My poor garden is barely hanging in there, struggling along in this 100+ degree weather. My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, so the plants just need to hang in there a little bit longer. Once these tomatoes are done, I'll rip the plants over and start over in about a month for a fall crop.
The herbs are faring a little better, they are in a part of the garden that gets more afternoon shade. Every morning, I cut some mint, catnip, oregano, sage and rosemary for the bunnies.
And I'm still getting a few jalapenos from my one lonely plant. It might bounce back for the fall, I'm hoping. (I love this wooden bowl, a recent thrift store find for $2.99. Deal!)
The mammoth sunflowers are not doing too bad. I guess that is why they call them SUN flowers? I like to plant them around the garden - a few here, a few there. Their leaves are huge, so they provide shade for the plants below them. And they draw bees to the garden, which is good. The birds usually end up eating the seeds, but if I catch them in time, I'll give them to the goats who scarf them down, flower head, leaves and all. They do leave the stalk, though. I guess even goats draw the line somewhere...
My plan for next year is to erect a shade canopy over the main part of the garden that I can put up and take down as needed. Add that one to the "to-do" list...
