From the Garden

The drought in my neck of the woods has been extreme.  I'm not being overly dramatic; I can prove it. 

I lost about half the perennials in my new bed, including the gorgeous 'Kent Beauty' oregano.* The grass may be gone, but the trees and shrubs look to have survived. I'm fortunate in that I have a small yard. I can keep it watered with a hose fairly easily. Even though we're on a watering ban, we're allowed to water gardens and plantings--just not the lawn. Fair enough.

The vegetable garden has been doing surprisingly well in all of this. In addition to the drought, we've also had record-breaking heat. The tomatoes don't seem to mind. I have to figure out how to preserve some roma tomatoes.** I also have started getting some tomatoes like this:

Here, you can see how it dwarfs a car.

I call it Frankenmato.

*Insert pause for weeping and gnashing of teeth, followed by intense feelings of guilt. 
** I grew up canning, but I bought a flat top stove because I WAS SURE I was never going to can. Now I need to figure out freezing or something. Share your thoughts if you have them.