Hahaha, still laughing about a man and his mower from your last thread. Now that puts me in quite a situation. I have become a mower now, and yes, I do kind of have that "Now I can relax" feeling about once every 7-8 days. But then, of course, I get all twitchy about the garden. My my!

I'm so happy to see butterflys. No caterpillars yet. but I know there will be. The only things I did today in the yard were to gather a couple tomatoes and a few peppers, water, and deadhead plants. And inspect stuff. That's it.

I get very grumpy about fireworks. We've only had them going off a couple nights in the past week, so that's a small favor. I suppose there will be a lot between now and Thursday, though. The marina can't have their fireworks display since the lake has hardly begun to go down. They're re-scheduled for August 31. I hope the lake's down by then! LOL. Kinda LOL. Titan isn't bothered by them. I don't know about the cats.

Well, Dawn, you did it again. I had to look wheel bug up, as I'd forgotten what they look like; the assassin bug was mentioned along side it, so then I looked up assassin bug to read up on it. Fascinating. Grisly, but fascinating. And THAT provided a link so I could watch the battle between an ogre spider and an assassin bug. Hahaha! https://www.ranker.com/list/assassin-bug-facts/l-zane-pinnock Monster Bug Wars indeed! The wonderful things there are out there to learn about.

Nancy, Indeed, the world is full of incredible creatures.

Our garden has had a major stinkbug infestation for about 2 months now. I cannot even quantity how many I'm seeing....maybe 100 times more than usual, and we always have a lot, so it is very trying to have so many everywhere...but especially all over the tomato plants. That many stinkbugs will ruin the fruit quickly. It is one reason I'm yanking and tossing plants....the stink bugs are destroying the fruit while it is green. It has been a very trying couple of months with them. I smash and kill every single one that I can, but sometimes I see 10, 15 or 20 within reach and after I kill 1, or even while I'm killing one, the others just scatter. It is a war I'll never win all by myself. So, being pretty devoted to the concept of the garden ecosystem policing itself, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for the predator insects to show up in droves. Their population always lags behind because they do not produce the next generation until they are sure there's enough pests to feed them. Finally, within the last couple of weeks, I'm beginning to see lots more assassin bugs---several different kinds of them: the usual brown ones that look a lot like brown stink bugs only with sharply pointed shoulders, and the green assassin bugs which I think are Zelus luridus, and which I rarely see, and some younger instars of unknown assassin bugs that I'm just waiting to see what they grow into...but they are feisty and ready to fight in what I believe is only the second instar stage. There's a few wheel bugs, and quite a lot of praying mantids, which are not necessarily very common here. So, I think the assassins and others will control the stink bugs to the point that at least the fall tomatoes will be okay. I certainly hope so. The usual lady bugs are everywhere, and there's quite a few green lacewings (sometimes we have a lot of them, sometimes almost none).

We had been having a lot of grasshoppers, most still small and obviously freshly hatched out in early June, which is a good two months or more later than usual. The large numbers of them really worried me, especially with all the damage I was seeing on young flower seedlings. However, I noticed that wild birds were in the garden constantly over the last few weeks, and now I'm not seeing many grasshoppers at all, so clearly the birds (or somebody else) are eating the grasshoppers. Sometimes I stop whatever work I am doing and just sit and watch the birds fly around the garden, plucking pests off the plants. I hope the predators have the same success with the stink bugs.

If you want to have fun, watch wasps pick up and carry away caterpillars. Some wasps will sting the caterpillars to paralyze them and then carry them back to their nests, cramming them into the nest's compartments, where they'll feed the young wasps. lol. Our gardens are full of fun. Of course, some of the smaller wasps, like brachonids, just lay their eggs directly in/on the caterpillars, where the young will hatch and eat their way through the caterpillars. That's okay with me too---whatever it takes.

Tim mowed like crazy today. He said he was only going to do the yard around the house, but I noticed he mowed everywhere---the bar ditch, the rest of the front pasture, all along the driveway and around the garden, then the yard around the house, garage and other outbuildings, and then all around the ponds and such. He was such a happy camper. All I had made for dinner was spaghetti (not even made from scratch!) and he ate it ravenously and thought it was just the most wonderful dinner. I believe that was a reflection more of his hunger after mowing all afternoon than an actual statement about the spaghetti itself. He also packed it up to take to work for lunch tomorrow because it was "so good". I warned him that it was going to be tomorrow's dinner too, and he didn't care....he was just delighted. How in the world can an afternoon of mowing make 1 person so happy?

I plan to work in the garden all day tomorrow if the heat doesn't drive me indoors. We'll see what the weather is doing. We aren't supposed to be all that hot this week, but we all know that right now the dewpoint and heat index probably influence how it feels outdoors more so than the actual air temperature.

Dawn

Our rain stopped (apparently) last week. It's already time to water pots (twice now) and will have to hook up hose if the scattered thunderstorms predicted all this week don't deliver.

Yes, stink bugs...I popped a raspberry in mouth a week or so ago, and oh my god, it was horrible (because there was a larva stink bug on it)! Oh, and the raspberries are almost gone...but after a month of them, I think I'm ready to release them till next year. I have black and purple, which means that harvest range from black caps, reds, and purples (depending if I let the purples mature or not).

I still have seedling perennials (since I lost all my early seedlings due to rot) and even some annuals still in pots waiting which might get set out this week. Most of the perennials shall remain potted, because they're just too small to fight with fully grown foliage on mature plants. They'll get set out when things cool down and there's space for them.

Strangely (or not so), I finally moved my cactus outside in late May, figuring it was warm enough/dry enough to not rot them. I was somewhat wrong, one of the tiny ones got so soft that a slug ate holes in the sides. Luckily I was vigilant and removed it, it's healing up now, and overall the cactii are all swollen and growing vigorously. They actually like a good level of moisture when in growth. I still have African Violets, Streptocarpus, and an aloe vera inside. This particular aloe vera is apparently attractive to rabbits who sawed it to the ground four years ago, so it isn't allowed to go outside any more.

A writer friend, who seems to like the hot (he spent 6 months in Thailand) and is now in New Mexico, posted something on FB and I tweaked his beard (so to speak) about being a world traveler and never home. He asked me if I had summer plans, I said, yes...I'm being a sensible southerner and I have entered a state of aestivation (dormancy) in my AC'd cave, I will emerge when the weather changes.

I am home!!! With so many pots and containers it was embarrassing. I have anything from styro ccup to 40 gallon pot.

2 willows , 2 goji berry, 1 elderberry ( broke her first bloom), 6 peach trees, 5 pecan trees, sweet potatoes slips, porter tomatoes, sage, oregano, basil, raspberry, 2 mint, various other things I cant remember.

It was an awful ordeal through it all moving and uhaul but I kept my attitude good except for years of pain and exhaustion and I almost passed out in the heat. But I got it done.

I will be stayin with my daughter and her husband until I get walls in and ac ;) maymaybe windows, and then hopefully I start job next Monday in denton.

Will post pics on fb group later.

I am absolutely overrun with spider mites. I don't know that I've ever had them this bad in my yard, but I think I know why, the neighbors to the south who never mowed have moved. I knew they had spider mites because the 2 times a summer they did mow (memorial day weekend and 4th of July) I would have small issue that resolved when their weeds got tall again in a week or two. The new residents are keeping it mowed so I think that may account for the extensive invasion they've made in my garden. SIGH!

I hate to do it but if I'm going to save my tomatoes long enough to ripen the fruit already set I'll have to treat with insecticidal soap. I've never resorted to this. What do I need to do to do this safely?

I did find what looked to be fresh tomato starts at the local Home Depot this weekend. I bought 4 and will plant them at the other end of the yard, but unfortunately, it's to the north of the current plants, so not sure how much good it will do. :(

I will probably jinx myself, but I think the stink bugs are in decline in my yard. They have been horrible and showed up while plants were still very small. It could be birds though. Since we're not spraying this year and so many of our neighbors are, I think we have become a popular spot for birds. I feel like I'm seeing more of them at least. I pulled in the driveway yesterday and saw a brown thrasher and female cardinal very excited about something they'd found in a hanging basket, so excited they almost ignored me. It wasn't until I got out of the car and walked to the door that they flew to the neighbor's eve where they could watch until I was gone. I assume they're also helping to control the stink bug population. I wonder though if it's why I've hardly seen any butterflies.

