It's Too Darn Hot!

The days just stretch out in front of me at the beginning of summer vacation.  I love to get up early and use every minute - trying to make sure I weed, sew, read, exercise with the dog, organize, and write every day.  The real joy comes from doing things at my own pace with a completely fluid schedule.  My goal is to go to bed each night knowing the day behind me was used well.  Most of the time I succeed, but unfortunately that doesn't slow down the flight of days which still seem soar past faster than I can catch them.  However, the last time I looked, the calendar still said June so I'm good.

GARDEN CHAR
The calendar says June, but the weather says mid-August.  This is our second heat wave of the summer and we're looking at temperatures close to 100 by the weekend. The picture above is our front garden.  You can see the grass to the left is just a memory.  Even the light looks hot and tired.   We are keeping up with the watering, which is helping with the heat stress, but I wish we would have a day of long soaking rain again.  We had a thunderstorm tonight that was quite intense, but afterward, only the top 1/4" of the soil was damp, so it clearly wasn't enough.  Everything in the garden seems to be on fast forward. The crepe myrtle is about to burst into bloom and I can't ever remember it flowering before mid-July.   Most of the annuals are happy and I'm sure will keep blooming all summer, but the perennials are a different story.  Mid-summer bloomers are already past peak.  I'm afraid if the temperatures don't cool down, August is going to be pretty barren in the flower beds. 

TOMATO HEAVEN
I have to say, the winners in this summer scorch are the tomatoes.  These hot days and warm nights are perfect for them.  We pruned a little more aggressively this year and I think that helped prevent some heat stress.  There are still several varieties that have curling leaves, but all the plants are loaded with fruit. Those are Cherokee Purple in the picture, a special favorite.  I never thought of Cherokee Purple as being a big producer, but the whole plant looks like that We should have tomatoes on the table by mid-July.  That would be a nice bonus for all this discomfort (especially the punch in the pocket from the AC bill.)