I was working a lot this spring and ashamed to say I was glad it was so cold and rainy cause I had no time for the garden. But, now I ready to put in some long hours and I feel like I'M wilting. lol

I've been putting off posting about the heat, thinking I CAN'T be complaining already! It is beastly, though.

I had a ton of planting to do this past Sunday and had to take a break between each task because it was so durn hot. It was an August kind of workday... hoe the new annual bed for half an hour, then sit in the shade gasping and drinking water for 15 minutes, then plant the seeds and haul out the hose, then back into the shade to rest, then back out again. Sweat was pouring out of me, into my eyes, etc.

The heat, the rain, both have our garden looking like a million bucks. So much so, I won't bore you with the details. It's barely the end of the first week in June, and we have tomato blossoms, dahlias a foot high, basil a foot high, and numerous perennials growing like weeds. Nope, no complaints here at all.

Yeah, here too.

The only problem I have is the weeds are growing like weeds :-(

Alexa

All of my stuff if flopping over because of all the overcast weather we had early in the season. Things are looking pretty bad in my garden!

the hot weather is really helping our gardens! The beans are up and growing like crazy, have small hot peppers on the plants, tomatoes have blossoms..just have to water a little more than usual! The flowers look good too, dahlias are up and getting bigger by the day,peonies are opening...I think the plants like this weather almost as much as I hate it!!

We DID NOT have weather in the high 90's. It got into the low 90's but not high 90's. This is the kind of weather I live for. Of course, weather this hot would be worthless without the humidity. My tomatoes, papaya tree, peppers and banana plants are loving it. It's a shame that when I wake up on Christmas morning that we can't have this kind of weather. Just today, I got back from a 14 mile walk with the dog in the country side in this heat and humidity. Enjoying the wild plants and the homeowners that have gardens like you and I. I guess there are only a few people that can "take the heat". Let's hope that the tilt of planet Earth changes and PA ends up on the equator.

I agree with everyone, this weather has been warm, humid,and high temps, but isn't this what we've all been waiting for around here! I took a chance & started my veg.garden May 18th, and my tom.,bananna peppers, celery are growing like hot cakes!!! Love it!! Enjoy while lasts!!

Gardenguy - my car's thermometer has read 97 and 98 degrees for the past three days.

I'm just bitter because I had a busy spring compounded by a back strain and this is the first I really get a chance to get outside and work, and I'm melting!

Wow shadylady, juuuuuuust a few more and we get 100! Seriously tho, that is pretty hot. Are your thermometers in the shade or direct sun. That would explain the high temps.

It's the thermometer on my car, and I thought that maybe it was reading wrong. But today it was just a degree off from what the radio reported on Independence Mall. We're only at about 90 today! Yay!

I'm sorry it's this hot now because the antique once-blooming roses are just starting to open, but they'll be over before you know it because of the heat--until next June!

I was out at six this morning, it was a great gardening temperature! Of course I'm more of a sleep until the alarm clock goes off kind of person, so this may never happpen again... but I can definately see why some people like the early-bird thing.
Too bad all I did was was walk around and water.... I should have weeded.
Kato

My plants are loving this stuff! Cannas finally woke up, beautyberry is finally taking off, tomatoes, squash, tomatillos, and peppers are sucking up the humidity like mad, my annual vines are coming out of their stunted funk and sprinting up their support, and everything is alive and thriving!

I am not going to wish for that cold, clammy, overcast mess that we had before. The western side of the country is in that pattern right now and the complaints are coming in far and wide from over yonder - particularly from the far west where they normally go into their dry season now, but are being deluged with rain in parts of normally dry California and Nevada.

As it is, I believe a cold front is due by the middle of next week and some of the long range forecasts are indicating more "normal" temps (mid-70s - low 80s) for later next week.

I gotta tell you fine folks that we have hostas that are now approaching the "downright scarey" level, I mean these things are triple the size they were last year. If not for deer loving hostas, we'd have hundreds, literally. It's easily the heat, humidity, and that almost daily dose of rain. We've lived in our current home for about fourteen years, and while I know some of our stuff looks good because of our TLC, much of it looks sensational because of the weather of the last several weeks. Cheers!

Weather is what forces us to be good gardeners. If we had ideal weather all the time it wouldn't be so challenging. Unusual conditions force us to be innovative. I learn something new every day I am in the garden and that is a gift well worth receiving.

Sween-I know what you mean about hostas. I have a shade garden next to my side porch and they are taking over the world there. The only thing bigger is the sword ferns that LOVE the wet weather. Too bad the deer can't get to them there.

I think the differences folks are seeing in temperature depends on where you are. I live in Chester County. When I'm at Wegmans, it feels about 10 degrees hotter than at my house because of all the macadam. We always subtract about 5 degress from the Philly forecast.

The one really suffering in all this heat is my poor dog! All he does is walk around with his tongue hanging out.

My gosh! My plants have doubled! One of my tomatillos just opened a bloom today. I didn't even see it coming. A harbinger of what's to eventually come later this summer. The squash doubled and has bloom buds and started putting out tendrils (I just got back inside after creating a structure for them to climb on. My tomatoes haven't had any blossoms yet but I *feel* them coming very very soon. LOL My Scarlet Runner bean vine just started flowering today, the Jacob Cline monarda has fat buds on them that started to swell enough to spread the leaves around them away to reveal the flowers-to-come. I think my Black and Blue salvia may be forming bloom tendrils and my Meyer Lemon is loaded in blooms. The cannas have awoken although they are still like they are in shock wondering if this is for real (yes it is real canna, so get moving!). Am hoping my prickly pear cactus will bloom this year. Asiatics have their bloom buds swelling nicely.

Of course my pansies will soon be buying the farm.... any day now. :-o