Happy (late) 4th of July

Another week and the tomatoes are all beginning to ripen along with several zucchini.  We still have had almost no rain -- nothing longer than 10minutes a couple of times.  Luckily the plants are still doing fine with some drip irrigation and a once-a-week watering for the plants and trees in the back.We did learn why not to use row covers in 90+ degree weather even for new seedlings.  The Lima beans got a bit crispy under it, although the peanuts, watermelon, and pumpkins did fine.  The green beans (Heavyweight II) that we planted in both the back and in a raised bed on the side of the yard are not doing so well.  So far only one or two have come up out of about 20.  Maybe they will live up to their name, and we'll have plenty.

We also seem to have had much better luck planting shelled peanuts instead of leaving them in the shells.  The directions suggested both methods depending on the climate, but so far none of the in-shell peanuts have come up.  All of the shelled ones have, so we're hoping that there will be enough time for them to grow as we planted them pretty late this year.
On the bright side, the watermelon are growing very quickly, and we seem to have several (11-12) from 3 mounds that are larger than a softball.  The cantaloupes are doing pretty well (3-4) and we have one that is now larger than a baseball.  Unfortunately, the watermelon seem to be doing a little too well and are taking over the entire area.  It will be interesting to see how big they get in another week.