well I'm still trying hard to get the fall cole crops going. I lost about half of my brussel sprouts and califlower over last week just due to the heat. The brocolli seems to be holding up better. The flat dutch cabbage was pretty much completely fried. I've already bought another round of backup plants to replace whatever doesn't make it. I've been caging all the the plants with chicken wire cages about 1 foot high and 8 inches across to keep the rabbits out. , and then watering and shading with mulch on the top of the cages on the south half of the cages . The sun angle isn't straight down but at a lower angle now. My turnip patch is up but struggling in the heat and so is my seed plantings of any greens like beets and chard , collards and kale.

I hate it when Sept is hotter than H-E - double hockey sticks.

okmulgee boy

I am so far behind. I am trying to spend more time with Madge, taking her to the Dr, and what ever. I went to Mena, Ar. and picked up some seed for my wildlife garden and took Madge to visit her two sisters that live there.

One of my tractors is broken down in my neighbor's pasture, and it is too hot to work on it.

I am not supposed to lift over 10# so I have to use one tractor to lift and align implements to attach to the other tractor. I have to change implements to get the wildlife garden ready to plant the 200+ pounds of seeds that I have.

Well I had better go, my daughter just came in and we plan on going out to eat.

Rebecca, the hard part about a broken disposal is it will clog up if not used. (Ask me how I know, LOL. Of course you don't have anyone around to put egg shells in it for you.) If you remove it, you still have to have some pipes replaced. Unless you have someone to do that for you you're going to spend money on plumbing. My dishwasher bypasses my disposal, I don't think you would have an issue there unless yours is plumbed differently. I have a little drain screen in my non disposal sink that catches stuff too big to go down the drain (I think they're sold as hair traps. I could live without a disposal, not sure Ron could.

Larry, I hope you get your tractor fixed, but spending time with family is not a bad thing.

You're way ahead of me Okmulgee boy. I need to put seeds out, but seems like I've been on the run and I have no stamina anymore. Hot weather shows no signs of disappearing.and last I looked not much chance of rain either. We were married on Oct 2nd and it was 92* that day, so I KNOW, and as tired as I am of heat I'm not ready for cold.

Have a good week.

I wonder how much it would cost to replace the pipes and go without. . . (we don't have one, and I can't imagine needing one.) Our garbage disposal is our large coffee container sitting next to the sink, in which all our veggie and coffee remains go in. Only things that don't go in are meats. And then when the coffee container(s) are full (one is for coffee grounds, the other for the scraps) are full, I take them out to my compost pile. We have a septic tank and so have to be be very careful no grease or food gets into the pipes. You might see if you can find out the difference between the two costs--no, you don't need a garbage disposal. Garry and I scrape and rinse ALL our dishes before they go into the dishwasher. Also--perhaps you could go without for a few weeks until you can remove it.

Do you ever think, "why can't I just be normal?"

Anyway...if I was normal, my stomach would not hurt after eating 2 days worth of "regular" food. I would be used to it. I'm not saying I can't handle a meal out...but several meals "out" or at other people's homes is...unpleasant. It makes me feel rude and elitist. I don't mean to come across that way...but my garden food and my eggs and even the food I buy at the store is...not regular. So...I suppose it's my fault. I feel like crap, though. AND it's from eating normally...and not my normally.

My hinged hoop is complete other than I need to get some insect netting. I think I'll leave t on all the time...and just clip frost cloth on as needed. Super happy to have this project done.

Any suggestions on the best fabric for insect prevention?

The brassicas are being chewed on by some insect. I need hoops/insect netting for them too, I guess!

I'm happy to have tomorrow off. SO, SO, SO happy! I might not be working on Tuesday either...which is good and bad. Good because I like being home. Bad because I need the money.

Peppers, okra, Armenian cukes, and pumpkins...so many Seminole pumpkins...

Oh, and the pole beans are making edibles now. That is fun. I though they had died out completely, but they came back. AND I have tons of new fruit on the tomatoes. Not just the Juliet and Sungold.

Okmulgeeboy, I'm sorry you've lost plants. This heat has been brutal. Hopefully it will cool down soon. I know I say that every day, but it's all I've got. We certainly cannot control the weather, so we are reduced to wishing and hoping. Hoping, hoping, hoping for a cool-down in the weather seems to be a September tradition.

Larry, I hope that Madge is doing well, and I do appreciate that you are trying to spend more time with her. I feel like Tim and I never have enough time together, but I'm grateful for what we do have.

Rebecca, We took out our garbage disposal when we redid the kitchen a few years back and don't miss it at all. However, we do scrape and rinse all the dishes really well before they go into the dish washer, and we have those little strainers like Amy mentioned in the sink that catch everything. I just take the strainers out and dump everything into the trash so nothing goes down the drain. It probably was harder for Tim to adjust to not having the garbage disposal than it was for me, but he did it. We never did put a lot of stuff down the garbage disposal in the first place since so much (everything except meat and bones) goes to the compost pile.

Amy, No matter how hot September starts out (our hottest one was in 1999 and it started out with 111 degrees on the 1st so we have had worse Septembers than this one), it seems like it always cools down significantly by the end of the month. I keep telling myself that the end of the month cannot get here quickly enough because I'm so tired of waiting for cooler weather. We got married on Sept. 2nd in what must have been a pretty hot summer because it was 103 on our wedding day. Our nephew beat us....at his outdoor wedding in June a few years back, the temperature was 105 around the time the wedding ceremony started, but we were in the shade of big trees and it really didn't feel as bad as it sounds. Thankfully, the wedding reception was indoors.

