Sun and Rain

Plenty of both sun and rain at the moment.

Light show courtesy of Mother Nature.

Yes, July has started out both hot and wet. We have had some pretty high temperatures but not as bad as some years. Many thunderstorms have passed over us too................

.....forcing Alvin to take shelter on the kitchen windowsill at short notice a few times.
Wilson..................................

....prefers somewhere with a little more leg room. The roof of my wife's car proves to be ideal.

High winds have buffeted the region too.

I hope the occupants of this home had vacated the premises before it was blown from the tree?
Anyroad, here's how things are in Oklahomegrownvegland at the moment.....................

Peaches look fine but are still not ready to be picked. Nice looking but "brickish".
Kind of like eating a fruity potato.

The birds and squirrels seem to agree and have not started attacking or stealing them yet.

The same goes for the Fuji apples although I think these may be ready before the peaches.

I've tried a couple and although small they are definitely sweetening up.

This is the Black Cherry tree at the front of the property

I have never seen as much fruit on this tree since we moved here. I did trim off quite a few low hanging branches last year so perhaps it's done it some good. The birds in the area are just loving these and are continuously feeding. Perhaps thats why they are leaving the two other fruit trees alone?

More fruit has been discovered too................

............in the form of Wild Blackberries. I stumbled upon these whilst clearing some creepers around the back of the shed. There were only a few and they had gone by the weekend so I presume that they too have been on the birds menu.

Here's why I was clearing that area..................

...........I was making room for the second Rotating Composter I constructed a couple of weeks ago. I can now stop adding to one barrel when enough material has been collected and start adding to the other.This will allow the contents of the first to break down fully.

Yummy looking stuff, eh?

The Fingerling Potatoes...................................

......I got nothing.
Those magnificent plants which I carefully tendered all those weeks were all I got.
Another Potato crop failure to add to my ever increasing list of Potato crop failures.
One day..............................................................

Better news from the Yolo Bell Peppers.

Here's my first two of the season. They came from the smallest of the four plants too.
It broke at ground level in the high winds shortly after being planted out and had to grow again from scratch. The whole plant is only around 12 inches high.
The rest of the plants have plenty of peppers coming along so it looks like I'll have some success.

The White Onions are about ready.

Plenty of good sized ones too. I will soon be pulling most of them and allowing them to dry in the plots but I want to wait a little longer to make sure the thunderstorms are over.

Most of the eight Tomato plants have set fruit but not as abundantly as I had hoped. I keep reminding myself that I was very late getting these started and not to worry......

.....but I worry. I always worry.
Above picture shows a Brandywine and the hand of the Happy (but worried) Gardener

Stage one of the weekend mowing......................................

................is complete.

Enough!!