Sweltering Heat = Happy Tomatoes

It was 83 degrees yesterday and the first real heat we've had here in Sunset Zone 14. I looked at my beds this morning and could swear the tomato and pepper plants grew 12 inches overnight! It's remarkable how much these plants thrive on heat. The squash fared well although I'm slightly concerned about how they will weather today's blistering 90+ degrees. Immature plants, regardless of their innate predilection, cannot handle heat above a certain point so I put out floating row covers today to shield the most delicate participants in the raised beds.

Buff Orpingtons & Sweet Peas

This month we will be setting up our chicken coop and run under the shade of a giant plum tree in the backyard. The coop and run, 4'x6' and 8' respectively are pictured here.

This set up can house around 5-7 chickens. We're planning to get Buff Orpingtons. These beautiful, large, golden chickens are docile, super friendly, heavy brown egg producers and very broody. They are fantastic back yard chickens in my opinion. I won't be hatching these myself as I normally do but rather buying pullets from a local source.

In the garden, the sweet pea vines are fragrant and beautiful! By the time we set up the chicken coop, we'll have a lot of foraging work for them to do in the vegetable gardens. The lettuce, peas, carrots, chard and greens should all be quite a bit more mature, harboring vermin in undergrowth such as snails and slugs. It will be a veritable smorgasbord for the chickens who make fantastic, organic pest control. With five chickens, we can expect to collect at least 18 to two dozen large brown eggs per week. We intend to mix their old straw bedding and manure directly in to the compost pile on a regular basis, for the most dreamy compost imaginable. Organic chicken manure is A+ for composting.