The lettuce and spinach were ruined by the mid summer heat wave but our tropicals produce like never before! Kiwanos are gathering... 20190808_141101.jpg To give you an idea, this is just the bottom of the plant. I think most of the fruits gather at the bottom so the plant doesn't have to pump water...

For now it does, yes! I'm just a bit worried about the cucumber being too late. We will see how far it goes!

Looks like the summer is over for now with temperatures lowering and a lot of rain fall. Hope we get to see another bit of summer soon, even if it's final, because the mediterraneans and tropicals really do need it! Already harvested a lot of cherry tomatoes and, because I can't eat them all at once...

Yesterday I knocked my knuckles on the first watermelon and it sounded very hollow but full of liquid, so not very solid. I think it's getting close to ripeness but it's still very small. Not such a surprise, as it's growing in limited space so it probably doesn't get to full size. I just really won...

Pictures can speak more than a thousand words, so I figured this would be a great share. For me the tomatoes are also getting there very soon. Cherry tomatoes earlier than regular ones, they are still green. Oh I really wonder how the stores get those perfectly ripe trusses of exactly 10 tomatoes pa...

I had the same thing happening to my peppers and the parts that were not burnt were still edible, only still green. I have no doubt that this is caused by the summer heat and light. Hot peppers like more heat than sweet peppers. All hot peppers here survived, just a couple of sweet peppers got this:...

I overwintered my lemon verbena last year without any effort at all. I actually thought it died but I kept the pot outdoors. This year it just started growing again in the late spring. It has nothing to do with overwintering but I found that during spring when it starts growing, you can cut the stem...

For me lettuce is just not working, they stay the same small size so the mid summer heat must be too much for them. Glad I found out now and not next year on our new piece of land.

They haven't fully swollen up yet but they were getting close. I already placed the grapevine on the shaded side of the building so it can heal. Hopefully the grapes are not all lost...

So scorching is what it's called. Let's hope it doesn't happen again! The temperatures seem to lower a little bit tomorrow and the rest of the week. I don't believe I ever felt so hot in my lifetime. It also harmed a few grapes on my grape vine that suddenly turned brown or fell off due to the heat....

I tried to protect the growing area from the sun and the heat. One of my pepper plants just didn't get covered by the shade so one of the sweet peppers burned. Today the balcony reached over 46°C in the afternoon, it's bizarre! This was my burned pepper. Luckily it was the only one on here. Screensh...

Thank you for the great advice! I'm already watering the entire floor just now, just to clean the surface. Never thought of it as a way to cool down. When I'm standing on the balcony at these temps I feel like I'm boiling on the inside! Luckily we do have an airconditioning system. I try not to use ...

I don't think it has ever been this hot in my life before. Coming thursday we are facing temperatures of 40°C in some areas of the country (including mine), the same temperatures I had on a holiday to the mediterranean Crete, Greece. Something is really wrong with the climate but at least the pepper...

Must be the challenges of real, solid land. Can't wait to get to the real thing and actually use spades and rakes instead of my fingertips.

Just a few weeks ago it was the size of my index finger tip. Look at it now! This is watermelon "Sugar Baby".