Nancy, We also have a septic system and have to be equally careful about what goes down the pipes, so I guess we're just used to not sending junk down it, so to speak, which probably made the transition from garbage disposal to no garbage disposal a pretty easy one for us.

No one here gardened today, though I did check the garden this morning to make sure everything was okay and to see if the monarch cats were doing alright. They are, so I guess the wasps haven't found them. Tim mowed, so y'all know he got his outdoor activity fix for the week. I watched the hummingbirds at the feeders, but otherwise did indoor chores like laundry. The grass does look good all short and all, and we're both happy that Tim mowed down seedheads that were sprouting up on various prairie grasses close to the house. He didn't touch the pasture because his wife scolded him for mowing down some blooming wildflowers last week. Normally he mows around them. I have no idea what he was thinking when he mowed them down last week, but I reminded him that the butterflies, bees and other pollinators still need to eat. Then a gorgeous adult male black Lab showed up near sunset, sitting quietly in the shade of an oak tree and watching Tim. He was very well cared for, wore a collar with his name and a phone number on it, and adapted very well to us putting him on a leash so he couldn't wander off. He also enjoyed being spoken to, being petted and being walked up and down the driveway on the leash so Tim could watch to see if anyone was going up and down the road looking for him. Nobody was. Eventually Tim made contact with his owner who, it turned out, just bought and moved into a place just a short distance up the road from us and didn't realize his dog had gone off wandering through the countryside. Still, if this dog traveled through the woods to reach us, he had to come across several acres of woodland and creeks to get here, including making his way through two or three 5-strand barbed wire fences. I'm thinking, based on how clean he was, that he likely traveled via the road or maybe the bar ditch. Anyhow, he's back home with his person now. That might have been the highlight of our day--making a new dog friend. He was so good. He didn't chase the chickens or the cats or anything, so I think as dogs go, he will be a great neighbor and so will his human. The dog clearly was lost and didn't seem to know how he got here or where he came from---sometimes a wandering dog will run back home when you see him, but this one came to Tim as if to say "help me". I'm sure it is because this neighborhood is new to him.

I'll be out working in the garden early tomorrow as soon as I refill the hummingbird feeders. We do still have hummingbirds here, both in the garden and up around the house, but just not as many as we had last week. There's so many salvias and other flowers they like in bloom in the garden that I'm surprised they visit the feeders as much as they do, but then I know they are fueling up for their journey south. I only work outside for a few hours each morning because it still gets pretty warm by noon. One of these days we'll have a cool enough day that I can stay out there all day. I can't wait for that day to arrive. I've been hiding out from the heat for so long that I feel like I've gotten really lazy, but the garden still looks great regardless.

Dawn

Dawn your visitor story sounds familiar. I may have shared this one already, but we had a guest show up one day when we were still in Tulsa. Our roommate was outside & turned around to see this jack russel terrier in the yard. We brought him in, posted on all the lost dog sites, and finally someone replied back "That's my dog George." A few months later, George pops back up so I send the owner a text saying he came back to visit. A few months after that, we're loading the truck to move to OKC and here comes George! I called the owner, telling him he had 3 hours or George was moving to OKC (Cliff refused to leave him to fend for himself). I wonder if George is still visiting the old place.

We're back down to 3 dogs. A couple with 2 girls came to meet the puppy we were fostering, and we agreed to let them take her. Turns out they had adopted a boxer mix about the same age, so little bits will have a sister to grow up with. And most importantly, we won't have to keep 4 large dogs.

Rebecca, we dont have a garbage disposal either. You can get the parts to change everything out at any hardware store, I think Walmart even carries the kits. I doubt it would cost no more than $15.00 to change everything out, it you only needed one or two parts you might get by for around $5.00.

We had our septic tank pumped about 2 weeks ago. We were having no problems, but it being about 13 years since installing the system I thought it would be on the safe side to go ahead and have the tank pumped. The guy that pumped the tank said that it really did not need to be pumped, but there was signs of grease in the tank. I am thinking that me using Lava soap and Arrid extra dry deodorant may be causing a problem. We went to visit my brother in law Sat. and he told me that he had a lot of drain problems in auto repair shop where he uses Lava soap. My shower drain is the only drain we have problems with, I have used Lava soap for everything in my shower for years ( maybe I just get too nasty). I have switched to Naptha soap now to see if that helps my drain problem. I am allergic to so many types of soap.

Amy, I order a part for my tractor this morning. Madge wanted to go to town, so while she was gone I went up to my neighbors and remover the fuel shut-off solenoid from the tractor. The tractor dealer did not have the part in stock, so I ordered a part from Amazon for over a hundred dollars less, and it will be delivered to my door.

Dawn, I think Madge is doing better. I am staying in the house with her, trying to keep her lying down resting. She is going to have one of her daughters and a grand daughter to come up from Texas and stay a few days. She always wants to do, and make special things when we are having company. I can understand that, but I think that she also needs

plenty of rest, and the company will also understand that an 80 year old woman cant do what she could have 50 years ago.

Madge is in the bedroom watching T.V., I think I will sneak out and work in the garden, there is a 20 x 30 spot that needs amending.

Crazy hybrid tomato/morning glory plant.

Apparently the best way to get tomatoes to ripen is to go buy a few.

Rebecca, I had some pretty hybrid tomatoes like that last year, they came back this year and bloomed pretty, like yours, but not a single tomato.

Plumber has been here, fixed the leaky outdoor faucet and gave me a new garbage disposal. Let’s see if the water bill goes down.