On the subject of insects, the leafcutter bees are super happy and enjoying my bee house. It's so full that I mounted a second one yesterday. There were at least 5 leafcutters buzzing around it at once. I only saw 2 at a time last year, so they came back and told their friends, or offspring as the case may be. I overspent on heat-tolerant annuals this weekend, so I'm taking their presence as a sign they're grateful. LOL

Alright. I'm procrastinating. I only popped by to ask about the insecticidal soap and now I've given you all multiple paragraphs so I can avoid a project...

I am not coping with the heat well. Haven't felt good to begin with, heat makes it worse.

Since we took the trees out last year there is enough light to grow things by the front door. I STILL have pansies blooming. Everything there is happy. I put the citrus trees there and it is the first time they didn't drop all their leaves when I put them out! I just picked a lot of bush beans. I will have to blanch and freeze. They are Foster and Royalty Purple Pod. In a couple of days I will pull them up (like Dawn mentioned above!). Then I can sic Ron on the weeds in there and put in okra or something. If we get no thunderstorms today I'm going to have to water. I've brought in a few tomatoes, lost some to cracking and some to stupid fruit worm. I think I pulled all the carrots yesterday. Ron pulled all garlic and onions today. The bed was really weedy. I picked a little more broccoli off the silly plant that keeps sprouting. I really should pull seeds off the cosmos or next year that is all I will have.

I have a lot of birds in my garden, too. Knock wood, I haven't seen many bugs, good or bad. I know the tomatoes need the diseased leaves removed. Ron will start complaining about it soon. I wonder if I could move the lettuce planter out front and get some leaf lettuce to grow? Most of the lettuce is bitter now, it is just standing to be living mulch under tomatoes.

Glad you've moved, Kim. Good luck!

Megan, I have used Safer brand insecticidal soap before. But to be honest, by the time you get to that point, things are out of control. Further, there are predatory mites who will take longer to rebound than the spider mites, which might make matters worse. Maybe Dawn will have words of wisdom for you.

Ron did his mowing thing over the weekend. I can't say he was zen about it. There were a lot of curse words. In fact he was down right cranky.

We've got some of the cattle panel arches up.

Is it only Monday? Bartlesville tomorrow.

XOXO

dbarron, I am thoroughly hating all the stink bugs and sorry they finally got to your raspberries.

Fortunately, since I planted the tomato plants in the ground in March, we've been harvesting since May 1st, and had huge yields early, so I've processed all the tomatoes we need to put up and preserve this year. That makes it easier to just say 'enough is enough' and yank out the surplus tomato plants now. Of course, it can be self-defeating because the more tomato plants I take out, the more stink bugs move onto the remaining ones. (sigh) The last few fruit I've harvested from the front garden are so damaged by the stink bugs that they aren't worth eating, so I'm composting those. So far, I've let those last few plants remain though because as long as the stink bugs remain there on those plants, there are not many of the stink bugs yet venturing up close to the house and finding the six tomato plants in large containers there. I like that. I have found minimum damage on the fruits from those six containers, but not enough damage to ruin the fruit.

I've almost entered the summer southern state of dormancy with you. I'd like to be able to do some weeding and deadheading this week, and I still have beans to harvest. I'm so tired of beans, but later on I'll have a sincere appreciation for all those beans put up in the freezer. We'll see. It just depends on the weather. I am definitely at the point where anything that gets done outdoors will be complete by 9 a.m. or so before the heat starts cranking up. Between the snakes and the heat, I don't choose summer dormancy inside the AC-cooled home/cave so much as I just end up there after fleeing the snakes and heat.

It was cooler than usual this morning for July and slower to heat up, but I'm sure that pleasant turn of events won't last long.

Kim, Welcome home! I'm glad you're all moved in. So, you brought a lot of plants with you. lol. We plant addicts understand.

Is your new job at the Denton store or have you changed employers?

Megan, Sorry to hear about the spider plants. My plants get them every year and I just basically ignore them and wait for the predatory mite population to get large enough (along with the ever-present lady bugs and green lacewings) to deal with them. In my garden, it usually becomes apparent that the spider mite population is dropping in mid- to late-July. That might be too late to save your plants. If you cannot wait for that (and I do understand), then when you use the insecticidal soap, only use an actual commercially-produced one, not a home-made Dawn dish-detergent formula. I like the Safer brand, but I think they're all effective because they're all potassium salts of fatty acids. Follow the label directions exactly. I'd spray in the evenings, concentrating the spray on the undersides of the leaves. Soap sprays used at temperatures over 90 degrees can cause the plant foliage to burn, so it is much safer to use them in the evenings.

If, by chance, the insecticidal soap doesn't work, I'd go straight for the big gun and use Take Down spray (pyrethrin plus canola oil), also spraying in the evening and only when high temperatures are staying below 90. I used it one year when blister beetles were eating my cucumber plants down to the ground and I was feeling desperate to save them. That was at least a decade ago and I've rarely seen blister beetles in any quantity other than 1 or 2 here or there since then. That year they were everywhere. It worked on the blister beetles and it is my understanding that it works to reduce spider mite populations, though I've never used it for that purpose. Believe me, I wasn't happy about having to use it in my normally no-spray garden, but I did use it only on those plants and it did work, so I achieved my goal of saving the plants without nuking the whole garden. In general I ignore blister beetles because they eat grasshopper eggs, but that year I just could not ignore them.

I love the way the leaf cutter bees are using your bee house. I haven't even seen any leaf-cutter bees this year, but we have plenty of other kinds of bees.

If nothing else works for you with the spider mites, try making your own version of the very popular SNS 217 miticide. It is rosemary oil in water with a small amount of soap used as a spreader-sticker spray. You can buy SNS 217 online, but making your own would be easy too and much less expensive. Good luck with the mites.

Dawn

Kim, prayers to you and will look forward to hearing your progress.

It was a most unproductive day for me here, but remarkably productive in town. I do feel overwhelmed at times by the problems in our community, but am happy to help as I can. And then Garry and I spent time visiting when I got home. . . and then our neighbor came to visit It's all good productive time, I guess, just not measurable as physical work. It's that time of year when even some "full sun" plants can't take an hour of hot mid-day sun.

Japanese beetles continue to be our major pest. But it is so gratifying to see them in the beetle bag traps. I ordered more last week. It seems we all have our bad bugs and they're different according to our locations/properties. Aphids, spider mites, stink bugs, Japanese beetles! Let's hope we all can avoid having more than one "worst."

Bless Garry's heart. While I was in town at the school today, he went to Lowe's and picked up 10 bags of raised bed soil--I was totally unaware he had planned to do it. My MY! He is beginning to be a gardening partner, I believe! He also got a couple bags of peat moss. He was planning to mix it as we did last year and add wood chips to it. I would prefer not to add the wood chips as we'll be planting in those beds right away . . . on the other hand, the wood chips are so broken down, I don't think it will be a problem. And I have some compost I can top it all off with . There are two empty beds to work on--the garlic/onion bed and the potato bed.

I just cut back verbena bonariensis today. . . about half of each clump. Will it grow back this year? Not that it matters. It's so prolific that whether it does or doesn't this year doesn't really matter. I noticed last year that it just seemed to keep sending up shoots, kinda like hollyhock zebrina and nicotiana.

Nothing happening in the veggie beds . . . squash and gaya melons are working on producing, as are peppers and tomatoes. . . ho hum. Knock on wood, I do not see many bad bugs out there. Meanwhile in town at the school, we have summer squash and zucchinis growing like crazy. We pulled off half a dozen summer squash and four zucchinis--firsts. We're hoping to get more before the SVBs find us. There was a flimsy kinda clump plant in one of their beds from last year. It didn't look familiar to me; John thought it might be penta (NO). Finally it bloomed 2 weeks ago according to John. The first time I saw it was several days ago. I had brought some of my red bee balm in and it was in the same bed and John LOVES the bee balm. John quick beckoned me over, and I began laughing when I saw the blooms. I said, "John, it's bee balm!" He said, really? But it doesn't look like the red stuff. I said, but look at the flowers. I've never seen any flower than looked exactly like bee balm but wasn't bee balm (it's light purple). So then I came home and googled it, and decided it must be monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot), as opposed to didyma.

