July 28, 2025
Yes, it is hot, humid and even sometimes a bit hazy, as the middle of summer is upon us down here in the mid-Atlantic area. I still remember living in New Jersey and experiencing similar times with similar weather conditions. The difference is, I am no spring chicken anymore and my body doesn’t adjust as well. Add the fact that I spend quite a bit of time in an air conditioned house and going out feels like I am walking to a hothouse.

I am limiting my outdoor work to cutting the grass 2-3 times a week and picking veggies almost every day. All of the veggies are struggling now with rain and humidity causing damage. I am waiting to put in some new seedlings (cucumbers, pickles and lettuce) until the weather improves, as I don’t think the seedlings will do well in the 90º plus temps arrive this week.

I have made some tomato sauce, dried some basil and parsley and cut up and froze about 30 lbs of peaches over the weekend. The refrigerator is filled up with little room for anything else, as I put the last of my potatoes (Eva) into the deli drawer.

July 18, 2025
Wow! Well, we are in another hot spell down here in Delaware. I feel like we are back in Florida as the temperatures up here are just about the same as down at our little cottage. Only, I would like to go out and do some garden work, walk and enjoy the weather, rather than sit inside, doing house work.

Today it is 87º and I decided I was still going to cut the back yard grass, using the Honda mower, rather than the riding mower. I wanted to collect the cuttings so I can compost that for next year. I got it done, but boy was it a chore, keeping the sweat out of my eyes. It reminded me of when my friends and I cleared the leaves and twigs and moved 50 yards of mulch up at the Mansfield property, preparing it for selling.

I did walk a mile this morning with the temperature at 76º, staying in the shade for most of the walk. Yesterday my brother and I did our weekly 5 mile walk up at Lum’s Pond, so I am hoping to get back into gear with the walking, despite the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, the tomatoes and cucumbers keep coming along, as are the weeds, almost impossible to control at this time, as they are growing twice as fast as the veggies.

July 12, 2025
Here it is, Saturday already and I didn’t walk a step this week. This is a first for me since I recorded all my walking since May 2, 2021. I found I was taking a pretty good beating from the very warm and humid weather, leaving me very tired and pretty exhausted, in terms of wanting to go out and walk. I was able to do some weeding, but even that was quite difficult.

I usually don’t have an issue with the warmer weather, but for some reason, staying out of the sun seems to be the best approach to this “Southern Spell” that has hit us.

In the meantime, picking vegetables has been a pleasure to say the least. Lots of tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, pickles and even a few beans. My neighbors are very happy receiving “goodies” from the Veggie guy….

I don’t see a break coming along any time soon, so I will continue to do some “slow motion” work outside, in an attempt to keep the weeds at bay. I also want to do more successive planting, including a new round of collard greens, pickles and cukes and some fall lettuce.

July 8, 2025
The heat is back with a vengeance as temperature is going up to 94º today. I was able to get the lawn cut, as the grass is growing extremely fast, due to the abundance of rain that is coming along with the heat. I will try and get out and do some harvesting of tomatoes and cucumbers, but weeding will have to wait another day.

Despite the heat and humidity, the garden continues to produce some amazing veggies. These are another round of Pontiac Red potatoes. I put in seed potatoes in early April and this is the finished product.

July 7, 2025
I decided that if I am going to keep the garden going, I will have to skip walking early in the morning and go out and weed the garden one row at a time. The weeds grow twice as fast as the crops, so I have to stay on top of cleaning out the rows almost on a daily basis. I found the video above of a hard working “younger” woman (70 years old), working the land up in Vermont. I love what advice she had to offer.

July 6, 2025
We are close to another 90º heat spell coming up this week. Maybe it is because the 4th of July and Nancy’s birthday are coming and there is heat from all the celebrating.

The garden is showing what the heat can do for growth and maturity. Tomatoes are now too many to count, along with the cucumbers, as both are producing good crops. I am waiting on green beans to mature, as I see lots of flowering going on. The new broccoli seedlings are also doing quite well, although I have to keep a close eye on those cabbage bugs.

I planted 9 okra seedlings (some already had okra fruit on them. I also planted 4 more tomato plants, a Roma, 1 Delicious and 2 Beefmaster. The Roma also already had some fruit on the seedling. Click on photo to see recent harvests.

July 1, 2025
Finally, a break from the hot and humid weather, as a cold front came through with quite a bit of rain. Unlike south of us, we have not had much rain, so this is welcome for the grass and garden. It is my contention that the weather moved a month ahead this year, as April was more like May, May more like June and since the middle of June, we are seeing August type weather.

It is a good thing I have an irrigation system, as lawns are starting to turn brown on properties without water. I have been cutting the grass twice a week, sometimes three times, trying to keep up with the growth. I cut it high to keep the grass green and lush, as well as it helps keep the weeds at bay.

I had to buy a new string trimmer, a replacement for my Ego unit. I have an Ego multi-tool head, so I just added a trimmer head and all is working fine. Ego has some quality control problems, but they continue to improve their products. This new trimmer has a variable speed setup, so I can go slow and easy where needed and fast, when the weeds are tall and tough. I just hope it lasts a bit longer than 3-4 years. At $169 it wasn’t cheap.

I have lots of weeding to do in the strawberry plot, where I only did two rows, so 4 more rows to go. The bean plots are inundated with weeds, and that will also require lots of “down and dirty” work to clean up that area. The good news is that my tomato plots are pretty clean as I have been able to keep up with weeding there, due mainly to having very wide, open lanes between each of the three tomato rows.

It is amazing to me that we are already into July, having been home now for 3 months.