Jen, I think that dogs have an innate sense of where to go when they are wandering---like they instinctively know where the dog-friendly people live, so I'm not surprised you've had wanderers show up at your house either. I'm glad y'all found a home for the sweet dog you've been caring for----and relieved for you that you do not have 4 big dogs instead of 3 big dogs. Three big dogs take up a lot of space, indoors and out.

This morning, when I stepped out the back door, I had two new dogs waiting for me--both girls (lovely jeweled collars, with no tags), both white labs, and both very, very sweet. One was clearly older, and I later learned she was the mother of the second full-grown dog. They were both tired and thirsty and just happy to find a human to serve them. After our dogs had been out into the dog yard to do their morning dog things I brought them back indoors in case the visitors were not dog-friendly, and then I put the two new wanderers into the dog yard, gave them food and water, and took photos of them to post on FB in an effort to find their family. They made themselves right at home and, upon finishing breakfast, they parked themselves on the little dog deck (it is an elevated sleeping deck with a corrugated roof over it for shade) and went to sleep, leading me to suspect that at the very least, they'd been running wild all night.

First thing after I got them settled, I sent Tim a photo to see if he recognized them as neighborhood dogs because I did not. He didn't either, but on a hunch he sent a photo to the guy who owns Max, who visited us Sunday night. Bingo! These are two of that guy's other 3 dogs, and when he left here with them, he was going to another neighbor's house to see if the other missing dog was there. So, mystery solved and it seems our new neighbor, who is a very nice young man, is meeting all his neighbors via the dogs. lol. Max didn't have so much as a grass burr or sticktight in him, so I think he traveled the road or bar ditch. These dogs had been wet and were half dry and had some scrape marks like they might have come through creeks and shimmied under barbed wire fences, or come through big tangles of greenbrier, so I think they came through the woods. So, now we've met three of the new neighbor's dogs, and while he was here, we chatted a while about native plants, particularly fruiting ones, and vines and such....I believe we have a future gardener next door. Well, pretty close to next door, he's probably 2/10ths of a mile up the road and is our nearest neighbor to the north. That all chewed up a lot of my morning, but I didn't mind it. I'm glad the dogs didn't get out in the road and get hit by a vehicle.

I walked through the garden this morning to water plants. It sure is dry in there even though I watered it deeply last week. Both the candletree plants and roselle plants are forming flower buds now, so we'll have blooms on both soon. Something is eating huge holes in the candletree leaves, and I suspect it is some kind of sulphur butterfly caterpillar, though I didn't find any on the plants when I looked at the plants that are being eaten.

Larry, That's how Tim orders parts now, whether vehicle parts, mower parts or fire truck parks. It is cheaper and easier to order them online and have them delivered to the door than to run all over hunting for the exact right part.

Good luck getting Madge to take it easy when company is coming. I hope they are coming with the intent to do the cooking and to take care of her, rather than expecting her to entertain them. My last living aunt on my dad's side, who we lost in Jan 2018, cooked well into at least her mid-80s, and possibly her late 80s, until she had a stroke. She wouldn't give it up until she had to---she loved preparing food for everyone, so even when her daughter and granddaughter took over the holiday cooking more than a decade ago, she'd still bake pies and stuff because she couldn't just sit still and do nothing. It simply drove her crazy. She made the best pies, and her crust always was from scratch. Really, everything she made was excellent and I think none of us are as good at making pie crust from scratch as she was, but we try.

Rebecca, My tomato plants in containers have been invaded by morning glories and bindweed, and they all are growing in soil-less mix that was new this year, so I suspect the birds planted the seeds. I have been yanking out those vines all summer and more just keep popping up. I'd rather those vines not strangle the tomato plants that do, miraculously, have fruit on them that I hope gets a chance to ripen this fall.

Hopefully the water bill does go down now. I had hoped for a significantly lower water bill in Sept after all that August rain, but the lack of rain here in Sept has killed that hope. I am not having to water as often as I did in mid-summer. I'm watering deeply once a week for the garden, as opposed to twice a week, and maybe every third day for the containers instead of daily so, while the water bill probably will be high, it won't be sky-high.

Tim had better brace himself for next summer's water bills now. He hates those high summer water bills, and I bet it hasn't occurred to him that with us redoing our entire landscape next year, the water bills will be much higher next year as all the new landscape plants will need more water than the old, well-established ones do. Even though the veggie garden will be a flower cutting garden next year, it still will need water as well, though the flowers never seem to need as much water as producing veggie plants do.

It is hot. I'm tired of it. I'm hiding from the heat indoors this afternoon, and beginning to count the days until October arrives because October almost always brings us the noticeably cooler weather if September doesn't. I spent a long time the other day looking at our Sept. weather statistics on the OK Mesonet past data section, going all the way back to our first Sept here, which began with a 111-degree day and ended with a freeze at the end of the month, and normally, no matter how hot September starts out, we usually have significantly cooler weather by the end of the month. That gives me hope---the end of September is getting closer every day and I am so, so ready for some of that cooler weather to get here. There's rain headed up from the Texas Gulf coast. It might stay further east of us (I haven't been paying close attention to that blob of moisture down there, but I know it is there) but I'm certainly hoping it comes far enough west to dump some rain on the garden later in the week.

Dawn

Oops, I was back on Week 2!

Me too....

I think my last post here disappeared. Oh well. It happens.

I had totally planned on catching up this morning before I really go into my work, but ended up talking about the enneagram with a couple of co-workers AND then gardening with another one. We're really getting the work done around here. Ha.

Quick question before I forget. What is everyone's favorite insect netting/cloth/fabric?

Hazel, after having a black snake terribly caught in netting, I stopped using it. I did cut the poor snake out and release him, but he did have wounds from fighting the netting before I found him.

