The heat is freaking oppressive today, and they are saying it’s going to be this way all week. I love summer, but temperatures over a hundred degrees for days on end? No, not at all. I guess the last 30 some-odd days of high heat were just the warm-up for the real heat coming in August. Oh, I can’t wait to see how hot it gets. :rolleyes:
Nothing much going on around Casa de Orb today. The heat has kept me indoors, except for a few quick trips to run errands, water the plants, and take out the trash, all of which were made miserable by having to go outside into the oven. I woke up feeling less than energetic anyway. Couldn’t get myself in gear this morning, and I still can’t. Don’t feel sick. I just feel blah. For now, I’ll blame it on not being able to spend my usual few hours outside in the sun enjoying my normal outdoor activities.
Tomorrow I have to treat and wash every leaf of the cucumber plants again. The aphids are trying to make a return. The ladybugs had been dealing with them quite well recently, so I only spot treated a few leaves here and there, but today I noticed oodles of ants and upon inspection of the leaves, it’s time to kick the aphids’ butts now before they get a foothold again. I’d like to do that right now, but at 6 pm, it’s still 103 degrees out there. Even in a light and airy sundress, that’s just too hot to be fussing around outside for an hour or more. I guess I’ll be slaughtering the aphids as the sun comes up in the morning. That seems to be the only time it isn’t blazingly hot out there.
And that ant poison I got a week ago? The one guaranteed to kill the suckers dead in a week? Yeah, well, it doesn’t appear to be working. One of the kinds of ants is gone, but the really annoying nest by the front steps is most certainly still there. It’s possible I may have to buy even more harsh poison. I am opposed to doing that, but I really would like those ants gone. It’s just not a good place for them, and I haven’t been able to convince them to move by dousing their hole in the concrete with water every time I am out there. Stronger measures will have to be taken, whether I want to take them or not.
I’m also going to be planting some seeds in egg cartons for the fall garden, and the Best Boy tomato plants are going as soon as those are ready to move outside. They have been a waste of water and time. I’m sure it isn’t their fault. This summer has sucked for growing things, and even the produce at our usually well-stocked farmers market is limited. But still, I’m tired of looking at plants that aren’t doing anything. After I make sure the latest group of flowers on Mr. Stripy aren’t going to actually become tomatoes, he’s getting cut way back too. I’m going to keep him going into fall, because I think once the weather cools down he’s going to be a good producer. He’s been trying. The flowers set. Tomatoes start forming. Then they stall and stop growing. Very aggravating.
Even though this years gardening adventure has been one frustration after another, I am looking forward to having a full garden next summer. I’ve already started planning the raised beds and picking out seeds, mostly traditional species grown by the Native Americans long before the Europeans got here. My thinking is the traditional varieties will be better able to withstand whatever the Texas weather decides to toss at us next year.
So there it is, the daily report from Casa de Orb, all of which could have been summed up as “It’s hot. My garden sucks. I feel blah.” Yeah, it’s been that kind of day today. Just … blah.