It's suddenly summer and ramblings

 It has now peaked at 97 where I am at 3:15 pm. I didn't get a chance to get out and water this morning and it will have to wait until the evening. I expect everything will be wilted and overheated. The romaine, probably toast, tomato likely will be falling over as well as the carrots. I suspect the only plant that isn't going to be stressed is the oregano that basically shades it's own roots.  Good thing I didn't transplant the tomato seedling(s). It's also quite breezy right now which is an even worse combination with heat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't a reasonable temperature until around 6 and sunset time. I chanced it and went out around 5:30 and survived. The roses certainly got blasted by the heat the last two days, especially that bicolor one, edges totally ruined. The 'Tiffany' was a little better off but still fully open and the older petals showed some damage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bees were buzzing in the Indian Hawthorns that are in full bloom now as well as that Azalea. They were obviously preferring the pink flowers as usual. The jade bush is almost completely done, mostly brown flowers now so these bushes are their only choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before watering everything looked okay, nothing too wilted but then a light cloud cover moved in about an hour before I got outside. Carrots were just fine, potatoes and tomato were a bit loose and the romain was also showing signs of heat stress. 

 Cauliflower are coming along for sure. They aren't quite as yellow as the pictures show but definitely not bright white, which is how the variety is. Largest one is about the size of my palm and the tiniest one in front I had to dig for. 

After about twenty minutes of watering all three beds. Same problem as before, you think it's enough but the water is making a lake on the surface and only penetrating about half an inch. I had to go digging around and turning the soil to make sure everything got a good soaking. Oregano didn't care. Seriously, you want a tough edible ground cover, that's the ticket right there, Greek Oregano. The carrots were fine, still going to give them another week before pulling the larger ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato is just about a foot tall now, roughly, it should be a lot more full and green at that size. Had it gotten more fertilizer and water, sometimes they surprise me and catch up later on. There's enough room at the front (and soon on the side where the cauliflower are) to put in the peppers when they're ready. So far I have six for sure of unknown variety, possibly all of them are the same, but will put three of them in the raised bed and three in the west bed. If more come up in time I'll put two in the south bed at the front. Maybe. I saw Dolores the other day and she said she's giving up on the tomatoes and most of her garden space along the wall due to lack of energy and time. She likes her little hot chilis but that's about it.

Can barely see Rocky checking out the smells near the lizard log pile. He's got good camouflage that's for sure.

Still trying to decide what to put in the south bed. Two asparagus would have been great but not this year, It's an odd bed that gets full blasting sun for about four hours in the summer and absolutely full shade in the winter. So something that goes dormant in the winter would be perfect and can tolerate partial but hot sun in the summer. A perennial would be ideal as well. (Sounds like I'm asking for advice from the garden group). Maybe flowers? Dahlias? Would like something productive because If I want to grow flowers I want to see them more often. The sweet peas were great and very prolific but prone to mildew at the end and had to pull them out.

Artichoke and Asparagus are two that are top of the list so far that I'll eat. Other suggestions on google are tree collards, kale and 'walking' onions. Riiight. So it seems that asparagus is the only choice. Artichokes are prone to aphids and get huge, I would only grow one in that spot and don't trust it will do well later in the season. 

Asparagus also does not play well with others because of it's growth habit. Might be able to plant strawberries along the front border where it gets more sun longer. Need to find some good wire cutters and dig some of that chicken wire out of the front and sides. I really did not do well with that installation. I would need to get the shovel and dig that entire bed out to remove it and maybe reposition it at the back of the bed. That.... that is not in my energy level anymore. But might have to be if I want a functional area to work in. I put the wire about two inches in from the actual border so I've lost six inches in the sides and two inches in the front (the math doesn't sound like it works but given the curves and all). 

So if I could swing two asparagus crowns or maybe one, and then maybe four or five strawberries that would work.  More garden daydreaming.