June 27: dry dry dry

Blogger is being a dingus and deciding that some of these photos look better turned sideways. I've reloaded them over and over and I can't seem to change it, so prepare for a bit of neck craning. Sorry!

So, where'd the rain go? We had such a nice line of summer storms there, now our backyard is burning to a crisp and I have no idea if watering it is something the landlord expects us to do (I'd rather not, since we're paying for the water and it doesn't really matter). Anyway, I've had to be more diligent with the container plants. I fell behind a bit and lost a couple peas, but otherwise everything seems okay.


We put this watermelon plant out about a week ago, and it's handling the move really well. I thought about leaving the others inside as a comparison experiment, but decided against it, as pollination will be way easier with them outside. Manual pollination kind of feels pervy for some reason...


Put these guys out about 20 minutes before I took the photo, and they were swooning like the little wussies they are. Suck it up ladies! You got melons t'make!


Also just put the cantaloupe outside, and I think these buddies will produce nicely. They were already going crayzay inside, so hopefully they keep the party times up! I also just fed EVERYTHING, so I'm anxious to see how they've grown by next week.


A couple of peas on the ends dried up, I had no idea they were drinking so much! I've given them a good soaking almost every day, but they be thirsty! The beans are actually flowering, surprise surprise. Guess I underestimated them...


Wittle berry bud! Yay! And cute!


These are my stalwart and reliable tomatoes. They'll likely flower any day now. No ants have got into them, and I've been pruning obsessively (just the shoots from the joints). Yay tomatoes!!


(Craning neck) Despite losing the cucumber (RIP), this pot is doing fairly well. I still think the basil could be a little more enthusiastic, but the dwarf tomatoes are happy, so I am too.


These plants have all had ants to deal with, so they're a little behind. The dwarf tomato that is doing REALLY well has a new little ant mound right beside its stem. Waaaaah. Stupid little jerks.


Blogger!!! Grrr. Anyway this is the tomato planter, and if you can tell, the tomatoes are as big or bigger than the indestructible pepper plant now. The basil and thyme are doing well and it won't be long before we're eating everything. MWAHAHAHHA.


Planter #2 with pumpkins, squash and tomatoes (and little bean sprouts). Everything is doing pretty well. Can't wait!


TRIUMPHANT (sideways) CUCUMBER!!! There is another one that survived too, but this is the biggest one. It even has a tendril! It had one of the sunflowers in a death-grip, but I split them up and am now keeping them away from each other. Everyone is a little aggro with the dry weather I guess...


Dill are still sad-sacks. They need more sun.


Okay, my zucchini were doing great, but last night there was a massacre. Squirrels. An army of squirrels (I'm imagining that anyway). The plants' defense consisted mainly of giving evil looks and trying not to move (they didn't know that squirrels and T-rex's are totally different), which was obviously no match for squirrel teeth and claws. Anyway, this one (originally the smallest) survived. He won't stop crying.


The carnage. Feel free to vomit and/or pass out.


And my creepy pineapple! Still haven't planted it! Will soon!

Anyway, have a good weekend!

June 14: lookin up

Pretty pleased with how everything is recovering. Have to move some planters around since our trees are way shadier than I thought they'd be, but that's no biggie.



Watermelons are springing up nicely, although their stems are still kind of wussy. I might still put them outside. Depends how they keep up over the next week or so.


I had to loosen the soil around the cantaloupe, it wasn't growing very well and I figured it might be choking due to the heavy topsoil we used (no sandy soil like the watermelons). Since then it's sprung up and looks a little happier.


Tomatoes looking happy enough. They'll need cages soon. Still wish I would have started them sooner. Next year: grow lamps!! Half of where they're growth is going is to thickening the stems, which should've happened a while ago. I'm also very impatient.


My favorite planter making me very happy (note how continuously robust my Terminator pepper plant looks. Only thing not started from seed and it's making me feel bad). We'll be moving both the big planters into a sunnier spot soon. Don't know if you can see, but they've all got a slight lean going on. They demand more sun, so I must comply lest a revolution begins.


The basil survived the frost and hail (uncovered!), but they look a bit worse for wear now. They haven't actually grown much, despite being alive. I'll try to loosen the soil but after that, I dunno.


The thyme took the hail and frost uncovered as well, and didn't seem to mind at all. As you can see, they're having the thyme of their lives! Eh? Ya?


Pumpkins are recovering happily, with the surviving leaves a bit haggard-looking but okay. I did a lot of pinching post-hail/frost (they were also uncovered), and they seem to be thanking me for it.