That sounds horrible, dbarron.

My husband built a hinged hoop for my salad garden bed. I want to put something on it to keep the pests off--they eat my lettuce, kale, and other greens.

I wonder how much it would help unless it's birds? Insects tend to be be able to circumvent netting (either through it or from beneath).

Why do people use floating row covers and hoops? Maybe I've been mistaken all along, but I thought that's what some people use them for. I was only worried about insects sneaking during harvesting. Let me see if I can find a blog post and share it. I think she uses it for insects....

hoop cover

Above is the link and she links her updated version too (hers had some wind damage, etc.) Tom built mine a little differently....but same idea.

Oh, I was thinking a simple bird protector mesh..not something that goes all the way to the ground. This would save you from grasshoppers and most flying bugs.

Ok, H/J, inquiring minds want to know. Which enneagram are you?

Jen, everyone guesses a 6. I can relate to a 6 in a lot of ways, but all tests give me a 4 with a wing of 5. And after reflecting on this A LOT, pretty sure that I am a 4. The descriptions say 4's are dramatic and such and I don't appear to be that way--but there are reasons for that. It's the identity thing for 4's that I most relate to. The enneagram is helpful because it give stages and levels of health--stuff like that. I don't really like to admit that I'm a 4 because it feels vulnerable. Other people have said the same thing about the enneagram in general. This system is ancient, but it's become a favorite recently. Most people find it to be much more useful and easier to understand compared to Myers Briggs. Personally, I like Myers Briggs, but to fully understand it, you have to study the cognitive functions and most people are not willing to go that far with it. Because of this, many people are mistyped. I'm an INFJ btw.

How can I made this post garden related? Oooo...we should do a "what kind of gardener you are" using Myers Briggs or the enneagram. See...I just made it garden related.

I've had snakes caught in bird netting, but the row cover is basically solid fabric with a loose enough weave to allow water to get through. I have used tulle from the fabric store, but it isn't durable. It's cheap, though. It kept the squash bugs off the zucchini, but I kept accidentally poking the hose through it. Dawn has a brand she likes, but I don't remember the name.

Lol I'm 9w1 & INFJ. Our group at work seems to like doing these personality tests. We've done myers briggs, the 4 colors, and now this one. It's interesting to see how different we all are, but we can play on each others strengths to make a unified department.

I'm glad that those of you who were stuck on week 2 caught up with us here on week 3 because, you know, in a couple more days we'll we starting week 4. : )

There is no one single type of garden textile, whether it is a solid-woven fabric or a netted one, that is appropriate for every situation, so my favorites change depending on what I need to use them for. Jennifer, Is your hoop house intended to use for growing crops like kale, spinach and lettuce outdoors in winter? If so, you need a frost blanket type row cover that will give the greens some protection from very cold temperatures when they occur. You can leave your hoop cover open when it is warm enough and only close it when the weather could be cold enough to damage your crops. There are many weights of row covers and they give varying degrees of cold protection while also allowing varying amounts of sunlight through to the plants. There more cold protection they provide, the less sun they allow to penetrate the cover, so keep that in mind when choosing one.

I use the frost blankets rated to give 8 degrees and 10 degrees of cold protection when I am wanting to give tomato plants cold protection in spring on those occasional late freezing nights. I actually like the one I have that gives 8 degrees of protection better than the one that gives 10 degrees of protection because it breathes better and allows more sunlight through to the plants. The 10-degree one doesn't breathe as well, and on those occasional spring nights/days when we might drop well below freezing at night and yet can hit 60 or 70 degrees by 9 or 10 am as a rapid warm-up occurs, the plants can roast beneath the one that gives 10 degrees of protection. Thus, I must get out to the garden early, as soon as temperatures are definitely above freezing (this is why the garden has its own thermometer) and remove that 10-degree row cover pretty quickly. It is almost too good at holding in the heat. The 8-degree and 10-degree frost blanket type row covers I use are from DeWitt and their various products can be seen at many websites, including this one:

Agricultural Solutions

When you look at the photos side-by-side you can see how the fabrics differ in appearance based on their weight per ounce. The heavier the weight, the more winter protection and the less light that can penetrate the fabric.

If you are going to use your hoop-covered bed for brassicas, cold protection can matter a little, but what is more important is keeping all the brassica caterpillar pests like imported cabbage worms and cabbage loopers off the plants. This eliminates the need to us Bt 'kurstaki' for pest control, making the whole garden overall safer for desirable butterflies and moths. I usually only use a 4-degree or 6-degree row cover fabric over brassicas early in the season if they need it on a very cold night. Later in the season, I keep a lightweight Agribon, like Agribon-15, over them or I use MicroMesh, a netting type fabric, or Biothrips Proteknet netting. These allow great air flow and light to reach the plants but keeps out the pests. Both Micromesh and Biothrips Proteknet have very small openings in the nettings that exclude pretty much all pests. I don't think I've ever even had spider mites or thrips get through either one of them, though I thing the openings might be large enough to let either one through. I could be wrong about that. My main purpose is just to keep the caterpillars off the brassicas. I hate using Bt in the garden these days because I have so many butterflies of all types present, so these netting products are the solution for that.

