I should have watered last night

 Still on a heat wave with dry wind so the plants and soil were not looking very good this morning.

The front right pepper was leaning a bit and I'm hoping it was just due to the heat but the root crown seemed a bit loose. I'm afraid the gopher may  have gotten to it and I noticed some flowers on it already. I watered really well and can't afford to get any soil right now. I forgot to put pieces of bark under the bocket wiht the pepper thinking the water would just absorb into the ground. Then I remembered many years of telling customers to never sit your pot on a flat surface because it would block the drainage holes. So will be using either bark pieces or logs to prop it up. 

The soil may drain well but not in a plastic bucket. I am feeling like to total gardener failure at this point. There's dirt to grow in but this year is a total disaster and without money to fix it properly, it's going to continue to be a disaster.

I've got to save my money for going to ComiCon in two weeks as well as for all my other bills. Will see what can be spared if any. 

those buckets are hideous and if I could wrap them in something like wood or burlap it wouldn't be so bad. Just so tempted to yank everything and wait for a couple of months for it to get cooler. Without mulch or decent soil this is like dirt farming in the 1800's in the middle of Kansas with no livestock for manure.

At least I found a couple of cool rocks.