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It's hot. Not as hot as the past few days (yet), but hot. And humid. Extremely humid. Highs in the 90's since last week, with heat indices of well over 100. The kind of heat where just turning the page of a book you're reading makes you break out in a sweat. The humid heat isn't good for my ability to breathe, so I've been wheezing a lot. Thank heavens for the wall AC in the apartment!
Interesting how tidily it coincides with my deciding 1 1/2 weeks ago to not deal with the AC in the car until next spring...
There's also been a lack of rain- none for weeks, until last night. Even then it wasn't a lot, but every little bit helps. Spectacular lightning and thunder, though, and judging by the sagging tree branches it must have really been coming down at some point.
The pot with the tomato and eggplant is now taking up an entire end of my balcony. Pot included, the tomato's just about 5' tall. Lots of tomatoes on it, which hopefully will keep growing and start to ripen. No eggplants yet, though there have been several blooms.
Sunday I noticed it getting shorter. All the branches were bending over (not drooping, bending), so I had to come up with something better than a dowel and ties to hold it up. Finally thought about a cheapy clothes drying rack I picked up a while back. Pulled out a few of the cross bars and set it up, tying the braces so it would stay put. Put that sort of next to/over the tomato plant and carefully threaded branches through to rest on the appropriate height bars. Seems to be working very well- I need to remember this one for future use!
Major aphid problems around the state, and a lot of them are trying to make their home on my eggplant. Been spritzing it with a mixture of water with a couple drops of dish soap (thanks Mom!) which seems to do a fine job of getting rid of them, at least for about a week per spritz session. That's fine, I can remember to do that once a week.
The garden up at P's parent's house is going gangbusters. Loads of tomatoes, and the squash and eggplants I put in are doing very well. Already had two eggplants and I don't know how much squash- I've been eating a LOT of yellow crook-neck squash lately! P's cukes have done well, and many pickles have been canned. His peppers are loving the heat- this year it's cayenne, habanero, and standard green bells. (Can't remember if he found a decent jalapeno plant this year or not.)
Repotted some of the mint today- gods, have I got mint! Now up to 6 pots, plus it was trying to take over a hanging basket of flowers. Took some out of there to create #6. Taking some up to P next time I go up, but at least one of them already needs to be split. (And me out of potting soil!)
Been swimming a lot lately, eight days in the past two weeks. Lots and lots of laps. Last night I'd planned to swim, but it got a bit late and I didn't want to be swimming without anyone around so I went downstairs and got on the exercise bike instead. The swimming's been doing something for me- I took just over a minute off my time for 15 miles!
Checked measurements last night, too, since it had been about a month. Overall total is down another 1.75 inches. Nothing you can really see just looking at me, but that makes for a loss of 4.5 inches in the past 2+ months. Some areas aren't really changing at all, but others are definitely improving. Finally, SOME sign of progress after all those years of, er, un-progress!
Interesting how tidily it coincides with my deciding 1 1/2 weeks ago to not deal with the AC in the car until next spring...
There's also been a lack of rain- none for weeks, until last night. Even then it wasn't a lot, but every little bit helps. Spectacular lightning and thunder, though, and judging by the sagging tree branches it must have really been coming down at some point.
The pot with the tomato and eggplant is now taking up an entire end of my balcony. Pot included, the tomato's just about 5' tall. Lots of tomatoes on it, which hopefully will keep growing and start to ripen. No eggplants yet, though there have been several blooms.
Sunday I noticed it getting shorter. All the branches were bending over (not drooping, bending), so I had to come up with something better than a dowel and ties to hold it up. Finally thought about a cheapy clothes drying rack I picked up a while back. Pulled out a few of the cross bars and set it up, tying the braces so it would stay put. Put that sort of next to/over the tomato plant and carefully threaded branches through to rest on the appropriate height bars. Seems to be working very well- I need to remember this one for future use!
Major aphid problems around the state, and a lot of them are trying to make their home on my eggplant. Been spritzing it with a mixture of water with a couple drops of dish soap (thanks Mom!) which seems to do a fine job of getting rid of them, at least for about a week per spritz session. That's fine, I can remember to do that once a week.
The garden up at P's parent's house is going gangbusters. Loads of tomatoes, and the squash and eggplants I put in are doing very well. Already had two eggplants and I don't know how much squash- I've been eating a LOT of yellow crook-neck squash lately! P's cukes have done well, and many pickles have been canned. His peppers are loving the heat- this year it's cayenne, habanero, and standard green bells. (Can't remember if he found a decent jalapeno plant this year or not.)
Repotted some of the mint today- gods, have I got mint! Now up to 6 pots, plus it was trying to take over a hanging basket of flowers. Took some out of there to create #6. Taking some up to P next time I go up, but at least one of them already needs to be split. (And me out of potting soil!)
Been swimming a lot lately, eight days in the past two weeks. Lots and lots of laps. Last night I'd planned to swim, but it got a bit late and I didn't want to be swimming without anyone around so I went downstairs and got on the exercise bike instead. The swimming's been doing something for me- I took just over a minute off my time for 15 miles!
Checked measurements last night, too, since it had been about a month. Overall total is down another 1.75 inches. Nothing you can really see just looking at me, but that makes for a loss of 4.5 inches in the past 2+ months. Some areas aren't really changing at all, but others are definitely improving. Finally, SOME sign of progress after all those years of, er, un-progress!