Garden: Week 12

 Whew!  It was a hot, hot dry week and the garden felt it.
Temps were 100-104 for days with humidity in single digits.  This hotness is very atypical for this time of year...much more like in August and September.  We watered the best we could but things fried...like the nasturtiums, carrots and the nutterbutter squash.  Too bad the weeds stuck around.

 The sunflowers erupted and are so beautiful.  We'll definitely be planting these next year, a lot more.

 The old avocado leaves got crispier but

 ...the new growth looks wonderful.  Yay!!

 The strawberries are struggling.  This week I'll be working on rooting the runners, then I'll fertilize to encourage some new growth.  Hopefully they will bounce back and we'll have some more yummy fruit this year.

 The nutterbutter squash is a bit crispy, yellow leaves and dry flowers.

 My nutterbutter squash split.  I read it's possible for the fruit to heal itself.  It split days ago and so far it does not feel like it is rotting.

 Zucchini seems to be doing well.

 This is the muskmelon I brought home from the nursery.  It has new growth and a blossom!

 Muskmelon I planted from seed.  It is finally starting to take off.

 And the watermelon finally took off also...and it also has a blossom!

 Several ears of corn are fattening up.

 The green beans are thriving.  Definitely need to plant a lot more of these next year.

 And while weeding, I came across a cutworm.  Nice and fat no doubt from eating up my watermelon.  Squish goes this caterpillar!

On kid news, they are both doing great.  We went swimming at the pool today and Elena's floaty was left behind.  She slipped on goggles and became a fish for an hour.  She was so happy she said "it's a whole new world down there."  And after lunch she passed out; she napped longer than Charlie did!  Charlie is doing great (well aside from sleeping or rather lack of sleep at night).  He has been pooping on the potty (and only on the potty) for 1.5 weeks.  He did poop in his diaper this afternoon but it was my fault.  Tomorrow is another day  :)