Got an earlier start

 I set my alarm for 8 and despite waking up a few times managed to get out of bed before 9. This is important because it is going to get over 100 today as it did yesterday. The problem with getting out in the evening that I mentioned is with the heat right now, the temperature isn't 'reasonable' until after dark. Hence getting up earlier to get out before it's too unreasonable. It was 80 in the shade at 9 am this morning. Despite the heat I didn't water but I did pull the sunflower up.

You can see I even had the hose prepped and ready to water then saw the color of the soil and remembered I just watered yesterday. Again, very limited roots for that size plant. I initially broke it up and tossed in the corner then realized my other plants were nearby and grabbed one of the mulch bags and bagged it up. You can see how dark the soil is where I pulled it up. I shook off a good portion of the soil because soil is needed, even if nothing else is going to grow in there at the moment.

I tried to take a picture of a flying insect that is on the stake in the lower left picture. Fail. Not sure if it's a leafminer fly or something else, oh well. Still no fruit on the pepper plant or the cucumber. But there are flowers on the beans! 

I decided to pull the two bean plants in the back and of course the one that was getting attacked by the cucumber had a flower on it!  Luckily the bean in front has flowers too!

I think they need some extra food because they should be much bigger than that by now. With the mulch I have to sweep that away and apply the dry fertilizer on the soil, scratch it around and then water it in. This time of year it's better and easier to use a liquid fertilizer (if you have the right tools and accessories). It waters and feeds at the same time so two tasks in one action. There is a watering can in the corner by the chair but not going to try and mess with that at this point. Besides it's best to sweep the mulch back even using liquid so the mulch doesn't absorb what you're putting down.

So if  I do get out this evening I'll try and remember the fertilizer if not will try tomorrow morning. 

We have a few fires in the area that started day before yesterday so the sky is a bit hazy brown. Not conducive to clear summer skies and even the wind is being lackluster today. Nothing wants to move and it feels like we're under increasing pressure that we know release is at the end in a few days but we won't get any relief truly for another two months.

The more the climate changes and heat lasts longer and goes further north, it's going to get to the point of living in Canada pretty soon is the only option. But then there's snow. I understand the migratory habits of large mobile domiciles even more now.