The TX heat does a job on my tomatoes. I never get any until the fall. Well, any but the yellow plums which aren’t the greatest but better than nothing. Even those can freak out. The neighbor cut down a tree that had barely shaded two (my best two) but they immediately gave up the ghost. The garden is pretty shady but the ones getting the most shade near the house have done the best. Yes, normally tomatoes want the sun but hoo-wee not so much here in the summer.
After planting okra 3 times, I was getting excited that they were starting to put on. Ha, not so fast. Major slap down. The deer got them AGAIN. They got the corn, too. All I’ve done this summer is provide them with a gourmet buffet. There are too many houses now days here so the deer can’t provide me with a buffet. It’s a fight with them just to get out to the main road.
There’s another creature at the buffet. A GINORMOUS racoon. Feet as big as a toddler’s and is washing them in the cat’s water bowl. Every day, it’s ok what is missing from the garden this morning.
With the cooler temps 80/90s and a couple days of rain this week, another pepper is finally putting on. Can’t remember which variety it is because I went throught the same multiple replantings with them too so by the end I was shoving whatever seedlings I had left into the ground. What’s weird is it looks like a, um, peter pepper but I didn’t buy any of those seeds so who knows. Must be like that stink weed thing that grew from my lettuce seeds. Mother Nature sure has been having fun with this year’s garden.
We always have the same varmint trouble..Last night I look out the back door, and think, "Is that a cat?" Heck, no it was a ginormous raccoon, laying there like he's waiting to come in for supper. I opened the door, and shrieked at him, and he vamoosed in that fast clumsy lumbering raccoon way.. over the playhouse, and the fence.