Hi
Haileybub and Hazel. Pilates. Now there's a concept that is foreign
to me. Not that I'd mind it, and not that it wouldn't be good for
me. But tonight, I feel like I took a 20-mile hike uphill yesterday,
and then back down. I hate it.

I unloaded the deck and/or jockeyed stuff around for Garry to get through with the power washer. I kept spotting stuff that I need to clean that I realized he could clean in two seconds with the power washer, like the sliding rocker bench, our plastic chairs and lounge chairs, and even the top of the garbage can! I told him we have the cleanest garbage can lid in the county. AND the screen doors, though gently so he didn't blow the screens out. I was so thrilled. So nice to get al the old leaves behind
the grill and sliding rocker bench off, the spilled potting soil, the junk out,
gardening odds and ends put back in the garage, that dusty heavy pollen
off. It is just awful in the spring. Then Garry had to run to town to get the part for the broken hose (casualty of the power-washing), ammunition for his pellet gun (for target and/or squirrel
target practice.) He amuses me so much. He was unable to do anything
else until he could fix that hose and get that ammunition. He's so funny that way. It's endearing, really.

Asparagus frittata sounds exactly what I want for supper in 3-4 days. Thank you for THAT, HJ. Our evening, HB and HJ, was also delightful; in fact, I needed to switch back into my sweater.

In case you didn't notice, Haileybub, HB meant you. Aren't mowers with electric ignitions THE best!! What I also like about mine is that even if one forgets and doesn't recharge it (which rarely happens here, cuz GDW always thinks of it for me), they're still easy to start with the pull cord. You will not be sorry. You will be forever grateful for that mower. (I had one in Mpls and left it with the kids when I moved here, so promptly bought a new one after cutting 2 of my fingertips off because of the hard-to-start old one GDW had.)

AND, yes, there is a bad-apple neighbor across the way. BUT. We have six of the best nearer neighbors one could wish for, and even the couple of others beyond them are no trouble whatsoever, so I guess, overall, we are very lucky indeed.

So--you're still working a 40-plus hours a week job away from home? I hope you love your job. I loved mine. But sure made it hard to fit in gardening.

Rebecca, got a good chuckle out of your snapped peas for breakfast. That is so me! Loved it. (I also love leftover pizza, fried in butter in the cast iron skillet. Gives it a nice crispy little crust and melts up the cheese.) Hoping for fewer squirrels. . .

Dawn, seriously, I wish I had half your energy. You talk about how worn out you get, and yet when I think of what you do, I'm exhausted and almost have to go take a nap.

My zinnia soup flat. All the IDKs were planted at the end of the flat, and I sacrificed them. Tipped the flat, and scooped out water/soil/seeds. Left it tipped all day, and late this afternoon, began brushing the starting mix away where I saw a little leaf, and I can happily say this evening probably 2/3 of the zinnias will be fine. No big deal, but still made me chuckle.

I am in love with the yard and gardens. I'm sure some or most of you, if pressed to admit it, feel the same way. Every day, I am so thankful to be where I am.

This year is the best yet, since I have so very many plants I've never grown before. Some (veggies AND herbs/flowers) will be duds that I won't be interested in growing again--some are really intriguing me and I'm excited about.

On my list for tomorrow is adding some Espoma to a few things/beds. I think the peppers need a boost; and the flower beds that are hosting brugmansia. And if I go crazy, well, maybe just some other things too. And I gotta put the rest of the small plants currently on the deck, somewhere. And will, and good luck and if you live and thrive, great. If you die, you die.

I hesitate to breathe this, let alone say it. . . I have not yet seen evil insects. Well not true. I've seen a couple leaf hoppers. On the plus side, I've seen either 4-5 garter snakes, or the same one who is covering a large territory. Whichever, thank you, garter snake(s).

Jacob, My garden is full of ants and they're not a problem unless they're the Red Imported Fire Ants who bite relentlessly. I use either Come & Get It (an organic Spinosad-based ant bait) for the fire ants, or I drench their mound with a citrus oil drench (1 to 2 T. of Medina Orange Oil in one gallon of water) to get rid of them. The Come & Get It works more slowly, but I cannot use the orange oil drench too close to plant roots depending on how close the fire ant mound is to the plants, so I choose whatever seems like the best solution for any given mound. I don't have aphids, so never have had to worry about ants farming aphids. I can see where ants would be an issue if they were farming aphids. In the few times in the past when I had aphids, I just knocked them off the plants with a very sharp/very strong stream of water. You might have to do it every day for a week. I believe the lack of aphids in my garden likely relates to the large ladybug population since ladybugs eat aphids. You might try Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled on the ground around the plants for the ants, or an insecticidal soap spray for the aphids.

I have found the same thing with watering---the less I water the more deeply the roots go and then the plants are able to cope better with lower rainfall. Of course, in hot, dry summers, I still have to water occasionally but I definitely am not one to overwater. The best thing, I have found, is that in particular, melons of all kinds and tomatoes that are grown dryland style with minimal irrigation have the best flavor.

If and when y'all finally get to pile into the car and hit the road, I hope you all have a fun trip and a safe one as well.

Rebecca, I do not understand why the squirrels are digging up plants. Are they digging them up and eating them or just digging for the fun of it? We are surrounded by woodland and have a pretty large population of squirrels. I see them often (multiple times daily) in the yard, where they steal hen scratch from the chickens and bird seed from the feeders, but they never bother the garden. They never even step foot in it thanks to the tall fence which they easily could climb over or go through if they choose to do so. Your squirrels are like heat-seeking missiles on a mission to destroy your plants.

Hailey, The best control I have found for pill bugs and sow bugs is Slug-Go Plus, an organic bail that contains a combination of iron phosphate and Spinosad. It is labeled to control snails, slugs, pill bugs, sow bugs, cutworms and earwigs. I've used either Slug-Go, the original product, which was iron phosphate only, labeled at that time only for snails and slugs but many of us discovered early on that it also controlled pill bugs and sow bugs too, or Slug-Go Plus, with the Spinosad added to make it control pill bugs and sow bugs even better, for about a decade. I buy it online from A.M. Leonard because most of the stores near me (with near meaning any within 60 miles) don't carry Slug-Go Plus, though they sometimes have Slug-Go or similar iron-phosphate snail/slug baits. As a plus, the Slug-Go Plus costs less at this online retailer than what it costs me if I even do find it in a brick-and-mortar store. Here it is at A. M. Leonard:

Sluggo Plus

For gardening hats, I like the ones with really large brims that shade both my face and my neck. I have all kinds, from straw to cloth.

I bought a hat similar to the one pictured below at CostCo a couple of years ago and probably wear it the most. (And it cost much less at CostCo too.) You can find similar hats at sporting goods stores like Academy. I'm sure there's a huge selection at Amazon too.

Compass Hat With Sun Protection

Jennifer, It sounds like it was a long day. I hope you slept well.

I get all my exercise in the garden at this time of the year, including lots of bending and stretching as I weed raised beds while kneeling on my knees in the pathways. I do like Pilates though, just not at the time of the year when the garden work is killing my body all on its own with no extra help from any sort of workout.

Nancy, Tim tends to be just like Garry. If he needs a part for something, everything else must stop while he gets that part and repairs whatever is broken. I guess there is something to be said for that---at least then when you need something it is in good repair and ready to go. It has been a horrible pollen year and I'm ready for it to hurry up and be overwith already. Even the hummingbird feeders are coated in pollen each time I take them down to refill them.

Nancy, Trust me, I've slowed down a lot over the past decade. I used to be so driven to get things done that I worked outside literally every single day from sunrise to sunset and never stopped. Now I stop frequently to sit in a chair in the garden, have a cool drink and cool off a little bit before I resume working, and I no longer work until sunset. I stop at a decent time and go indoors and make dinner. Of course, many of the years that I worked until sunset, Tim was working nights, so cooking dinner wasn't important to me since I only had myself to worry about---I could come indoors from the garden and have a bowl of cereal or a peanut butter sandwich instead of cooking and I was perfectly happy with that.

May and June are hell on gardeners with weeds. I can weed every bed daily and there's still new weeds to greet me each morning when I go into the garden. The good thing about weeding daily is that I get them while they're small and easy to pull, because if you let them grow for, let's say, one week, they're a lot harder to remove. I really need to mow today, but hate to leave the garden to do it, so we'll see if I manage to do any mowing. I spent so long harvesting yesterday (almost 3 hours) that I didn't get a lot of other garden work done except for weeding, mulching and killing one stink bug. (Hooray for all the little victories against the stink bugs!)

Both our mowers have electric starters and I'll never buy another mower that doesn't have this feature.

