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Old May 29, 2012   #1
Tracydr
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7
Posts: 3,207
Default Overwhelmed by choices for my hot weather garden-

So, getting ready to plant my hot weather garden. I have a bunch of southern peas. Pigott Family Heirloom, Red Ripper, White Whipporwill and Pink Eyes. Id like to try some limas, maybe King of the Garden or Calico? Finally, i have red long beans and asparagus beans. The long beans are a must have, they do well here and replace green beans, which I haven't had luck with. I also have some tepary beans, although I think the variety (gray speckled) is not good for the low desert, not as heat resistant as some.
I also want to plant Armenian cucumbers. We love cucumbers and regular cukes don't do well in heat. A little okra for pickling and some squash. Maybe cushaw, lemon and costata romenesco for squash?
I already have trombocino planted.
Finally, I could plant some muskmelons. I have some banana melon and I may have some Crenshaw. We do love melon but can get melon locally pretty cheap and good.
Temps in June, July and August can be as high as 115-120. We had two weeks of sustained temps >115 twice last summer with lows in the 90s.
Anything else will not grow. These are the things that can be planted for June.
I have a full sun and another with a lot of shade. Both are 16x8 in size. I'm not sure which beans or squash can tolerate shade. Sometimes our shade can be so hot as to allow plants unable to produce in shade in other climates to do well, other times not so much. I would call this shade bright shade.
How would you go about planning these two spaces for the summer? For some reason, I'm overwhelmed and can't decide.
I would like a lot of food, to reduce food eaten from the store. Don't want poor producers. We can only eat so much squash.
Thanks for the help!
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