Today I told him I'd googled it and came up with the fistulosa/Bergamot and he said, "YES!" That's what it was called when I bought it at Lowe's last year--Bergamot. Mystery solved, I guess. Does that sound right, Dawn?

He also fell off the no more plants wagon and bought five pretty good-sized Vitex shrubs about the first of June. They're fine, except for the one at the end of the lot that had far too much water, like the big round bed, so a bit of standing water. tts leaves were turning somewhat yellow. He asked me if it was too much water, I said undoubtedly. What does one do for those? Pray? The soil is fine now. I thought no treatment. But perhaps I'm wrong. Any advice, friends?

Despite the fact that I did nothing but visit all afternoon, I'm sleepy! That's probably why.

Amy (and Dawn) I'm feeling okay, but the heat is getting to me this year more than in the past.

Finally getting indoors.

We are trying to tidy up outside because we are hosting on Thursday. Although, we may have a smaller group this year. One nephew has to work and the other had surgery on his nose.

Kim, it's so good to see you here! Glad you made it home with your plants.

We are hearing fireworks too. The dogs hate it so much. One of our neighbors will have their big party on Saturday instead of Thursday. His is impressive but doesn't last all night. Thank goodness.

Probably most of you saw my FB Garden Monday post, so you know what's going on in my garden.

I was able to blanch and freeze beans today. I would like to actually can them, but haven't used the canner since 2015 and need to brush up on it. That process makes me nervous because I haven't done it often.

Some STUPID worm got into my one and only Cherokee Purple fruit! Yesterday I noticed that it was turning brown, but thought that was how purple fruit "blushed". (This is a first for me) Today it just didn't look right. It was mushy and I found the worm hole. I threw in in disgust into the chicken yard and watched the chickens do their Chicken Hunger Games thing. There's some blooms on the plant so maybe I'll get more fruit soon.

Megan, this year it's white flies for me and my garden. I hope you can get your spider mites under control. How frustrating for you.

Amy, I hope you feel better soon. How do your carrots taste? Sounds like y'all have been harvesting quite a bit of food.

Today while cleaning eggs to take to work tomorrow, I came across a "peep" egg! How did that happen?! It's clearly marked and I have no idea how long it's been in the house. It could have been brought in 5 days ago or 1. I candled it and it has an embryo in it. It was not moving. I slipped it under Rosslyn Kaye (who went broody for a few hours. lol) and checked it tonight. There was the "blood ring" I've read about. Poor little thing died and it was fault. Completely my fault. I really feel awful about it. Such a careless mistake. I am candling all eggs I take to people now. There is the same amount of eggs under the hens...so that means there is one that is unmarked and I do not want to accidentally bring it into the house because it's been sat on for at least a few days. It's development will be behind the others, though. Thought I was being so careful.

And Rosa decided to brood now. So, there are four. When I find that egg, I could give it to her. Rosslyn Kaye is toying with being broody. She was on the roost tonight, though. I need her NOT to be broody. After the holiday, I will be working on finding places for the hens and their chicks once they hatch. I don't feel comfortable leaving them in the main coop. It would be nice if at least two of the hens could pair up and raise their chicks together.

Hazel I think reading your comments about whiteflies was contagious.

i went out this morning and my tomatoes are covered! Last week I spent 2 hours covering them with net because the birds were pecking everything - guess I’ll try to hose them off and pray for ladybugs (although I haven’t seen any in a few weeks).

Dawn I took your advice and planted Baby Bubba okra in my raised beds. The plants are only about 20“ high but had first okra this week!! I made stirfry with squash, onions, peppers, green beans, and okra. Delicious!!! Definitely will plant that variety again.

My purple hull peas are blooming and although I only have 2 cucumber plants we’ve brought in several every day. The sweet 100 tomatoes that I purchased thinking they were Celebrity are loaded and vining over the cattle panel arches alongside the cucumbers.

i am watering already, even after the heavy rains a couple of weeks ago.

Hoping to see a post that the peach farm between Langston and Perkins will soon have peaches ready to pick.

Everyone have a safe 4th - we are just one mile away from several stands and it is a nightmare here for the 2 weeks before and one after the 4th. Cattle don’t get too spooked but my dog is terrified of gunshots and fireworks. We always have to stand nightshift watch for fires from careless people. I personally wish they would outlaw sales to the public. Yes, I’m a cranky old woman

Sorry, farmgardener, didn't mean to send the whiteflies your way. lol

We also have several firework stands less than a mile from our home. The 4th will be the biggest production (although "fun" and "festivities" will continue for several days after.) . Belmar is close and Toby Keith and friends put on quite a show. Then, our neighbor in the corner spends about that much. I can't even imagine the amount of money they spend. I don't mind it, but please let's all agree to wrap it up by midnight. It's enough. The animals have had enough. I'm starting to become a cranky old woman too. I just hate it when the animals are so upset and they don't understand what's going on.

This year I have developed headaches when it's hot and humid. I do not like that. I stay hydrated, so it's not that.

Dawn, thanks for helping my friend, Julie, on fb. I try not to give too much advice for fear of being a know-it-all. Like when she planted lettuce and peas in May, I didn't say anything. (And she had already planted when she told me.) But now that she's asking, I feel better about giving advice. It's funny that she wants a garden. She is perfect manicure/pedicure girl.--all glitter and sparkles. I love that she started gardening this year. Her husband is a great carpenter, so I'm sure her raised beds are beautiful.

I really, really need to go out and grab tomatoes (Juliet, of course). I'm going to make salsa. Also, some jalapenos. And harvest the beans, but that isn't for salsa, of course.

Oh, it poured here this morning. So weird. I was about to leave for work and then had to run out to get the dogs.

I have SO much to do but am procrastinating. I need to shop for Thursday. I need to clean the house. I need to look up recipes. I have to work tomorrow. AND agreed to have dinner with friends tomorrow night.

Stay cool and hydrated, friends.

Amy, Take it easy, dear friend, avoid the heat and take care of yourself. That is what really matters. I sometimes joke that I hope someday (someday in the far distant future) to die happy in the garden, but I don't want it to happen to me (or to any of you) any time soon.

It wouldn't hurt to attempt lettuce again, especially if you sow it thickly and could harvest (leaf lettuce, perhaps) regularly using the cut and come again method so you could harvest it before it gets too big and starts to turn bitter. I've toyed with the idea of growing it indoors, but I know me....I'd get busy and forget to turn on the grow lights or water it or something because it isn't normal at our house to have indoor plants on the light shelf in the summer months.

I hope you're having a lovely trip to Bartlesville and then back home again.

Nancy, I feel like gardening work in July is not about being productive, it is just about surviving. As long as I can do the minimal amount of work out in the heat that allows the garden and I to survive, I don't think of it in terms of productivity. lol. Being productive was for January through June. July and August are about survival. Caring about being productive can return in September, or whenever the daytime highs start dropping below 90 again. As I've gotten older, I've learned to let things go in July and August....it is enough if I can just water, harvest, and deadhead. Oh, and the name of the game is to avoid situations where a person might get bitten by a venomous snake. It certainly doesn't hurt that the best way to avoid the venomous snakes is to spend as much time as possible indoors in air conditioned comfort, which is where I'd rather be on hot days anyway. I thought about working outdoors in the garden this morning, but had a lot to do indoors before the 4th, so stayed in.

Yes, verbena bonariensis will grow back quickly and bloom again before you know it. In full sun, I can cut it back by 50% and it will be back in bloom in about 2 or 3 weeks depending on rainfall, heat and such. It bounces back even faster than that sometimes, and perhaps it depends on the age and size of the plant.

Yes, your description of the bergamont sounds right on the money. They have been blooming here for about six weeks and are starting to go to seed now, so it seems like it ought to be coming into bloom or in full bloom up there about now. See how different the timing is over a couple of hundred miles?

