No more plants down

 I am really getting tired of the heat and being closed up all day. The plants don't like it either despite the soil being nice and evenly moist they are wilting from the heat.

I can't spray for bugs that is needed, don't want to water and risk keeping it too wet. Although I must say the fertilizer is working on the pepper, as bad as it looks, it's very green compared to what it was a few weeks ago.

I decided to pull the two small and pathetic sunflowers and discovered why they were failing. Look at the roots. Nothing there. Not being chewed, just not sufficient growth due to where they were. They were also being mercilessly sucked on by the bugs.

My only shining hope in the garden are these plants and only because they are still growing and flowering. They have bug issues too but nearly as bad as the sunflower. 

As I was taking pictures a small Cabbage White butterfly was flitting around the cucumber trying to find flowers to feed on. Only ones it could choose were at the base but yay butterfly pollinating!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wouldn't settle for very long unfortunately so unless I took video it's hard to see. I was watching also to make sure if it was female to not lay any eggs on the leaves. She was going just to the flowers which is another good reason to remove some of the leaves for pollinator access.  More flowers would be helpful but would have to put them in a pot which means would have to buy soil, pot and plant. Well maybe not pot if I wanted to reuse the window box that's still there. Soil and plant, not going to put that ugly dirt in a window box for flowers. So it's not going to happen.

I keep trying to get out in the evening but get caught up in something on the computer and next thing I know it's dark outside.

I let my honey know that after this season I'm done in the garden. It really isn't worth the effort to try and supplement our vegetables when all I can get is this or nothing at all when the gopher gets it first.

The rest of the peppers on that plant won't likely get much bigger with this heat. I mulched, I fed, I watered and it's just not worth the effort at this point. Without money to get what I need it's never going to be a thriving garden.

If it weren't for the gopher taking almost all my plants, it might be a different story. Might.