Amazing what a month of growing can do for a garden. When I shared the best days for planting in June my melons were only about two inches tall. Now they are sprawling over the ground and climbing up the cattle panel with small melons hanging.
Our garden seems especially pretty this year and I’m hoping that means we’re going to have a bumper crop.
We’ve been harvesting cucumbers, peppers, rattlesnake beans, tommy-toes, squash, blackberries, and malabar spinach. The greasy and peanut beans should be ready to pick in a few days as should the okra.
Most of the beans we planted about a week or so ago are up and growing. I’m really anxious to try the Cherokee Trail bean that was shared with us.
I’ve managed to keep the bed with the pesky plant in it weeded. I do believe I might have it gone for good if I can continue to dig out the runners this summer.
Here’s the best planting signs for July 2022.
Taurus: good for all root crops and above ground crops 20, 21, 22
Cancer: best for planting above ground and root crops 25, 26, 27
Scorpio: best for flowers and above ground crops 8, 9
Pisces: Good for planting and transplanting above ground crops, trees and shrubbery 16, 17
Last night’s video: Alex Stewart Portrait of a Pioneer 7.
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My paternal family is from Eastern KY.-bonified Hillbillies.,,,lol I was born and raised in Florida ( maternal family). I spent the Summers of my youth in the hills of Ky, with my grandparents and learned much about their culture and lifestyle. As an adult, i moved away and got “urbanized”. I picked up the “Foxfire” book long ago and have carried it with me for decades. I was reading about planting by the “signs”, which led me here. They advocate planting by the zodiac AND the phases of the moon, which I have never been able to understand, especially when they refer to it in the anatomy of the human body- mouth, chest bowels , knees, feet, etc.
My daddy never planted by the signs, my grandparents did but I was young and really don’t know if it made much difference. Daddy’s argument was the big time farmers planted when the soil was right (moisture, temperature). To him that was his sign and come to think about it my father in law did the same thing.
Ed, I have wondered the same thing about plants such as tomatoes, do you plant the seed or the plant by signs.
Tipper’s planting by the signs caused me to pick up an Old Farmer’s Almanac at Tractor Supply earlier in the year. I don’t make a garden any more but remembered enjoying reading the almanac.
I looked up killing pests and weeds and the best days in July are 18-20, in August, it’s 15 and 16, in September it’s 11 and 12.
Almanacs growing legs made me remember that Pa always had his hanging on a hook above this tools. When I got down this year’s issue I noticed there’s a hole drilled in the upper left corner perfect for putting a string through so it can be hung so it can’t use those legs. :,)
Thank you Robert.
Listening to the story of Alex Stewart’s life and the number of different jobs he had makes me wonder how long he stayed on any of them. There is no doubt that he worked very hard and toiled in many very difficult venues, but we might call him a ‘job hopper’ today.
My Uncle Lee, born in Swain County in ’86 was a bit older than Alex. Like Alex, he worked at a number of jobs including the mines in Copper Hill and the coal mines in KY. He was involved in the ‘coal wars’ in KY, but I never learned much about his involvement. He’s the one I spoke of driving ox ‘wagon trains’ West to Maryville and back at the age of 16 who encountered a panther on the ridge above wanting to attack his oxen.
Please keep up reports on your garden and give us lots more pictures, please.
Thank you for all you do.
I’ve been experimenting with tomatoes this year. I have been rooting some of the suckers I cut from below the bloom stalks. I put three in solo cups in potting soil and two directly in the ground. I put six in half pint jars in my kitchen window to root in water. So far, of the two I put directly in the ground one survived and is growing well. Of the three I put in solo cups two are doing well and growing, one is still alive but may not make it. All of the six I am rooting in water have grown roots. The roots are starting to circle the jars so I need to do something with them. I think I will put three of them in potting soil so that can establish themselves before I put them in the ground. The other three I think I will plant bare rooted. When I was a kid my parents bought bare rooted tomato plants and we put them right into the ground. Of course we watered them two or three times a day until they took off to growing. It worked then, so why not now?
Now for the question. If I plant them by the signs, when should I actually put them back in the ground? They all have been planted once already and were actively growing. The mother plants are still nearby. Does it make a difference if you are planting a seed, a seedling or a rooted sucker?
Ed-Great question! I’ve never been able to figure out the answer to it though 🙂 I suppose you should aim for planting by the sign at each stage, but I know that doesn’t always workout for me so I do my best. I do try to plant seeds by the signs, but as you pointed our your tomatoes have already been growing 🙂
What is the world are tommy toes ? Thank you
Peggy-its a small salad or cherry tomato 🙂
Enjoy your bounty! Ya’ll have put a lot of time and hard work into that garden and it surely shows. Nothing in the world any prettier!
