O/T, but don't ya just love summertime!

Aside from the fact that the begonias are going to town and blooming and putting on all kinds of new growth. The starts are putting out roots and in general everyone looks super healthy.
(not to mention the availability of begonias in the market place goes way up!!!)

But the best thing about summer is the veggie garden! There's NOTHING like a fresh tomato eaten right in the garden with a bit of lemon basil! Oh what I wouldn't pay to have one of those tomatoes come January!!!

Someone I know emailed me photos of their delicious looking dinner that their DH had prepared. (mine does no cooking whatsoever! LOL) so I took photos of our dinner to send back!
We had bocconcini, sun gold, Tangerine and another big yellow tomatoes, Lemon Cucumbers, Lemon Basil, Lime Basil and nasturtium flowers. Drizzled a bit of extra virgin olive oil, some balsamic and s&p. Then relaxed and dined in the garden with a nice glass of wine as the evening was cooling down. So don't ya just love summertime!!! What's your favorite part?

That looks like the perfect summer meal to me. So cool, refreshing and light. Yet bursting with flavor. I too love sitting in the garden in the evening just as it is starting to cool off. Sitting back and enjoying the fruits of my labor. The softer sunlight makes the garden glow. I also love early morning in the garden. Giving them an early morning drink so they can endure the heat of the day. Listening to the world wake up. Heck any time of day in the garden is perfect!

You sure can't beat eating a just picked tomato right out of the garden. I grab me a salt shaker and I'm in heaven. Just picked my first cherry tomatoes yesterday. Can't call those things in the super market during January tomatoes!

Amen! I went back out to the veggie patch to see what that other big yellow one is called. It's Sun Goliath. Nice sweet low acid one!!

Hmmmm a salt shaker out in the garden... not a bad idea!!! LOL.

We're having tomato sandwiches on slightly toasted crusty peasant bread with basil and fresh buffala mozzarella for dinner tonight.

I think the best time of the day in the garden is the early morning. Coffee in hand. nipping here, weed pulling there. Kitties underfoot. Kids and DH still sleeping. Garden all to myself!

But then again, noting beats evening as it quiets down, crisp glass of pinot grigio, relaxing.... yup, I LOVE summertime!

Oh my, I need to go down to the plots and fertilize my tomato plants. I love tomatoes. I eat them like apples. Your salad looks so good to me, Lali.

I also just love tomato slab sandwiches. I make mine with a huge slab of a center cut huge ripe tomato on balloon bread with best Foods mayo. I can't wait. you are so far ahead of me.

having 100º temps does help ripen those beauties up!! It's already sweltering up here!

I couldn't take it Lali. My fat would melt and clog my pores and kill me.

Mmmmmm love, love, love tomato sandwiches on toasted bread with mayo. I'll have to try adding basil to it. Sounds delish. Picked up a home-grown tomato at the local farmers market yesterday. It was so sweet and juicy.

I eat the 'maters right out of the garden just like apples too. Nothing better than 'mater juice running down your arm!

"My fat would melt and clog my pores and kill me." That is too funny! You really have a way with words Kell. We hit 102 yesterday. It's cooler today, only 96 right now.

we're pushing 103º in the shade. I'm sure it's higher in the sun. I spend most of the day repairing drip and mist system so at least I was drenched in all this heat!

I was just out watering we are 84 and I can't stand it.

84 °F / 29 °C
Clear
Humidity: 41%
Dew Point: 58 °F / 14 °C
Wind: 12 mph / 18 km/h from the West
Pressure: 29.97 in / 1015 hPa
Heat Index: 84 °F / 29 °C
Visibility: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV: 10 out of 16
Clouds: Clear -
(Above Ground Level)

Ok, not loving this heat quite so much, but the black berries are plumping up and so are the tomatoes.

This is the temp in my back yard!

edited to note that the humidity is 20% outside (60 in my playhouse)

This message was edited Jul 16, 2006 6:00 PM

Whoa! That is crazy hot. Looks like that thermometer is in the shade too. We only reached 97 today with 65% humidity and the dewpoint was 70. Had to water everything in containers twice today. A drip and mist system sounds like a nice idea. Your air conditioner must be doing over time. I know ours is, hate to see the water bill and the electric bill this month.
Keep cool!

Are you still alive Lali? Isn't that too hot for your living things outside? Like horses, plants, trees etc?

I find 80 uncomfortable. And you had such low humidity too. Dry heat. How can you take it? Do you cool down at night like we do here?

80 is a dream! The house stays cool (by cool, I mean under 90) if I close all the doors by 10 am or so. We dont have a/c except for one old window unit in the living room. Which only cools that room as it is a small unit. Kell, you know how nice it cools down in the evening so I open all the doors and windows to cool the house down so by morning it's quite pleasant.

