Weather really isn't that warm, but it is.

 Because of the box we live in we have now shut everything up at noon to keep it comfortable inside. It felt like blazingly hot outside in the garden but, in fact it was only 84. Still hot enough to bake the soil and make plants wilt a bit. Clear blue skies with no clouds in sight, perfect for fireworks and picnics in the shade. 

 

The caterpillar was nowhere to be seen in the evening only the dried leaf where it had been found. The leaf was completely desiccated but the caterpillar was gone. I can only imagine it had crawled to the ground to look for food and shade. It is far enough away it would get to the point of pupating before it got back to the garden if it had a sense of direction at all.

 

I pulled out the slug trap, it wasn't catching anything else in the north bed and filled the hole, keeping the piece of bark there. The seedlings are all doing okay but the zinnias are very slow to grow. I noticed the soil was still dark under the surface but due to the extreme heat, I decided to water anyway to cool things down and make sure the seedlings didn't completely shrivel.

Still itching to plant something on the trellis but there's the danger of being eaten and I'm not going to risk moving that cucumber again. Beans would do well as long as they grow fast enough but how many beans am I going to eat?

Just so looking forward to all the tomatoes! Last tomato I grew I thought one bush would be enough to keep me in tomatoes... well that failed miserably so I doubled down and not only planted a determinate variety but a bumper crop producer.

The one zinnia seedling on the left was rather leggy and rather than trying to push down around it I moves some soil closer to it for support. I don't dare not cover them because I think I saw slug trails nearby so will have to find a larger clear container to protect them all overnight. I don't have plastic baggies or sticks enough to do that, I do have one of those blue lid plastic containers I got from the community table that might be big enough. I am reluctant to cut into it though since it is a perfectly good container. Will keep looking. 

 

Same bushes. Someone decided erroneously that July you are supposed to completely strip the rose bushes. THAT'S NOT WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE! ::steam blowing out my ears and face turning red::

You are supposed to prune lightly and trim sparingly not completely reset their clock! Thiis makes me soooo livid I could spit nails. They were fine a day or two before, I know, I looked at them and thought they might need some midseason pruning.

They will survive but this is like doing construction wrong way round in front of a professional contractor. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same lady that completely annihilated the hibiscus and lantana. 

Just .... I don't know.... so frustrating not being able to inform people anymore and frankly it wouldn't do any good because I'm dealing with people older than me that don't think I know what I'm talking about.

Gee, sounds a lot like retail gardening.