Fall needs to hurry the hell up and get here!

So, I've been absent for a bit.  This would be because both my phone and my internet became terminally ill on the same day, and I have been fighting to get both up and running for two weeks.


It is a complicated divorce matter.


I will not discuss that here.

What I will discuss is my few veggies managing to grow this summer are now coming pre-cooked.


The cucumbers that are on the vine are not ready to pick but they are turning assorted shades of roasted.  Other than my cucumber, I've only had my jalapeno produce, and I'm not so sure about that one these days.  The pumpkin has all but died.  The herbs are hanging on.  The tomatoes are still not producing.  I'm not entirely sure I'm just watering weeds.  The heat, this unbelievable heat, is worse than last year, and I think I might have seen what bounty I can from my garden.

The beans are gone, although I am sure that was survival of the fittest. (Don't screw with cucumbers.)  My herbs are only hanging on because I water regularly.  (I don't even water my yard.  It's all overgrown weeds and dead grass, but I am sorry I won't waste the water on grass that lets the weeds win.)  My tomatoes are growing like mad but aren't fruiting.  Everything else has pretty much given up.


What do you expect from 120 degree heat?


I'm sure Nevada is laughing its ass off at us right now, but truthfully, as humid and miserable as it can get here, it's not normal that it's so bad that even the plants can't seem to make it through. 

The good thing is last week we got a lot of rain.  A lot of rain.  Rain we weren't even supposed to get.  It was like Mama Nature woke up and realized she forgot to turn on the sprinklers.  It also cooled off for a couple of days.  It was 90 degrees yesterday, and it was bliss!

I know you think I'm crazy for saying that, but trust me, the heat has been so bad that yesterday with its low humidity was actually a very pleasant day in comparison.  That is disturbing, my friends.  Disturbing.

Well, the garden limps along.  A friend heard a report that we are expected to have a late tomato season this year and were advised to not give up on them.  I will let them continue on then.  As for the rest, well, it might be time to cull the herd.  My friend, April, and I decided we're going to put some fall crops in the ground and see what we get.  Things like chard, lettuces, and the like that do better in the last half of the year.  I'm also thinking of building a low cover and seeing if I can't pull off cabbages over the winter months seeing as how it usually isn't too horrible here.  (Watch.  I just cursed us.  We're going to get an ice age.)  I'm still planning on raising honey bees, so y'all might start hearing more about that in the coming months.

I'm saying this because I had a brief moment of wondering what I was going to do during the winter with a garden blog.  Well, I'm moving some of it indoors where it will experience such dangers as cats, possibly a dog, and my inability to remember to water.

Never fear, the adventures shall continue.




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April and I have also decided we are going to plant right after the last frost next year.  Apparently, the normal planting time for Arkansas has shifted as all the people I know who planted early got full crops.  Whether it's a cyclical thing or outright climate change, it's damn annoying.  I wonder if it's making the writers of the "The Old Farmer's Almanac" cry.