Another one down, another tunnel plugged

 Weather continues the same, the garden... I had a dream that another marigold would be gone and remember yelling and trying to pull it away from a gopher. 

 

 It wasn't completely eaten but enough of the roots were gone that it wouldn't have survived. ::insert many rude words:: Both tunnels are now blocked and I shoved the trowel into another soft spot. I also ran water in the new hole and sure enough it didn't fill up for at least a minute. I shoved that log in there and it only blocked it a little, made sure it was good and tight though.

Cucumber is starting to grow faster thankfully, watered everything really well and then planted cucumbers in the south bed. But, I noticed something when I went to do that.

 

 A seedling of something is coming up. Not sure if it's cucumber, bean or sunflower. Where the heck was that when I was digging things up? Either my memory is getting really bad and don't remember planting after I flooded it or it survived and came to the surface enough to sprout.

 Well, good things do happen oddly enough, you lose one another grows to take it's place.

 

 

 

I put in three or four cucumber seeds as evenly spaced as I could. I originally dropped three seeds but then used a stick to poke them in and hit one with a snap so I was going to hedge my bets and say I broke that seed and put another one in the same spot. If they both come up, one will either get moved or will keep them both there.

You think I would markup the photo at the time or put sticks or something to show where they are but nooooo, not that smart because it's hot and I'm in the sun and holding a hose that's spraying water and all that. Can hardly see my phone screen in the sun so I'm lucky to get good photos what I'm doing (and yes I have brightness all the way up, it's the glare).

Anyway, in other places around the complex, the tree is being taken care of and I found where the gopher was following the wall to the garden. I will not likely be here when that clump of trees gets big enough to be a problem. Not my plant, not my garden, not my problem.

We shall see how things develop, just wish there was an easier way of keeping those damn gophers from eating my plants.

Early start today because....it's haht.

 Hardly a breeze out there to move the trees, clear blue sky and the neighborhood is eerily quiet for a Saturday morning. I think I got sunburn on my neck the other day and got heat rash as well. Another hot sticky day and will be buttoning up before we make one more trip to the store.

The sky is blue but not that blue. Just had to show the rare occurrence of a cloudless sky considering it's still morning.

Got a picture of 'Stumpy' the lizard scurrying up a tree on my walk this morning which Rocky totally missed. Then on our way back to the apartment he honed in on something behind the pipes. This is after a tiny baby lizard scooted around the middle pipe and ducked into the insulation. So there are lizard hatchings, just wish they would come to my garden.

Because everything was going good, the mulch did it's thing and barely had to water the north bed but of course the fence bed needed to be hit. As I was watering the south bed I noticed things hopping.

Remember that grasshopper that I let live?

Grasshopper nymphs. A lot of them, no more than maybe a quarter inch long. You know why she laid eggs and was hanging around? They lay their eggs in the dirt of undisturbed areas. What area is the most undisturbed?

 Yup. The one that doesn't weed, puts random plant cuttings and seeds in her plots and lets everything go wild. See the holes in the leaf? Technically grasshoppers eat the edges of leaves because of their anatomy but these little boogers could eat that.

I can't do a darn thing about it either. Hoping they continue to munch on allll her greenery and move on by the time my plants are up and growing. Even if I had killed/chased off that hopper she may well have laid her eggs already and it wouldn't have changed anything. Sigh. Heeerreee leezard leezard leeezard!

 So anyway, seems the sunflowers are busting out first and still waiting on the beans. Those flowers will be up and blooming by the time the beans are even half grown at this rate. Cucumber might be the one coming up in the south bed but given the leaf it's likely a sunflower. Could swear I put cucumbers there. Whatever comes up will be watched with a hawk eye on pests for sure. 

So that bed got a more soaking watering than the other beds. At this time of year, with my soil and exposure watering every day is a must. That fence bed sure could use some actual mulch though. Keep the soil cool and shaded, give the seeds a chance to come up.

Sigh. Dirt gardening.

Way late start due to morning being boooked.

 Another day in the low 90's so before heading out at 9:30 this morning, we buttoned up and came home to comfortable temperatures inside. Hardly a breeze stirring these days making it very stifling outside on top of the heat.

Didn't get out to water until 1pm and was relieved to see the last marigold still there but dismayed there were digging signs.

Two dirt piles, one on either side of the border, I had noticed the one on the outside before but now... it's heading straight for the other marigold if not there already. It was too hot or I would have grabbed the shovel and dug it in on that side of the marigold and leave it there to delay the inevitable. There was also a dirt pile in the neighbor bed as well, she had gotten out earlier to water.

Another sunflower is popping up and maybe cucumbers?? You can see a seedling in the south bed..(soon to be renamed 'the gopher bed' at this rate) which I thought I had planted cucumbers there but the leaves are the same as the sunflowers coming up in the north bed.

You can also see how the pieces of bark are trapping the water around it in the bed. It was definitely bone dry where it was exposed to the sun. I was too much in a hurry to water and get back inside to flip pieces over before watering. Hard to see the sunflowers coming up and am surprised those are coming up faster than the beans.

I saw a quick video where a woman was moaning about the fact that she planted beans early and her brother planted his late and his are leaps and bounds ahead of hers. Now, that's likely in the midwest somewhere and she was complaining because it was a contest between the two and she has to listen to his boasting for a whole year. Hahaha.

I am not expecting the other marigold to be there tomorrow. If it's still there I will take some of my precious garlic and cut it into pieces to dig into the soil around it and the seedling at the back. All over basically just for insurance. Have to find a good strong onion as well and do the same, hot pepper flakes maybe?

Can only cross my fingers that it leaves my north bed and fence bed alone.