The rain just keeps missing us and missing us and missing us. Yesterday a huge, very ugly storm, with heavy rainfall, hail, dark clouds and very strong, damaging winds moved through our region. Chris' neighborhood in Ardmore got slammed hard, but I was watching on radar and felt like it likely would miss us. It did. It hit part of our county but went right by us---we got the wind (the temperature dropped 14 or 15 degrees in a very short while, but it warmed up again after the storm passed) for about 15 minutes and very ugly dark clouds, but not a drop of moisture. As the dark black clouds and wind approached I put up all the gardening tools and plants in the shed and got the dogs and cats indoors. Half an hour later it was all sunny and bright indoors but we stayed indoors because we could hear thunder. If you can hear thunder, you're likely within reach of the lightning that usually accompanies it, so I stay indoors when I hear thunder. Chris said a monsoon hit his house and a backyard trash can that was empty in the morning had 3.5 to 4" of water in it after the storm passed. He also watched as the wind carried children's Little Tyke type toys (slides, picnic tables, playhouses...whatever) out of yards and into the roadways hitting cars (I assume he had picked up Lillie at school and was driving home because the storm hit right around that time). Some areas flooded, a lot had wind damage, some had damaging hail. I suppose I should be grateful we didn't get slammed by the hail or by winds that strong, but I sure would have liked the rain. We had a 50% chance of rain overnight, but that all missed us too. At one point the wind came up really, really strong and loud for a few minutes so I thought it was going to rain. Nope. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. For our usual so-called rainiest month, May is a big disappointment so far. The wind woke me up around 5 a.m. and I've been awake ever since, so at least I'm ready to go out to the garden as soon as the sun comes up.

It is not a bad insect year here either....yet. Just spider mites and stink bugs, which are our constant summer companions. I've seen some crickets and grasshoppers, but not in huge numbers. Of course, stink bugs can completely ruin a tomato crop, but I just keep killing them when I see them. There are a lot of pill bugs and sow bugs in the mulch and I found some eating tomatoes this week, but an application of Sluggo Plus takes care of them pretty quickly. There's some beneficial insects in the garden, but not a lot yet---probably because there are not yet many pest insects for them to eat.

I probably need to pick the first round of sand plums today. If not today, then tomorrow. I cannot believe how quickly they are ripening---from the first day when I saw one ripe one in the morning to several more in the afternoon, and that was just on Monday, to dozens of ripe ones last evening. I feel like the early heat is pushing them to ripen so quickly. I need to check the canning supplies and see if I have pectin.

As is normal for this time of the year, the mourning doves are sitting on the electic lines, cooing constantly, waiting for me to bring them their morning breakfast of cracked corn. I guess I need to get off the computer, get outside and oblige their gentle requests for their breakfast....our pets may be spoiled (and definitely are) but our wildlife here is kind of spoiled rotten too.

Dawn

Two of my simple pleasures are enjoying a cup of coffee at sunrise on my back patio and watching the rain while sitting on my back patio. When I get to enjoy both at once, well, that makes for a perfect morning! The forecast on my SWA (stupid weather app) called for 100% chance of rain which dropped to 50% by evening which then was down to 0% by bedtime. Being the ever hopeful pessimist that I am, I had all my rain barrels ready and at 4 am I awoke to an absolutely wonderful rain which just now stopped! It’s so pretty out here, the rain makes everything so fresh and happy, it’s a great start to what I’m sure will be a great day!

Dawn, I feel your frustration with rain . “Missed it by THAT MUCH” as Agent 86 would say. I do hope you get some, if I was in charge of rain, everyone would get some! And thanks for the hat advice! I put one in my cart this morning and will measure my head later!! Am I weird to be so excited to get a hat?? And I am thankful for my thoughtful kids as I would not spend $40 on a hat for myself! As for the Sluggo Plus? I can get some today at a local store that claims to have it in stock. I vow not to lose another plant to those pesky bugs.

Garden chores on my list today include digging dandelions from my morning glory bed and digging Bermuda from around the asparagus, don’t know why it decided to wait until now to creep! I’ll most likely wait until tomorrow morning to mow, we’ll see.

Anyway, what a perfectly beautiful morning!

Boo aphids and spider mites, Jacob and Dawn.

Hailey, enjoy your days off. They really are the best. I have tiny sungolds too, now! I don't know a lot about hats. I bought one...somewhere, but can't remember where or the brand. I like it, though.

I missed something about Nancy's neighbors. Our neighbors are mostly nice. We call the back street in our neighborhood "Po-dunk Street", but that's because it reminds me of a video by Kid Rock, I once saw. Po-dunk. I promise he recruited some of the residents from that street for his video....or possibly some of my extended family. (I recommend NOT looking up that video.) Regardless, they are all mostly very nice.

Snap peas for breakfast, Rebecca! Yay! Me too. It's hard to resist them when they're just looking so pretty. I try to pick some fresh ones each day for my lunch. But, a couple are eaten in the morning.

You would like Pilates, Nancy. It's a very mindful exercise. It teaches you how to move your body in daily life and also when you're doing other exercises. She focused yesterday on correct ways to move when gardening...because, obviously it's gardening season. If you have a good instructor (one who is trained and does continuing education annually), it can really change your body--not just aesthetically, but in how it functions. Sometimes it may appear to the observer that the movement is just someone with their leg up, for example...but that leg is being lifted with correct muscles (most of us have bad habits of incorrect movement in our daily lives.) Plus, you're focused on breathing as well as other things.

Having said that, we all had jelly legs goingdown the stairs last night. So...is that good? lol

Okay...I have to stop reading and responding at Nancy's post. Will be back this afternoon to read the rest.

Happy Gardening, Everyone.

I love the sounds from mourning doves, Dawn. Growing up, we didn't have the variety of beautiful song birds in Wyoming that we see here. But we did have meadowlarks, talk about beautiful sweet songs! And we had our mourning doves; loved their cooing in the evenings. Another bird we had was the magpie. Amy, we discussed how smart crows are. Magpies up there didn't flock like crows. But SMART birds (like their crow cousins.) And rather socialized and funny rascals.

The flooded zinnias survived, and with the flat tipped so the water ran off, they rebounded quickly. I put about 18 of them out this morning and got a bit of weeding done, but dare I say this out loud, Dawn, the rain came. I think it's done now, about .3. It was just like yours, Haileybub, only later, of course. Haha re Agent 86.

It was 76-78 all morning and overcast, so lovely weather for working in the yard,

Just occurred to me, Dawn, that while you're not getting the rain you need, you sure still are harvesting lots and lots of stuff! Wish we had sand plums. Love sand plum jelly. AND, you don't have aphids that feast on my morning glory leaves. lol Yes, I decided I must have the heavenly blue in a tower trellis with hyacinth beans. They finally sprouted and took off, and, I am shocked! Their leaves are filling someones' tummies. But I planted a bunch in that tower, so I'll ignore the little holes in the leaves and just enjoy the blue flowers.

Edited: Oops, rain not done. Looks like it's just about to get really started, in fact. Rats. I really need to get stuff done out there.

Hailey, I'm glad you got rain. We'll get some sooner or later, but I'm guessing later rather than sooner, simply because that is pretty much the story of our lives here in southern OK.

Jennifer, I think jelly legs are good. It means you're gave them a good workout.

Nancy, Your temperatures were lovely this morning. Ours weren't that different. I think it was 81 degrees when I came in at 10:15 a.m. to cool off because I felt too hot. I don't know why it felt so hot so early but it did. I've been inside, doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen and doing all sorts of similar indoor chores, but will head back out in a few minutes. I'm going to work in the shade at the west end of the garden.

We are getting an awesome harvest. I cannot complain. The heat is speeding it all up though. Do we really need to have 15 full-sized tomatoes in the kitchen awaiting their final destiny? Nope, but that's what we've got. Needless to say, it is BLTs for dinner tonight. We have more tomatoes ripening so we need to gobble these up--I do not want to have to start canning this early in the season. In a cooler Spring, the harvest would be more spread out, but at least there is a harvest.

I don't have aphids, but I have those little beetles that feast on morning glories and bind weed. They are called golden tortoise beetles, and they definitely are golden. They'll also feed on sweet potato leaves, but the beneficial insects tend to take care of the golden tortoise beetles after a while so there's usually not any left by the time we plant sweet potatoes.

Zinnias are pretty tough and fairly resilient so I'm not surprised yours have rebounded from their near-drowning.

A couple of observations from the garden this morning---one potato plant has died back. I don't think it has had time to make potatoes, so I'm guessing it is diseased. I'll dig under it later to check and confirm that. The other plants look fine.

The daylilies started blooming. The yellow ones are first this year just like every year. Hooray. They seem to be about on time---neither early nor late.

I dug at the far NE end of the garden this morning. There are some Johnson grass roots there that are huge---bigger around than my thumb! Maybe that is why the heat got to me so early---I was digging Johnson grass roots in full sun. Maybe I can finish that tomorrow, or even later today and get that last little raised bed in that corner planted. The heat and heat index are expected to crank up for the next three days, so I need to get busy and get that front garden finished.

Speaking of things that are finished.....I believe the cauliflower is done without ever really producing. The broccoli, with the same range of DTMs, has produced fine. Or, at least some broccoli varieties have produced fine. Others haven't produced a harvest yet and might not. The cauliflower? One plant was trying to form a head the last couple of days and just needed a little more time. Instead, it bolted this morning, so I yanked it out and threw it on the compost pile. The chickens will find it and eat it and be thrilled to have it. I'm going to look at the 10-day forecast and, if the heat in the upper 80s/lower 90s is to continue, I'll likely yank out the brussels sprouts and cauliflower plants tomorrow and replant that bed with watermelons. Both brussels sprouts and cauliflower are more heat-sensitive than broccoli, so once you see one of them bolting, the others will follow in rapid succession. Both those veggies are a crapshoot in Spring here, and do much better in Autumn, but I do get a Spring harvest from them sometimes so I plant them anyhow and then hope the heat doesn't arrive too early.

