Summer in Texas. It’s a beating. It’s so hot and humid outside, it’s hard to breathe.

Clearly, the tomatoes love the heat. We had a few days of under 100 degree weather this week, and the cooler temps triggered a tidal wave of ripening. This was what I had yesterday. Today, all the ripe romas and cherries are in the convection oven, drying. Romas make awesome sundried tomatoes.

While it was bearable, I built the first new fall vegetable coffins. July 1st through the 15th is prime time to plant fall tomatoes, so I’m right on time. I put in two romas, another Husky Cherry, which did well, and two Heatwaves. I mixed in some marigolds, to keep the pests down. I also did four little hills of eggplant seeds in the same bed. I saw my first eggplant vine yesterday at Marshall Feed, and it looked just like a tomato—I figured they could live in the same bed together. We’ll see what happens.

The old beds are looking scraggly. The romas are dying off, which is fine. The Early Girls are still green, but there are so many of them, they’re just a jungle. I read somewhere recently that three tomato vines will produce enough for a family. I planted eleven. I always think half will die, and they don’t. Five should be plenty for fall.
I planted marigold seed around the small bed when the zucchini went in, and they’re just now flowering. These are the tallest, silliest looking marigolds I’ve ever seen. I transplanted a bunch of these that weren’t in flower yet to the fall bed.