Had to pinch a lot off of the squash, but there's fresh growth coming up so I'm not too worried anymore. These plants have never been especially enthusiastic... not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'll wait a couple weeks and hopefully by then I'll have some nice fresh compost for them. If they don't like that then screw 'em. Or just watch them slowly grow and hope that they make some squashes.


Even have a few late-comers! Oh, hi beans. So happy you finally decided to join us. Please acquaint yourselves with the pumpkins and squash and I'll be around shortly to go over my expectations.


Dwarf tomatoes chugging along cutely. Lookit the wittle guys! Oooh soo woo wooo!!!


I've got ants in my plants, and it's making me want to dance to France. This was the first victim and I've been nursing it for a few weeks now. They moved into the other pots too, but I've been more diligent with moving them and spraying bug spray on the ground below them. Get outta my plants!!!


My "salad" container lost it's cucumber in the hail/frost. I had to pinch all of its leaves, but the stem still looks healthy and there's a tiny bud, so I'm kind of waiting to see if some new shoots come up. That would be awesome as my other cucumber plants are also a bit sickly looking.


Peas 'n' beans. I'm still not sure about the beans. I think they're tricking me into letting them stay by looking healthy, but I'd be surprised if they produced. Too crowded? Maybe. If excessive feeding doesn't get everything huge then I will have failed here.


Hanging strawberries and some wittle berry blossoms! I over-crowded these planters initially, and then could only pinch off the extra plants. I'm hoping that the left-over roots aren't sucking too much away from the remaining plants. I want strawberrieeees!


Did a bit of zucchini pinching too, and they seem okay. The little specks on them is this weird sticky sweet stuff that comes from somewhere in the tree. It gets all over the lawn, like, my hose will be all sticky from it. I have no idea what it is, but it seems harmless.


This is the healthiest cucumber plant left. There is one other that looks a bit worse, and the others are dead (except for the possible reviving of the salad planter one). I like to think of them as undead cucumbers. Little growing zombie plants. These side patches aren't doing so well due to their very bad placements (mostly shade). Next time it's all containers or middle-yard digging.


Yes, the radishes LOOK healthy, but I think the soil is lacking. Where there should be radishes there are only wispy roots. Maybe I need to wait longer (and I will), but I'm not holding my breath. Plus, the lettuce mix behind it is coming up pathetically, which makes me think that the soil is wrong. Oh well. We can have lots of great tomato salads.

I'm really happy with the tomatoes, but really disappointed with the cucumbers (WHY didn't cover them!?! IDIOT). The corn and sunflowers are officially being ignored. I mean, I'm watering and weeding them, but until I see some really lovely and miraculous improvement, I will no longer be wasting camera batteries on them.

June 7, aka: what the effing crap?

Oh weather, you really don't care, do you? You could've just sent along some nice light rain and been done with it, but noooooooo. You had to up it with freezing nights and all-day sporadic hail. Sigh sigh. Let's work through this and try to move on... even though I know you actually don't care at all. I wish I knew how to quit you.


Hail on and off all day. Hmph.





Tomatoes are priority, so they got the best covers (milk jugs). We missed one on the first cold night so there's one that looks a little unhappy (but alive). They all survived though. Phew!


The pepper plant in the middle of the planter is some kind of weather-immune super-plant. We didn't cover it at all, and it took the hail like the freaking Terminator. I double-checked to see if it was a real plant and not some sort of cyborg, and it's real. Just invincible.


The pumpkin held on like troopers. In my blind love for the tomato plants, I didn't think to cover anything else, so these guys came out of it sputtering and whimpering, but generally okay.


The zucchini were feeling equally abandoned, but I think they're stronger for it, you know? Had to do a bit of pinching on the really ravaged leaves, but after a good pep-talk on "sucking it up" and "powering through" they seem okay.


Not sure about the cucumbers though. They weren't altogether happy to begin with, so I wouldn't be all too surprised if they started up a strike of some kind. I really should have covered them.


The hail didn't touch the peas and beans, so they don't know what everyone is whining about.


And of course, my spoiled little watermelons in the sunroom are completely oblivious to the drama and carnage that unfolded outside. They're growing, albeit kind of wussily... they could use a little weather slamdancing. Might move them outside in July.

All told, it looks like zero casualties. We lost a few extremities and the trauma may linger for a week or so, but we're keepin' it together. Hopefully this June starts looking a little less like March soon.

Oh and also, the pumpkin and squash water/drainage problem has been resolved and they WERE all looking cheery (before the hail). So yay! And nay!