Sunny. Hot. It’s rained twice in the last two weeks. The lawn has browned except for the shaded spots, and every-other-day watering of the flowering shrubs and veggies is the norm. Most of the tomatoes have at least one greenie. The Black Cherry is a laggard–it took a pounding from the caterpillars–but it has a lot of buds so I think it should catch up eventually.
Spotted the first Japanese beetles of the season this morning, so I got hold of the organic bug spray and covered the hardy hibiscus and the Rose of Sharon, which are all covered with sweet, juicy buds. The spray is interesting stuff by a company called EcoSmart, a mix of herb oils (thyme, rosemary, clove). It worked last year on the beetles, and took care of the caterpillars once I realized the little buggers were there. But if it falls off this year, I have an insecticidal soap solution from Gardens Alive for backup. I like these products because I can spray them on veggies up to the day of harvest without worry. Just a quick scrub, and they’re gone.
As I cleaned out some of the kitchen cupboards, I came upon some baking mixes that I forgot I had. Some of them weren’t worth saving, but there was a whole grain pancake mix that I decided to try and salvage. So this morning was a pancake morning, the first one in years. Covered them with sliced fresh strawberries and bananas. Good maple syrup. They came out good. I need to have them more often. Maybe with bacon.
The rain is just taunting us. Last night coming back from my mom’s house, we experienced 20 drops of rain. Today, I drove
*through* a heavy rainstorm not more than 20 minutes west of my house — radar was lit up in all those pretty colors that mean rain — not a drop fell at home.
Grrrr!
Tonight, there are t-storms to the north and south, and nothing headed my way. No rain expected until Sunday, and nothing but hi 90s until then.
I hope the tomatoes survive this. They seem fine now, but they’re going to take a pounding over the next few days. I’ve moved the deck pots to a shady spot on the deck. Hope it helps.
I accidentally left the sprinkler on all night last night. Everything is looking much perkier now and the yard is at least 10 degrees cooler. Was able to weed without fighting the clay.
Driving out to some kittens that I’m caring for, there were dried leaves all over the road. The park’s sycamores are giving up and dropping all their leaves in this heat and drought. It looked a bit like fall.