The top five weeds sprouting daily in the garden are: crabgrass, bindweed, bindweed, bindweed and lamb's quarters. Okay, that's only three, but the bindweed is so much more abundant than all the others. Pigweed is trying, but I yank out the few I see as soon as I see them, so they haven't been able to catch up with the bindweed yet and overtake them for the No. 1 (or No. 2, 3, and 4) slot on the Top Five list.

Now, it is time to go back out into the heat and the sun.

Dawn

Dawn! You sneaked in here and stole my bug thunder! LOL I was examining the ,morning glories this morning and discovered the beautiful little golden bug. Soon to be ID'd by google as the golden tortoise beetle. LOL You rascal!

And something funny. The one thing that began to bloom today were the stella d'oro daylilies here, too. So at least our yellow daylilies are on track with Dawn's. :)

Only have my older grandson today. He went shopping with Poppop for a while.

We are having the bradford pear trees removed Monday. They were here when we moved in and it's a miracle they lasted 26 years. But I've been collecting shade plants, because nothing will grow in their shade, so now I will have sun out front. I don't know if DH wants too replace the trees or not. Probably not this year.

Rain missed us. I pulled weeds in the flower bed. I think I see cosmos seedlings in there, but I've never grown it there. Planted the Hot Lips Salvia, the Golden Marguerite and Nancy's Verbena bonariensis. (Oh, BTW, Nancy, the Heidi's you gave me, planted in Feb, left too long with out potting up and put in the ground LAST weekend....look fantastic!) I had a tomatillo that was 2 bare stems when I potted it up and it dried out. Thought it was dead. But I see it has started growing. I have no place to put it.

Bumpy roads in Oklahoma. Hahahahaha!

Rebecca, any chance you have an armadillo?

The rain just now quit, finally. It rained all that time and we only got about .5" altogether. I'm kinda pouting since I had so much to do outdoors, plus we were both COLD, so went in and took a nap instead. Congrats on getting the Bradfords gone, Amy!

Nancy, At least our Stella's are in sync!

It still isn't raining here. I watered this afternoon because all the plants just look so miserable. I hope the water holds them through the next few hot days. I worked at many little garden chores---30 minutes on one, an hour on another, etc. Still, I ended the afternoon weeding and mulching and was making great progress when I realized it was time to go inside to cook dinner. Tomorrow's a new day. The afternoon actually felt more comfortable than the morning. I assume it was because our dewpoint and relative humidity had dropped some.

Amy, Congrats on getting rid of those Bradford pears. I know you'll miss the shade, but we celebrate every time one of those weak-wooded, invasive things comes down. It is a miracle one of them hasn't come down on its own, especially in the Oklahoma wind.

This is a terrible thing to admit, but the best thing about tonight's dinner was that the stuffed pork chops were too big for us. (They were very tasty.) Tim and I each cut our pork chop in half and only ate that half....so we have the other two halves for tomorrow, and that means I don't have to cook dinner tomorrow. That means more time in the garden. : ) I'll probably spend that extra time weeding....because I watered today, which means I'll have 1000 new bindweed seedlings to pull tomorrow morning.

I ordered Semaspore tonight, having decided that the very late grasshopper hatch is large enough to be worrisome, as evidenced by the increasing number of holes appearing in plants daily. The grasshoppers still are small enough that the Semaspore should be effective quickly. (It works very quickly with the younger instars, but is a bit slower to kill the older, larger ones.)

That's about it from here.

Dawn

You know, Dawn, anymore Garry and I have loved a good pork chop or roast over beef. What's that about? We've had an easier time finding good pork than beef, is part of it. And a good steak vs good pork chop? Hard call.

I'm struggling with feeding Garry the right stuff the past week (well, really, the past 3 months.) It has been SO educational to me, and amazing results or not-so-good results. Most of all, it has been enlightening--the wondrous and obvious (but mostly ignored by most of us) effects of food on us. What an education.

I thought I had Neem oil but don't. Used insecticidal soap on the beautiful little golden tortoise beetles. I've never seen one before--and they are beautiful, aren't they? And, I don't know what Semaspore is. Is this the weapon of choice for grasshoppers? Anything else Semaspore attacks effectively?

Weeds. Here, it's the ubiquitous crabgrass. Crabgrass and Bermuda--our primary adversaries. I guess I do have it lucky, not bindweed. Jacob has it easy, too, no Bermuda. LOL

Amy, how many Bradford pears do you have out front?

That Hot Lips salvia is a stunner. Please keep me updated on how it does--how tall is it supposed to get? Guess I could look that up. When I was at the nursery last weekend, saw her red salvia which was beautiful. But its maximum height avg was like 12". I would have caved had it said 30". Why am I even talking about this. I do not have full sun. Repeat to self 100 times in a row, N. Do not have full sun.

Okay. Back to reality.

It looked like the rain today was fairly localized. As it was rain city here from what, 11-3, roughly, I checked radar off and on, and it looked like one big rain cloud pretty much over us and nearby neighborhoods. It was a good rain, and would have been even better if it had come 3 days from now. Isn't that the story of gardening's life.

I'll be waiting, Jacob, to see what your last-minute maneuvers to thwart aphids and ants was. Leaving town and finding a situation like that for me would be a little unnerving. LOL Your middle brother--is he old enough to be interested in gardening? IS he interested, or a whole different person?

My tomatoes, God willing and it don't keep raining raining, are looking great. The ones I wacked off are doing best. The peppers kinda just sitting there and I did not get the Espoma on today. Tomorrow. And I'm kind of amazed because the peppers were just the biggest gangbusting peppers as seedlings. However, I must remind myself. It is May 16, for crying out loud. As I remember, neither tomatoes nor peppers were really producing here until end of June, in all my years (1) before. LOL

Really Nancy? This is your second year. . . feels like it's been 30. I cannot even believe what you guys have taught me in the past 18 months.

Regarding gardening hats, Haileybub, I got mine at Orschelms for $16. I'm finding it doesn't bother me. It has a vented fabric around the crown, which is good and even better, I don't even notice that it's on. Got thick hair so need that venting. It has a wide brim, good. I liked the one Amy chose, cuz it had an even wider brim. Dawn gave you a recommendation that I imagine was great.

HJ. I can almost assure you there is a 99% chance I won't be enrolling in a Pilates class. I don't enroll in classes. ROTFL!!!! (I'll teach one here and there if asked to. I hated classroom situations, for all my life. I'm not at my best in group situations, whether with friends in social situations or in classrooms as a student.) Now mind you, there is a much greater chance that I could research Pilates online and try them in my home.

As Hazel sometimes says, I think I'm just babbling on now. . . . so will say good night and Happy Gardening.

Amy, I can't imagine how I'd have a 'dillo here in the middle of town. These squirrels aren't afraid of me. They will get within a 2 or 3 feet of me and not be at all concerned. They are definitely the ones digging things up, because they are not shy about letting me watch. They will let me get a couple steps away, and then skedaddle to where I can't reach, and laugh. They don't seem to dig plants up on purpose, just that they are either looking for buried nuts, or other food, that they are convinced are under there and the plants are just an annoying nuisance. The pots are there for them, not me. OK, maybe sometimes they seem to dig plants up just to mock me.

I have pictures on my phone.

Sorry. I haven't made it back to read the posts. BUT do copperheads have a diamond shaped head or not??? I see conflicting stuff online. We had a very large snake in the babies' coop tonight and it did not have a diamond shaped head. We pulled it out and it quickly slithered up a tree. Why is it going in the babies coop anyways...there's no eggs? Do you think it will go back to the coop? It had to have gone into the pen and then slithered up the little chicken door to get in.

It's so weird that I had a gut feeling the minute I walked outside to shut all doors, etc. I got in after dark because it's Wednesday. But I immediately went to the babies' coop and shined the flashlight into it...and there it was.

So..now, I'll go read everything OR start crying from fatigue. Or both. Why does everyone need something the minute I walk in the door. Everyone's been sitting on their butts for hours...but the minute I walk in, the cat needs food, the dogs need attention, the chicken doors need to be shut, dishes need to be done.

AND, away from my home, people with issues need me for some reason. They seek me out. AND I'm so drained and SO tired and the world can be SO loud and their voices so loud and their mental energy SO loud... I just need quiet. Lots and lots of quiet.

Maybe I should just take some valerian root and go onto bed and catch up tomorrow.

Random carrot in a pepper pot.

And with the beets.

Potatoes starting to die back, or something else?

