Same weather, different day.

Going to be blistering for the next few days so we're already closed up before noon. I got out and watered last night (evening) and checked on things.  Nothing new, but as I was watering the north bed, the bean plant caught my eye. It looked like it had a flower!

After watering I got down and double checked, nope it was the edge of a leaf that got damaged. I was standing there for a good minute thinking, 'you little bastard if you got a flower before the older ones did....'

So this morning went out to just check and good thing I did. Gophers making mounds, luckily not in my beds but dangerously close to the south bed.

The beans are looking good but now that I've seen the mounds I'm suffering from anxticipataion again. I didn't put any netting along the wall which is where they came from before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Examining the cucumber for any signs of fruiting and I discovered aphids first on some of the buds further down, then tiny sugar ants further up. They aren't the bigger ants that can invade your kitchen, these are tinier and I actually saw some in the kitchen window. Well if there is a chance of pollination I'm all for it. Even the aphids were smaller than usual, but this is summer and bigger ones come out in the spring. ::knockonwood:: No cucumber beetles at least. 

Not pictured is the one branch that was running along the ground, had to turn it so it curved along the netting border rather than running out over open ground. Because my luck a gopher or some other animal would find it.

 It is just way too soon and too hot to put the raised bed together. Waiting another month when it starts (hopefully) to cool down again. And by month I mean end of September into October, because we've had hot weather that time of year before and more frequently now.

I remember when it got cooler in the fall or at least it seemed like it. September and October it actually rained sometimes. I think it rained once on Halloween but it was not a heavy rain. Actually when I was a kid living further north near Pasadena I remember it being almost cold in the evening before going trick or treating.

I know I've whined about this before but I'd like to live somewhere that I can actually plan on cool weather in October and November. At this point I would even put up with 'some' snow because that would actually give me more to do in the garden the rest of the year. I have been remarking for a few years now to anyone that will listen that the weather patterns are shifting such that winter, for us at least, is shifting to start in December and running to February. We get very little spring type weather and it's a very short season that runs right into summer that starts in June (sometimes May) and runs to October or November.

 So as far as my garden is going, in a holding pattern though I am tempted to pull the peppers since they aren't producing and it's kind of useless. The dirt that's in the bucket I'll use in the fence bed as part of the base for the new raised bed (since that's where I got the dirt from anyway). Might do that tonight. Have to figure out what to do with the buckets since they have holes in the bottoms.