Wheew, its hot today! Except for you Mary! ha

My full sun fava beans have reached their limit, and seem to have given up the will to live. I did manage to put some in shade, and they are just doing their cute little fold-em routine. None of them have flowered, grrrr. At least they could have the consideration to produce some beans before they croak.

Anybody have any experience growing favas?

Believe me, 85 was hot enough! I grew favas a few years ago, Planted in the fall and they grew terrific. The batch I have this year are pathetic--I think I planted way too late, then a bird ate a lot of the sprouts. The survivors aren't doing so good. So I will be trying again too.

Luckily, I was home on Monday, and happened to wander out to the garden around 1pm. I saw the lettuces, and the cukes and tomatoes that get full sun (some are shaded by the eaves of the house) were all limp and sad.

I took some bamboo stakes and pieces of an old sheet, and constructed a makeshift tent for them. It seems to have done the job. I'm also watering them an extra time a day.

I don't have favas, just green beans. They get full sun, and seem to be doing OK. The only thing I've noticed is that during the hottest part of the day, they turn their leaves sideways. By evening, they're flat again. It's pretty cool!

All in all, it makes me think that I really need to come up with a more permanent solution, before the real deal heat comes.

Grrl, you should see my ghetto solution... I put an old bed frame above the poor wilting favas, then put an old warped peg board on the frame. Viola, they are doing fine. They even put out some cute white flowers, as if to thank me for saving their lives. So sweet.

My green beans are doing really well too. My zucs seemed a bit stressed by the heat, but they are producing fruits already.

Hey, whatever works!

I saw a posting on craigslist for cheap shadecloths (cut, sewn, and grommetted!). So I stopped by this morning. But no one was there. :c (

I am picking up some of that tomorrow for my chickens. Poor dears pant like dogs when they are hot...

I can't imagine trying to garden down in the valley, it's hot enough around here! We have bee about 96 all week and I think it was a little hotter than that yesterday, at least it felt like it. I have had to run the cooler a bit during the week, by about 2 o'clock the inside of the house is about 82 which is really pushing my comfort zone, so in the evenings when I come inside for the day I have been running the pump on the cooler a few minutes to wet down the pads then running the blower for an hour or so. But today I am at home and it's too hot outside so have turned the cooler on for the afternoon. Just can't help it. In the garden I did find one peice of shade cloth for one patch of tomatoes, but don't have any for the others. And OUCH! the price. Especially the 70% stuff I wanted for the south side of the house. [3 feet wide, $3.29 a foot]

I know your pain. I solved my problem after 20 years in Tucson by moving back home to Idaho a few years ago. Too bad I didn't leave most of the heat behind. We are going from the 60's to the 90's, this over about 3 days. The craziest thing is that we could still get a late freeze!

I agree, Mary, shadecloth is too expensive. Better to just get things that can cope with the heat. So far things are doing well down here in the 105+ heat this week. Nothing is freaking out that bad. The strawberries and blueberry are getting a bit brown about the edges, I do worry about them.