I agree, Rebecca. Squirrels. We have a space out back at the far border of our yard (just before the back 40 of oaks.) I have a giant birdbath structure there. Put in NG impatiens and then LB petunias on the border. This morning walked out--one of the petunias was out. Below, the incrediball hydrangea tops were nibbled off. Squirrels may not have nibbled off the hydrangeas but for sure they took out that petunia. Here, I hate to say it, as I am normally a peaceable and live and let live kind of person. But squirrels? No. They proliferate and live the life of ease everywhere but here. They choose our yard, they are shot. GDW shot 3 this morning. He shoots at least one almost every morning. I really don't hate them at all; in fact always hope they'll stay away. But they don't--probably because we have the most fun stuff. So. Either get smarter, squirrels and run, get smarter and stay away, or die.

Isn't it great, love your blooms. I check into OKG FB and see all these amazing flowers and think, "Why don't I have any yet?" Well, first, don't have that many yet developed perennials. Second, duh, I grew all of my flowers from seed and only bought 3 plants--one NG impatiens, a blue hardy lobelia, and scabiosa. Duh. LOL. However, there are some magnificent flowers/veggies shown on OKG FG by great gardeners, and I learn a lot there.

HJ. I know that feeling. Will comment more later in a PM or email. Love and kisses to you. . . don't be so hard on yourself, and hold your family members accountable if you're doing their work. TEAM work.

Nancy, Having grown up in Texas, I'm a beef person, but I also like chicken, fish and pork. We probably eat beef more than we should, except during BLT season when we definitely eat bacon more than we should. So much of what is sold in stores is not food----most of it is food-like products filled with tons and tons of ingredients none of us understand or can even pronounce. I try to avoid food-like products for the most part and buy (or grow) the raw ingredients in order to prepare food that is actual food. I know you've read Michael Pollan so you know exactly what I'm talking about.

I have had the same bottle of neem oil for at least 5 years. I probably don't use it more than once a year, if I use it at all. It is just too broad spectrum for me and it also will damage our plants (some are more easily damaged than others) in the high summer temperatures....which are already here.

Semaspore is an organic bait that contains the active ingredient Nosema locuste, a protozoa that kills only insects in the grasshopper family---mainly grasshoppers and crickets. It is a pretty quick-kill for the very small, recently hatched grasshoppers, but can take a few days to a few weeks to kill the older ones. I find it most effective when used in April and May when the grasshoppers are just hatching out. Normally, in the years that the population of grasshoppers is large enough to worry me, I use it in April when they start hatching. I really wasn't seeing the grasshoppers in April, but I sure am seeing them now. Because this product is a living microorganism, it has an expiration date printed on the bag and doesn't last long, so I only buy a 1-lb. bag except in the very worst years, in which case I go all out and buy a 5-lb. bag. A year like that comes along maybe once per decade, Based on the APHIS Rangeland grasshopper forecast, this should not be a 5-lb. bag kind of year. You can make it last a bit longer by refrigerating it or even by freezing it (I've never frozen any but they say you can do it). I almost never buy it on store shelves because I have found many nurseries (even those that generally are quite reputable) will keep it on the shelf long past its expiration date. When I order it, I am careful to avoid any online retailer who has sent me bags near or past their expiration date in the past, so I mostly order it from Arbico Organics because they've never done that to me. I also won't order it from retailers who've been slow to ship in the past---I need it when I order it, not a month later. Arbico Organics' shipping for this stuff is a killer---it almost doubles the price---but at least I'm getting the product I need when I need it and not when it is past or near its expiration date. I usually only treat the garden area and a band of grassland several feet wide around the garden, so a pound will last me a while. In a really horrific grasshopper year, when I need to buy a 5-acre bag, I'll treat the two acres around the house and garden spots a couple of times.

Rebecca, I cannot imagine you'd have a dillo in town either, unless you have parkland, a nature refuge or something similar within a fairly close distance. When we lived in Fort Worth in the 1980s/1990s, we were in an old neighborhood built in the 1940s but still occasionally had a possum or a fox, so I guess you never know.

Nice photos!

Jennifer, The copperheads do have that diamond shaped head. (I call them pointy heads.) There can be a lot of variation in their color, but the patterns of both the Eastern Copperhead and the Broadband Copperhead are quite distinctive and easy to recognize once you're used to seeing them. Here's the copperhead page from the OKSnakes webpage:

OKSnakes: Copperheads

Even though I saw a copperhead in the chicken coop a couple of weeks ago, that is very unusual. I think I only see one in a coop maybe once every 5 years. Normally in coops you have either rat snakes (juveniles are patterned, not solid black like the adults) or chicken snakes. The chicken snakes will even mimic the rattling behavior or a rattlesnake in order to scare away anything they perceive as a threat. Snakes are drawn to chicken coops, looking for eggs, chicks or rodents that might be there eating poultry feed. Usually copperheads are hiding in plain sight, blending in very well with leaves, dry grass and rocks. It is scary how well they can hide in plain sight.

I'm sorry you were feeling so tired and drained and frustrated last night. I understand exactly how you feel. Perhaps you can reach an agreement with other family members that if you are not home from work by a specific time (if I were you, I'd chose a time that I knew I wouldn't be home yet), they will feed the pets just to give you some breathing space when you walk in the door. You need quiet because you're an introvert I expect? I understand because I'm the same way.

Rebecca, Check the undersides of the leaves of the potato plants to see if you see something that might be feeding on the leaves---spider mites, aphids, white flies, whatever. That yellow doesn't look quite right and could be an indication of a pest. It might be that the potatoes are dying back but it seems a bit too early for that.

Nancy, We rural and semi-rural folks have it easier with squirrels because we can just shoot them. I am not overly fond of squirrels, but will ignore them in the yard (and so far they've never been seen in my garden). I am sure that one day that will change.

I have tons of blooms in the garden now, but feel like we had to wait forever for them thanks to that darn April weather. I'm just too busy to enjoy them at the moment. I wish I could sit still longer sometimes and just drink it all in, but there's always so many gardening chores that await. I am slowly switching from more annuals to more perennials but it is very slow-going because it seems like the voles prefer to eat the roots of pricey perennials much more so than those of less expensive annuals. For this reason, even in the front garden where we don't have voles as often, I've lost tons of perennials to them....and out in the back garden with its higher vole population? There's never going to be perennials back there.

Dawn

Dawn, as a native of Wyoming, I've always been a beef person, too. As has GDW. We've been so surprised recently that we're enjoying the pork so much. It has just been hard finding beef that lives up to our expectations. Amy helped by steering us to Perry's. Thanks to Amy!

And I do NOT have tons of blooms, so I am all the more appreciative of the hollyhock zebrinas, petunias, coreopsis. . . and a few others here and there. It is this riot of color I'm expecting. . . waiting, waiting. As you say, grin. So anxious to see all the new ones. . . the ammi, Red Spike amaranths, verbena bonariensis, Cape daisies (!!! Rebecca), the exotic zinnias, Dawn. Asters that I know will be a bust, but they all grew so easily what was I to do but plant them.

I never did find the poppies, maybe I'll order a bunch and throw out there. Uh, where, I don't know, exactly.

And I caved and put out some castor bean plants. I figure there are already so many poisonous plants out there what are a few more. :)

There is a hibiscus in the shop bed that's growing mightily; it was an impulse buy last summer and promptly got eaten, along with the echinacea I also impulse-bought, which is also going nuts. Danged deer weren't supposed to like echinacea. lol I think it was just an experiment on that deer's part.

And just waiting waiting on veggies, picking a few peas here and there, This fall will grow lots of peas.

Yes, indeed, Dawn, we do have an easier solution to the squirrel problems here, and I actually am glad we do, because if one walks into our front yard and looks across the street, one might see a dozen of them at any given time; also to our north on the property owned by a nice guy who is rarely there nowadays.

Thank you for the information on Neem and Semaspore.

As I sit here in la-la land, the weeds and Bermuda are dancing. Best go get 'em.

I am making headway! I have planted in the flower beds and put cheap tomato cages over the plants to keep Sasquatch at bay. She likes to stand in the beds and look over the fence. I really, really, really hate my flowers behind a fence! I may have to put a fence up later, but for now, I can work there without fighting a fence. The tomatoes are doing pretty good, even The Super Sioux that got dug up. I'm going to direct sow some alyssum along the edges.

Ron pruned those pear trees a couple of times (two, Nancy). My daughter said he butchered them. But apparently he prevented wind damage until last year. We're now afraid they'll fall on the house or a car. We discussed replacements. Maybe a Red Bud in front of the house and a bush sized tree on the east where the power lines are. You think pear trees are bad, imagine one with one side fully removed by the electric company.

I haven't cooked in a long time. I made a salad with turkey lunch meat Monday. Ron provided for me while I was babysitting. And he's pulled cooked things out of the freezer for the next 2 days. I take that back. I boiled tortellini and heated tomato sauce last night. ;)

Lately pork doesn't appeal to me. Ground beef is okay, but red meat also has lost something. Perry's has good pork loin, Nancy. They will cut it into any thickness you want.

The Hot Lips salvia is supposed to be like 3' x 3'.

Rebecca, we had an armadillo in north Tulsa back when they first started showing up in OK. The fact of the matter is my neighbors brought it home with them from TX. You never know what people will do. I saw a fox in the street near St. Johns hospital once, so wild life can be anywhere. But, if you have pics of the little buggers, ha ha, must be them. Pretty flowers!

