with a herbicide about the time your veggies are thriving. . . or not, and they'll be choked by his weeds.
Wait until you have the vision of what you want it to look like- and need to choose which varieties to do it with. It is a *good* dilemma, though.
Jim
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Pull! I start to pull as soon as the plant is putting out stalks bigger than a pencil. These have been producing for 15 yrs or so- so even the first spring stalks are plenty big.
I pull seed stalks, too- and discard them.
Probably not the best practice-- but I trim the leaves on the spot and mulch with them. Every 4-5 yrs I might remember to feed them. They get covered with 5-6' of hard packed snow through the winter as they are to the side of the turn-around that gets all the snow blown to it.
Jim
Dad in Buffalo grew rhubarb and it got bigger every year until they finally moved to a retirement home. I bet it's still in the old back yard. It was in a pretty moist spot in the yard though. It's Buffalo where there aren't any dry spots in many yards.
I saw blackberries grow wild in the Pacific Northwest when we lived in Seattle metro. I have no idea if raspberries grow well in a dry spot. I've only seen them in places with okay moisture through quite damp.
Others suggest grapes. At my old place in Chicago metro we had a volunteer grape that I had to trim regularly to keep it from eating one of the neighbor's crabapple trees. I never watered it and its root was behind the shed so it never got watered. Grape sounds like a good plan for a hot dry spot in this zone.
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