Too much rain – now none.

We can’t win this year.  The farmers were really late getting their crops in this spring – unless they risked getting them in early because it rained … for weeks!  Now we have seen nary a drop of rain … in weeks.  Our poor little raised bed gardens aren’t looking very pretty but they’re still doing their job with a little help from the sprinkler.

The peas and beans are falling all over each other even though they are supposed to be self-supporting. Doesn’t matter though – we’ve had several good meals from them already. In fact, you see that empty spot? Papa plucked every pea pod he could from that section of plants and yanked up the vines last week. The area has already been reseeded with carrots.

The tomato plants have several quarter-sized fruits on them already along with a boatload of new blossoms. The first-planted carrots are looking nice and healthy. I even spotted some lettuce in there this week.  I was so excited we finally had some lettuce until Papa had me try some. YUCK! I guess this heat wasn’t good for the lettuce and it’s turned into the most bitter stuff I’ve ever tasted.  I hope the chickens enjoy it.

Do you know what looks the healthiest? That stupid “volunteer” tomato pot where I’d wanted to grow parsley. Maybe that’s because it’s in a terra-cotta pot. They dry out so quickly that Papa has been watering the plants every couple of days. So it’s getting more babying than any other area.  I said plants, plural because I know there has to be more than one in there … I never got around to thinning them out.

Our plum trees will produce fruit this year – but not very many.  Probably only a couple dozen on each tree.  The apple tree looks nice and healthy though and the apples are coming along nicely.

I’m still over-the-top excited about our grapes though.  So far, no problems.  Papa recently remembered that they aren’t both Concord.  There was a section of Catawba grapes in the store right next to the Concord, so we’re pretty sure there’s one of each plant.  I’m sure they’ll both taste delicious.

Now … if we could only get a break in the weather so I can pick the wild black raspberries (a.k.a. black GOLD) in the backyard.  The mosquitoes, gnats, and deer flies are so terrible this year that I’m going to have to be dressed head-to-toe to wander through the weeds.  I’d be crazy to do that in 100+º heat indexes!