Extreme Weather

It seems that our garden just can't get a break from weather extremes that have affected it over the past year. Last October our pumpkin and cucumber crops were cut short because of the extreme early fall heat. Winter brought us our coldest and longest lasting temperatures ever seen in the garden, delaying our spring plantings and effectively stunting the growth of beets.

Despite those challenging weather conditions, I managed to start a tomato plant from seed and get a couple of pepper plants in the ground for the spring. I also am experimenting with cotton seeds to grow our very own cotton plant. I did not have real high hopes for getting a hugely successful tomato plant considering it was going in the ground late and headed for some killer summer heat.

Its more than halfway past the middle of June and by now we should be in the midst of a juicy rainy season and our tomato plant should be withering from the heat! But wait!!! For reasons unknown to me, despite me keen sense for weather, everything that should be in the garden is exactly the opposite.....the rainy season has yet to visit our garden and our Pruden's Purple heirloom tomato is growing vigorously. I just don't understand, by now we should be measuring rain in whole inches, not tenths and the tomato plant should not be producing tomatoes.

With predictions for an active hurricane season we're bound to get some rain sooner or later, in the meantime, I'll start planning to start my fall seeds!

Enjoy some pictures from around the garden including our tomato and some flowering and budding cotton plants.