La Canicula ( the dog days of summer )...

When I was a child I loved summer. It was very hot in south central Texas where I grew up, but it also meant no school, fishing all day, Bar-B-Que on the weekends, and my birthday in August. I was born in the hottest part of summer refered to as La Canicula, or the " dog days of summer".

Back then, I thought La Canicula was like some huge spiritual being that dictated how hot it was going to be. And if you pissed her off, the hotter it would be. It was blamed for many things, from illness to bad weather, and crop failures. My maternal grandmother blamed it for hurricanes. She did not like hurricanes, or severe thunder storms for that matter. I remember listening to the older people make predictions when La Canicula would end. When no one had air conditioning in their homes, the weather was a hot topic. La Canicula begins mid July, and ends in mid to late August. Now I know it is weather related, and its severity depends on the position of the jet stream. El Nino, and La Nina can also disrupt the jet stream, and make La Canicula more severe.

In the garden, this means that not much is going on. Garden work is done early in the morning , or late in the afternoon. Most spring planted vegetables are barely hanging on, not producing any fruit, or have completed their life cycle. This time of year is for clearing the garden, and preparing for the fall. It is difficult to keep any plants alive without watering frequently, at times daily. Sometimes it is better to pull everything up than to waste water. Remove any diseased plants from the garden, and throw away. Don't compost these as this may harbor the disease, and then may spread to the rest of the garden. Till your garden, and amend your soil with compost. This is also a good time to send a soil sample, then amend your soil according to the results.

Depending on where you garden, it may be time to plant certain vegetables now in order to harvest before the first frost. I planted tomato, and jalapeno plants last week. I may have planted a week or two too late, but I am hoping to have a few tomatoes before the first frost. I cut back my okra plants, as these were not producing much fruit because I was not watering enough. They still looked good, and should regrow with plenty of moisture. I also seeded two flats of leaf lettuce, and mesclun mix. In the next couple of weeks I will plant broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, radish, onion, and garlic. Also greens like mustard, turnip, and spinach. I like to try new things in my garden, so this fall I will try leeks, and sugar peas. I have never grown either of these. Herbs are another great choice to start in the fall, as are wild flowers like our state flower, the bluebonnet.

As we say adios to La Canicula for another year, I wonder if she , along with her siblings El Nino, and La Nina are just children of The Gods, and we are just their ant farm.