Raleigh. 101 degrees. Heat Index 116. Just plain silly....

[nctomatoman]

If last year was hot, this year is hotter. Most of June was over 90 (all time record set). July is following suit. I have no idea how plants can deal with this stuff...I sure can't (did my gardening between 9-11 today, and my T shirt must have weighed 5 pounds after I was done).

Yet, somehow, my tomato crop is better than in many years - getting the plants set out 3 weeks prior to last year seems to have made all the difference.

We canned our first 5 quarts of tomatoes today (trying something new this year - not peeling - just quartering, saving seeds, and putting what's left into the quart jars with salt and lemon juice). The peels don't bother us in the least and it makes the job much quicker and more pleasant!

Our quarts today probably have bits of 40-50 different tomatoes!