Diminishing Returns

The heat has taken its toll on my gardens.  The raised beds in front of the house are basically fried.  I had peas (luckily harvested before the heat), onions, turnips, green peppers and tomatoes planted there.  Those plants that survived the downpours and drenching of earlier this spring were only taken into the Summer with the record-breaking heat and drought.

I’ve been trying to keep the plants alive by watering every day, sometimes twice a day, but I feel that the raised beds are just beyond saving.  Even if I keep watering them, I don’t see getting more than a few dozen cherry tomatoes and a handful of woefully-small green peppers.  Not worth the time and water.

I’ll continue watering the butternut, yellow squash and zucchini, but I think I’m also going to let the cucumbers go without and die.  The last two cucumbers we ate were the most bitter I’ve ever tasted.   Paul cut some up yesterday and salted it.  Gave me one and I almost gagged.  I thought that maybe he had used a cutting board or knife with vinegar or something on it.  But it was just the cucumbers.  Not sure if it’s the heat or what, but I’m going out there in a while, picking one and taking a bite out of it.  If it’s bitter, I’m just letting them dry up or give them to the chickens for snacks.

I still have to water the fruit trees every day along with my three lonely blueberry bushes.  I also have about a dozen green bean plants in the “berry garden” that I started from seed the first week of July along with four eggplant and six tomato plants.  They will continue to be blessed with the garden hose, but only if I see continuing growth.

I haven’t quite made up my mind yet if I’m going to bother planting a “fall” garden.  I’ve never planted a garden other than in the spring, but since everything has been pretty much crap I figured I have to make up for it somehow.

There will be room in the raised beds once I rip out the half-dead tomatoes & peppers and there’s still some room in the berry garden.  But it’s still frekking hot (108.9 yesterday) with little hope of any meaningful moisture from the sky.  Not sure if it will just be another lesson in futility.

Any suggestions on what types of veggies to plant now?  We're in Zone 6B, although if you judged by the recent temperatures, I'd say Zone Hades.