Finally! Rain!

Lafayette got some rain today; not as much as we need, but it's better than nothing. First day in a long time that we haven't had to spend the evening watering the crops.

Looks like a few of the figs will be ready on the traditional day, July 4. We had a big fig drop during the dry spell, have lots of green ones on the tree. The tomatoes are blooming but not setting fruit because of the hot nights.

The hot peppers are going to town. I need to find my HazMat suit and make pepper jelly.

Can't Believe How Hot It Is Already

We have a high pressure system that's foiling the usual pattern of afternoon rains. We had a massive drop of figs before we realized how dry the fig tree was getting. It's not even the summer solstice yet and we're having heat indices of 100 and higher.

We planted our tomatoes too late; they are growing just fine but tomatoes won't set fruit if the low temperatures are higher than 75 or so. This usually happens in July or August, not the middle of June.

Tippy will only go outside if he is forced to. Jasper is a true heat-loving cat; he likes the air conditioning but doesn't mind stretching out on the patio.

I might have a record-breaking electric bill this month due to the air conditioning running so much.

Better Late Than Never

We were very busy with schoolwork during normal planting season, so we are just getting some things started.

Here is the basil bed.

Here are the tomatoes and Kentucky Wonder beans. They've been in the ground about a week.

Here is the fig tree- looks like I will get several batches of figs to preserve this year. Had one big batch last year.

Voila, the volunteer heirloom field peas that we don't know the name of. We judge planting season by the sprouting of these peas.

Tippy (the dog) and Jasper (the cat) are not big on yard work except if it cools off during the evening. Jasper is a big fan of grass-pulling. The St. Augustine makes long runners, and he likes pouncing on the pile of them that gets pulled out of the flowerbeds.

Here are Ray's naga golokia peppers. A student gave him a few, and he saved the seeds. I made pepper jelly out of the ripe ones; they are hotter than habanero. Almost had to take Ray to the emergency room after he popped a sliver of a raw one into his mouth. Thought it was going to give him heart failure. He turned really pale.