One Is The Loneliest Number

Looking at the pictures above, you can see my lonely tomato. He has grown double in size over the last few days, but I'm afraid he's already starting to turn. I had a friend in from out of town over the weekend and she said it most probably was the lack of sun my plants were receiving. I'm watering them correctly, etc., they just aren't growing. The plants are, but not the fruits. 

Here you can see my cukes trying so hard. There are quite a few coming out now. Blooms are everywhere.  But....

these temps scare me.  And this is 11 a.m.  As you can see, there is a break expected from the dry spell we've had, so one can only hope this will help the cukes a bit.

I've all but given up on my little summer garden. I know my biggest problem was just getting them in the ground too late in the year. I was being completely selfish in wanting a garden and not thinking of the innocent plants that I would torture. The call of my ancestors is definitely putting a guilt trip on me. I can totally hear my grandparents' voices telling me "It won't work. It's too late. Get a Farmer's Almanac" and all those lovely little pieces of advice.  

I am at present planning my fall garden. I did go to the local feed store and they told me not to start planting until September. So next month I am probably going to start working on the soil. Tilling it up, fertilizing, getting the rows ready. In this heat, that will probably take about a month because I can only do one of those at a time before I can feel my heartbeat in my temples and behind my eyeballs. 

My friend and I looked up on the online version of the Farmer's Almanac (isn't technology wonderful when you think to actually use it?), and we got an idea of what I can actually plant and when. The almanac generally states not to start planting until about October for this area. *Sigh* Patience is not my best virtue. I am going to try spinach, mesclun, and cabbage for sure. I'm only worried they will fry to a crisp because it never gets cold down here. I'm also going to try brussel sprouts and a couple other things, depending on how much room I will have. Since I know we are not putting a pool in for a while, I am going to make a much larger garden, or at least as large as I can get away with with my husband. 

Does anyone have any other suggestions of what to plant? Remember, I have a very small area that we have determined gets about 6 good hours of sun.