I think the vitex will be fine. To sort of paraphrase a comment made by Dr. Bill Adams (he said it about a different plant, though---crinum, I believe) no vitex has ever died. They prefer well-drained soil but will survive in almost anything.

Take it easy in the heat. When I got too hot out at wildfires in June and July (and we were out literally day and night, 7 days a week for a couple of months or more) of 2011, it ruined me forever. Now I have zero heat tolerance, and once heat exhaustion or heat stroke has affected you in that way, your heat tolerance usually does not return. I couldn't work out in the heat all day every day nowadays like I could prior to that even if I wanted to, and I don't want to.

Jennifer, I bet y'all will have fun hosting on the 4th. We are hosting on the 5th because both Chris and Jana are working on the 4th and the girls are still young enough that they don't care if they are celebrating Independence Dy on exactly the right day or on the next day. I want to have the house clean and groceries (and fireworks and all that) purchased and put away on the 3rd, so I can lazily coast through the 4th while waiting for the 5th to get here. Now, Tim won't do that. He'll get up on the 4th with some sort of invisible list of 99 things he wants to get done that day. He cannot just sit still and relax (and his dad was the same way).

I'm sorry about your CP fruit. It has been an awful caterpillar year this year. They've gotten several of our tomatoes but since I grow so many tomatoes anyway, it isn't as painful to lose one.

Please don't beat yourself up over the eggs. Between working and everything else that you do, you're awfully busy, and sometimes stuff just happens. Managing chickens and their eggs, especially with broody hens, can be almost a full-time job in and of itself. Just do the best you can and forgive yourself when things do not go perfectly.

farmgardener, I'm sorry to hear about the whiteflies. They are so annoying. Believe it or not, I've only had a bad infestation of them once in my life, and I think it was in 2010, which also was above average in terms of moisture.

I am so delighted that Baby Bubba is doing so well for you. I like the way the plants stay a manageable size and yet produce so well.

I cannot believe you're having to water already! After all that rain that fell up there, it hardly seems fair, you know? Then, I look at the Mesonet moisture map and say "oh wow, look how dry it is". Now that I said that, I'll link the map. Remember, if your number on this map is less than 0.50, your plants likely are mosisture-stressed and need water. Our moisture level is at a piddly 0.14, and I did water yesterday, but some of y'all are catching up with me quickly.

4" Plant Available Water

I understand about standing nightshift to watch for fires, and hate that y'all have to do that. We had some grassfires last week and the week before that were a little concerning, so we're all on alert for this week, of course. I hate the two weeks around the 4th too---it wouldn't be quite so bad if people would confine their fun to, let's say, the 4 or 5 days closest to the fourth, but it just goes on and on and on forever some years.

I hope y'all have a Happy 4th despite all the craziness of it all.

I'll join you in the cranky old woman club! I feel like we all have earned the right to be cranky when we want to be!

Jennifer, I was happy to help your friend. I felt bad telling her that her snap peas aren't going to produce, but the truth will help her learn as a gardener. You know what you're doing and you absolutely shouldn't hesitate to offer advice! You don't have to garden for 100 years to be able to troubleshoot for other people. I suppose even people with a perfect manicure can be gardeners, but I'm willing to bet that if she falls in love with gardening like all of use have, the perfect manicure may suffer a little.

I agree fireworks should end by midnight, but around here they certainly do not.

I don't think staying hydrated will necessarily prevent you from having a heat-related headache. I have noticed something in the air is making my allergies awful again, but not so much with sneezing and all....just watery, itchy eyes. It seems like it is always something any more.

I saw a hornworm on a tomato plant today and I didn't even care. It is on one of the plants in big containers by the garage, and I saw it, looked at its size, noted it was in the final instar and likely within a day of forming its chrysalis and decided to just let it go and not even move it onto a datura plant elsewhere.

I'm envious of your rain....every single drop. The last two afternoons it has clouded up here and gotten dark, and then not rained a single drop on us. It did rain some little sprinkles north of us, but not many of them. I have a really hard time accepting that it does not rain here in July and August. I just keep hoping and hoping for rain that doesn't come.

I still feel lost in a time warp---like it ought to be early June and not early July. I am sure it is because Spring was so messed up with all the rain and the cooler temperatures and I didn't get to spend enough days in the garden. It would be okay with me if I wake up next week and it is mid-August and cooler weather is close, but that isn't going to happen either.

Chris and the girls went out and bought fireworks today. He sent me photos and a list of the things they bought so that when we go buy fireworks we can avoid buying the same stuff. He told me he hardly bought anything and thinks he will go back and buy some more. Really? Does July 4th turn all men into 14-year-old boys who want to buy more, more, more fireworks....I don't see how there possibly can be anything left at the fireworks stand that he didn't buy. Oh well, it is once a year and he loves setting off fireworks. I read the list and could immediately spot the one that Lillie chose (though I have no idea what it is) because it was called a Flying Lily Pad. I think Tim and I will venture out to buy fireworks tomorrow evening or first thing Thursday morning.

I watered the container plants by the garage today and that was the extent of my gardening activity. Well, I looked at the garden from the driveway. It looks fine for early July.

Speaking of early July, this is not the worst July weather ever, so far. Granted, it is very warm out there, but it isn't blazingly hot yet. I saw this morning that Alaska is expecting record high temperatures this weekend and that some inland areas could hit 100 degrees. They have been suffering through abnormally hot and dry weather. How crazy is it when Alaska has drought and we do not? How crazy is it that they may hit 100 degrees on the first July weekend? I feel sorry for them--they cannot be used to weather like that.

I was looking at the lawn today, and thinking it probably needs to be mowed again on Thursday. Tim will just love that. No, really, he will absolutely love it. He needs to have his head examined to figure out why he loves mowing so much. I'm thankful the riding mower won't fit through the garden gate or he might lose his mind and go in there and mow it down one day. I'm just kidding. He'd never do that. I don't think he would. He knows he is not allowed to take power equipment into the garden because when he does, innocent plants die. Why does God let gardeners like me even marry a non-gardener? It is a total mismatch! lol

Dawn

Did I plant this?

Or this?

Rebecca, Did you plant either morning glories or mina lobata seeds? Your plants growing near the porch rail with the tri-lobed leaves could be either.

I don't recognize the plant in the second photo as anything I grow and suspect it is a weed.

There's nothing much new here, just some minor ramblings.

A new bunch of tiger swallowtail cats showed up on the dill this week. They are very small first instars and I am happy to see them. We have had a steady progression of them over the last 5 or 6 weeks, and they've only managed to eat three dill plants down to the ground so severely that they did not rebound. All the others have bounced back quickly.

Tomatoes on the volunteer plants in the compost pile are starting to size up nicely now. This is hilariously funny because the last thing we need here is more tomatoes. We do not water the compost pile and it is incredibly dry here already, so I don't think these plants will last long. Rain certainly is not falling here.

Jalapenos are about ready for another round of picking. I've only had one big jalapeno harvest so far and a couple of small ones. This one will be a medium-sized harvest. I also need to harvest beans and tomatoes today for sure, and maybe some other veggies as well.

Deer are out in the yard at 6:15 a.m., driving the dogs mad. Nothing like barking dogs early in the day.

More and more of the succession-planted flowers are blooming. Considering I didn't even start succession planting until after harvesting cool-season crops in mid- to late-May, I'm pleased to have so many of them in bloom by early July. I would have been happy if they'd started blooming by mid-July so they are exceeding expectations.

Last evening, a friend's mom was bitten by a snake she didn't see. Since she didn't see it well enough to positively ID it, but thought it was non-venomous, we all were concerned about her. Her leg began to itch and swell, so we ('we' being her community of FB friends) convinced our friend that her mom really needed to go to the ER just in case the swelling indicated an allergic reaction. At the ER, they agreed it "probably" was not a venomous snake, but wanted to monitor her because of the swelling. I'm not sure if they kept her all night or for just a few hours, but am glad she went and had it checked out. They gave her a tetanus shot, which I think is fairly standard with any puncture wound if a person hasn't had a tetanus booster shot in the last 10 years.

