Skip ahead in the garden. Lots of tomatoes. I pick them early so they don't get attacked by pests. The plants are starting to dwindle and the beans are done. Looking forward to pole beans and southern peas(which are really beans) during the heat of summer.

This is kind of a difficult gardening time in central FL. The daytime temps are high, but the rainy season hasn't started yet. The plants are stressed and need a lot of water. (Especially in raised beds).

Lots of tomatoes, no ripening yet.

Attack of the aphids and caterpillars. The tomatoes still look pretty good, anyway. Ladybugs to the rescue for the aphids(hopefully). I may need to try an oil spray. I may need something different for the caterpillars. On the other hand, I don't want to harm the ladybugs.

Lots of tomatoes. Waiting for ripening. Our weather has been hot and the plant bed continues to dry out fast.

Tomatoes are doing great.

The peppers did not make it. I think they got "Southern Blight". Its a fungus and it can attack a number of vegetables. It sounds like it is a little bit hard to get rid of. One way is to kill it by "baking" the soil. I can do this in late summer by covering the garden with black plastic for about 4 weeks and the ground will heat up and kill the fungus.

There are some spots on the tomatoes. I think its either a fungus or bacterial infection. The plants are still doing very well. If it gets worse I will need to find some organic, biodegradable way to treat it.

The raised beds dry out fast, especially when its not the rainy season here.

Elliot Spitzer for president!

We've had some good rains over the last week. The tomatoes are growing well. The picture shows some leaf miner damage on a tomato leaf, which is caused by the larva of a small fly. It may or may not be a problem. Some sources say it does not cause a lot of damage.

I planted a few new peppers.