I'm starting to think that my tomato plant is a cherry tomato. If you recall from a previous post, the plant's origin was in question. Given how close some of the tomatoes appear to be, and the fact that the older tomatoes on the plant don't seem to be growing very big, it looks to me like they'll be cherry tomatoes.

I did have to pinch the top branches to stop the plant from growing well beyond it's cage.  I'm hoping it will fill out more on the bottom now.  In the picture below, the tomato plant is in the big pot, with sage growing in the smaller pot, and a small rosemary plant growing in the ground in front of the sage.  The herbs were tenacious transplants from the condo and survived last winter outside.

The tomato plant is hard to see in the reduced size of the picture due to the green of the bushes behind it.  Recent rains are having a noticeable effect on the yard.  I'm probably going to go mow it tomorrow or Monday. 

DC took the opportunity to survey the patio area from the back door before I came back inside.

USDA newsletter encourages Meatless Monday participation, then retracts it amid opposition from livestock producers and at least one member of Congress.
by Amy Harmon, NYTimes.com

Not heard of meatless monday? Click HERE.

That last round of rain we had didn't last long. We've gone back to days upon days of hot temperatures and blue skies. At least we're getting a break from the high temperatures this week. It's taking its toll on our River Birch trees out back. The former owners of this house left us a note, which included the advice that the trees needed to be watered or else all the leaves would fall off. We've watered them a few times before, and I guess the recent rain wasn't enough for them. It looks like fall outside.

This morning I set up the sprinkler again to water the River Birches and shrubs around the patio. I'll likely have to do it again soon.

While I was out there, I took a look at the tomato plant. It started flowering, and I even have my first tomato growing.

The tomato plant now rises a foot above it's cage. I'm going to have to start considering new caging options if it continues to grow like this, or else chop off the top branches. Maybe that playground in the back yard will come in handy after all. I'm already picturing rigging up the other(larger) cage I have on top of the existing one. . . maybe hanging from the beam that has the swings attached?

Got Milk? You Don’t Need It
By Mark Bittman, The Opinion Pages, NYTimes.com

Friday after I posted about the tomato, I got the camera battery charged and did this brief video of the tomato through one of the back windows.The little bird had been in the shade of the pot for about twenty minutes.  I can't blame it for taking shelter from the heat of the sun.  At this point it had been around two weeks since we had seen any rain.  The River Birches that grow around our patio do better in a swampy wet environment.   Apparently they're used by landscaping crews because the bark is decorative or something.  They need water, and all the leaves fall off if they don't get it.  Our yard is not swampy, and due to the lack of rain and temperatures consistently in the upper 90s, just about all the grass has gone brown.  We set up the sprinkler last weekend to at least give them some water.  I'm not into watering grass, but I didn't want the trees to die on us, so the sprinkler was strategically placed to favor the bushes and trees around the patio, while not wasting any water on the crispy grass.  I did the same thing Friday morning while I was typing up that last blog post.  I was all set to write another blog post about how badly we need some rain, but later that evening the skies darkened.Some nasty storms rolled through the area, and did a lot of damage.  Now power is still out in many places around town, and it seems like just about everyone we know has trees down or some sort of damage to their homes.  The airport a few miles to the North of us recorded a wind gust of 81 mph.  We were fortunate.  No damage to our new home, no trees down, and we still have power.  News reports discussed how so many trees were felled due to the recent lack of rain.  They had all dried up and become brittle.  I felt kind of dumb watering trees, but now I wonder if maybe they're still standing because of that meager amount of water we provided them with.