August in the Garden

Not much big band excitement in the garden these days as we're all buckling down and surviving the hot, dry Austin summer. But there's lots of little happenings that keep me getting out into the back yard.

I Planted some Small Wonder spaghetti squash and some buttercup squash a month ago. I'm going to train the squash vines up a trellis again to save space. Amazing how the little squash tendrils find things to climb on. I saw this the other morning:
The basil plant is a leftover companion from a tomato plant that couldn't take the heat and bit it. I left the basil there because he looked happy. And now the winter squash plant has a big buddy to hold on to, at least until it's tall enough to reach the first rung of the cage.

And speaking of biting it in the heat, the buttercup squash were not doing too well in Austin's afternoon oven, so I went to the garden store yesterday and bought a random amount of 40% shade cloth. Why random? Because I didn't want to leave without shade cloth, but I hadn't really figured out how much I needed or how I would install it. But this is just a practice garden, right? So in the morning humidity, Dan and I came up with this:
The plant supports were leftover from something, hence the asymmetry. But it's getting the job done for the time being. Pretty sure the structure won't stand up to a storm or stiff wind, but with this high pressure system camped over us, I don't think I have to worry about that. Dan's picking up a few more supports at H.D. today so we can protect the other box as well. Then I'll feel better about starting up my new crop of Fall veggies in the next couple weeks.

And speaking of Fall veggies, I planted some pumpkins seeds in early July in an experimental plot in the back of the yard. None of the first seeds sprouted. I don't think they were getting enough water from the sprinklers. So I started a new batch. About half of those have sprouted and for the most part look pretty good.
Dan's not sure they'll get enough sun back there. I'm more concerned about squash vine borer (SVB) attack. Experiment or not, it was disappointing to have those little turd moths ruin my zucchini plants earlier this summer. The white tent behind the back plant is my ghetto attempt at a row cover. One woman at the nursery suggested covering the plants in the evening and at night when the SVB is more active. I'll try covering one mound and spray the other mound with a pepper-based deterrent and see what happens. I don't have row covers for the winter squash so will just try deterrents on those. Perhaps with a little more vigilance, on top of my limited but growing experience, I'll have squash a plenty this fall.