Wow, Is It Hot!!

After such a wonderful beginning of summer... warm days, blue skies,
cool nights, occasional rainfall...
we plunge headlong into the hard part of summer.
July.
When I am queen, I may decide to leave July off of the calendar.
As for August... yet to be determined.
It's a tough time for the animals.
Excessive heat takes its toll... and for some there is no break until the sun
finally sets for the day.


The horses, after being out all night,
happily spend their days in front of the three fans that run
continuously... giving them relief from the heat and also 
from the bugs.


Grazing is done in the early morning and late evening
for all of the other animals.


Afternoons are lazily spent in the shade... 
the sun being just too blistering hot these days.


The ground is parched and the grass is brown and crunchy...
a phenomenon usually saved for late August.
We've had very little rain of late and watering has been essential.

And though the heat and humidity are hard to endure during
the daytime hours, there are many wonderful gifts that are the result
of this weather.

The life-forms that respond most favorably to the current conditions
are those that are growing in the garden.


We've got cucumbers growing... both big and small.
In the following photo, you can see a long, dark green cucumber.


And at the top right-hand edge of the cucumber is a tiny Mexican gherkin
(a "watermelon" cucumber).  As you can see, there is a distinct difference in
the size of these two varieties.


The Mexican gherkins grow on the daintiest of vines that climb higher 
and higher on the garden trellis.

I've harvested some of the amaranth that I grew for seed.
This particular flower dries nicely and will provide some garden
color in the house this winter when it is most needed.


I've also been able to start cutting the globe amaranth (gomphrena),
another variety that dries nicely.


The first of the tomatoes have been harvested...


with so many more to follow...


as well as lots of zucchini.


Last night we had meatballs (bison) in sauce over zoodles
(zucchini cut into thin ribbons).

Fresh garlic, planted last year and harvested this year,
is drying for storage.


We've noticed lately that the hummingbirds have multiplied.
We started out with two.... 
and now we have so many!


With hummingbirds having up to three broods each summer,
that's a pretty good explanation for the exponential growth 
in numbers from beginning to end.


One soon becomes two...


then number three arrives.
Four, five, and six are scattered around other feeders.


New blossoms in the flower gardens...
gladiolas...


Yellow echinacea (coneflowers)...


Hollyhocks...


Summer flowers are definitely the consolation prize
for surviving the heat.
If I were queen...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yeah tomatoes!!!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
it's so hot here that the roads are heaving. we have been in the 90's for weeks and i can't even remember when we last had rain. what an awful summer. the pups just lay in front of the fan all day long.
daisy g said…
Oh, but you ARE queen! The Bee Haven Queen!

All of the hummers must be up north, because we've had very few so far this summer. My neighbors have said the same thing.

Your tomatoes look fabulous! How big do the Mexican gherkins get?

Another steamy day here. Hope you get some relief!
Grandma Zee said…
Hot hot here in Utah also and very dry. We are in drought conditions, so fires are a real danger. Garden is doing fairly well. I have to be out by 6 to get some weeding done before the sun comes up. At least we don't have the humidity along with the heat. Your flowers are beautiful. I do enjoy your blog.
Marcia LaRue said…
Had to laugh at the pig girl ... don't know which one it is ... sitting on the ground like a little old lady ... all she needed was her rocking chair! LOL
That top zucchini in that picture looked like an eggplant!
Here in S. CO ... we're heading close to the 100 mark today and for the next couple of days or so ... we're lucky if the rain gods spit on us every so often! We did get some "actual" rain on the afternoon of the 4th ... so that was very welcome!
So enjoy the beautiful colors of your garden!
Fix a tall, cold lemonade cooler and kick back and relax when the heat is really bad!
This N That said…
Wow..That's a lot of Hummers.Great pictures...I don't feed them anymore..I saw one or two a week..Wasn't worth it..I see one occasionally in my garden..Everybody here feeds them so they're happy.Yum!! Tomatoes..Time for a BLT or two..Nice series of pictures...I can remember your Dad saying "and when I am King"..He said it a lot...Hugs
It’s over 110 here, climbing to 118-120 over the weekend.
We would love 90 degrees...
Katmom said…
Well today it was a whooping 69degrees until about 3pm when it hit 71degrees,, then with in 2 hours was down to 65 and raining....
My poor garden is so confused... My tomatoes are blooming like crazy,,, but I barely have a handful of tomatoes... even my beets and onions are not as big as they should be..
As for Bees and Hummers,, I am a bit worried... Once my flowering quince trees dropped it's blossoms,, the bees all but disappeared... I have lavender and Borage,, which normally are great bee attractants,,, and all I see are about 3-4 bumbles...and an occasional bee..
As for the hummers,, I had 3 earlier in June but now they are gone..
I am at a loss... and worried that someone out here is using pesticides in their fields..
Can I pack up my garden and bring it to you, so you can do your Garden magic that you do so well? lol!
Ok,, have a great week,, miss ya my friend...
>^..^<