Still hot,

...but 'only' a few degrees cooler than yesterday as it's only 91 right now at 1:20 and that's as hot as it's going to get. We had to close up early due to a structure fire somewhere in the neighborhood that was blowing smoke in our direction. Haven't been out to the garden yet today, will postpone to the evening so here's photos from last yesterday.

 Crepe Myrtles are in full bloom right now. This one is on my school neighborhood walk, there's another behind that with just as many flowers. That many and there was a slight fragrance detected, it's not known for scent but it was nice.

 

Manny was still hanging out on the same branch but a bit 'spread eagle' between the leaves and stem. Hoping by the time I have to take the plants down Manny finds somewhere else to live. I might have to help him relocate.

I saw the tiny black ants going up and down the lemon branch to a particularly attacked tip. Turned it over and there's the reason. Tiny black aphids. The little ants were all in a dither when I moved the leaves around and then the soft stem snapped so it ave me a better angle for pictures. Lots of activity on that branch, I think there's even a tiny orange aphid or an egg of something on the leaf stem in the right picture.

One poblano down sadly. Looks like it got sunburned somehow so I cut it off and cracked it open. It smelled spicy so I'm wondering if these are even going to get full size at this rate.

The tomatoes are coming along nicely, lots of flowers have set fruit, a few have not and drop off but these hopefully will be my fall bounty in another month. Still have the two smaller plants that are barely big enough to flower but will see what happens.

In the evening vs morning about 8 hours apart on the same day. Lighting and shade make all the difference in the world. If I had not watered they would be totally toasted, and another testament to the difference between heat stress and lack of water. Yes they're wilting and I knew the soil was completely baked dry. If I had watered early  morning and came out to that later I would not have watered knowing there was enough moisture in the soil for them and they were just not able to pull it up due to the heat.

The potato is definitely yellowing but I am not holding my breath for any spuds when I pull it up. Still hoping for wood or edging of some sort to make that bed taller for next year. I wonder...nah, I know I won't have the money for the cinderblock corners and boards. The corners alone for a double high stack would be $35 and about $25 for the wood. Not including short pieces of rebar to stabilize the corners. So about $70 for a DIY frame. 

That amount of work is not so bad, but then I would have to dig out the soil and remove as much as possible, fold back/cut and rearrange the chicken wire so the boards and corners would fit. It's just not a good spot to do that. 

Time to start dreaming again of my own home and garden area.