After the longest heatwave this year that lasted for 10 days, we should be getting some colder air and rain tomorrow. Since the temperatures have been really high, reaching over 38°C (100.4°F), there’s a big chance of a storm, thunderstorm, and even hailstorm. The soil is completely dry, we haven’t had any decent rain in over two months, and we need this weather change to bring us some rain. 

Since there hasn’t been any rain lately and there’s a big chance of a storm, today I went to the garden for a pre rain harvest. The harvest mostly contained tomatoes and peppers, which were ripe enough for harvest. I’ve taken down every tomato that had red shades, strong north winds could easily damage the fruits, knocking them off the plant. The fruits would burst when falling down, so it’s better to harvest them and leave them to ripe on the balcony. 

I’ve also harvested peppers and cucumbers that were big enough since if we finally do get some much-needed rain I won’t be able to get to the garden in a couple of days, and the fruits would get too soft in the meantime.

While harvesting the fruits I’ve found a lettuce flower that had almost fully dry seeds, so I’ve harvested it and took it to the house. I have no idea which variety it is, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll sow it in the next season anyway.

I also took my huge gorgeous sunflower home. It already started to dangle, and since it’s very tall the wind will most definitely break it. The stem still has lots of small sunflowers, so it’s better to take down the big one to give the chance for the small ones to flower. I’ll leave the small ones as food for birds.

The garden is pretty much prepared for the storm now. I’ve covered the tiny plants with mulch completely, just in case of hailstorm, tied better the tomatoes, and cleaned up the paths for the water to pass faster if we get a downpour, now all we can do is wait, and hope we’ll get some rain and no storms.