Seedy Saturday - End of the 90's For A While?

Yuck!

The weather has sucked this past week. Every day in the 90's and no rain. I have been watering at least one time a day, if not twice.

I felt sorry for the birds coming to the feeder and set up a makeshift bird bath. It does need to be elevated a bit and I do have some cinder blocks. I just need to move them from the back yard to the front.

They haven't figured out how to get to the bird feeder (yet) and are eating the seeds off the ground. So far they haven't bothered any of the garden - well, maybe a couple of holes, but that's it.

On Thursday I 'pruned' the tomatoes. I picked off the bottom leaves so hopefully I won't get early blight. Another day in the sun drying out, I have grass clippings I'll put around the tomatoes as mulch to help out. 

Stakes for the second round of tomato plants is needed. I need about 30 stakes and since most are dwarf tomatoes, I'll be fine with 5 foot stakes and/or bamboo stakes. Several of the plants are starting to set fruit and most are budding up and flowering. With the temperatures dropping just a bit, it should really push the fruit setting along.

Here is one of my variegated tomatoes - Dwarf Walter's Fancy. Can't wait to see what comes from this plant. 

One of my tasks this summer is to actually try to save tomato seeds. I have space on the front and back porch areas to let them sit and ferment prior to saving. We'll see. Usually I get so excited I forget to mark the tomatoes and save the seeds. I need to do what NCTomatoMan does and write on the tomato with a Sharpie with the name while I am out in the garden.

During my garden 'card boarding' and rearranging this past week, plants inside came outside for the summer. If you can see it, on the far left is a pole and my vanilla orchid. It's now about 4 feet tall and I have two 'vines' on it. My new orchids I purchased are also outside for the heat and humidity.

But I used the cardboard I had laying around and set around the garden area and around the tubs. My plan is to get mulch and lay on top of the cardboard. Over time, with fingers crossed, my yard will be plant beds and walkways. Well, a couple of grass spots for the dog. I think that is what my slopes on either side of the house will be. That's where I plan on putting some fruit trees this fall since it's so sloped.

I used all my pots around my 4x4 beds to hold down the cardboard. However, I am really enjoying the look of that area now. The cucumbers and pole beans are really surging forward - almost overnight. This picture was taken earlier in the week and everything is already about 6 inches taller!

My water feature needs to be redone - rethought - re-whatever. The poor fish said 'enough' and were disposed of. But I need to clean it out and try to maintain it with just plants in it. I'll see how it goes.

I have one more blue tub to plant something in. I think I am going to put sunflowers and hollyhocks in it. With 3 tubs of pole beans, I think I have enough beans going for the summer. I may do another couple of small pots with purple hull peas in it.

But the porch is cleaned off and semi-organized. If it wasn't so hot, I might sit out there some. But not these week!