Prior to drilling a new well two years ago, it was like the desert here. The only thing that got water were the animals and veggies. But with the new well, I can run water all day long, no problemo!! So I just ran sprinklers, kept the dogs inside, believe it or not a few of the kitties stayed in them sprinkler with me. I don't think this heat wave will last long. Another few days and the coastal fog will roll in and we'll be in the mid 90's again.



Truth is, I don't mind the heat so much. But when I lived in the south, the heat combined with the humidity was horrible!! So I'll take my dry heat any day over humidity.

You guys got me hungry for a tomato and cheese sandwich..my sister turned me on to adding a nice sharp cheese to a slab of tomato and mayo....we lived on these when we did the tourist thing in England....Lali, just came back to the begonia forum and love how you get everybody crazy about begonias..lolol..me included...
This spring Katy who hasnt been on this forum for awhile took me down south of our home and we did 9 nruseries in on afternoon..we found the neatest begonias and now Ive got them growing outside near my birdbath....got to love the different colors on the leaves...Judy

Thanks Judy! You can see why they are so addicting! All the wonderful leaf textures (did you see the one Butch took a photo of in Thailand with the cool viening! WOW), flower colors and diversity!

We lived on cheese and crackers when we were in England a few years ago, we were on such a dead run to see all the cool stuff that it was best to just have picnics in the car! (that's about all we had time to do for meals)

Did you get to Cheddar? See Cheddar Man? Try some genuine Cheddar cheese? Here's yours truly, the wino, having just one of those picnics in the car! (we were in Cheddar, eating *what else* but cheddar and crackers, and a crisp white! (note that I'm NOT the driver of the car!! Steering wheel is on the other side in England, LOL)

But seriously, how about their gardens over there!?

Pulling through Marlboro, I hung my head out the window and snapped a few garden shot.

Can they grow fuchsia baskets or what!

The Famous Kew Gardens! (Kell, you would die!)

Shoot, I would die of ecstasy, Lali.

Oh to be at Kew Gardens in the spring, summer, winter or fall. LOL

It is already hot here. The air conditioning went on at 9:30 automatically. Last night it was actually muggy when we left sushi. I couldn't believe it. We kept the air conditioning on late into the night which is so unusual.

Lali, I was staying right across the ressy in Axbridge from Cheddar..we went to Wooki Caves and there in the middle of the caves were pallets of original Cheddar...it was the best..we also went to a place called Eden Project down south of us..Look it up on the net...its the most beautiful and huge garden you have even seen....it took us all day to drive there and we stayed at a nice cottage my sisters friend owned...they had tropical gardens and arrid gardens..they all were in gigantic bubbles..it was started in a quarry and to get down into the gardens you can either walk it or take a shuttle down into it..harder to get out...if you ever go back check it out....Talking about it makes me want to go back so bad..If I can find my pictures I will post them here...Judy

We almost did the Eden Project but had to b-line it back to London, we had a show tickets for Mama Mia (NOT to be missed!) and so we had to cross off a few things, that being one of them. The DH can only take so much plant-speak before he's ready to shove me out of the car!

Poppies at West Kennet Long Barrow

Lovely poppies, but oh you missed the king of gardens at Eden....When we went to London , My mom, my daughter and myself went to see Cats...that was an awesome play...my daughter didnt want to go thinking what would a play be about cats...lolol..she fell in love with it...if you ever get over there again, get to eden....its a must..we also hit the coast line at Loo and sat on the beach eating fish and chips...whats england with out fish and chips and a big bow of clotted cream with strawberries....nummmmy....Judy

And warm BEER (NOT!) I did have some fish and chips while there but we were on the run so much I think we literally lived on crackers, beer, wine, cheese and hit the grocery store every few days for fruit. We did eat at a neat Indian Food place in London (maybe called Veeraswamy or something like that). Very swank! Wish I could remember the name. Best thing I think was breakfast, the way the toast was made, fried on a grill with yummy jam. Oooohhh lip smakin' good!

We ate fish and chips at a pretty neat little coastal town and I'll have to go look at the photo again to refresh my memory of the town name. Never mind... just came to me St. Micheal's Mount. We ate then went to the castle (before the tide, as after the tide, the bridge goes under the water) http://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/ anyway, we had some pretty good grub there.

Yup, looked up the restaraunt, it is Veeraswamy's here's the link http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/display.php?Rest_ID=81361

Oh, and I'm still 'lovin summertime' despite the thermometer reading 115º today! CHOKE!