In a perfect garden world if I had a dream garden, I'd build a big, long, hoophouse, cover it with Biothrips Proteknet netting and grow all kinds of winter squash and pumpkins inside of it. It would be perfect--cucurbits could grow without squash bugs or squash vine borers being a problem. Imagine that! However, this would be an impractical solution and not cost-effective at all, which is why I haven't done it. Still, can't we gardener's dream or maybe even splurge occasionally on something that is not cost-effective? Maybe. I don't know. First, the Biothrips netting is costly. The size roll a person would need to build a pumpkin hoophouse would cost much more than any dollar value of the pumpkins and squash raised within, so you'd have to find some other way to justify the huge expense. Personally, I think it might be worth it just to not have to deal with those pests ever. But, that's only part of it. The other part is that you'd have to hand-pollinate the blooms daily since the netting-covered hoophouse would exclude pollinators and other beneficial insects. Notice that when it comes to squash and pumpkins, I'm speaking in terms of a hoophouse and not low tunnels, and that's just because the vining forms are such space hogs that they outgrow low tunnels covered with Agribon summerweight row covers. One issue with Biothrips is that Johnny's only sells it on huge rows that cost hundreds of dollars (and even up into the thousands of dollars). It is hard for me to imagine that normal gardeners like us would find Biothrips practical and cost effective, but I can see where commercial growers who raise a high volume of crops could afford to use it because it would help them save money on pesticides, for example. And, if they are organic, it can make organic growing a lot easier because you aren't paying people to hand-pick and destroy squash bugs, for example. I found some Biothrips netting online that was maybe 20 or 30 something feet long, which is the only way I've been able to test it to see if I like it, which I did. I've only seen Micromesh sold in smaller sizes, so I have more of it.

Bird netting? I have used it over low tunnel hoops for a couple of things: to keep birds off plants (for example to protect corn seedlings from crows as they sprout and emerge as the crows pull them up and eat them) and to protect plantings from hail. The downside is that snakes, some lizards and some birds (which obviously think they are smaller than they are and try to squeeze through the netting) get stuck in the netting. I usually find the birds alive, snip the netting and set them free. Lizards and snakes generally are not so lucky and, honestly, the snake we almost always catch in the bird netting in spring is copperheads, and sorry, but I'm not sorry if I find a dead venomous snake trapped in the netting. I don't want venomous snakes in my garden. I think the only non-venomous snake I've ever found trapped in the netting was a Graham's Crayfish Snake that came into our garden and ate the crawdads in there in 2015 when it rained so much (80") that crawdads were living in the garden pathways.

As far as all row covers and netting go, they come in many weights and sizes. Before you order one, figure out how much fabric it takes to go all the way over the hoop from one side to another, because often people forget and order based on the width of their bed, forgetting to plan for the height of their hoops. There are many brands available, from Agribon to Reemay to DeWitt (and others I'm not listing). All the ones I've used have worked as expected as long as I used them properly,

When agricultural fabrics first were introduced to the market in, I believe, the 1980s, I laughed at the though of people buying and using stuff like that. It took a couple of decades of fighting bugs by hand and covering up plants with any available extra sheet or blanket to change my mind about row covers. I love them and find them enormously helpful, but using them takes time and money too, so one has to weigh those factors as well.

Is anyone gardening this week? I haven't been. Our heat index still has been topping out around 100 degrees, and I'm surprised how early in the day we get hot after a relatively pleasant evening. I have been enjoying the flowers though. The cosmos and zinnias I planted in June and July to succeed veggies really are the stars of the garden right now, although there's still tons of summer flowers blooming as well. Some of the zinnias are looking tired, but I've slowed down on deadheading them so they can go to seed and reseed for next year.

Out in the fields, the late summer/early autumn wildflowers are making a nice recovery after nearly disappearing in July's heat and lack of rainfall. I finally saw one lonely liatris blooming yesterday in a spot where there's usually dozens. I think most of them went completely dormant in July and may not rebound this year. Goldenrod has begun blooming here now, though, and some kind of pink penstemon---maybe Pink Plains Penstemon---is in bloom. The penstemon flowers on this pink one are tiny compared to the much larger flowers of our spring and early summer blooming penstemon variety here, which is called Wild Foxglove. It is Penstemon cobaea. Helenium and Mexican Hat also are blooming. We have plenty of wildflowers so the butterflies should be having a really good season here in southern OK.

Dawn

Amy! I got this plant from you at SF and lost the tag. Look what happened today! It’s a hibiscus, right?

I’m on my phone and am

going to switch to the laptop to catch up with everyone’s posts.

Haha, Dawn. Yep, a little late to the party.

Thanks for the discussion on netting.

Meyers Briggs seems like 100 years ago, Jen and HJ! In fact, office work seems like 100 years ago! Was only 4.5 yrs ago. I loved my job at that time, and to think now I can hardly remember it!

I am so excited about the seeds I've ordered for this fall! Tried to get more native plants this year, not just for my yard, but for the school--I'll be sharing with them. That way, you see, I can "justify" buying more. Also--I went to Wildseed Farms site to order natives, and they are sold OUT! AGHH. But I mentioned it to my SIL in Wyoming and she mentioned an outfit in CO who sold for all regions but she couldn't remember the name. So I googled and found them! BBB Seeds! They DID have TX/OK natives. I compared their list with Wildseed Farms, and there were many of the same ones. And they are NOT sold out, if any of you are interested. The prices were about like Wildseeds'. I'm done. Only thing I have left to order for now is garlic. I'll wait 2-3 months for other stuff.

I actually HAVE been gardening, Dawn. Have to have the yard clean for big meeting next week. I don't care about the house, but gotta have the yard clean. Right? I only have two beds right now that are really bad. The Bermuda bed in back, and the shop bed in front. Well, and the very front bed, come to think of it. But the enormous center bed, the two below the deck, the long one next to the center one and the long raided bed--all good. Not really good, the raised one. The tithonia are a wreck, between getting knocked over and fungus. But two of them are still blooming well, and a third is blooming some. I'll tear them out probably in October, get a bunch more raised bed soil mix in there, and plant the milkweed, rudbecka and salvia.

