As I write this, we've had rain on Monday afternoon and just a little bit on Tuesday afternoon, too!  Very exciting for our cat Shelly -- even though she's about 7 months old, she's only seen rain once or twice in her life.  We were glad to get it, though.  Even a little bit of rain is better than nothing.  It gave us hope that this endless weather pattern of hot, dry weather will finally break. 

Shelly Surveys Her Domain

We've also been working hard to keep up with our cherry tomatoes.  Have you had any luck with your spring crop?  It's hard to believe that it's almost time to think about the fall garden, but planning time is fast approaching and it's okay to plant tomato seeds now for the fall.

Good progress on PaperCup: A Beer Garden!  Our paperwork has finally made its way through the TABC and Fort Bend County processes and is off to Austin for final signature.  We should be ready to open the beer garden before the end of June -- we're shooting for our June 18 Open Air Studio event!  

We're excited about all the classes in June and July.  If you'd like to take one of the classes at the right, please give us a call to reserve your spot.  The teachers need to know how many students to expect so they can purchase all the supplies.

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Just when we thought we had it all figured out, summer arrived early and threw us for a loop.  The usual suspects are out and about in the vegetable garden.  Have you experienced any of these troubles?

Some tomatoes have stopped setting fruit, now that the temperatures are so high, especially at night.  There's not much you can do about this.  Tomatoes are genetically programmed to produce fruit in cooler temperatures than we've experienced lately.  The fruit that's already formed should ripen just fine, but you might find your plants continue to flower, but produce no new tomatoes.  In our garden, all the cherry-types seem to produce fruit for much longer than the larger ones do.

Spider Mite Damage, Early On

The hot, dry weather is encouraging red spider mites.  These little bugs are so tiny, you might not notice them at first.   The leaves have a mottled, yellow-gray appearance, almost like a nutrient deficiency.  If you have a heavy infestation, you'll see the fine webbing that gives these mites their name.  Try spraying with water or insecticidal soap every 2-3 days.  Spider mites reproduce at incredible rates in the hot weather!  If that doesn't seem to work, try Neem Oil.  Be careful about spraying broad-spectrum insecticides.  Overuse of pyrethrin or pyrethroid products may actually make a spider mite problem worse, because it kills off predator insects. 

Stink Bug Bite

We've also seen plenty of sucking insects like Leaf-Footed Bugs and Stink Bugs.  They pierce the outer layer of a leaf or a fruit and suck all the juices out.  On leaves, you'll see a dimpling or curling.  On fruits, you'll see the telltale puncture wound.  On tomatoes, you'll sometimes see the tomato ripen normally but have a hard white inner core when you slice it open.

The best remedy for these large, rather slow-moving insects is the "Hand of Death," applied first thing in the morning.  Catch them and drop them into a cup of soapy water.  If you just can't stand the idea of pinching them yourself, and you can't get an 8 year old to do it for you, try Spinosad, a new insecticide derived from soil microbes.  Spinosad is safe to use on vegetable gardens, is listed as an organic pesticide and does not significantly affect beneficial insects.