H/J, {{hugs}}

I can tell you all the squirrel(s) don't come past the chicken yard here. They would come down to the wild bird feeder (in the chicken yard). But you can see their backsides pucker when Honey comes out. Occasionally a cat is dumb enough to come through the yard, but not when Honey is outside. I don't think I will have bunnies either. Hey, she has to be good for SOMETHING.

I hate the smell of neem.

Snakes. I don't think about them in my yard. I've seen rat and garter snakes, but I should pay closer attention! The biggest snake I ever saw was in the drainage ditch next to the house. Some jerk threw the leftovers of a big catfish off the bridge. The snake was chowing down. It looked like a flipping boa constrictor. I'm not exaggerating. The cop who came said he was afraid to shoot it. I don't know what it was, someone said it was a cotton mouth. I believe they called animal control. My kids were not allowed to play in the ditch, but I see kids in there all the time. They haven't mowed it yet this year, the grass (weeds) are tall. Shudder.

My new favorite flower is the Zebrina! It must have a hundred buds on it. I think it can hold it's own against the comfrey.

I'm due to get some soaker hoses today. Darn I love Amazon ;).

For good beef we go to Fischer's Meat Market & Grocery Store in Muenster, TX, sort of catty-corner from the southwestern end of our county. After we cross the Taovayas Indian Bridge at the western end of Love County to go across the Red River, we can turn left to go towards Muenster, or we can turn right to go towards Spanish Fort, where my dad grew up---dryland farming in a hot, dry, rainfall-challenged area during the 1920s-1940s. I love to go to Fischer's (they have their own meat processing facility attached to the store, and also process meat like deer for locals during the season). and we go there once or twice a month. It is a German grocery store and you can find stuff there you don't find elsewhere. They'll cut your meat to order however you want it, so if a person wants t-bone steaks 2" thick, they'll cut them that way while you wait. They have tons of locally butchered meat and locally made sausage, cheese, etc. and tons of marvelous German food, including bakery items. Now that I'm thinking about it, we are overdue for a trip to Fischer's and I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

I dug out another 5-gallon bucket of Johnson grass roots, and then got the final raised bed planted at the NE corner of the front garden this morning. I planted gomphrena and Texas hummingbird sage there, and came in at noon because I was starting to feel too hot. Now that I've been indoors for a couple of hours and have cooled down, I'll go back out again and weed and mulch for the rest of the afternoon.

Today is the last day of school for Marietta, so hysterically happy, hyper folks will be headed up the road soon....and that's just the teachers! (grin) I am sure the kids are just as excited.

After I finish weeding and mulching today, I'm thinking the garden will look pretty good, but then I bet there will be some new weeds sprouting somewhere out there tomorrow when I go outside. It is pretty much inevitable at this time of the year and is why/how folks lose control of their gardens in May and June. I'm really working hard to keep that from happening.

Dawn

Amy, you'll get hardly an argument from me regarding zebrinas. I've always loved them, but had no idea this is how much they like Oklahoma. Dawn, I know you said they'd do this. But to see them

do it. . .

Also is another one I've always loved. . . little rose campion. A jokester. And, finally, I took this next picture because it has never happened before since I've been growing flowers. Every. Single. Plant. I had is now in a container or in the ground. Probably a once in a lifetime sort of deal. Cool! Now I can go plant some seeds, right? I cannot even believe it.

Obviously, the photos jumped out of order. lol

Y'all will love the meat market at Siegi's. He has beautiful meat, not just sausages, but all kinds. He'll also butcher and wrap any game meat that you bring him. He's also got a small section of European groceries and fun stuff like that. Plan on shopping after lunch. I love beef, too. Have to, since my maternal grandfather was a cattle rancher.

I spent a couple hours outside after work tonight. Wasn't too hot and humid, so I took advantage. Planted the last (for now) of the flowers out front, potted up the rosemary (named her Genevieve), planted 2 okra and 2 cherry tomatoes, watered everything really good. Started a few more flowers to fill in some gaps (cosmos, marigolds, zinnias). Started squash. Planted one last pepper. Stuck a few random flowers in a pot for cutting. Seeded dill.

Both types of peas look like crap. I'll harvest everything this weekend and pull the plants. Time for cucumbers and green beans in their place. I HAVE to have more rain to build the new trellis. It's all missed me this week.

Counted 26 buds on my Tropicana rosebush. Lilies are getting ready to pop. more little things are either blooming or getting close - couple of cosmos opened today, the new dianthus, and a Shasta daisy that's been teasing me for a couple weeks with one flower bud just sitting there.

Still having a hell of a time getting morning glories to sprout, even after soaking them. Driving me crazy.

Something a neighbor built. I’ll just leave this here...

Nancy, Congrats on getting everything in the ground. I'm not there, but I'm getting close. Well, except for the fact that I just keep starting more. I'll do that pretty much all summer. It would drive Tim crazy if he noticed them, but now that it is warm, I start the flats on a table in the garden, so he rarely notices. Or, maybe he thinks it is the same flats of plants there all summer.

Don't you love Zebrina? They'd take over the whole garden if I would let them. I love how they just bloom their heads off.....and then make enough seed per plant to give you 1,000 more.

Rebecca, I've seen it done with old wrought iron bedsteads but never with a raised bed painted to match. At least it isn't a toilet planted with flowers. Or a big tractor tire cut like a tulip and painted pretty colors and filled with soil and flowers. Yard art. Garden junk. Same difference.

Dawn

Redbud is my favorite, Amy. I'd never seen one (or a crepe myrtle) until I moved down here. I LOVE redbuds!!

Fischer's sounds awesome, Dawn, and now I want to go there! I only got 3 things done today. Plants planted; weeding; and dinner fixed. (Speaking of pork loin, Amy, from Perry's. What are you, clairvoyant?)

But I got a lot of weeding done--not measurable by square footage, but rather by Bermuda roots and rhizomes. And marvel at the difference amended soil makes. Still a long day, but much easier than I thought it would be. I need some sort of conveyor belt deal to haul wood chips up there.

Rebecca. . . just saw your bed photos. Oh my. Can't un-see it now. SHEESH. lol

Yes, zebrinas voted favorite new flower by Amy and Nancy. Such cute little things. haha, Dawn, the same flat sitting there all summer. Too funny. Me, I'm not gonna be starting any more seeds this summer--I don't think there'd be room for any more, is really the reason why. Well maybe I should start a few just in case something else goes belly-up, right? :)

I am still here lurking working and sleeping. Many things habe changed in the last few weeks and I have lost heart. I will be fine and again come back from the pit lol. No details just know that all is well or will be soon. I have options.

Garden looks great. It hailed here Tuesday night and we got 9/10" I did not know how to act. Hail did very little damage to onions just a patch in the middle. I was not home when it hit. My little garden took a hit. Cabbages are shredded, 1 tomato broke In half, and other foliage is slightly damaged. The willow does not look like it will make it. Oh well I tried. Love reading y'alls posts it keeps me going.

Okay...catching up now.

Starting with Nancy and Pilates. I normally don't enjoy exercise classes either because I feel self conscious. However, Pilates is different--all ages, all sizes, all ability levels. It wouldn't be near as effective on your own especially as a beginner. It's one of those things that you think you've got the right movement/position, but usually you don't because of muscle/movement memory. It's hard to explain without rambling on...and no one here is that interested anyway. LOL.

Thanks for sharing the pics, Rebecca. The flowers are beautiful.

Sorry about my emotional meltdown last night. It was way overdue, though. It happened in person too, not just here. Normally, my family does help. I think Tom sees Wednesday as his night off--I'm not here so he's free to do what he wants. I'm very goal oriented and project focused, so normally have a plan for the night. However, he could at least put the recycling away and clean up the dishes. The animals would demand attention even if they ate 5 minutes before my walking in the door. They know I'm Momma. They don't bother Tom when he wakes up, but as soon as they hear me make the smallest movement, they're up and ready for attention.

Thanks for the snake info, Dawn. This snake was almost black from what I could tell. I looked around for it this morning and this evening. Didn't see it. If it moved over a couple of acres to my neighbor's coop, it's probably dead now. They'll shoot it. My plan was to capture it and put it in an ice chest and drive it down the road a bit. There's an old abandoned house that is being enveloped by trees. I'm sure it's full of snakes and things for snakes to eat. I would like to explore the house....but only in the winter.

Glad you're making progress, Amy!

Hi Kim! Glad you checked in. I'm sorry things aren't going well. And that you garden was messed up by the hail.

Tonight I worked on the east side of the chicken yard. It's about half done. I can't wait until these girls can get out of their pens...and the young ones can join their sisters. But I am dreading the mean girl behavior. It was so stressful last time...and it's still happening some, but I'm almost sure once they are out in their new yard, it will help a lot. The yard is about 112 ft long and 25 ft. wide. They'll only go into it when I'm home. Or Tom is home.