Yesterday ended up feeling pretty hot. I think we only hit maybe 91 or 92 degrees, but the heat index was 100. I didn't care--I was in the house where it was considerably cooler.

Tim was up and out of the house at 4 a.m. because this is their final moving day (we hope) at work. His alarm woke me up long before it woke him up, so I feel like I've been awake a half a day already. I think I'll need to take a nap this afternoon. They are moving the jail today, which is a huge amount to do in one day, so he expects a long, hard day after having another long, hard one yesterday and being stuck in Grapevine behind a very bad wreck....he was stuck there in traffic for almost 3 hours, often not moving at all for long stretches of time, but said he spent his time sitting there catching up on tons of phone calls. It took almost 3 hours to move maybe 5 miles, but he finally made it past the crash scene.

I'm going to go out to the garden early, just as soon as there is enough light to be able to see the snakes before they see me.

Dawn

Dawn, you weren't the only one with an early start. I jinxed myself with my tales of not having to worry about noise being in suburbia. I was awakened at 3 a.m. by my dogs barking due to a lot of teenagers being loud on the playground behind my back fence. I let the dogs out and simultaneously called the police non-emergency number. Luckily and unluckily my patio lights shine so much light over the fence that it must have scared off the kids before the police arrived. Yep. I'm that cranky old lady. I don't care. I'd rather the police handle it than have my house vandalized because I tried to handle it myself.

I hit the tomatoes hard with water yesterday and will do it every other night until the plants either croak or all the fruit ripens. Hopefully, the recently purchased CPs will produce some fall slicers. It's been a sad year overall for tomatoes. My cherries are way underperforming prior years and if not for the dwarf varieties, I wouldn't be getting enough fruit to make it worth the effort. They're in new containers and I had trouble with low nitrogen in the soilless mix I made last year. I tried to be careful when mixing this year but I think it's still off. I top-dressed with Black Cow and should have started foliar feedings of Garretts Juice but bronchitis put me way behind. I'll pick that up now and hopefully can keep those healthy enough to keep going into fall. They're less affected by spider mites so far, but I know that could change in a flash.

My best-producing cherry tomato so far is the Orange Sunshine. To me, it tastes a lot like a Sun Gold but the fruits are a lot smaller and deep orange near red when fully ripe. They're about the size of a "horse pill" - those giant meds you're sometimes prescribed. They work really nicely in a salad for this reason because even Sun Golds sometimes make for a really big bite but these don't. However, it's a lot of picking for a little bit of fruit. I'll have to reduce the number of plants I'm growing next year so I can do some work on the old tomato bed and this is one I won't grow next year due to that issue, but I won't rule it out forever.

Egg Yolk tomato is the one I was inspired to grow because of what Craig Lehoullier said in an A Way to Garden podcast and subsequently led to him following me on Instagram. It is comperable to my past years with Sun Gold in production. Reviews from early growers of this variety reported tremendous variation in the fruit size. I haven't noticed that. I only have 2 plants but they've been almost as large as the Sun Golds and consistent in size. Maybe the inconsistencies have been selected out?

Dwarf tomatoes are doing good. I posted my grow list on my blog and will update their progress at least 1-2 more times as their season winds down. Spoiler alert - I yanked the Lime Green Salad plants before they ever set fruit. That's not discussed in the article on the blog but will be in a couple of weeks.

I can't remember if I've shared my blog with y'all. I've been pretty guarded about it because I'm still finding my vibe but I'll open up to you. It's www.thecollectedseed.com. Because I'm still feeling it out though, it might read like I have multiple personalities. I'd welcome some feedback and especially constructive criticism. I've taken on the role of State Coordinator for International Compost Awareness Week in May 2020, so it will start getting more visibility early next year and would like it to be both reflective of me but also informative and entertaining by then. Yes, I need to work on more compost content for the blog given my new title.

Rebecca, I saw the hint of a purple flower hiding behind the rail near the lower right of your photo, so I'm with Dawn on a potential Morning Glory vine. You may not have planted it. Your favorite friends the squirrels might have brought it to you as a peace offering. Ha! The other one is what I always refer to as pigweed. It's a member of the Amaranth family so the seasonality is right for it.

Speaking of Amaranth, it and plantain pollen are in the moderate range right now, so that might account for allergies that anyone is experiencing. I began noticing my allergies this morning too so I looked it up on my Allergy app. I've also seen lots of sedge blooming so I'm sure grass pollen is also a contributor.

Dawn, Bruce and everyone else who gets sick of the "add tums/eggshells/Epsom salts to address BER" posts on Facebook, I heard a fabulous answer in a podcast the other day...Compost. Yes, the ICAW coordinator is partial to this answer for a reason but it's true. As explained and as we all know, BER is from the inability to take up nutrients due to too much or too little water, which compost addresses (assuming it's not water hose operator error) while also resolving nutrient deficiencies if they exist. BOOM. Be prepared for me to be shelling out that advice. I might make a meme.

Have a happy and safe 4th!

Megan, so sorry I just saw your post! I didn't see it yesterday at all. I can see why you're not a fan of fireworks.

Dawn, how many bean plants do you have? Approx.

I hope your friend's mom will be okay. How scary.

Dawn, you are so kind. Just a lovely person.

Bartlesville was fine. I stayed and had dinner with Dad. He eats with 4 or 5 women that dote on him. It was nice to see that. The construction on hwy 75 is done so that makes the drive better.

I have a question about fennel. I got a nice one from Nancy, but with all the rain it was late getting into the ground and has never looked great. It is blooming. Is that normal? Will it self seed where it is? It was not meant to be a permanent location.

Everyone have a nice 4th. Ron says we will watch fireworks from our driveway where we can have adult beverages. LOL. But that way we can watch the dogs and make sure errant fireworks don't land on the house.

I like Ron's idea! Unfortunately, we have to wait until August 31 for our fireworks (at the Marina). We can do that.

My fennel are all blooming, Amy. And Dawn was correct, as usual. They are reseeding fools!! I was out cutting stuff back and off today, while GDW was adding more soil to the empty raised beds.. Kind of funny. We work so hard to get everything to grow, and then in July go cut it all down so it will just come back.

Got a kick out of your eggshells, tums, Epsom salts crack Megan. I will check out the collected seed--later today.

I have seedlings growing and also have two nice pots of echinacea to plant. . . but it is SO hot! I'll rig up a shade wall for them. so they can get a start. Done. I wedged solid colored tote lids so they are slightly sloping, between two bamboo stakes to keep them in place-- and provide nice shade. Now I'm worried about planting at the school. That IS brutal sun. Sigh. To make matters worse, I'm not there every day to check on things throughout the day.

And I like your take on July and productivity. I shall adopt it! Thank you! Today, although I have been on the deck all day, I haven't worried about getting stuff done. But have actually gotten quite a bit done, just in a putzing-around kind of way. Now that productivity isn't a mantra, I am liking this!

Thanks for confirmation on the verbena, Bergamot, and Vitex. I laughed so hard on that one. And quoted you verbatijm to him.

I really am taking it much easier in the heat and hope the rest of you are, too. We do have a powerful fan and less powerful one on us during the day on the deck and it is full shade all day long, so I've been pretty comfortable so far. And I have the kind of yard where I can always find shade to spend weeding time in. I was caught up in the discussion about only watering in the morning or evening. I am a "kind of" follow the rules kind of person. I used them as a guideline, not a hard and fast thing. Now you know what kind of a lifelong employee I was; what kind of quilter I am, what kind of cook I am. Sometimes it serves me very well. Sometimes not so much.

I am really enjoying the angelonia, Dawn, and can see I need to grow lots more next year.

In one of my beds I have only ONE melon plant and one squash plant ( Meot Jaeng) and they're duking it out. The squash started climbing the Indian stripe tomato there in the corner, so I had to redirect it. I have four Gaya melons going out there and I think we'll try the one I picked.

The Scarlet milkweed has taken forever to grow. FINALLY looks like it will work. The other milkweed (asclepias tuberosa), the one I was so unhappy about because of oleander aphids. . . well this year is is working! Through diligent watching on my part, every time the aphids because showing up, I snipped off the tip with them and dumped it into the soap and water. As a result, the plants continued branching out. So now each one has multiple branches.

