lupinfarm said:
Ohhh man I wish we'd get some rain! We haven't had any real rain in about 2 weeks now and everything is just having such a hard time out there.
Lupinfarm, I think we've been told your location . . . Ontario, am I at all close?
gone 2 seed said:
. . . Is it to late to plant sweet peas and more broccoli? . . .
We really need location, location, location, I'm thinking. And hey, I'm probably just about the most
provincial gardener with more than a couple years experience around!! I've been involved in gardening over about 40 seasons and nearly all of them have been
right here within about 40 miles of where my gardens are now. One of my easiest TEG mistakes is assuming that everyone has about the same growing conditions as I do - wrong! Gardening, even more so than politics, is local. But, I tell you every time I post, about where I am . . .
Sweet peas seem to me to be about the most effected pea by hot dry weather. That's the kind we get here beginning in late June or early July. (We are talking about the ornamental peas here, right?) Whether they are fully mature and flowering by then or not - the sweet peas will get
toasted quickly. Mildew and aphids will already be weakening them and they will not stand the onslaught.
All peas will have this problem to one extent or another.
However, I have learned in the past 2 season that I can plant snow peas during the last week of July (usually the hottest week of the year around here

) and have a little crop of pea pods as we move into the late September frosts.
Broccoli? We are talking about setting out plants now, right? that's another one that can take a beating from the aphids - but they can take the "cure" better than sweet peas. A strong jet of water in the afternoon followed by insecticidal soap along about sundown - you've done what you can for the broccoli and probably "done in" the aphids. Big, sturdy plants, they can do fairly well right into the hot, dry season.
. . . hope that helps.
Steve