Yay for friends and it's still hot.

It's only supposed to be 86 today but we have the AC on already. Sure there's a good wind outside but it's likely not a very cool one and would only be moving the hot air around. So noise and cool air again today.

Yay for friends? I was able to do a grocery exchange with a friend who had an extra bag of tomato and veg fertilizer for me.

And when I went out to feed last night the first ripe tomato (I don't count the other two) came off in my hand easily. There are two more ready to go in an other week. 

And another one as well. They're all coming together and we just got a bunch of tomatoes from the local food pantry as well. No worries about them going bad for sure.

 

I watered this morning to get the fertilizer wet and worked in. The mulch is working as expected and keeping the soil nice and moist. I won't likely water that corner or the north bed for a couple of days. Next time I see someone with a chip drop locally they need to share I'll go check it out.

Just a reference shot of the north bed and the sunflower is plumping up the flower bud. This bed by far is the saddest one. Those zinnias even got some fertilizer along with everything else, just moved the mulch aside and side dressed the cucumbers and flowers and spread as much as I could back.

 

More tomatoes coloring up so it has begun as they say. But this is what it's all about, the worry, the watering and feeding... it comes down to harvest time.

Just some reference photos for how bit these bushes really are. I could technically have just one tomato on that trellis but could fit two next time. Stakes will be for supporting something else but not tomatoes.

I wrestled and wrangled and shifted the cage, tried to use an aloe flower stem as second support and almost gave up. Finally just shifted a bit more and the center tomato is standing more upright again. Then realized it was almost shading the zinnias but they'll be okay.  The tomato off the vine went under the knife with lunch today. Sure there are other tomatoes in the fridge that were older but this was mine. It was still slightly green under the skin on one side but couldn't tell in the tuna sandwich I made.

I told my sweetie we have more than enough tomatoes for him to have his favorite snack any time. Given how fast the bushes are ripening we'll have a constant supply for a bit. Still mulling over planting for fall/winter. Not much of a variety but if I can keep the garden going year round it'll be great. I'm glad I finally started using that mulch, wish I had thought of it sooner but it's needed now and am glad I have it.

Fall coming up means the trees will be dropping their leaves soon which means more mulch. I still have the compost I made which I hope to stir up again tonight. I have another container of scraps from the kitchen to put in the other bucket now and hope to toss that a bit as well. It's just too hot still to do any serious garden work and by the time it cools down it's almost too dark to do anything that would take long. Will see what I can do tonight with the compost.

Oh more lizard sightings as well. There's one that lives in the planter downstairs, Rocky has seen it twice and it scurries up the wall and onto the window screen of an apartment. When I watered this morning there was one on the log pile that I startled who scurried for cover under the logs. I really hate to disturb that habitat but want to expand garden space. Especially with a new gardener now. She has more space than I do in containers so really thinking hard about giving her that end bad if I don't have anything else to use other than the crate.

I looked at the corner of the garden and made a list of things that would need to be done. The logs moved, compost buckets moved, the tomato cages (tossed in the trash really). All the weeds scraped... in the winter time that corner gets little to no direct sun so it's a good spot for things that need to be stored. The log pile though is perfect for more growing space but gophers have been in there and of course the lizards. 

Many decisions on space use and what to do.