Good morning, everyone. Yesterday's temperature topped out, officially (in Chicago), at 93. They say Valparaiso reached 89. But neither temp really matters to us. Our patio reached a bit over 100. I watered all of the small(er) pots well and planned to water the large containers in the evening when things cooled down. That last didn't happen. By 7:30 pm the temperature was still just below 90. Since nothing looked at all unhappy (i.e., wilted) I decided to postpone the watering till this morning. I was surprised to see that nothing had dried out very much. So, after soaking everything well, I took a few pictures.

I wrote about the mini-green house we got over the winter. Here it is. I am still learning how to use it effectively. Right now I don't have any plants in it but I want to start some new lettuce soon. I found out earlier that it can get quite hot under this plastic so I have to be very careful to open it up before it cooks my seedlings.

So, what have I planted this year?

Seventeen tomatoes: Big Rainbow, Brandywine, German Queen, Fresh Salsa, Roma, Yellow cherry, Big Beef, Rutgers, Marion.

Fourteen peppers: Zavory, False Alarm, Vietnamese Multicolor, Giant Marconi, Red Bell.

Other: Tigger melon, Dragon's Egg cucumber, Blue Lake beans, Table Queen Acorn Squash, lettuce, ground cherry.

Herbs: cilantro, ginger mint, sweet mint (spearmint), stevia, oregano, lemon balm, lavender, cat nip, sweet basil, lemon verbena, rosemary.

Flowers: impatiens, love-in-a-mist, miniature roses, ageratum, marigold, petunias, portulaca, Black Peony poppy.

And here is King Kuma on his throne. Right now he is pouting upstairs because the temperature is already past 80 on its way to the mid 90s (without the oven effect on the patio.) We have already closed up and put on the air. The heat isn't the major problem for us--the humidity is brutal.