The garden doesn't look too bad. Unfortunately the lettuce is getting bitter. The cabbage is being eaten up by bugs. Some of the peas are tired looking. But, for the most part, garden is good. I'm so happy the tomatoes are making flowers and the new foliage is healthy. The peppers and eggplant were planted in the garden on Monday and they still look a little frail...but are hanging in there.

Every year it gets better. Even if specific plants may not do as well for some reason or another from year to year.. But, I feel like I'm getting a rhythm. If that makes sense.

I almost feel that I need to double my garden size...just for herbs. Amy, you're always talking about all the cool herbs you've grown. I need them all. ALL.

HJ. I hear you in spades. I was a single mother for most of my boys' childhood. And during most of the rest of it, ranched. But I worked so hard making a living for the boys. And NOTHING irritated me more than walking in at 5:30 pm, tired, knowing I had to fix dinner, and finding garbage and empty dishes strewn around the livingroom, and then actually full garbage cans, dirty floors, or sink piled up with dishes they casually tossed in there. They eventually learned, but took a while. I am not a pleasant person when I can clearly see others aren't pulling their own weight.

I think I sort of have a rhythm (Dawn calls it intuition, as do I, as well as ever-growing experience--with it all). I think a great part of that is our awesome minds doing physics--calculating the kind of weather we're having, past memories of what worked, recognition of pests, knowledge of good soil. All of that sinks in, whether or not we're consciously aware of it.

From your description, HJ, sounded like a king snake to me--good snakes, cept for eating chicken eggs. That's the kind we found in our dining room last year after a leisurely stroll in the yard. Too funny. We managed to get him out safely, as at the time we were having a vole emergency.

HJ.............. not just exercise classes, ANY classes. Hate classes. No, Pilates is NOT gonna happen unless I take an intense in-home study and do it myself. First, you gotta remember, we're 10 miles from the nearest town. Second, you gotta remember I HATE leaving my home. Third, you gotta understand I HATE classes.

ROTFL!!!

Yoga is excellent, too, and I did a lot of yoga all by myself in my home after studying it. But now I'm getting to what some might call the "golden" age, and my exercise of choice, though not always pleasant, is working in the yard. Oh, I still touch my toes and stretch. Haven't tried a handstand lately or even headstand. Maybe I'll have to try that. But I DO stretch. As often as I can.

Yeah, you just named another reason I don't have chickens. I wouldn't like that bullying stuff either. All in all, a good decision GDW and I decided not to raise chickens. Thirty years ago, we'd have had chickens.

Kim. . . . love and hugs to you. You are such a worker. Besides being a great person. Keep on keeping on while you're there; don't lose heart. Learn from the mistakes. Love to you.

My veggie garden, not a thing to report, really. No bad bugs, no weird things going on. Peppers, too slow but constantly putting out new leaves. Tomatoes are beginning to shine. Potatoes, enormous with flowers but who knows what lies beneath. Some onions beginning to bulb up. Only other real things are garlic and leeks and they look okay. Corn's growing like weeds. I thinned them out. Question-- do you all thin them to just one stalk or do you leave a couple?

That's about it from here. Love to you all.

I've tried planting more basil, so far it either doesn't come up at all or comes up & dies. What gives? Thankfully I have a whole bag full from last year, so I can at least keep trying. Beans were planted last weekend & some are already an inch high. And peas are still coming along. Hopefully they'll finish ripening before the heat zaps them.

What kind are you planting, Jen? I grew a bunch this year--but the one I had tons of trouble with was Corsican. It WAS 2 yrs old, from BC. Got one out of maybe 6 little pots, and it was puny and leggy, for a long time.

For Bruce. Coral honeysuckle. All I can say is that these are the whitest red blooms I've ever seen!!!! LOL What a surprise that was! Maybe they start out white and turn red. Maybe I've been pranked. Why, it will require a complete revamping of my vision/mindset. Rolling on the floor laughing! I THINK it is lonicera periclymenum, not lonicera albiflora.

Well, the soaker hoses were apparently out of stock, so I don't get them till next week. My forecast has a lot of 20% chance of thunderstorms. I suppose that means it will be hot and humid, but no rain will fall. I'm looking forward to soaker hoses. I realized today I need to mulch the long tomato bed, so it can wait to rain until I do that. I usually do that when I plant. Guess I spaced.

I'm thinking of throwing zebrina seeds over the fence. They would look good mixed in with wild flowers.

I found a package of seeds that said it had been refrigerated, and should be kept refrigerated until planting. It's a sweet violet. It got stuck in with the other seeds. Have I ruined it's viability? I think it can be planted in fall, but if I put it in the fridge, it will make DH insane.

Have a doctor appointment, just a check up. Must go now.

Nancy, Redbuds at our house are where they belong---hidden as understory plants in the woodland. Why? They look glorious for the three weeks of the year that they are in bloom, and then they get diseases like anthracnose and other fungal disease and look like crap...continually. For that reason, even though I love them when they are in bloom, I'd never put one in a prominent place in the landscape because I wouldn't want to stare at that diseased foliage up close all summer long.

I thin corn to one stalk per hole. In order to get good corn, the leaves need to be able to soak up a lot of sunlight, so you don't want your corn too crowded.

Kim, Hang in there. At least you have options. I'm glad most of your plants survived the hail.

Jennifer, There is no need to apologize for your meltdown. If we cannot meltdown here, there where? We all understand. We're all humans and all have days and weeks that lead to meltdowns.

I'm glad your garden is doing so well. Yes, you do need to double it so you can have huge amounts of herbs.

Jen, Are you sowing your basil seeds in fresh, uncontaminated sterile seed-starting mix or are you reusing soil-less mix? If you're reusing soil-less mix and it no longer is sterile, it probably has diseases in it. You can spread it out on a flat pan and sterilize it in your oven if you need to. Other than that, basil does well as seedlings when kept on the slightly dry side. Too much moisture can kill it quickly.

Nancy, I've never seen a coral honeysuckle that didn't have flowers in shades of pink, coral or pinkish-red or coral-red. I don't know if you were pranked, but if it was given to you as a coral honeysuckle, it was mis-identified.

Amy, We have 90 minutes of thunder and lightning last night, and got a whopping 0.05" of rain. I don't understand why all we get is the noise and lights and almost no rain but it is a constant lately, and I think our chance of moisture overnight had been either 20% or 30% for what little good it did you.

You didn't space out on the mulch....you have had your grandchildren a lot, so blame it on granny brain....you know, where keeping the grandkids fed, happy and occupied pushes all other thoughts right out of your head.

I have no idea if the sweet violet seeds are still viable, but you have nothing to lose by trying to sow 'em and grow 'em.

I worked out in the garden today until almost noon. I knew it felt very hot, but I didn't want to know how hot it was or I would have wimped out and come indoors sooner. When I came in, I checked and our temperature was 90 and heat index was 96. That sure feels like summertime to me. We're now up to 92 with a heat index of 98, so I'm not going back out to the garden today, except to check the plants in flats to see if they need watering this evening. I just weeded and mulched. It was slow going, but I finished two beds that were half-done yesterday plus did a third bed today, so the garden is pretty weed-free right now.

We're going to have the girls tonight and tomorrow, so there will be no gardening for me, and I'm okay with that. I suspect it will be too hot and windy to be out in the garden tomorrow. We have a full day planned for the girls tomorrow, and I think it will be fun.

We're supposed to get a break next week with two days that will have temperatures only in the 80s. I'm excited about that---and plan to be out in the back garden all day those two days, getting it all planted at once. Well, crap. I just zipped over to the NWS-Norman page to see if our high temperatures of 82 and 83 next week are still in the forecast, and they aren't. They've been changed to 86 degrees. Oh well, the thought of two sort of cool days was nice while it lasted. I don't want to think about what June, July and August are going to feel like with May already feeling as warm as it has.

Dawn

More rain last night. Field is happily muddy. So I planted peppers eggplant and basil today. They want the greenhouse shut down this weekend. Which I do too. Actually 3 weeks ago would have been good for me. The tomato plants are steady decline. The field looks so nice when wet. I am so thankful for this rain.

This post probably isn't going to be much of a gardening post, I apologize in advance. I know I've been pretty quiet this week which as you all know when one of us is quiet, that means we're pretty swamped with something or lots of things. Thankfully, mine has just been busy stuff and not serious stuff, at least not serious under my roof though other peoples troubles have factored in. It takes a village and lots is happening in my village.

Dawn, I appreciated the pat on the back/words of encouragement about my cousin moving. It's tough for several reasons, she and I didn't really have an opportunity to know each other growing up, but her husband was stationed here just before I moved back to Oklahoma so after nearly 35 years, I got a deep connection with part of my family I didn't really have before. As luck would have it, her family was the family that the whole family got along with. You know one of those magical friendships where the wives, husbands and kids all get along and then at some point someone moves. They are the ones we have fall breaked with the last couple years too. Also, I've always been the one to move. Most of my friends and family have stayed in or near Oklahoma so this isn't an experience I'm used to - being said goodbye to instead of saying goodbye. So, it's a multiple whammy.

