I done did it and worked a little of the bed.

 I dug up the pepper plant finally. It's supposed to get very warm, at least 90 today but for now the air is cool unless you're in the sun. 

Mostly shallow roots except for one or two thicker ones running off to the side. This is an indication of a few things. Hard soil, or low nutrient soil (check) and infrequent watering (check). There should have been more thick roots going in all directions. In the process of taking a picture of the bean plant, I think I broke it. It had mud spatters on it so I kind of slapped it a bit hard to shake off the mud.

Kind of hard to tell from the second picture (The layout in edit is different so for me the second picture turns out to be the first picture when others see it) but that's the undersides of the leaves as it's leaning over. Sigh. I found a small twig and propped it up, hopefully that will suffice. I watered thoroughly and it got sprayed so had to prop it up again.

Oh and I threw the pepper plant on the compost pile then had second thoughts. Considering it is in the shade all the time now it's not decomposing as quickly. Large diameter sticks and twigs do not break down fast so I ended up cutting all but the main stems into finger long bits and tossing the stump in the trash.

Sizable pile of greens there, might have to take a cultivator and shovel to it. Found a small tomato that had ripened and picked that to put on the table as well. Yes those are still tomato cages in the corner, keeps the cats from doing stuff in the corner. Can't believe what this garden smelled like when I discovered it six months ago.

Oh something else I discovered cutting up the pepper plant is something that I suspected seeing fly around. Whitefly.

Standard 'greenhouse' whitefly not the more obnoxious tropical giant whitefly. I rubbed what leaves I could see it on to keep them from propagating too badly. One thing to look for is yellow patches on the surface of the leaf so if you see that and turn the leaf over, you might see these.

Oh and for continuity sake from the start of this project I take pictures of the bed from approximately the same position to hopefully make a montage sometime.

Angle of the sun is rather pronounced as well as it being thoroughly soaked. That was about 10:30 am and shows very dramatically how far the sun has dipped. Three months ago that would have been in full on blazing sun. Still trying to figure out what to put in the other bed. Cilantro and other greens for sure just have to get more soil and nutrients.

The weather will continue to warm and cool for the next month or so, like it does this time of year. I think this weekend will be the last hurrah for extreme temperatures. Right now it is clear, no wind to speak of and warm in the sun but cool in the shade. Likely about ten degree difference between inside and outside right now. We'll be back home after lunch before it gets too hot and settle in for the day. Oh, another photo of a painting just because.