Garden is very sad and very hot

 It's been hard to get out to the garden before the heat of the day and Thursday was no exception. I had a doctor appointment at 10 am and then we went shopping so  I didn't get out to the garden until 2 way after it was much too hot to do anything other than water.

 Screenshot of today's weather at almost 2pm. It got to 90 around noon. It will be in the mid to high 90's for most of the weekend and all the way to Wednesday this week. Miserable.

 

 

 

 

 

 Almost thought I had lost him, but he was hanging out on the same branch, just under a leaf with his abdomen curled up. Moving around is good, that means active hunting is going on.

I don't think the tomatillos are producing any pollen at all. I've been taking flowers and rubbing them against each other but don't see any evidence of dust. I think there's some peppers forming in the raised bed at least. And I am very worried about that larger bush the mantis is hanging out on.

It could just be getting cooked against that wall and the bed drying out. No mulch and poor soil, what can you expect? Some of the leaves and branches are turning brown even so it's a worry. But the other smaller bush is fine so far.  I might have to start this again in the fall, like November and see if they do better then. 

Things were very wilted when I got out there today. There are at least three, possibly four squash I'll be able to harvest soon. That one standing up isn't open yet, and there's a male flower that just bloomed, so will hope I can time it right. The soil around that back corner where the tomato and onion are is eroding away. That makes the soil very hot and dry very quickly so I tried to shift some of the soil over from the opposite corner but it just gets washed away.

Animals came through again and stirred up the dirt on Monday or Tuesday. So far not an issue, they aren't finding much and move on. Nothing disturbed since Wednesday at least. 

Bright spot in the complex, the azalea between our building and another is blooming. I am thinking it is one of the Encore varieties. It is way out of season for typical azaleas to bloom and this one is going through sporadic sections of bloom.

 

 

This is a better shot of the yellowing on the tomatillo and it's only one branch that's doing it. I'm wondering if it's borer/insect damage of some sort because the rest of the bush is fine and so is the one on the right. Little Friend is still hanging out, hard to get a good contrast shot with it being similar color to the brick wall.

Not a whole lot else going on out there, plants are blooming, I do believe the peppers are at least putting fruit out, the squash is still putting out more fruit than male flowers, tomatoes have flowers but unknown if they are forming fruit yet.  Still nothing from the tomatillos. If nothing happens in the next month, I will be pulling them out. I'll transfer the little mantis elsewhere of course, maybe onto the tomatoes. Will see how things play out after this heat bubble finishes up by next weekend. Hopefully. It's August and typically is the hottest month of summer for us edging into September as well.

I don't remember it being so miserably hot when I was in school. I remember one or two days in grade school when it was hot as well as having a smog alert so we stayed in the classroom for recess and played games. Made accordion fold fans for ourselves because there was no AC or even electric fans. I was there in the mid to late 60's . Anyway, all this is to say that the weather certainly has changed in 60 years. 

Still want to move north.