To my delight, I've seen 8 gulf frits today. Thank you passiflora, for choosing to grow at our place! Not many other butterflies right now. And the milkweed are being decimated by oleander aphids. Now that the Monarch cats are gone, I have been attacking with your alcohol trick, Dawn AND spraying the heck out of the aphids, too, with water. I did check for Monarch eggs, but I think that wave of cats was the only wave this year.

And I had to give one of the cukes an extreme haircut today, as it was threatening to overtake a tomato. Bad cucumber, bad.

That's about it from here. Cheers to you all!

Jen! How cool that you're an INFJ too! INFJs aren't super common. You're a different "flavor" of INFJ being a 9w1, though. I love how, even though people can be the same "type", we're all unique because of many things. I think INFJs are mostly 9's, 1's, and 4's. I know of a male 6 INFJ.

Dawn, thanks so much for your detailed explanation of insect netting/frost covers/etc.

My hoop: I want to put insect netting on it permanently. It will be attached tightly to the frame of the hoop. However, in the winter months, I would like to put plastic over the hoop (and insect netting) to try to keep salad greens alive during the winter.

I know that during a couple months of the year (when the goddess, Persephone is in the underworld), greens will not grow because of lack of enough daylight hours, but if I grow enough (and can keep them alive), I can harvest them during those months.

There's a man in Chicago that has an AMAZING urban garden (One Yard Revolution), who harvests greens during the winter. He, of course, gets much colder than we do...and for longer. He also double layers his beds with plastic. I think one layer should do for Oklahoma.

I recommend his YouTube channel. I think Jacob watches it...and Dale. It's a good one. He is inspiring.

Thanks again, Dawn. We measured tonight, so I just need to choose the fabric/netting now.

Only gardening I’ve done, besides deadheading, is bringing in a few tomatoes each day, and a couple basil plants each day and processing them into pesto. Pesto out of the freezer is wonderful during the winter.

I can never remember my MB type. I’ve taken the test several times and I know I get different results each time. Most of the time that’s because I either can’t choose an answer, or none of them are right. Never done an enneagram test. I suspect I’d test differently at different times too.

I’m looking forward to maybe getting some rain.

Nancy and Rebecca, that is why the "tests" are so flawed and people are often mistyped. To really understand your type takes a lot of work and study. You must study the cognitive functions, which I find fascinating. The "type descriptions" are too vague and the questions on the tests are too difficult to answer. The tests can get you pointed in the right direction...maybe. But, more often than not, I can choose both answers to most questions. LOL.

I would guess Nancy to be an ISFP. I'm not sure about Rebecca.

Most people just simply are not that interested to do all the study it takes. There are better and more useful testing for the masses. The Gallup Strength Finder is one. Even the people around here who HATE "personality type" stuff, enjoyed it. And for someone like me, it adds more pieces to the human puzzle. I can see how each strength lines up with a cognitive function. Fascinating. Humans are fascinating.

My "strengths" are in this order: Empathy, Connectedness, Input, Intellection, Restorative.

(I listed those in case anyone else has done StrengthFinders.)

So...back to gardening. This is one reason I need to garden. It is a tangible thing that gets me down to earth...but at the same time there are always mysteries to solve as well.

H/J, you didn't get that flower from me, but it does look like a hibiscus. I have nothing like that! It's pretty though.

All I've managed is to water. I was thinking today, I will just go broadcast turnip seeds and hope for the best. It is cool and misty out there today. Haven't seen a decent tomato in awhile, but I have a lot of pimento peppers. Not much okra. A few cucumbers.

Going to Bartlesville today.

I brought a couple hibiscus, plus a couple unnamed that turned out to be hibiscus. Could be one of them. The ones I kept haven't bloomed yet.

Might try to get some garden work this weekend. ZeroLandfill has their pickup day tomorrow morning I'm going to. Basically all these interior decoratirs and architects keep their retired samples and leftovers, then once a year the public can come in and take whatever they have. Last year they had countertop samples, tile, fabric, bricks, carpet squares, even light fixtures and electrical outlets. Great way to restock my craft supplies (and the price is right lol). Then Sun I have a camp planning meeting, so Cliff closed us down for the weekend. I may make him get cleaned up and take me out, we haven't had date night in forever.

Off to look up StrengthFinders... (I'm a nerd, I enjoy taking these kinds of tests)

I hope you have a rewarding time in Bartlesville today, Amy. The most work in the yard I'll do today is to move the hoses. It has been drizzling since 6 am, so no yard work. I'm so glad I mowed yesterday. But I don't feel like doing anything inside, either.

HJ, I really think it is worthwhile to take one of these tests every few-several years. Anything that helps us know ourselves better or highlights areas we might want to change is a valuable tool. We had a supervisor at work that LOVED these tests and during her tenure I think most of us felt "tested out." Her favorite was DISC. I always preferred Myers Briggs throughout my life. Interesting you saw me as ISFP. As I recall, I always tested as INFP or INTP. However, I will also say that I bet I am a lot more S now than I used to be. Maybe I'll look at these today since it's rainy out there. And nice and cool!

Speaking of personality tests, what do you know about learning styles, Jennifer? I find that intriguing. And I can tell you that watching "how-to" videos on you tube are not my bag. Not even a little bit. Mine is reading. I'm not judging, not at all. I just think it's interesting. I can't remember stuff on videos, which is why I love the books. It's as though my mind takes a picture of the words, and they're there for me to retrieve; and also, of course, one can underline text, and take notes either by hand or by copying and pasting.

