Y'all hot yet?

I mowed the back yard about 8 yesterday morning. I keep a thermometer on the back porch where the sun won't hit it, and just for grins I set it out in the sun. About 8:30, when I first set it out, it said it was 82. I checked it just before 9, and it read 112. How's that for some strong sun? And it won't even be summer until Friday!

Got a feeling we're in for a long one, and I've had maybe an inch of rain in the last month. I grew up in this, but I don't know how! The tomatoes will be long gone before long.

My season is pretty much over. Just a few stragglers still on the plants.

Would putting shade cloth over them help? Or would the heat in the ground still kill them off?

I haven't had a fruit set since early May. It's just the reality of gardening in S.E. Texas. Plant early, rip out the plants in July, re-plant, get a few tomatoes in October, rinse repeat. We have 4 weeks a year of good tomatoes.

If your hot try San Antonio. No rain to speak of in about two months. It's so hot that you lose your breath when you go outside. Just wait until August. Hurricanes where are you?
This is not meant to be disrespectful but as you Texans know the only cure for a long hot spell is a hurricane in the Gulf.

That's what we call a mixed blessing!

IMHO...Houston's humidity with the heat in the summer is horrible. Further inland, we may hit higher temps, but they're just as miserable. 90/90 is as hot as 110/0 any day. 99/30 here today and if not for the slight breeze and shade, no one would be outside.

"eyes"

Shade might help your tomatoes. I had to plant mine where they only get 1/2 day of sun because I have a very shady yard. My tomatoes just started turning red this week, but they still have lots of blooms and green tomatoes of all sizes so I guess they are still producing fruit. Last year my tomatoes survived the summer and produced a bumper crop in the fall too. The shade prevents me from getting tomatoes first, but it does help them survive the summer so I don't have to start all over again in the fall.

I am an amature gardener, but I belive in trying things and if they don't work then try something else next time.
Tabitha

tied for a record high temp of 98F here today--and I haven't seen rain in so long I've forgotten what it looks and feels like (bet the daff's are happy)

MMTitus, after living a year without a home ( from Rita) I'll take hot over hurricane anytime.

did trees fall up your way AJ?--I have a brother in Groves that had little damage from Rita, other than some roof shingles missing. Luckily, his huge oaks held up pretty well--not the case with some of his neighbors, though.

It's hot here too. I went grocery shopping this afternoon. When I walked out of the store the heat was really strong.

We're having a shower now though, so hopefully that will cool things off and not bring out too many mosquitoes.

We had 2 trees fall on our house during Rita. Fortunately they turned about 30 degrees on the way down so the damage was not as bad as it could have been.

One of the trees was a breeze to get rid of and the area was replanted by the next spring.

I am just now getting ready to plant up the other area where one of the trees fell. I've created a slide show that shows what it looked like before, and then what my hubby went through to get that stump out of the ground.
http://uniquetreasures.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?username=uniquetreasures&album_id=594602§ion_id=862957

So, like AJ, I'll take the hot over the hurricane any day of the week. And you can bet your sweet bippy that I'll be evacuating AGAIN if another one heads our way. Hubby stayed here and thinks I'm a wimp. Do I care? Heck no!

Janet

Yes they did. I had a couple uproot and a fairly small tree that broke and fell across my roof. By the time we were let back in the whole house was a loss. The neighbor had an Oak uproot and hit his house. Luckily it clipped the corner and his entire mobile home moved causing little damage.

I'm over off 23rd, behind Market Basket. What part of Beaumont are you in AJ? BTW, Nice to meet ya!

Janet

I'm actually in Beauxart Gardens next to the airport. I have a Beaumont address because that's where the mail passes through.

aaahhh OK... I don't get out that way very often. You must have had a lot of storm surge to deal with being that much closer to the water then.

Oddly enough even with this scorching weather my darn tomato vines are so tall....over 8 ft. now and still growing, it is actually cool down the each row out of the sun. So, except for the very tops of most of my tomatoes they stay fairly shaded. Now if I can stave off the Early Blight and get a bit lucky, maybe I can be like madrid 2000 into the fall. I tried starting new seeds one summer for the fall and decided unless I could save my spring crop for the fall I wouldn't waste my time. It's normally so hot you can't even start the seeds outdoors. This time last year I was out of the country getting IM's and emails about the monsoons we were having. Then when I got back even more rain if you remember and I managed to loose probably over 200 lbs of tomatoes. Now you see why most farmers are fairly religious folks..........

