Prepping for Heat

 I got up and out early this morning to make sure the garden was well watered to deal with this heat wave we're getting.  Three days in a row it is supposed to be flirting with 90F.  By 9:30 am it hit 86F and it stayed there most of the day but now the official temp in our town is 89F.  So in two days we have gone up 20 degrees.  It feels like the Carolinas out there.  Very thick and tropical. 65% humidity.  And it is not supposed to cool down as much at night.  Its going to be sticky.

9:30 am in full shade

Tomatoes don't really like heat like that.  Anything over 85F can sterilize the pollen and then you don't get fruit set.  Most of my plants are right at the point of flowering.

So I used the shade cloth that I have on hand.  The Indeterminate tomatoes with their tall T-post supports had to settle for shade from the late afternoon sun.

It won't be long now and we will see some progress.

The peas are huge because of all of the cool, rainy weather.  They are about five feet tall.  I watered them well and this shade cloth set up should at least give them a bit of a break from the mid-day sun.

The sweet corn got sorted out and tidied up.  This heat will make it grow so much faster.

The Cabbage Patch looks amazing.  There aren't even any slugs in there though I should probably apply some slug bait in there anyway now that I've thought of it.

The cabbages are forming heads and soon I will start picking small heads for cole slaw.

And three out of four broccoli plants are showing heads.

I puttered along doggedly, working slowly, to get at least a little something accomplished.  I was so tired of looking at this shaggy mess with the flopped over daffodils.

I put in three of the Heuchera that I removed from the Whiskey barrels.  I still have a tray of annuals to plant along the front but I was ready to be done.

Heuchera do really well in the soil of this bed.  Below is a gorgeous one that I planted a couple of years ago just around the corner.

And with the last energy I had left, I hauled the hammock frame out and set that up.  We have had quite a stiff breeze all day and the shade of the Maple tree was cool and comfortable.  It is easy to see why people in tropical areas use these.  The breeze comes up under you and cools you from every direction.

And tomorrow we are going to get the same weather.