My in-laws returned from their RV trip last weekend so my weekdays were poised to settle back down, but the neighbor who takes my daughter to school in the mornings had a death in the family. Instead of settling down I swapped discombobulated evening for mornings. I'll deal with it and be grateful it wasn't someone in my family, while giving my love and prayers to my friend. I don't want to sound insensitive and hope I don't. I realize it's not about me. That said, please remember my neighbor's family in thoughts and prayers. Her BIL died unexpectedly at only 56 years old!

When my in-laws returned their garden and pond weren't in great shape. The last week or so my BIL had said he'd take care of the place and not to worry about coming by. He didn't even pick up the hose! MIL said grass was dead under the hose and the pond pump was sucking air which means it was about to burn up! However, given circumstances - BIL and his wife have just decided to divorce and since he hasn't found a place of his own yet (he's still a little in denial) he took the opportunity to crash there - and I didn't want to intrude. Next time, I know to be the b-word SIL and let him know I'll come by and take care of it and he can play backup. I felt really guilty they came back to it in that condition - even if I shouldn't have blamed myself - so I took MIL plant shopping for Mother's Day and spoiled both of us.

I'm also busy preparing to have 2 teenagers (my twin Goddaughters) for a large portion of the summer. So, after my gardening, dinner, evening walk/run and yoga because I'm having IT band issues, I've been cleaning out the guest room closet and next will tackle a linen closet I'm going to use as a pantry. We don't have a pantry to speak of but 2 linen closets?

HJ - I have what DD calls my crazy voice and I'm happy to come use it if you'd like. It's so effective that most of the time I just have to say, I'm about to use my crazy voice and even DH moves at warp speed. I saw my grandmommy use the same voice once 30 years ago and everyone present still talks about it in a tone of shock and awe. It's THAT effective. If you opt not, I'll be happy to send you good energy instead.

Kim - sending you positive thoughts and vibes too.

On to the gardening subjects.

I'm happy to save back tubs for anyone who wants them if you think there might be an opportunity to pick them up, even if it's a while off. I do make trips up to NE OK occasionally to visit said grandmommy in B'ville and would make a stop at someone's house to drop some off if the others could get them from there. I need to make a trip up there in the near future so if you think that will work, let me know and I will share when I get my next trip scheduled. Keep in mind though that I could probably only get 5-6 in my car while also hauling a kiddo and suitcases.

Dawn, do you remember that plant I posted on Facebook and no one felt positive IDing - it's an Indian Blanket. The bottom leaves threw me for a loop. I don't remember seeing them with bottom leaves like that before. It's also really tall - almost hip-high - but it decided to set itself in a spot with little sun, so I think it might be stretching for sunlight.

My gardening to-do list for this weekend is daunting. I hate making an actual to-do list for the weekends and especially my gardens because anything with a to-do list feels too much like M-F. However, my sweet potatoes slips shipped (say that 5 times fast) and will arrive Monday so I need to get the tubs ready for them. This includes mixing "not-dirt" from scratch, but that will finally clear a big path in my garage. I am running to Dover on Saturday to meet my contact with the tubs because they found loads more and since you can never find them when you want them I'll hoard them and sell for cost what seems excessively hoarder-ish. I ordered a mini composter because I was drawing mice to my open compost and being in the suburbs everywhere in my yard is too close to the house for that. It arrived this week and is awaiting assembly which Amazon reviews assure me requires 4-6 arms and hands! LOL I got some more tomatillos from a friend and I needed another so pollination would be good on the one HJ gave me, so those will be planted. I need to pot up seedlings that are end of year gifts for DD's last day of school next week. I can visualize a couple flats on my patio that need to be planted but cannot remember what's in them. So whatever those are, I need to find a home for. Need to fertilize my containers. The antelope horn milkweed starts I got last weekend need to go in the ground because they're drying too quickly in their little pots now. There's lots more I'd like to get done this weekend, but I have to be realistic or I'll be disappointed on Monday and I hate that. So, I try not to set myself up for it.

Something that won't get done this weekend is "planting" my "door prize" from Nancy. I know it was tongue-in-cheek but I really do like my rocks. Yesterday, I was in Stillwater taking some pictures of co-workers volunteering at the Special Olympics so before heading back I swung by Bustani Plant Farm. I got a couple plants I think will go nice with the biggest rock and make a cute little nook somewhere in the yard. I'm debating on a couple places, but soon it will have its permanent home. One of the plants is purple prairie clover which is the host plant to the dog-faced butterfly. What a name! I love the plant but decided I HAD to have it in my yard somewhere after hearing the name of the butterfly it attracts.

One last thing before I conclude my novel. Y'all and your songs and ice cream talk. First I had the "Heat is on" earworm then as I was reading Dawn mentioned Blue Bell ice cream and got stuck with a different earworm. While I was living in St Louis there was a song called Ohio by a band out of Witchita Falls. It was about his girl running off to the midwest with another guy and lists all the things she's missing and all the things that want her to come back - including Blue Bell ice cream which isn't sold in St Louis, or wasn't then. It was my homesick song in those days. I would play it on repeat and because it's a humorous song, I would laugh and reminisce and go home in my mind and heart for a little while. So now, I'm switching between lyrics of "Heat is on" and "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)" playing in my head. One hasn't won over the other yet.

Not sure how much time I'll have to pop back in over the next few days so I hope everyone stays cool, remembers sunscreen and just has a happy and joyful weekend.

Went outside this morning to check on all of my plants and found 2 disturbing things. One of my cherry tomato plants looked very sad and spindly, some of the leaves near the bottom were turning dark and curling. I just yanked it up and threw it in the garbage can, I didn’t want to mess around trying to baby it and figure out what ails it so I’m down one plant. The rest of the tomato plants look healthy and fantastic. Second disturbing thing is I noticed a whole bunch of ants crawling on the bottom of the main stem of my bell pepper plant, the one I planted in a container. Then I noticed I have what seems like dozens of ant hills all over my yard! Grrr. Plus, I’m finding some in my kitchen, crawling on the countertops. Any idea why they would pick on my pepper plants? I know they play well with aphids, but saw none of those on the pepper. I kind of smooshed a few but knew that wasn’t doing any good and I had to go to work anyway. Just got home so I’ll check it out when the sun is up.

Megan! You are so busy. It's May. It kills us. Every Year. But you have a ton going on May or not.

I'm laughing so much about your Ohio song. I know it well. It's my favorite Bowling for Soup song after High School Never Ends.

So when your done doing whatever
And when your through doing whoever
You know Denton county will be right here waiting for you
Come back to Texas
It's just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the lone star state
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyways...

LOL.

Troy Aikman wants you back.

Blue Bell wants you back.

Okay...I'll stop.

I'll be back to really catch up tomorrow. I hope everyone rests well and their garden soreness is eased with a good night's sleep.

Oh, and I was hoping Dawn would make next week's thread name The Heat is On part 2....just so we could keep that song in our heads.

Megan--what a major change for your family, having your two God daughters!! For the whole summer? Your DD is going to be gaga over having two "old" ones to watch. When I was a child of 7-9, my folks rented out our basement apartment to out-of-town high school kids. We had 3 girls one year, a junior and two seniors. I was like a star-struck fan. They were all very sweet to me, and I tried not to pester them. But two of them actually would take me on various outings with them, and I felt SO special. But what a change for you all! I hope it will be a wondrous experience for your DD, for them, and for you all!!

I just got rid of "The Heat is On"; now you brought it right back! :)

Haileybub, you are not alone with the ants. Amy, Jacob and I have had the ant problems. It was so bad here in our house, I can't even begin to describe it, and shudder even talking about it. One thing about it in our house; it definitely tends to be a certain weather-related or seasonal thing, and it has eased off. Another thing--earlier on, a few weeks ago, when I was talking about it here, I said I'd tried everything--1/2 Borax to 1/2 sugar, with water to make a thick syrup, and then dipped cotton balls worked magic for me in the past, but this year didn't work. . . I wondered if Borax could possibly lose its potency, so bought a new box. And then the ants quit for the most part. I also placed them above the hummingbird feeders on the top railing where hummingbirds couldn't get to, and they halted that ant traffic, too, after I got the new Borax. The most dramatic result of my using it was on our front porch. Two years ago, ants by the thousands and thousands were marching in a heavy stream under the logs against the foundation. I'd read about the Borax and sugar (google it, Haileybub) and cotton balls, so tried it. Tucked the wet cotton balls up in cracks on their path. And within 3 days, no ants. I swear.

One of you here told me which bait to buy? No fail? Then Dawn said it was basically Borax. At any rate, so we're over our ant invasion. They drive GDW crazy out in the yard when he finds a herd. . . . I don't pay much attention. No idea why they'd love your pepper, but they don't cause any harm, do they? The rest of you? When I was loading my wood chips into my plastic wheelbarrow this past week, I'd find mounds within it. I'd just keep loading and brushing wayward ones off my arms as I went.

If this is the worst pest you're going to have, though, you're good. It's more unnerving than anything else, or at least it was to me. Right?