The eggplants, cukes and chilies are doing fine.

Janet, I go to Beaumont to my boss's house which is off Major drive and Washington. I know where you are located..hahah..ya just about 26 mins from my house down Hwy 90 W....I was on the good side of Hurricane Rita..just lots of limbs and 2 trees that lost their tops upside down onto my back forty!!..My pot belly piggy was out in it eating and walking around like it was just another rain storm coming thru....LOL...
Nadine

I've heard of Devers many times, but can't say I've ever put my eyeballs on it. But I'm sure I did at one time or another because I've gone to the airport via Hwy 90 a time or 2 over the past 29 years we've lived here.

I'm doing rain dances every night.

My tomatoes have just about had it. Combine the assasin bugs with the heat and I am getting nothing worth eating.

No storm surge problem here. I'm just outside the Beaumont city limits, between the airport and prisons.

Goodness! I have a feeling it's going to be a long, hot, dry summer this year. I'm ready for October already!! LOL We've been up to 100º for the past couple of days. Had to get out and water the yard in addition to the beds. Last year we had too much rain, this year not enough!

Stephanie

Actually assassin bugs are beneficials. Stink bugs and Leaf-footed bugs, which look almost identical, keep me up at night. They devastate tomato crops. And other than hand-picking or collecting them with a hand-held vacuum cleaner, I know of no way to get rid of them other than chemicals -- Sevin or Ortho Bug-B-Gon Max.

The strange rain patterns in the Houston area are frustrating. Don't mow to let the grass shade itself, then we get a couple of inches in a few hours and the @#$% grass is 8-10 inches tall, takes all day to mow & edge, then back to no rain.

Garden struggling, but doing things a bit different this year, so lots of experimentation - harvesting cabbage seeds now. Should begin harvesting lettuce seeds soon, too.

Grape tomatos (red and yellow) both producing, but not as much as in the past -- but -- no leaf-footed bugs (yet) -- I probably just jinxed myself with that remark.

Would this be a leaf footed bug? I have been trying to take a clearer picture so I could post it for an ID. If it is I guess I should get rid of it before it invites its friends over. Right now I have just seen one that lives on my bannana pepper plants. There weren't too many holes and so I let it stay in case it was a beneficial.

I was wondering what this "orange ant" was. I am beginning to think it is a nymph of the leaf footed bug. I saw one on a crinum flower in my front bed too. I never saw these till I moved to Houston.
Tabitha

You got it - Madrid. That's the devil in at least 2 of it's stages. The "orange" ones can be controlled, but the adults are really tough.

Since it hasn't rained within my limited memory, we have to water every day. Last year it rained almost every day so all the plants developed shallow roots. It is hard to keep them from dieing this year. Thank goodness we have our own well.

Wooooooo.................finally some liquid sunshine!
I won't have to water today or tomorrow. Doors and windows open....and best of all, no AC running.

"eyes"

We got rain!!!

I think we got enough this time to soak more than 1/8 inch into the soil.

I agree. I was just out there looking over my plants to see if any of the pots needed to be emptied. ALL of my plants were singing! "Haaaaaaaaaaallelujah!!! Praise the Lord"

We have a tiny puddle on the sidewalk.

not a drop--we could look to the east and see the rain

That was my house you saw getting rained on. :-)

Trois, how did you ever see it?

"eyes"

I don't know, but soon after the last post I made, the power went out for more than an hour while it rained very hard. I don't know how much. I went out with a flashlight and found a happy toad in a puddle.

Still dry as dust....still hotter than Hades. Miserable summer weather! The older I get the less I can tolerate it.

I really understand that. I used to hate cold weather but now it's the heat. I was spoiled by the wet, cool summer last year.

Not a drop here either. We did get the high winds, clouds, and cooler temps. I'll take the cooler temps, but would love some of the liquid sunshine, too!