Lots of Tomatoes

My tomato plants collapsed some time ago. I didn't provide enough support so now they just lean forward and the vines grow up, then down and eventually up again. Some branches snapped but they continue to grow. There are lots of tomatoes but so far I've only been able to pick one. And then there was this rotten one that had to go. I'm not too fussed about them this year. If the plants want to sprawl and grow where ever, that's fine. Setting fruit wasn't a problem this year. Maybe it was the location or the fact I didn't crowd too many other plants around them.

Hot Peppers

I picked this little harvest of Hungarian hot wax peppers today.  Just a small batch today with lots more to come. The only thing I can think of to do with these is pickle them. I sliced them into rings and got the lot of them to fit in a single 500ml jar. We're going to be really sick of pickles once autumn comes around.

Balcony Bee

I almost never see bees like this up on my balcony. And never as consistently as this one. I refer to it as "the bee" but it could be a different bee each day or something. I never see more than one. For the past month I've seen a bee visit my plants each day. Perhaps it's the reason I have so many cucumbers this year. It's a timid little bee. When I get to close it just buzzes off.

In July I was seeing lots of small bee-like insects. Harmless little things that hover around the flowers. More than I've ever seen or noticed during previous seasons. Usually I just end up with hornets or yellow jackets or whatever they are, going after aphid "honeydew". But no aphids this year so far. Not even spider mites.