With a low parked off the coast, this weather seems more like Fall than the beginning of Summer. Soil temperatures have been down in the low sixties, too low for several warm season crops. With the help of black plastic, however, the tomatoes, melons, and peppers have been doing reasonably well. The tomatoes are setting fruit, the peppers are blooming, and the watermelons are sending out runners. The cucumbers and pumpkins are also growing rapidly.
Windstorms are an almost weekly event.
The wind suddenly comes up, the hills disappear behind blowing dust, and then it pours rain. Most of the plants were established enough to withstand the wind except for a few pea plants blown off the pea fence. The corn, now several inches tall, was in need of thinning and weeding. The grubbing hoe with its wide blade is a real time saver and it is of a convenient width for thinning corn to a spacing of about 10 inches. Even though I had just clobbered him on the head, he rose up on his hind legs and puffed himself up as large as he could in an effort to scare me away.