I was whining to Amy, Rebecca and Eileen (my Tulsa connections) about my panic about the shop bed........... some gigantic plants in there and way too many that will take up space. I am going to have to make some decisions in that bed. May be time to go back to the original drawing board. I've never been one to plant for show. I've always planted what looked like fun. But with two large mums, two large iris clumps, your catmint and bachelor buttons that are out of control, Dawn (lol), an enormous sage, two clumps of smaller coreopsis. Now the second year--the asclepias tuberosa that's taking up a 3x3 foot area, three good-sized echinacea, (let's not even discuss the datura or cleomes which have recently made their appearance), phlox, hibiscus and rampant nicotiana. We need some executive management here, and quickly, because I also just put in Cape daisies, ammi majus and visnaga, verbena bonariensis, and the two new pineapple sages.

So. Time to cut down the labor force. I said I'd never be the person who had to do that, and yet looks like I have been forced into it. Sadly, someone has to leave. I need to decide. Do I want flowers out there, or do I want herbs. And do I want high-performing flowers, or perennials that bloom one month out of 12.

Thanks, you guys, for your help in letting me think this out. Iris and mums, you will be leaving for more desirable pastures. As will catmint and sage.

And I know more trouble is coming in my "herb bed" and the big center bed. All part of the laughter and joy of gardening, right? One thing I've learned, though, through the past 30 years is that it has a way of sorting itself out. One beautiful thing about gardening is that it's like going to a fun wine-and-art paint class. The instructor may tell the students what to paint, or may even have the exact picture they are going to paint, and everyone's will be different. So it is with our yards and gardens, right?

Nancy, it appears some of my invasive honeysuckle piggybacked in the spiderwort! Up to you, but unless you are ready for a mess, I'd get rid of it now before it takes over! I have several of the native red coral vines that are going to be moved in a fence row that's slated for replacement. I'll save some of it for you!

Most of my garden is planted and I'm trying to get areas mulched as the plants get big enough.

Three littles playing this weekend, so other than watering a few things, it will be next week before I can really get serious about mulching walkways. Hopefully I have enough material and it doesn't get too hot!

Off to ballgames!

Just a quick note before Sisterhood of Traveling Plants lunch. (That name is never going away, I love it). It rained, because I didn't get the tomatoes mulched. There's about a quarter inch in the trays on the patio table (my rain gauge is in the house.) Maybe I should kennel Sasquatch while we're gone. She doesn't like thunder. ::Waving::

Bruce, once I saw the little white flowers had turned yellow last night, didn't take me long to find that japonica nailed what I was seeing. LOL. What a comedy of errors. Yes, I will be ripping it out, and glad it's not too big to do that yet!! Too funny. I had my fingers crossed that you were going to say you didn't have any japonica. . . . but kinda knew you weren't gonna say that. Rats! Racklefratz!

Kim, whatever happened, prayers for you

Thank you Jacob. It is a long story that needs a happy ending ;)

Prayers and good vibes going up and out, Kim!

My sweet potato slips arrived today and I’m glad they did because I don’t think they would have survived another day in the care of hot air and the USPS. Disappointed I didn’t get delivery notification because I’ve been following it via FedEx but I guess USPSwas actually delivering, so they sat in the mailbox for several unnecessary hours had I known they were here today instead of Monday as scheduled. Regardless, I was prepping the tubs for them when my DH came in with them. Hoping tonight’s storms are gentle on them because this is the best stretch we’re gonna have to get them going. I may okie engineer some shade if they struggle.

Not much else to report. Chipping away at all the things I need to to do before the grind starts back on Monday.

Kim, The tomato plants are declining already? I'm not horribly surprised because your location is so much like mine, but probably hotter and drier, neither of which is good. And then I kept reading and saw your next post.

When one door (or garden gate) closes, God opens another one. I know you will end up where you're meant to be at this stage in your life's journey, but I still am sorry you're going through this.

Megan, You've certainly got a lot going on, but I know you can handle it all. I will keep your friend in my thoughts and prayers. Unexpected deaths can rock a family's world, and I do not think you were being insensitive---your family is affected by this loss as well. It is hard when established routines fall apart and you must instantly regroup and form a new routine.

I am LOLing at your crazy voice. I have one as well and use it so seldom that it freaks out my family. That crazy voice is power, woman, pure power.

If it is any consolation, Tim had iliotibial band issues when he was running marathons, and after he cut back drastically on his mileage and rested his knee quite a bit the IT band issues went away.

Your Indian blanket might be stretching to get more light, but I've noticed the ones in our front pasture (from a seed mix from Wildseed Farms that I used to overseed the pasture a few years back) are stretching and getting tall too and they do not have a shade issue. I suspect it is the heat making them act that way, but that is based only on intuition...and, also, I guess, on observation and comparing those observations in any given year to plant behavior that occurred that year.

Hailey, I'm sorry about the tomato plant. Are the ants actually doing anything? Or, are they just around? Usually ants (except for fire ants) are beneficial in a garden, and even serve as pollinators in some cases, so I leave the ants alone. Of course, sometimes they farm aphids, but I've found that knocking the aphids off the plants with a sharp stream of water every day for a few days takes care of the aphid problem and then the ants that were farming them go find something or someone else.

Jennifer, Your wish is my command.....

Nancy, Keep whatever plants give you the most joy and move the others. This year I'm mostly growing for joy, not high yield. When there is in internal struggle within me over/between planting what I want to plant (mostly flowers) and worrying about where to put the veggies I should grow if I plant all those flowers, I tell myself to "choose joy" and I plant the flowers. I'm not really sorry about that either. For so many years, I've grown for yield so I'd have tons of food to put up. This year is not one of those years. I'm trying to make it be exactly the opposite, in fact. Choose joy.

For years I mostly avoided the perennial/annual issue by promising myself I'd plant the perennials when the soil finally got to the right point. Well, the soil is there now, but I am finding it hard to give up the masses of annual flowers that bloom over a prolonged period in exchange for perennials that bloom for a shorter period. I think it is possible to have both of them together but it makes more sense to go heavier with perennials. I just cannot give up my favorite annuals., though I do add a few more perennials each year. Having said that I cannot give up all the annuals, I am always so stunned by how quickly perennials grow and start blooming and start looking gorgeous that I know I ought to plant a lot fewer annuals and a lot more perennials. I guess if I just keep planting a handful of perennials each year, then sooner or later, there's going to be a lot less available space for annuals.

Bruce, It already is too hot, but maybe you'll catch a break and have some cooler weather next week.

Amy, I'm waving back at your and hope the Sisterhood of the Traveling Plants had a great lunch.

I spent about 10 minutes in my garden today, mostly just checking on things and watering plants in flats. Everything looks so pitifully hot and dry, but certainly the cool season plants. We are too hot, too dry and too windy for mid-May. Too many spider mites. Too many grasshoppers. Too much of it all. I think it is going to be a rough summer.

We spent the day with the granddaughters. I'll spare you a long recitation of what we did, but here are the key words: Fort Worth Zoo, the African Savannah, flamingos, lions, tigers, literally thousands of people, and eating at lunch The Crocodile Cafe where you can watch the crocs underwater/floating on the surface of the water outside your window while you eat. I confess that as we ate, the crocs also were watching us and I was wondering if they'd think we'd be a good lunch....for them. And, my favorite part of the day, hearing the three year old say "Thank you PaPa". It was worth every minute I did not spend in the garden. Oh, and I did take great joy is looking at the zoo landscaping and playing 'name that plant' with myself.

A cougar attacked two bicyclists in Washington state and killed one, while injuring the other. No words. For those of you who don't know, I had two cougar encounters near my garden in a drought summer about a decade ago. I'll never get over it, but I try not to overthink it or to worry endlessly about it happening again. Reading this news story brought it all back to me. If I could block this memory from my brain, I would.

Hard garden decisions await tomorrow. That's a topic for another day.

Dawn

Okay. I just now sat down today...so will wait for The Heat is On Part 2 to make comments.

('cause I'm tired)

Hugs! (( feel that we all need a big hug)

I bet you can save them, Megan. Good luck!

Kim. . . you go, girl. You can do it. Remember to ask the important one for guidance and help and love.

I loved seeing Eileen and Rebecca and Amy (and Larry and Ron) today. I LOVE sausages. I just wanna see them for 4 hours instead of 2. :) Too much to talk about. And Amy brought great spice packs, and EILEEN, the criminal, brought us some handmade limoncello. I can hardly WAIT to try that out. I got THE basil. . . THE genuINE article, from Rebecca, and it is one healthy little basil (and about the ONLY one I don't have. . . my collection is complete. Thank you, Rebecca. :) )

Dawn, I see you posted while I was writing. All I can say is God Bless You, you always have the spirit to send messages of comfort to us all, with just the right words. What a gift you are.

I told them today that I wanna have a party. I want to visit for 4-6 hours, not 90 minutes or 2 hours for lunch. Am I bad? I just am always so hungry for companionship with folks who love gardening. And the funny thing is, when we get together, we don't really talk that much gardening. Go figure. Love my Tulsa Sisterhood of the Traveling Plants.

We made it home from Tulsa, amazed at Green Country here finally. Green green green everywhere. The internet went out a few hours ago. I SO hate dealing with Windstream, but at least I am beginning to know the drill and always pray for a good customer service rep. Got a winner tonight, she calmed my Megan crazy voice right down.