Annnd, it was hot....

 Two days of 90+ degrees during the day, you bet we had to crank the AC on and close up by 11 am. It is now overcast and in the 70's supposed to be lower than that by Saturday.  Seriously, Mother Nature had a hot flash.

A picture that doesn't show much but when you couple it with what I just said, you can feel this picture. The hills were green for about a week or two and now.... not as green.

 

First leezard sighting of the season. Rocky saw it first and I had to look carefully because I was on the left but finally saw the little head peeking around the corner. I want to see it was about three or four inches nose to tail tip. I water the logs every time I get the hose out still.

 

This was before I watered during day one of the heat flash, lettuces are visibly wilty and not happy at all. I didn't get out yesterday being day two and though it wasn't as  hot, just didn't want to get out in it.

 

Other two beds still looking okay, I decided to try for bell peppers again and will see if they survive. Probably about seven or eight seeds in the trench, hoping they sprout well but if not I am definitely going to have to look into a small greenhouse tray and start them way earlier out on the porch next year. Someone in the garden group already has full grown serranos with fruit on them and I was so envious.

The lettuces were not happy at all with the heat and I ended up pulling that smallest one since it had burned edges on the leaves. I'm rooting for that itty bitty tiny lettuce in the middle that's still trying to grow.  The tomatoes are flowering and it's perfect timing actually, they're the right size and are crazy healthy. Wish I could use straw or something as a mulch for that bed, it looks so dry all the time (other than after I water) but I dig my finger in and it's still moist less than an inch down.

 

I used the grey hose and the milk jug for watering because I didn't have the energy to get my hose out. I watered where the pepper seeds were and then filled the bottle up a few more times to water the lettuces and peppers. That little lettuce was not worth keeping. That squash has an odd wrinkled leaf, so waiting for more leaves before determining what the heck it is.

 

 When I got the milk jug from behind the crate I noticed the dirt in that corner looked very loose. Almost as if it had been dug up a day or two ago. Gophers .... hope the wire and logs under the raised bed is enough to stop them for now. The West bed got some water as that always dries out fast. Cilantro of course is going gangbusters but it's late in the season for them, the rogue one is flowering and as I was looking at the tomatoes before this picture a butterfly flitted around... a Monarch! Yay! I apologized to it for not having flowers right now, the oregano is still a few weeks away from flowers but there is the cilantro. The garlic is still hanging in there but not holding out for any cloves or a bulb on them. It was an experiment and if they're a success it's a fluke if not, whatever.

Hard to say what will happen gardening is always a gamble with the vagaries of winter and budget determining what will or will not grow. Now that I know about that compost being on sal in the spring I hope there will be a repeat next year. Don't know what's going to happen in the next few weeks let alone a year.