The heat and drought did actually get interrupted last night long after I fell asleep anyway. Every thing was wet this morning and there were puddles everywhere and it stayed over cast and under 90 degrees almost all day so nothing got wilted. I finished planting the last of my pumpkins this morning and then worked on some general garden upkeep I have been neglecting during this heat bubble and drought but every critter that uses my garden was out in force this morning.
The bees came in for the Dutch Clover boundary I always keep well watered for them and then made sure enough of their fellow worker bees came and worked the other cucumber family blooms that are just everywhere.
I have a new cucumber variety I am trying out this year called a Dragon Egg.
So far I am not very impressed to be honest. It grew quickly but seems very heat or drought sensitive and attracted Squash Bugs almost immediately. It did begin flowering very fast though too and as yet I have no idea about taste either.
I picked this new variety up hoping it would be more like the Lemon Cucumbers but so far it is acting more like a patty pan or zucchini to me. I have nothing against either of those but when I plant those I do them away from everything else early on to spare the later varieties the Squash Bog invasion.
My theory on survival gardening has always been pretty specific. Based on the idea that I am just some average Joe who lived in a small town. in a house with a big yard and nice neighbors with a job that all a sudden found himself in collapse type situation where deliveries were few, food was scarce and even driving 20 miles became iffy.
So I had to make do and grow food for my family with what I had available. Hence all the scavenged items, easily obtained mulch, etc. One reason I go as long as I can each season on only saved rain water too. I rarely make it the entire season to be honest.
Anyway as of now the Dragon Eggs are not suitable for a survival choice over the Lemon Cucumber in mu opinion. The Lemon is one of my must have choices for a survival garden to be honest.
Anyway there is still a few more tests to run on the Dragon Egg.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
Cabbage, potatoes, dry beans are important to me. Kimchee-sauerkraut has Vit C, potatoes and beans plus the occasional egg or squirrel gravy makes for decently complete protein.
ReplyDeleteAdding tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers and some field corn is really sweet. I do love summer and winter squashes. I find that chickens supervised to a fine job or bug reduction. I laughingly call myself the chicken wrangler with my switch.
I don't do cucumbers, not worth the water in my experience, but I am open for discussion why cucumbers are useful.
Michael - The most important to me are Beans of course. The cucumbers were my son's favorite but also the favorite for the sheep and goats. My fav are tomatoes followed by watermelon. I will do a post sometime on my top choices for a discussion soon once I get the hang of this blogging thing again I am working on video now but failing pretty handily.
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