Again, not much happening.

 Still have windows and door open but will be closing up soon. Despite watering yesterday I checked the soil in the west bed and it was dry in several spot. I  must not have watered well enough and the mulch is not covering 100%.  So watering tonight for sure and debating on whether to cut the sunflower to take in or leave it just leaning on the tomato cage.

Last night harvested five more tomatoes, found another one after I took the picture and then collected all the ones I've picked over the past two weeks on the counter.

 

Now, some of them are not completely ripe as you can see but that is an amazing number of tomatoes from five or six bushes. I have seven bushes but one or two are not producing like the others. 

 

I pulled three of the zinnias that looked bad, three are left and not the biggest ones. Just going to pull the others as well because it's not worth it. They should be big and blooming by now not just starting out.

The cucumbers are trying to latch onto the tomato at the back. I don't have a stake for them to climb so it may end up being the trellis for that one. Or see if I can find someone with a spare pole to put in there. The front tomatoes aren't stable on their own, if I pull the stakes out they'll be all over the place. They aren't very expensive so will see what I can do about getting those or a cage. Someone on the gardener exchange group had ten 42" cages like the ones I have in the west bed but they were way up the coast.

At this point just waiting for the next crop of tomatoes to ripen, likely by the end of the weekend and into next week. I will try and get seeds started for everything earlier for next season, the issue is, where to put them, and by that I mean the seedling trays while they're growing. I have small trays from various vegetables I can put the peat pellets in and six large '4 inch' size containers from some cereal cups we got. Still have the clear cups I used for the tomatoes but again...what to plant and when.

At this rate I won't be able to plant in the ground for another two months at the least. It may only take a week or two for seeds to sprout and then  where to keep them since it's still going to be ragingly hot for the next month. Or two. 

This made me think the other day about climate change and planting gardens and food supply in general. If the weather continues to shift warmer during the winter, growing cool season crops is going to be more and more difficult. Instead of hot houses we'll end up with cool houses for things like lettuce, cole crops, all the cool season things. I'm sure that's already a thing since we have lettuces and carrots and radishes and all of that in stores already. The picture that comes to mind is in the old Frosty The Snowman cartoon where they found a poinsettia greenhouse in the middle of a huge snowy field. Ludicrous in reality don't get me started. But places that grow cooler crops will disappear if water and weather continue on the path of being decimated. 

I've noticed for the past ten years that the weather patterns in my area (and elsewhere) has shifted consistently so that really cold weather doesn't start until almost November or December and is shorter duration ending in February and March. If we're lucky we'll see cool weather in April and May but for the most part, last frost is in December or January. This means that winter crops start earlier and end earlier, with warms season going for close to 6 months or more. Sweet Peas traditionally are planted in October to bloom by December, I think it's still going to be too warm for that to happen on time.

Climate change is real and it is affecting everything down the line to us small home gardeners. Ten years ago Washington state had snow on the ground in the sound and on the coast twice or three times. This year, nothing and summers are becoming hotter.  At this rate I'll have to move further north and deal with winter snow in order to have summers tolerable.

Climate rant done, not much happening in the garden and the weather goes on.