Okay, back to ruminating and weeding, deadheading and putzing. Happy gardening!

I'm soaking okra seeds to be planted tomorrow. Kind of looking at DTMs, wondering if I'm too late. So I bought Beck's Big Buck frome Fedco in Maine. They had the DTM as 85 days. SESE had 55. Do you suppose we can't even count on DTMs if we buy from Northerners or is this just a fluke? I have a whole bunch of okra varieties, and I had NO restraint, just soaked some of all of them, LOL.

I watered this morning, just had (having?) a storm roll through. Should be enough not to worry about the beds fo a few days. Hope it didn't drown the pots. There's more storms out there, but I think most will miss us. Bartlesville got it this morning when we had sun.

I've had headaches, too. Grass always gets to me.

So the other thing was, the post on FB today about benadril for snake bites. Someone said it wasn't true. When I googled it there was a lot about giving it to pets, but not humans. I don't even know if it's true for pets, but I knew Dawn would know. What about people Dawn? It really is disturbing that untrue posts run rampant on the internet! Especially if it is something life threatening!

My fennel (from Nancy) is still in the pot she brought it in because I haven't cleaned out the herb bed yet. It is still alive.

Amy, that sounds like a nice way to watch fireworks. We are "enjoying" a nice fireworks show right now. Some of our neighbors are having their party tonight. We were actually invited to two other parties, but just had dinner with friends and declined on staying and watching their fireworks. The animals are very unhappy. I worry about the mare and her new colt next door. I even worry about the baby chicks still in their eggs. I was carrying them to the house to candle and the noise was awful.

Speaking of... out of the 14 eggs, it appears that 8 have living chicks at this point. I'm still not counting on them, though. BUT am hopeful that we get at least 4 so each hen can have a baby. If this isn't the case, I will be searching for newly hatched chicks to slip under them. The hens are starting to look rough. Particularly Buttercup. She is the most dedicated to the sitting on her nest. They've all lost weight. I need for them to hatch some babies and get healthy again.

In the garden, I picked tomatoes (only Sungold and Juliet) and jalapenos today. To make pico de gallo for tomorrow.

So...squash that one buys from the grocery store. Can it's seed be "hybrid"? I'm not sure that's the right word. I'm still confused on my mystery squash. THEN, I remembered that it's possible I threw some white miniature pumpkins/squash into the compost. They were fall decorations.

A FB memory came up from 2 years ago. My tomatoes and peppers were MUCH further along. It's so strange that I'm not harvesting bell peppers yet. Two years ago was a much better tomato year. The plants in my picture were Early Girl and Brandy Boy. Honestly, I didn't plant the Early Girl until the first week of June and was afraid they were damping off. But I stuck them in the ground and they grew SO well. And produced so well. It made the variety have a special place in my heart. But, honestly the past two years they haven't produced like that.

I should sleep. (If I can between the fireworks and whining dogs) Tomorrow will be busy.

Megan, I don't blame you for calling the police. People who are out being that loud at night are so inconsiderate. Our neighborhood in Fort Worth had started to get pretty loud by the time we moved here. It was so quiet here (and still is, more than 20 years later) that I couldn't believe it. Well, I don't mean it is quiet here---we have country noises all night....frogs croaking, locusts and tree frogs, owls, whippoorwills, chuckwalla's widows, the occasional shreiking sound of a wild animal in distress, coyotes, etc. but I much prefer that to loud music, yelling, the laughter of a bunch of people sitting outdoors at 3 a.m., etc.

I'm sorry you are having such a bad tomato year. Some years are just that way no matter what you do. I am sure next year will be better, and perhaps this fall will be better.

Amy, You are so kind for saying I am kind. : ) I have a snake story update. Our friend's mom just didn't see the snake and couldn't say what it was. She is a lifelong rancher and she knows snakes. Still, the way her leg was itching and swelling really bothered me---perhaps because I read a story last week about a man who was bitten by a copperhead and died. He had swift medical treatment, they did all the right things....and he died. Why? He was allergic. Nothing the doctors did could counteract his strong allergic reaction. Don't you wonder why? I do. For example, we've been taught that allergies tend to develop from repeated exposure to the allergen (maybe this relates more to the kind of allergies related to histamine development.....). I doubt this man who died had any previous copperhead exposure or they would have mentioned it. So, it makes you wonder....Anyhow, with that gentleman's allergic reaction on my mind, I just really worried about my friend's mom, as did several other friends. We all were relieved she went to the hospital. So, the hospital agreed with her it probably was not a venomous snake bite, and then.....a person came into the ER with a known copperhead bite and seemed to be having a virtually identical reaction to my friend's mom, which concerned the folks in the ER, because it made them rethink their position....maybe she had been bitten by a copperhead. They ended up keeping her mom all night for observation, and I was glad. Her leg remains swollen, very similar to when our next door neighbor was bitten by a copperhead and was in a wheelchair for a while due to her badly swollen leg. You just never know with snakebites...

So, it is July 5th and I'm so far behind, and unlikely to catch up today. Since Chris and Jana worked yesterday, we are having the big family Fourth celebration today, although we had Lillie the last two days and nights, and I think she is staying until at least Sunday. I need to get into the kitchen and get busy. I have 4 kinds of food to get fixed before noon. So....this happened.....

I wanted to get the girls a bigger, deeper wading pool, and apparently the morning of July 4th is not the day to do that because everyone has the same idea and Wal-Mart was sold out, There were no mid-sized wading pools or smallish swimming pools (I was picturing something maybe 10- 12' in diameter and 3' deep.) However, the new Academy in Ardmore that has been open only a couple of months had some bigger pools, and we came home with one that is 15' in diameter and 42" deep. Totally unplanned but it was on sale and was a great deal and the hope is Lillie's eyes was too much to ignore....so we spent the afternoon putting up the pool and filling it, because, you know, doesn't being a grandparent involve torturing yourself outdoors assembling a swimming pool when the heat index is 103 degrees? What a stupid idea that was, but we survive it. She was in the pool playing when it had only 3" of water in it. lol. When we went to bed last night, it was 2/3s full and she was wrinkled like a prune. We are finishing up filling it this morning. I think the two big kids (Chris and Jana) are as excited about the pool as she is, and the 4 year old doesn't even know about it yet because she is at her dad's house for the 4th, but she'll be here with us beginning this afternoon and for the rest of the weekend.

We won't leave the pool up permanently. We'll take it down and store it away in its box in the garage for the winter, but I'm thinking that maybe the bermuda grass beneath it will die. We put down 4 layers of tarps beneath the pool so the bermuda grass wouldn't grow up through the liner, a lesson learned from having a pool in Fort Worth and, by the way, even the pool assembly book warned that St. Augustine and bermuda grass can grow up through pool liners---a warning that wasn't there 34 years ago when we bought our first above-ground pool and learned that lesson the hard way. If the bermuda grass under the pool dies, I'll be overjoyed! That alone would be worth the price of the pool!

I have to go go. I need to get a pecan cobbler and banana pudding made. Oh, and pasta salad and fruit salad. Everything else is pretty much done until it is time to cook the ribs, which is Tim's job. I'll be back to catch up later. I hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July, and I am hoping the fireworks are about done, done, done. We have had fire calls for the last 3 days I think...or, really, the last 3 nights.....Tim does not like getting up for fires in the middle of the night!

Dawn

Still trying to catch up. Finished my cooking. Sat down to watch the noon news and catch up some more here, and just got a new message from my (seemingly) adult son that basically said: On our way there. Bought more fireworks. BIG ONES. I am laughing. He already had more than enough, so I guess we're really going to entertain the neighborhood tonight. After that, we're done with fireworks for the year.