I am like you, Tipper, I love volunteers. I had a large amount of volunteer tomatoes come up in a sheltered area. I knew they had to be good, as I plant mostly heirloom. So far large green and not perfectly round on some, while others are obviously cherry tomatoes. Either way, free is good. Also, I have found volunteers seem stronger and do not get the blight like the ones that come from who knows where. At least not in the many years I have salvaged them, so keeping my fingers crossed.
Miss Cindy is right, the garden you and Deer Hunter put so much time in is growing beautifully. You both truly love your garden and it shows! It really does take the effort of two or more people to have a well kept, healthy and producing garden. You and Matt make the perfect couple in the garden and in life. Y’all are truly blessed!
I’m glad your garden is thriving. We haven’t gotten enough rain for ours to do well. It is looking like we’ll have more field peas than green beans. But even the Crowder peas are dropping their leaves. Can’t be very interested in planting just now.
Maybe the girls could write me a Garden Blues song, or sing one. I’m thinking those Mississippi blues folks likely wrote some. Lightening Hopkins some “Jesus Won’t You Come By Here” fits any kind of troubles.
Are you still getting Wando peas? I pulled mine up two or three weeks ago. Heat finished them off.
I transplanted something from our compose pile some time ago that I thought was a cantaloupe of some kind. Then as it grew it showed pumpkin-like leaves with silvery ‘frosting’ along the leaf veins. When it bloomed the blooms were orange and several.inches across, definitely not a cantaloupe. Now it has squash shaped like butternut but which could yet turn out be cushaw, neither of which I have grown before. But we are mystified when we ever had any such seed thrown out. Anyway, the vines are running all over even without rain.
Ron-we pulled up our wando peas too. I love those surprise volunteers 🙂
My garden also seems prettier this year, although I don’t know how it’s still living with the lack of rain in this area. I bought a new Earthquake tiller and it gets credit for my better-than-normal garden. It has made the dreaded chore of tilling easy as pie and the user doesn’t feel as beaten as the ground when the job is done. My honeydews, orangettes, and banana muskmelons are taking over my garden. I hope they don’t run up my ‘fence’! I use deer netting to keep all four-legged critters out and it will not support much weight.
One of the prettiest sights in the world is a well tended garden.
Thank you for posting those dates; you sure did save me the aggravation of trying to find my Farmer’s Almanac. I have no idea where that book has gotten to.
Couldn’t agree more… almanacs must have legs! I’ve been battling a sedge grass that “appeared” out of nowhere. I was needing that almanac to find the sign being in the heart. Tipper, you wouldn’t happen to have that, would you? Daddy always dug weeds, killed brambles etc when the sign was in the heart. It always worked so well.
Nancy-Robert shared this info: I looked up killing pests and weeds and the best days in July are 18-20, in August, it’s 15 and 16, in September it’s 11 and 12.
Thank you so much. Appreciate all you do and the smiles you bring to my life here in Kentucky. Blessings
Mrs. Tipper, your garden is like a trip through a lush jungle of beautiful edible plants! It’s a paradise by the mountain side! It’s a beautiful sight to behold! All the food you’ve been able to harvest of your own sounds delicious, as fresh as it gets, and absolutely a gift from our Lord who is so good to us!!! I know you must work like nobody’s business to keep it up and going. I know I do and have to put a lot of work and sweat in the garden and fighting off deer, raccoons, coyotes, beetles of every color and kind, groundhogs—- you name it, I’m up against here in southern WV ( about 3 miles to Va line and our sister city Bluefield, VIRGINIA.) I count it all a joy. I did get 3 Cherokee bean pods so far. I’ll try not to hog it in one sitting… lol, but I got faith more is coming… lol
I’d like to see a picture of the melons growing on cattle fence. Watermelons?
Richard-Yes small watermelons like sugar babies and cantaloupe type melons 🙂 I’ll try to share some photos as they progress.
Will you support them with netting or old stockings to keep from stressing the stems?
RH-We usually don’t have to support them since they are small varieties, but if some of them get really big we might have to 🙂
You two put a lot of effort into your garden and as a result it returns in kind! I love walking around your garden spaces, it’s so beautiful and productive. I can feel the love you two pour into it.
Your Malabar Spinach came back on its own and it’s growing like crazy. It just keeps climbing and growing, it’s amazing!
I was waiting to see your July planting guide and here it is. Thanks, I will for sure use it for my planting. Enjoyed the Friday reading…interesting for sure.