Tomatoes

I have been told many times that you should always pinch the suckers off your tomato plants. They (supposedly) grow very fast and strong and green and don't bear any blooms or fruit. They are called 'suckers' because they suck the energy of the plant away from growing and producing blooms and tomatoes.
I wonder, then, about mine. Yes, the suckers are growing strong, but they are producing tomatoes at a rate that is astonishing. They have more blooms than the 'regular' branches, and set fruit like the seed companies claim.
Maybe suckers aren't so bad.

Summer

It's summer now. We haven't had rain in three days, and it's been sunny non-stop. It must be a sign.
I am considering trying for managership at Wendy's. It is more pay and would look good on my resume. I don't want to make a career out of it, that is certain, but I might as well go as far as I can up the ladder while I'm there. It's not like they can disrupt my life much more than they do already.
My tomatoes are really taking off now. They have gotten tall and strong. Come to think of it, the other plants have come into their own as well. I have three little cantaloupe melons on my vines. I love gardens. They are so exciting!
No sooner had I gotten "No rain - It's summer" out of my mouth, then a rain frog started singing. Talk about eating your words! At least they were still hot.

My neighbor

I have a very charming, though shy, neighbor living under my water hose. He is a black skink, and has a pretty pale blue stripe along his side. I haven't looked it up yet, but I hope he likes mosquitoes. We have those in abundance.
I was afraid, at first, that he was a snake. I'm not overly afraid of snakes, but we have some poisonous ones in our area, and I am not too keen on testing the effectiveness of their venom. So I was very glad to see the blue stripe. Poisonous snakes don't have that kind of stripe here.
So far, he has stayed out of my way. I don't count the times he just appeared at the 'door' of his hole. That was just checking out the local color.

Fresh Basil

My basil is doing very well with all the rain and humidity we've been having. I harvested some yesterday for a lasagna we made for supper. I have to admit that I let some of it go to flower (it doesn't make as many leaves when you do that), but I was rewarded with a hummingbird sighting.
The hummingbird itself was a dark brown little thing - almost ugly, if a hummingbird can be ugly. Definitely not photogenic. It acted just like a hummingbird, though, so I forgave it very soon. And it liked my basil! I will forgive a great many things if my basil is admired properly.