Early start today because....it's haht.

 Hardly a breeze out there to move the trees, clear blue sky and the neighborhood is eerily quiet for a Saturday morning. I think I got sunburn on my neck the other day and got heat rash as well. Another hot sticky day and will be buttoning up before we make one more trip to the store.

The sky is blue but not that blue. Just had to show the rare occurrence of a cloudless sky considering it's still morning.

Got a picture of 'Stumpy' the lizard scurrying up a tree on my walk this morning which Rocky totally missed. Then on our way back to the apartment he honed in on something behind the pipes. This is after a tiny baby lizard scooted around the middle pipe and ducked into the insulation. So there are lizard hatchings, just wish they would come to my garden.

Because everything was going good, the mulch did it's thing and barely had to water the north bed but of course the fence bed needed to be hit. As I was watering the south bed I noticed things hopping.

Remember that grasshopper that I let live?

Grasshopper nymphs. A lot of them, no more than maybe a quarter inch long. You know why she laid eggs and was hanging around? They lay their eggs in the dirt of undisturbed areas. What area is the most undisturbed?

 Yup. The one that doesn't weed, puts random plant cuttings and seeds in her plots and lets everything go wild. See the holes in the leaf? Technically grasshoppers eat the edges of leaves because of their anatomy but these little boogers could eat that.

I can't do a darn thing about it either. Hoping they continue to munch on allll her greenery and move on by the time my plants are up and growing. Even if I had killed/chased off that hopper she may well have laid her eggs already and it wouldn't have changed anything. Sigh. Heeerreee leezard leezard leeezard!

 So anyway, seems the sunflowers are busting out first and still waiting on the beans. Those flowers will be up and blooming by the time the beans are even half grown at this rate. Cucumber might be the one coming up in the south bed but given the leaf it's likely a sunflower. Could swear I put cucumbers there. Whatever comes up will be watched with a hawk eye on pests for sure. 

So that bed got a more soaking watering than the other beds. At this time of year, with my soil and exposure watering every day is a must. That fence bed sure could use some actual mulch though. Keep the soil cool and shaded, give the seeds a chance to come up.

Sigh. Dirt gardening.