If you didn't catch it on your own, I'm a liar--that's not my garden. My garden was left to suffer in the 100-degree heat while I went moonlighting in my brother-in-law's garden in north-western Arkansas. He has the biggest yellow squash plants I've ever seen, an acorn squash in the compost pile that looks like Audrey II, and some very healthy blackeyes.
But as you see from the picture, his tomatoes are only starting to come in, while mine are nearly gone. Only two of my plants are still setting fruit--the rest are ready for the compost pile. I've already harvested blackeyes--his are just stubs.
What I find very interesting is that he's only 250 miles north of me. But at his higher elevation (Ozark Mountains) makes his climate zone a whole lot different. When I walk around I see mostly the same plants--blackeyed Susan, Queen Anne's lace, that annoying Composite I cannot identify, and wild blackberries--but something is clearly very different. Soil, most likely. The trees show it--his are red maples, hickory, black oak, elm. Mine are box elder, pecan, burr oak, and hackberry. And the eternal osage orange--I've not seen any of that up in the hills. It would be interesting to do a tree census and compare.
As a human, I don't feel out of place up there. But, clearly, I am out of zone.
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