It's been three days, 🐟🌶!

 There is quite a bit of wind today. If you've been gardening or an outdoors person like me for a long time, you know the difference between a regular daily wind and something unusual. Around noon it was very blustery but coming from the west I think. High blustery clouds but not a speck of cool breeze anywhere. It almost felt like it would drizzle a bit, you know that kind of summer drizzle that never hits the ground.

 

Evening moon from three days ago. Just a sliver of a moon and wonderful temperature to just wander around after being closed up all day. 

Yes indeed it looks like she is pollinated! Still growing and filling out luckily and am checking twice a day because that's what squash do. I am trying to keep the fruit off the ground but it isn't budging. that stem is very stiff and I can't even move that leaf stem under it. Wish I had some straw mulch.

Even the dang tomatoes and peppers are putting buds out! They are all much too young to be reproducing so I had to pinch off the buds. Both peppers and both tomatoes. Must be the fertilizer I swear. Oh and that huge leaf of the squash is hiding something very small.

It's officially a Fish Pepper! I'm so happy! It was too young to really tell before but the last week as it's matured it is showing the variegation on the leaves more. I just hope it can survive long enough and compete with that huge squash shading it most of the time. IT'S A FISH PEPPER!

Almost every bud coming out is a female! Those two are next then there's two or three tiny ones growing in the middle behind them. The males can't seem to keep up with them so I'm hoping to save some pollen from the ones that just finished blooming for those to females.

Something is nibbling on the tomatoes now. I couldn't see anything of course but kind of rubbed my fingers on most of the leaves in case there was something hiding. And the tomatillos, growing like crazy with fruit at every junction possible. That's going to be ripening in about a month before I have any tomatoes or peppers. Everything is loving the hot weather though and I'm getting out and watering about every other day. I had to take a stick and poke 'chimney holes' into the soil around the strawberry. It was showing signs of soggy soil on the bottom leaves. I hope that helps it deep in the pot. All the holes were just fine when I checked, soil right to the bottom of the pot.  The lone berry is forming just fine and I hope that whatever ate the last one doesn't find this one too.

Yesterday and today. It's all sunny now after 3pm but still very hazy. I swear that west bed is going to get completely dug up at the end of the season and I will try and spring for more soil and hopefully a border edging or some sort. Not gonna happen of course knowing my finances but I can always hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was walking Rocky and went past this bougainvillea on the corner of the building. I stopped, looked at it again and then had to take pictures. It's a freaking tomato plant!!! What thee heck!? May not survive being in the shade and who knows if the gardeners might decide it's a weed. Most likely a cherry tomato but where the heck would the seed have come from? No one other than dolores has tomatoes and hers haven't had fruit for a week or so. Persistence of nature for sure.

Speaking of Dolores, that is the state of her tomatoes right now. A few days ago I saw that they had both turned brown, no idea why but thought for sure they were goners. Well she's holding out hope and has one spindly branch growing. I saw her today and told her that since her other two died I had two roma type tomatoes to replace them. She didn't quite understand because in her mind, she still has tomatoes, she didn't think they were 'dead'. I told her I would put two of them in front of her pots for her. She had groceries to put away so wasn't going to stop and talk for long. So here's hoping she pulls the old ones (the one in the left pot has mint and thyme and something else growing in the pot. Not good) and plants the new ones.

Status of the garden today. I almost brought down some onion seeds to toss around but double checked the planting time and it is most definitely not the right time of year for them. Will wait for the fall even though the package says January to April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm just over the moon about that tiny pepper plant being a fish pepper. Only survivor and will be the last one to fruit for sure. I kept trying to angle the squash plant away from it but then the bigger plant would be pushing on the other pepper on the right. I considered cutting off that front leaf but decided to just kind of tilt and nudge the plant a bit. The pepper gets enough sun to survive and with some fertilizer and me checking on everything twice a day, it should grow up big and strong.