I agonized about whether or not to run the sprinkler in the yard this morning. It’s our last Thursday to water before the Stage Two drought restrictions start, and we’ll be down to only being able to run sprinklers on Sunday morning. I’ve just been pouring so much water on the front lawn getting very little back in the way of green grass. It’s disheartening. Being water-thrifty is a big thing for me, because it isn’t as renewable a resource as many people like to think … though the people around here have been discovering that fact during this drought.

After whining to Lin about it, I went ahead and got the sprinkler going in the front yard. He swears the grass is looking better and greener. I still don’t see it, but I guess I’ll just keep pouring water on the front yard. Seems a waste, but at least it will keep the trees happy. Losing the grass is one thing. Losing the trees would suck.

In other news, the temperature at Casa de Orb yesterday only reached 100ºF. Yippee! It didn’t feel all that much cooler, but I hope it’s a sign this heatwave will be ending soon. I desperately need to get the fall garden started, but there’s been little point in planting any seeds. The heat would either keep them from germinating or would kill any baby plants that came up. I can water all I want in this heat, but when the soil temperature is 100ºF or more every day, all the water in the world isn’t going to help. Hot is hot, whether it’s wet or dry.

The seedlings I have started are doing well, at least the ones that survived being eaten by birds. I’ve ended up with two patty pan squash, four lemon cucumbers, three okra, and one lonely pear tomato which may still make it. A couple of the fennel are still struggling along, but it’s obvious it’s just too hot for them. I’m going to leave all the seedlings in the starter tray a while longer. I want them as strong and big as possible before I move them out into full sunlight. Maybe in another week it will be much cooler overall. Then I can move them to the Three Sisters mound area, which I have decided to use as my crossover area to plant those extra things I’m just trying to push one more harvest out of before the seasons completely change.

Good news on the potato front as well! The seed potatoes I saved from my harvest have begun to sprout! I’ll be getting them in the ground soon. Maybe this weekend or early next week. I’m really excited about the potatoes. I didn’t get a huge harvest, but I also didn’t know what I was doing, my plants got hit by blight, and I only planted five starts. I definitely got a return on my investment, and what we did get was so much better than what I buy at the store, it was totally worth it. I look forward to digging up more potatoes in the future!

And what of the plants in Bed Two that I haven’t had the heart to pull up yet? The last pear tomato died. The last roma tomato looks like hell but has gotten some new leaves and a couple of flowers. The last surviving hybrid tomato looks like total hell is is probably dying. The pepper plants are still struggling along, but they aren’t producing. They bloom, but the heat keeps anything from setting. The basil desperately wants to go to seed, and it’s starting to get too bitter for use. The carrots look like they are suffering, and I’ll be pulling them up this weekend. And those two okra plants in the pot are thriving, but they were attacked by ants the other day and took some damage. So basically, everything is still either dead or dying in Bed Two. I really should just pull it all up.

Lastly, I do have a report on the effort to eradicate those damn baby pear tree. I’m winning! Yesterday when I made the rounds to chop any I saw to bits, there were only three. This is down from the more than twenty that were there when this war started. The annoying one in Bed One has shown no signs of returning, and there’s only one still trying to come up anywhere in the garden proper. I will be digging down a ways to get as much of it out as possible as soon as I am willing to sacrifice the plant growing right next to it (which will be very soon). It looks like my plan to just keep chopping them off as I saw them come up is doing the job. This makes me happy, because I really didn’t want to have to put any harsh chemicals in the garden area to get rid of them. The ant poison I have been using is bad enough, but anything strong enough to kill trees is some bad stuff.

Now there’s nothing to do but wait for the earth to shift a little more on its axis and bring me some cooler weather. I can feel it coming, and I hear tell this fall and winter is supposed to be a wet one. Hopefully that will mean my fall and winter gardening will go a little better and easier than this summer has. Mostly though, I just miss being outside every day puttering around the garden and getting dirty. It’s just been too hot since about the middle of June for me to be out there for too long, and since the middle of July, that hot has started before the sun is even up. I’m starting to get cranky due to the lack of time outdoors. I need a little sunlight and dirt under my fingernails to be happy!

Time to go move the sprinkler. I want to get the watering done as quickly as possible, because I have to go to the grocery store today. We are almost out of Dr Pepper, and I need pizza toppings for tomorrow night. I don’t feel like going grocery shopping, but I’ve been putting it off all week. Texas’ tax free weekend starts tomorrow, so there’s no way in hell I want to be anywhere near any retail establishment until that’s over. Have to get all my shopping done today then. It’ll be good to get out of the house too. I got my truck back, and I haven’t even gone anywhere since then!