Amy, Fennel is goofy. Sometimes it blooms for me the first year (mostly in hot and dry weather, as if the stress pushes it to bloom) and sometimes not until the second year. When it blooms young, it usually is trying to bolt and go to seed. I just let it. The worst thing that will happen (other than not having fennel for the butterflies) is that you'll lose it, but the seeds probably will give you volunteers for next year. I prefer to grow Florence fennel to regular fennel because it is perennial. In my garden, regular fennel is a reseeding annual, as is dill, but both tend to reseed prolifically. So does bronze fennel. I just had some new fennel plants pop up last week. You'd think it would be too hot for them, but there they are in all their tiny-ness and youthful enthusiasm. I hate to tell them we are headed for highs in the upper 90s next week, which I am sure they won't like. Sometimes, as with dill, you can deadhead them before they go to seed and they'll keep growing and keep trying to bloom. Eventually I get tired of fighting them and just let them do what they want. If you broadcast sow fennel and dill seeds in the fall where you'd like the plants next Spring, that pretty much guarantees that your plants will come up next Spring.

Megan, Hmmm. I do have tons of amaranths because I grow the grain amaranths and the celosias, and there's tons of them this year since they reseed so well, plus I planted Dracula cockscombs, though I don't believe those are blooming yet. Plus, we have a lot of the native amaranths in the fields, bar ditches and roadsides.

Jennifer, Bean plants? Counting the ones I just pulled and harvested from yesterday morning, I had 80 feet of bean plants spaced 4" apart in double rows....or, in a different way of viewing it, seven packages of bean seeds and it seemed like every seed sprouted. It is too many, and now the spider mites are hitting the second row (it was the first row I finished taking out yesterday morning), so I may harvest that row this weekend and take out those plants. In order to get lots of beans at once for canning or freezing, I plant lots of beans. Really, that is my entire gardening philosophy---plant early, plant tons of everything, harvest all you want and preserve all you can, and then yank out the plants before the heat becomes unbearable and be done with it.

Oops, the kids are here. More later.

Dawn

Well the heat got me yesterday. We didn't even drink in the driveway, since the youngest grandchild goes to sleep before dark and the others were out of town. We imbibed in the AC watching Hulu. It was better for the dogs anyway.

I only got one variety of okra planted yesterday. I have decided I am going to start the rest in paper cups and put them in the ground as soon as they come up. Same for cucumbers. I was looking at the cucumber seeds I have. Good grief, what made me buy so many??? I do have fun buying seeds, and I'm sure there were good reasons for all of these, but this is not a cucumber farm. I don't even eat them!

I think I'll start moss rose seeds for the front planter, too. Not to mention it is time to start brassica for fall. I was looking for something in the garage. What made my husband buy a bunch of the 4 shelf greenhouses. I think he just doesn't want to build a big one. I have no real use for the little ones, other than I like the shelves, sans plastic, for pots.

I haven't pulled the bean plants yet. There are still blooms. I may let Ron do it tomorrow. He can yank and claw up weeds to his heart's content. SOMETHING must be done to stake up tomatoes. I always plant them with cheap cages and then tie them to a trellis later. But we haven't gotten trellises up this year. Sigh.

Hope you all had a great holiday. Stay cool. Remember how we thought Spring was too cold? Wish it would come back.

I'm not too hot yet. I only got too hot 2-3 times last summer, when our heat index was 115-118. I'm not too hot, that is, if I'm sitting at the table on the full shade deck with the powerful fan blowing on me 6 feet away, and the lighter fan blowing from 3 feet behind. Also could try the overhead fan, I guess! Ha! Just turned it on.. I don't know why we don't use it. Well, we will now.

I hope you all have an absolute blast, Dawn. BIG ONES! LOL. Did you see how crabby I was last night because Tom ran out before I could stop him, and then the fireworks began in earnest. The neighbors' kids/grandkids were there, and they had fireworks that lasted 3 hours off and on, and they had some mighty BIG ONES. Had Tom not been outside, we would have had the door shut and TV turned up. But I got to hear it all up close and personal, and then from EVERYWHERE, not just right next door. It was insane. I kept quietly talking to him and calling him, so he'd know I was here, and was going on the assumption that he WAS under the deck. Boy oh boy was HE glad to get back into the house! Dumb cat.

I was just reading your comments to Amy about fennel, Dawn, and guess I'd better get some Florence fennel. The cats will still eat the flowering fennel, won't they? I actually see a tiny caterpillar ON the flower of one. I'm not too worried either way, as there are so many small fennel plants, too. I need to learn up on the butterfly garden, including finding more native plants for the garden. I have been doing some intensive reading on it all.

I saw that red cabbage recipe on FB, Amy, under the sauerkraut post, and it looked so good, now I have to grow cabbages. (AND for sauerkraut, too.) Hmmm. . . all of a sudden my little raised beds are going to become crowded, I think.

Speaking of caterpillars, I saw a total of 3 today, but I wasn't looking that closely. I'm awfully excited.

I shared on FB that I also saw 9 toads! These were from my toad delivery of 1-2 weeks ago. I was very excited to see them, too. WAIT. Oh no! Oh NO! The toads will eat my caterpillars! WHAT to do?? Well that's no good!! New strategy, but too late for this year. DUMB dumb!! I'm moving my parsley, dill and fennel to beds elsewhere, where I haven't seen any toads in the past four years.

I'm loving the larger pool for the girls, Dawn. I got a large one when my granddaughter in Mpls was 4. I had it all set up (it wasn't as large as yours, but considerably larger than the little ones) for a surprise for her when she came for a sleepover. And she wouldn't get in it because it was "too big." So the only way I got her into it was to get in it with her! Which was fine--and fun. And your use of wrinkled like a prune!!! Again, when Evyn was 3, she was over for a sleepover. She loved to take baths, as she could stay in the bathwater as long as she wanted. But one day, she began wailing! She cried, "GRANDMA!! Look!! What happened to my hands!!!" I laughed and said, "Oh honey, that happens when we take long baths. Our fingers get all pruny. As soon as you get out and get dried off, they will look fine." But she got out just to make sure. After that, she was fine with them getting all pruny.

HJ, you will be so happy with new chicks! I hope all 8 will hatch--and speaking of that, when will they hatch? BTW, most of what I'm growing is much slower this year, too. Fine by me. I need to go get ready for dinner.

I'm still catching up.

Nancy, I usually don't see aphids at all, though I saw them on western ironweed growing outside the garden fence this year. Ants were farming them and lady bugs were trying to eat them, so the ants and ladybugs were slugging it out. This year the oleander aphids did pop up on my butterflyweed plants in the garden, but about 2 minutes after I noticed them there, I saw ladybugs working the plants. A day or two later, all the oleander aphids were gone. It just amazes me how good the ladybugs are at finding a 'problem' and dealing with it or, from their point of view, maybe they are just happy to have a nice meal.

When I was younger, more foolish and inclined to ignore the heat, I would just garden hard, endlessly, throughout July and August. Now? Being older and wiser, I listen to the heat and listen to my body and know when enough is enough....and I try to get out of the heat before 'enough' becomes 'too much'. I'm already looking at the tomato plants in the big containers and asking myself if I want to water them all summer long. Y'all shouldn't be surprised if I stop watering them in 2, 3 or 4 weeks. I don't even have the patience any more to stand out there in the heat with a hose in my hand....so heaven help those plants when I start thinking it is too hot at 7 a.m. (Or, I could just put up the drip irrigation lines for them.) The last few years, I've turned my focus to indoors DIY projects and this year might be kinda sorta the same, more or less, at least in August.and comes into bloom and produces much faster than okra planted in cool weather despite the estimated DTMs. I planted Jambalaya (which has a quick DTM of 50 days anyway) in, hmmm, late May I think, and it was producing by the end of June. I think it was so fast because it didn't really experience cool soil temperatures. Hopefully your okra will produce extra-quickly like that. You know, I learned this with hot peppers ages ago. I used to put them in the ground the same time I plant tomatoes, but that exposed them to soil temperatures and sometimes nighttime lows that are cooler than they like and it slows them down. Nowadays I plant them 2-4 weeks later than the tomato plants, and am harvesting hot peppers in June regardless---and heavier yields than I got from those earlier plantings. It amazes me what a difference it makes when the plants are not exposed to any cold.