I made blue cheese bacon potato salad yesterday for me, and traditional for Garry. The blue cheese version was fun for me, but I got a little heavy-handed with the blue cheese. Less would have been better. I know there as many different ways to fix potato salad as there are people, almost! LOL Same with chili, or other common foods. I have two chili cook-off contests coming up. One's toward the end of October and one will be in December. I'm going to skip the October one, as they invite competitors to decorate a table to draw "customers." I'll go and check it out, though, definitely. The December one, I'm excited about.

Let's see, how can I turn THIS all into a garden-related subject. Well, sort of along with the learning styles--I was thinking of gardening, religion, art, and quilting--not to mention my love of books, themselves. There, see? So that's the garden link! LOL

My high school English instructor was a huge proponent of learning styles. The early 90s seems to be when everyone jumped on that bandwagon; she went to some trainings one summer and immediately implemented it. I remember some of the tricks she used and still do them to this day. We're all different and have different ways to learn. This world would be pretty boring if we all did things the exact same way.

I'm a visual learner, too. I have to see the words in order to remember something. And my old boss used to read something and ask my opinion... couldn't understand what I meant when I told him "I can't hear what you're saying when you read to me."

Ha, Jennifer, good one! Well my my my. I just took the Myers Briggs and it showed INFJ. I tried to alter some of the answers and it came up INFJ even more strongly. LOL I'm looking at Ennegram. And btw, Garry is in cleaning the cobwebs off the beams. He's a rock star! I told him so, too.

That's interesting, Nancy. I just see you as a dominant introverted feeler, which would be ISFP or INFP. Everything that I know about you makes me think that...your passions, political posts, everything. However, you know yourself better than I know you. haha Also, it's very common for especially INFPs to test as an INFJ. Very common. And vice versa, only not as often. They are so alike, but so different. INFJs use introverted intuition as their dominant function and INFPs use introverted feeling as their dominant function.

Okay. I won't say anymore on this thread about personality types after this post. We can talk by messenger. LOL. I'm sure people who are totally uninterested are rolling their eyes at us. (I used to belong to a "personality type" forum a few years ago and it became very unhealthy.)

I will link a pretty good article for you to read Here.

Jen, did you bring a yellow cosmos too? The tags were the same type, but the writing faded on them. I thought Amy brought the cosmos, but she couldn't remember bringing it. Maybe it was you all along!

Well, I'm going to need to find a much roomier place for your hibiscus! It's in a small pot right now. Another friend just gave me a hibiscus. It's a larger plant already.

Any opinions on planting hibiscus on the east side of the house? It will get a lot of shade in the afternoon. The tag on the one my friend gave me says they can get 5 ft tall and 4 ft wide!

The rain has rolled through here and is headed north. I hope y'all get as much as we got. It is too dark from the heavy, dark skies to see the rain gauge from indoors the house now, but we have received approximately 2" of rainfall in the last 75 minutes and have a Flood Advisory for the next couple of hours.

There isn't much going on here, but the monarch cats have stripped one of the yellow butterflyweed plants down to bare stems, and it was a very large plant. It is totally naked now. The second plant is half naked, and the third one is about one-quarter naked, and all the cats are gone. I hope they enjoyed devouring the plants we grew for them.

Jennifer, In the years I've had a big winter garden, the plants were so large and healthy by the time the Persephone days rolled around that I could harvest greens using the cut-and-come-again method and not have to worry that new regrowth was not immediately occurring. As soon as the daylength began to lengthen again, the plants made good regrowth. By the time everything was huge and gorgeous again in February, I had to start worrying about the increasing daylengths leading to bolting, so don't be afraid to harvest and use what you have, because eventually the plants will bolt in the Feb-Apr time frame.

I read everything that everyone posted but don't have time to respond to all of it as the grandkids will be arriving soon for their weekend here. Really, though, Lillie is so busy with other activities that I'm not sure how much we'll see of her, but she'll at least be here for dinner tonight, overnight, and for breakfast tomorrow before she heads off to a scouting activity.

Our neighbor's dogs keep returning to visit (he has 5, and I think we've met 3 of them so far) because even though they live on acreage, they want to roam far and wide and visit everyone, and just like our dogs, 5-strand barbed-wire fence does not contain them because they just slip between two strands. Yesterday they visited my chickens (hopefully this does not become a problem) and one chicken lost a lot of feathers but was otherwise unharmed. The neighbors' dogs feel at home here---if I open the door, they walk right into the house. Then they beg for a treat! lol. He's going to be a terrific neighbor, but I think he really doesn't understand just yet how much trouble roaming dogs can get into because he hasn't lived here long enough to understand how much wildlife we have here, nor has he seen (yet) how some redneck hunters throw caution to the wind and shoot at everything that moves, even if that moving animal is on property where they do not have hunting rights....and even when it is not yet hunting season. That sort of poaching, spotlighting, etc. are huge issues here and there's just not enough wildlife mangement officers or county deputies to be everywhere in the county at once. I tried to tell him about the risks to dogs (especially large, brown ones) during hunting season, but he'll probably have to see it for himself to understand it. On the other hand, he is getting to know all his new neighbors pretty quickly as he stops by their homes to pick up his roaming dogs.

We needed this rain in the worst possible rain, even though we really didn't need for all of it to fall at once so quickly. There's now flash flooding in the NE quadrant of our county while all we have down here is regular flooding. Flooding is flooding though, no matter its name.

