Sometimes when it's sweltering, sitting outside in the garden shade brings real relief. The addition of a small water garden with a small pump powered "fountain" can really make you feel you are in cool retreat. The water garden can be a small tub or barrel. No outlet? No problem. There are small solar powered units available and you can visit Kinetic Fountains and purchase one there. Pictured below is a tub garden with a small pump powered fountain.

Seems the dog days of summer are here earlier than usual. We usually get this heat in August so the flowers aren't too happy with it. They get watered early and moved into shade if possible. Ah, the moveable garden has some benefits. Pictured here today are clematis (one of my spring favorites), Voodoo Rose, water lily leaves (no flowers yet) and petunias. Petunias don't like the strong sun so they sit in the shade until late afternoon.

The occupants of the raised bed box (tomatoes, red and habanero peppers, Swiss Chard and radishes) are thriving in the heat and get watered early in the morning before the strong sun arrives.

Summer arrived this week.

The tomatoes and peppers have put out flowers. Only problem is, I don't see very many bees. Maybe they are visiting when I'm not around, but there seem to be fewer of them. The pear tree fruits are progressing rapidly. This year there seem to be single fruits at the end of each branch and the fruits themselves look bigger. We can't wait for these to ripen. They have been a treat every summer for the past five years or so. The kale and chard have been finding their way into our salads along with some basil and garlic chives.

Finally, we've got decent weather. Our dwarf Bartlett Pear tree is promising a good crop of tasty pears again. It seems there are less this year. This might be due to the decrease in the bee population or the warm weather that was out of sync.

We've got a bumper crop of peas this year. The question is, how to eat them? I'm thinking of raw in a salad, but then again stir fried into some Thai noodles and chicken sounds good too.

The basil is enjoying the sun. Pesto is one of our favorites here. Fresh basil added to pasta and sauce really gives it that extra oomph of flavor.