Fish emulsion - I do that as well, but it hasn't been once a week. I had planned on shading, but the plants got much, MUCH taller than I'd expected. 112! With humidity factored in, the feels like temps reached 107 last week when it was 97; humidity doesn't go much below 50% by the hottest part of the day; in the mornings it's nearly 100% (like now; 74 dgrees, 98% humidity)

I am anxious to hear how it works for you Crista. We have so much humidity here in Iowa we don't need to mist anything. Main problem here with all the rain has been weeds.

David, there are several kinds of plants we have to mist here in Arizona during June because it is so dry before the humidity his for our monsoon. Without a mist or humidity the spider mites move in and you can say bye bye tomatoes, grapes, and several other crops within just a day or two. Once the monsoon humidity comes in July our dew point stays up around 55 so the plants don't get quite so stressed.

Laura and Arlene, I just can't imagine living full time with your humidity! During August when the monsoon is in full swing and they start to irrigate the citrus down in Yuma(where my parents live), their dewpoint stays up in the 60s and 70s. I remember one day last summer it was 105 here and felt like 103, because of the low humidity, and felt like 113 in Yuma! Great for plants, bad for people like me!

I lived in Bullhead City for a year and about ten years in Western CO, so I understand about your climate, too, Crista. It was very dry in Hoopa, CA as well - no rain whatsoever in the summers, 60"+ in the winter, but I had irrigation water and the most incredible soil there. This is VERY VERY different from anywhere, except maybe upstate NY. The most difficult aspect of gardening here is the sand which doesn't retain water. I've been surprised at having to water so much. Now I'm learning about disease related to humidity...

Yeh, gardening in the sand is tough. Bet it makes you real aware of root zones! Do you find that the fertilizing requirements change a lot with sandy soil? Does it seem to be more alkaline or acidic?

Crista, I think it should be alkaline generally, but I think it's more acidic here because of the oaks-I have many water oaks and one live oak and a bunch of azaleas. I'm afraid I didn't test. I made beds that are 1/3 yard sand, 1/3 Orange Lake bottom sand/soil, and 1/3 compost. The lake bottom stuff does hold water very well, so I'm thinking to get one more scoop (I have a small trailer, holds about a cubit yard if I'm not going too far, and the lake stuff is $37/load; compost $10-I don't have enough yet). I'm very unsystematic (working on that) and haven't really grown a food garden seriously before, but yes, I do think the need to fertilize is much greater than in other places because it just drains away. I prefer foliar feeding - kelp/fish, epsom salts, worm tea, but have also been giving Epsoma once a month and occasionally vermicompost. I'm hesitant about adding the later because I don't want any wormies to die if the soil doesn't have enough food to sustain them, therefore I've been using the tea.

Oh, there are different types of sand, too. According to the assessor's map, I have Apopka soil. Not sure what that means yet, but there are different colors, from whitish to orangish to black.

Laura, your tomatoes have to be happy with soil like yours! I've debated about foliar feeding but have never understood how the plant absorbs nutrients through its leaves. Should try it though, my green beans are looking anemic.

Three of my Early Girls have bitten the dust. They were on the outside of the garden so I'm thinking the heat difference made the difference. Our dewpoints are still low so I'm still spraying the plants down and covering them with sheets from mid-day on.

David, how are your experiments going?

Production all but stopped a few weeks ago - I've been getting at least one deformed, cracked heirloom every other day, some cherries, while Rutgers and Early Girl have been consistently putting up some fruit, but they don't taste that good.

Here is my tomato bed today. Red tomatoes are the EG and Rutgers. There are a couple of babies on Mortgage Lifter and one large green on on Brandywine. Brandywine is still growing crazy.

I've sowed inside for the fall Cherokee Purple, Pineapple Stripe, Spitze, Russian Purple, Brandywine and some others... I am amazed at how fast they germinated - 9 days from planting to repotting!

Mortgage Lifter was my very best producer at the CA house.

Really...cool. I planted a few plants while in CO last summer, waiting to move here. They didn't turn red before it was supposed to freeze and for me to leave, so I brought all the green ones with me. They ripened and were very tasty. I'm hoping the fall crop will be better than the summer.

Everything grows in CA.

very true; my experience