Benadryl for pets is important at times though it depends on the bite's locatio. We have had neighbors' dogs get bitten on the paw and the paw swelled so quickly that it halted the flow of blood and they lost the dog, so we always give a dog Benadryl if it is bitten and we usually don't even go to the vet. You can see the dogs' swelling go down literally in front of your eyes. I don't know why it doesn't work for people, but I know it is absolutely not recommended for people. Here's my theory though:

If you've ever known anyone who was bitten by a venomous snake, you might have noticed the doctors circle the wound area and mark on it with a Sharpie. They come back, usually every 30 minutes, and mark the extent of the swelling or redness and this allows them to track the way the person's reaction is advancing (or, eventually) receding, in the area of the bite. This is important info for them as it can guide some treatment choices. So, if you have taken something like Benadryl and if it affects you by decreasing the swelling, it can interfere with their ability to track your reaction. I think medical personnel are the ones to decide if you are having an allergic reaction (which is separate from your body's reaction to the venom) and if you need an antihistamine, which one, etc.

Jennifer, Yes, grocery story squash normally will be hybrid. They have special hybrids bred for commercial growers and I'd be surprised if you could buy any grocery store squash that is not a hybrid. Yes, your mystery squash could very well be one of mini pumpkins grown as decorative items.

Amy, Yes, I wish we had that cool Spring weather back again. Sadly, we do not.

Nancy, After worrying that Chris will accidentally blow up himself and kill himself setting off fire works, I'm over it. I spent over 2 hours this afternoon opening up all the packaging, taking things out, etc. and lining them up on a shelving unit so they are ready to go. I had a big black trash bag completely full of all the external wrappers and the bags from the Fireworks stand. The fireworks don't have to kill him. I am going to kill him myself. He bought enough fireworks to open his own fireworks stand, and I am not kidding about that. He bought a bunch of these big boxes with a fuse. You light the fuse, and the box goes off---some of them have 20 to 250 shells or balls in them that will go off in rapid succession. Our neighbors, and all the animals, are going to hate us tonight. I bet he has 20 or 30 of those, big box things, and they are just the tip of the iceberg. In his defense, the smaller stuff he bought earlier in the week is much smaller and run-of-the-mill. It is today's purchases, on half-off-everything day at the fireworks warehouse that enabled him to buy too much of everything and most of it really big stuff.

I'm glad Tom, and you, survived his night out. I hate being outside listening to all the fireworks and will be glad when this weekend is over.

K, I'm out of time, but almost caught up. Time for me to get dinner on the table. There will be six of us for dinner: 4 adults and 2 wrinkled prunes who don't even care that much about the fireworks because, for them, it is all about the pool. Have a nice evening everyone. I believe I am going to have a loud one.

Dawn

Hello Everyone. I'm going to backread here in a few minutes.

This is a picture of 4 tomato "seedlings" I agreed to take a couple of days ago. They were delivered to my front porch. Tom's friend and our neighbor (I've talked about him before. He's the Vietnam vet, "artist"--that guy. Anyway, he has a girlfriend who lives about an hour away. She has a garden, greenhouse, horses. She sent a text to Tom and asked if I wanted tomato plants. I thought...sure, I want fall tomatoes. I was so surprised by the size of these. They are about 3 feet tall.

Advice?

They are: Beef Steak, Celebration, Better Boy, and Steak Sandwich.

I've never grown these. How do you (any of you) think they'll do with transplanting being so large and it being so hot.

Ooohhh...grrrr....*{~¥[?@&

Rebecca, I feel your pain. I finally put up my electric fence today in hope of keeping the deer out of my peas and sweet potatoes. I hate fences of all kinds, but there is a time when they are really needed. I also saw some squirrel damage today, and I know of no good way to control them.

I planted some lettuce today, only because a package of seed was blown off the porch and got wet. I just scattered the seed in the garden hoping the rain will bury them enough to sprout.

I have been too busy to do much in the garden, but the peppers are the only thing doing well anyway. Insects and disease are everywhere.

Madge and I are talking about not even planting a garden next year, just trying our luck with containers and my wildlife garden. The wildlife garden is worked with the tractor only, no weeding or hand work. I get almost as much enjoyment just feeding the wildlife, my zinnias are looking good over there, the bees and bugs dont care if I just let the weeds grow.

Jennifer, I'd transplant those carefully on a cloudy day so they have time to recover, or transplant them in the evening so they have milder conditions overnight to recover. The larger any plant is, the more likely it is to suffer transplant shock in July when the temperatures are so high. I think they'll be fine though. Even if they wilt from transplant shock, it will be minor and they'll recover.

Those 4 varieties are typical, red-fruited hybrid varieties. That would mean different things to different people. It just depends on what you like. Tim and I do not care for the texture of most red hybrids---they are very firm as most were developed, after all, to be good shippers for commercial and market growers, and have thicker skin than the heirlooms we prefer. And, to my taste buds, all red hybrids pretty much taste the same, so if it is a red hybrid, it pretty much doesn't matter to me which one it is....they're all the same. (Big Beef and Ramapo are exceptions.) Does that make sense? I say that, though, because red hybrids are my least favorite tomato and I don't grow many of them, other than Early Girl/Early Doll, just because they are so early. Generally, I grow black, pink, purple, orange and yellow tomatoes, mostly heirlooms, for us, and grow red hybrids to give away. For what it is worth, red hybrids are very strong and resilient growers so most people are happy with them. All hybrids are bred for hybrid vigor, which is important in our hot summer weather.

Rebecca, I hope you are winning the war with those squirrels.

Larry, I know of no good way of controlling squirrels either. A person (in a rural area) can shoot them, but there seems to be a million more waiting to take their place. We have had dogs that would run them off during the daylight hours, but when the dogs are indoors at night to keep the safe, the squirrels will be out around twilight or sunrise, hurrying to eat what they want before somebody lets the dogs out.

Insects and disease are everywhere here too. How could they not be with all the moisture that we had for so long? It has been a lot drier here recently, so now we can add parched, dried, cracking clay ground to the mix. Those cracks are used by snakes and grasshoppers alike to hide when they see us coming.

You know, I only planted the front garden this year because the back one was staying too wet, and I really don't miss the 50% of our usual garden veggies that never were planted. I don't miss them at all. I think I'm losing my drive to grow most of our veggies, and I don't even care. I'm bored with doing the same old same old things every year, so next year will be almost entirely non-edible crops. I think I'm going to plant flowers and herbs in the front garden, butterfly and other pollinator plants in the back garden, and have a very small number of pepper and tomato plants in containers in the yard, right between the house and detached garage. I already have been succession sowing the front garden with flowers instead of edible crops beginning with May when the brassica crops were harvested, so slowly it is converting from an edible garden this winter/spring to a flower garden for summer/fall. I like this and am very happy with it. Why not do something different that y'all think you would enjoy? I think I have been in an edible gardening rut for decades, and I want to break free of it. The thought of planting tons of flowers, both for us and for the wildlife, makes me happier at this point than the thought of growing vegetables.

Clearly I've been doing no gardening since the grandkids are here for a few days. I did notice that the white zinnias I succession sowed a few weeks ago have begun to bloom---they are later than the red ones I succession sowed a couple of weeks earlier, but considering how late the white ones were seeded, I think they've come into bloom really quickly. Most of the cleome that was succession planted to replace tomato plants has begun blooming---or, at least, the Rose Queen and Cherry Queen have been blooming a week to ten days, and the Helen Campbell (white blooms) is just starting to bloom. The Violet Queen plants, which were the last ones succession planted, aren't blooming yet. Overall the succession plantings of herbs and flowers are growing really well.

It is getting really hot here. It was 80 degrees when I went to bed last night and 78 degrees when I woke up this morning, so it hardly cooled down at all. We did get a couple of light rain showers this afternoon, which cooled us down into the mid 70s really early, and that was nice. We only got about 1/3 of an inch of rain, but it was our first rainfall in two weeks, so we were delighted to have it. Our forecast still shows temperatures in the upper 90s about 4 or 5 days from now. I'm not looking forward to that. I know it is July, but does it have to feel like July? I get so tired of hot July and August weather.

Hope everyone had a good week.

Dawn