Staking

It rained this afternoon. A brief but very hard rain. The rain gauge showed 1-1/4 inches - but I think it came so fast that much of it was runoff. I didn't capture any in the rain barrel - I'd used up the remaining water yesterday watering the tomatoes through the drip line, and forgot to close the valve afterward. So the rain went into the barrel and out through the drip line, into the tomato bed that was getting deluged with rain from the sky.

Several tomato plants, that had thus far been standing tall under their own power, were bending low to the ground after the storm. Four of seven bell pepper plants were laying prostrate. This spring I planted bell peppers from two different seed packs. Other than that the treatment was the same. One pack's worth of plants (3) all have flowers on them already. They also were the ones still standing straight after the rain. The other plants, not blooming yet, collapsed in the rain. I wish I had marked which plants were from which seeds!

Even after the rain, temps were still in the 90s. So I waited until late evening to go out to cage the maters and stake the peppers. Three-quarters of an hour later I was dripping with perspiration and chased in by darkness. I got all the plants supported, even those that had not fallen, because I know they will all need it eventually. The garden always looks awkward a this time of the year. Plants that had looked large before caging are now dwarfed by their cages. If I didn't know better I'd wonder if this was all really necessary. But I know those tomatoes will soon be outgrowing their confines.