HOPE IN THE RAIN: June Showers Bring relief to a Thirsty Garden

Hello, my dear garden hivers here at @hivegarden! I hope you had a great weekend! How is it there on the other side of the world? Here, in the Philippines, particularly in the Bicol region, everything seems to come back to life after the much-awaited June showers arrived! Thanks God, it rained!

It was the first week of May or maybe the last week of April, since the last rain ever fallen before June rain came. After the bountiful harvest in March, April, and May, the plants in our garden started to wither a week after the last rain fell. All the plants in the garden burst into silent celebration, even these trees near our home, stretched skyward as if in gratitude to heaven.

Our Okra plants (lady’s fingers) revitalize after the first shower of June last Friday. During the scorching weather last May, they were one of the most affected plants in our vegetable garden. Our Okra plantation is the widest, which is why it was difficult for us to water it regularly. However, Okra is indeed heat resistant, and despite the scorching heat, the plants still yield a bountiful harvest.

If I were to rank, the number one most affected by the extreme hot weather would be the cucumbers. I pity them because most of them died, while some turned yellow, an indication of a lack of water. Cucumbers have high water content in their fruits, so they need more watering compared with other plants that we have in the garden. I hope the rain brings refreshment to their roots somehow.

During my visit, I also gathered some fruits, those that managed to survive the heat, as some of them were misshapen and dry inside due to a lack of water.

Just beside the cucumbers is this patch of lemon grass. It became greener after the rain. This thick patch was once a single stalk. This time, even our neighbors benefit from its stalks and leaves.

These cassava plants beside the cucumbers’ trellises are looking more vibrant after the June showers. Even if they are one of the most drought-resistant plants on this side of our garden, we still feared it’s negative effect on the tubers.

Beside our cassava plants are these ever-bearing papaya herbs. They are just short enough that I can reach the fruits. I guess they are one of the least affected by the hot weather in May.

Across the papaya plants are these trellises with surviving bitter gourds. Not long since we transplanted them. Since they were planted in seedling pots, they were resilient enough to survive when we moved them to the ground. That’s the advantage of using a seedling pot. Regular watering also helped them make it through the hot May.

Beside the bitter gourds are these chili peppers. As you can see in the picture, my father is continuing our ‘war on weeds’ through the natural way of hand pulling. These chili peppers were transplanted on the 4th of May, and regular watering helped them survive.

Same with the bitter gourds, we also use seedling pots for these chili peppers, so we wouldn’t have to move their roots when transplanting. Swear, the rate of survival after moving them into the ground is around 90 to 100%.

This small well that my father dug served as their lifeline during the hot days in May. We did manual watering since this part of the garden is a bit farther from our main water source in the house.

The Philippine weather agency forecasts that the rainy season commences with the first rain in June. Monsoon rains are expected to bring wetter days ahead with possible flooding in some parts of the country. With this, I just hope that heaven pours down just enough rain, not too much and not too little, enough to keep our plants nourished, thriving, and full of life.

Thanks for taking the time to read my mid-year garden journal. I actually waited for the June rain to fall before I wrote my second Journal after the bountiful harvest last month, before the scorching weather killed some of our plants. I hope to read yours as I roam around in this lovely community.

(I hereby attest that this article is made by me without any aid of AI or grammar editing apps and the photos attached are mine; that I fully understand and adhere to Hive policies and guidelines in posting; and that I won’t be violating any of these rules for my future posts.)