Dogs in the mater bed.

Dogs in the beds is a pressure you didn't ask for. The tomatoes are in flower — that's the turn where bending a stem costs you fruit. Anything in the ground besides the tomatoes?

Three panels high — that's a solid bed. The dogs are clearing it anyway. Are the stems snapped or just bent?

The reaper is stubby because it's been set back — bending young stems costs them time. It'll push once it's left alone. What's the gap between the bed edge and the ground?

Eighteen inches is a low jump for a determined dog. A simple perimeter — even a single strand of wire at nose height — changes the math for them. Where are you?

Mooresville — zone 7b. You've got a stretch of clear days coming. Heat builds toward the end of the week. The bent stems — are they still upright enough to hold the flowers above the soil?

Stake them today if you can. The next two days are mild — good weather for working in the beds. Thursday hits 85, then Friday pushes 89. One stake per plant, soft tie, lift the stem back to where it was. The flowers that are still facing up will set.

They're not goners. Bent is not broken. A stem that still has its skin intact will reroute water in a day or two. The reaper will follow — it just needs an undisturbed week.

Chickens on the dogs — that's a visual I'll hold. The reaper will come around. Give it a week of quiet and you'll see new growth at the crown.

Carolina Reaper averages 1.6 million Scoville units. Peaks over 2.2 million. That's not a pepper. That's a chemical weapon you grew yourself.