Not going to be as hot today, it's comfortable in the shade. Unfortunately none of the garden is in shade so i got out before I took my shower. Very nice breeze almost windy which is also good and makes for better weather for walking later today.
Blurry pictures, sorry. As I got to the garden last night I saw him skitter across to the tree. Picture on the left is from one side, the other is walking around to see the full body. Blends in completely with the tree bark. Hello Meester Leezard!
I think there's new leaves coming out. I hope there is. They are staying nice and moist in that shady spot and when they get grown enough I'll be putting them at the front of the west bed.
Not the sad news yet but I have been so focused on the cucumbers I was oblivious to all the holes in the tomatoes. Geez looeez!
Then discovered five of the little worms as I searched diligently. I only had one hornworm but these little buggers are the ones that did most of the damage.
Biggest one I found at the tip of my thumb and tiniest one. I tossed one before I started taking pictures of them so yes, there were five between the trellis and the front tomatoes. There is also concerning spots that remind me of spider mite or thrip damage.
Needless to say I remember the disaster from last year letting my tomato bush stay in the ground and ended up infested with mites. Not happening this year.
If the lighting seems a bit subdued in that top picture of the garden it's because there were patchy thin clouds to the east and I caught it just when one got in front of the sun. Otherwise, it was blindingly clear and bright sun. The zinnias are still hanging in there, likely one to bloom this weekend or next week at the latest.
The two females on the left runner still have not opened, I did find another one though and pollinated the heck out of it. The other fruit are full size but not filled out still and am getting worried that I'll end up with dry and hollow fruit at this point. I watered as well as I could but that hose needs to be mended now. Pressure is higher coming out of the break than the nozzle.
Still not the sad news but I decided to trim 'some' of the tomatoes back. Well like any well meaning person who tries to give a hair cut. Eventually you end up with a lot less than you planned.
First pass up above and what I ended up with. I did cut off some tomatoes but at this point, it's end of the season for them anyway. The one that was cut down to nubs in the front is going to be yanked out tonight hopefully.
I forgot my bag because I didn't intend to cut this much. I just kicked it closer to the bag of soil and will bag it up tonight when I go out. The compost needs that bag over it to keep the stench and flies out.
I left another bigger squished tomato out for the pill bugs and it seems to be working. Not as much damage on the cucumbers and a good bit of munching happening on the tomato. I also trimmed back the south bed tomato just a little.
Dolores' garden is looking nice. I need to get the rest of my onions down there with the other three. I almost tossed some cilantro seeds out then realized I needed to wait for the tomato to go and the onions to come in.
Now for the sad news. I have mentioned Gro-Power fertilizer as being, what I consider, one of the best all purpose fertilizers on the market. It was our best selling fertilizer in the nursery as long as I could remember and we were never out of it on the shelves or the pallets on the floor. Well, I got the WAN newsletter for September and apparently the owner and CEO passed away suddenly and it is the decision of the company to stop production after the August 25 orders are filled. It was a California basedproduct from the start, operating out of Chino so it's not like a huge conglomerate company owned by someone overseas.
This is incredibly heart rending to hear. I don't have the money to stock up on it unfortunately and I doubt the nursery has the money to buy not just back stock but try to keep it on the market. It is a nationwide product that started decades ago and there wasn't anything on the market like it. Very sad to see such a great product fall off the market without anything to replace it. I already posted on the garden group about it so word gets out to the people that use it.
I am hoping I can get some with the next check but it's only sold in independent nurseries so would have to find the closest one to me. I remember the smaller bag used to be about $20 but doubt it's that price now.
Just really not happy about this and can only hope someone on the market figures out a replacement for it that's just as good.
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