After the first rain
The first proper rain came overnight and by morning the whole bed smelled of wet soil and mint. I had almost given up on the second row of beans, but three of them pushed through in a single day. It is strange how a dry month can look like failure right up until it isn't.
Things I want to remember for next year: mulch earlier, and do not trust the forecast past three days. I lost most of the basil waiting for rain that the app kept promising and the sky kept withholding.
The pepper plants, which I had written off entirely, turned out to be the patient ones. They did nothing for six weeks and then set fruit all at once. A good reminder that slow is not the same as dead.