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm excited about the cooler temperatures. We have waited so long for a day that is not roasting hot!

Dawn

It's raining here now.

I wonder if the football game will be cancelled...

Ethan's gf is in band (and I'm still on the band fb groups, so see that they are still on the busses).

Happy the garden is getting a drink. It really needs it. Some of the plants look really tired right now...even more so than they did in the video I posted on fb just a few days ago.

Dawn, our neighbors' dog likes to visit too. I feel bad because they're leaving her on a cord in the backyard now when they aren't home. She does cause some issues. She tramples plants in my garden and upsets my dogs sometimes. And she doesn't have good manners when it comes to my chickens, although she does fine with her family's chickens. She is super sweet, though.

Have fun with your girls.

Most everything I brought had little 1" x 2" pieces of countertop laminate for tags, so chances are I did. I grew one cosmos 2 years ago & let it go to seed. Collected seeds last year but missed a bunch, and have had probably 100 pop up this year. And 3 big solo cups full of seeds. Those suckers are prolific!

My hibiscus are still pretty puny looking. I'm going to have to repot them and bring inside for the winter. I might take one to work, let it grow there for a bit. I'm about out of room in the house, at least until we turn the guest room into the cat room and the cat room into a plant room. That's the only option for keeping them out of puppies' and kitties' way.

Need to ask y’all from the OKC/Norman area about Sunday’s weather forecast. A friend and I were planning to go to the Bernie rally in Norman, but there’s now a flash flood watch in effect. What are your stations saying about rainfall Sunday afternoon?

Rain? What rain? We MAY get some tomorrow evening. But we did have a nice cooler day here, too, Dawn. I was able to get the entire back Bermuda bed done in one longish session.

I got two more galia melons and think that's it for them. I may pull the Maet Korean squash out, too, along with all but one cucumber plant. I should have enough long beans by tomorrow for a nice batch. Nice steady output of cucumbers.

The Monarch cats are done here, I think. . . and that's good, as the oleander aphids are back with force. Cussed milkweed pests.

Not much else going on. . .

Rebecca, I haven't watched the news. My phone is showing a good chance of rain tomorrow. I'm super tired, but will try to stay up and watch the news and let you know in about an hour.

Rebecca, they are saying an inch or two. Rain chances most of the day.

Jennifer, I am glad the rain reached you. I hope y'all got a significant and useful amount. We look so much greener already, although some of the tired, hot, worn-out zinnias that have been blooming since late May or early June just didn't perk up enough. I think they are really worn out. Luckily, the zinnias I planted as succession crops later are making up for the tired ones and the rain did perk the younger plants up like crazy. With cooler weather in the forecast all week, I hope to really get out into the garden next week and do a lot of cleanup as long as I'm able to avoid the venomous snakes, and they haven't seemed too bad lately. Or, if they are there, I'm not seeing them, so I just hope they aren't out there.

I kept the chickens in their coop yesterday because they were so stressed from the dog incident the day before, but they free-ranged as normal today and no dogs visited. I do think the chickens spent more time sort of hiding underneath the chaste tree near the back of the house today than they normally do---it is one of the places they go to when they feel threatened by something. We were out at the pool a lot so we were right there anyway, and that may be one reason they stuck around so close. I do not mind the neighbors' dogs visiting at all as long as they don't bother the chickens. If they bother the chickens, then that's going to be a problem. I know one of these dogs killed their owner's chickens when he lived somewhere else before he moved here, and I appreciate him telling me that because at least I know which dog to keep a close eye on. Even a dog that has killed chickens in the past can be reformed with some training, so I certainly don't think this dog necessarily will be a problem---she's sweet and she's smart and I think she now knows (because I yelled at her and locked her in my mudroom) she isn't supposed to chase the chickens here. She did look longingly at the chicken coop as we were leading her to her owner's vehicle, but she didn't break away and try to go to the coop either, so she gets points for that.

Jen, It is hard to have pets and plants co-exist inside the house, so I understand your need to create a cat room and a plant room. Our dogs and cats are the reason I don't have plants indoors, except for seedlings on the light shelf in late winter/spring, and I keep the pets out of the room with light shelf. Oh, and in winter I usually have the Christmas cactus and a few potted amaryllis and paperwhites indoors, but for whatever reason the cats don't bother those, and I have the plants high enough out of reach that the dogs can't reach them.

Nancy, I feel the same way about the oleander aphids, but what I noticed this year is that all I needed to do was basically ignore them. They never seemed to hurt the plants, so I'm not going to worry about them in the future. With hundreds and, dare I say it, even thousands of native milkweed plants in the pastures all around us (a few pastures whose owners don't maintain them well have more milkweeds most years than grass) for miles around us, it is a pipe dream to think our garden milkweed won't have the oleander aphids on them, so I am just going to pretend I don't see them. Even if I hose them off the plants twice a day every day, they come right back, so what's the point? Really, with all the native milkweed around, I could skip growing it in the garden except that I worry about those really awful drought years when the milkweed plants in the pastures all wither and dry up and go dormant months early, so that's why I try to keep a few milkweed plants going in the garden. All the fields here are full of everything possible in bloom thanks to the August rain and now the more recent late September rain will keep those plants looking lovely, so at least the migrating monarchs will have plenty of flowers in bloom in our county for nectaring as they journey southward.

We had lovely weather today although it was a bit humid, and we just watched lower-level moisture-laden clouds fly over us headed north all day long. Wherever that moisture ends up, I think someone will get some great rainfall out of it. There's still big standing puddles in our yard today, though some of them are not as deep as they were yesterday, so you can tell the rain is soaking into the ground. The newish cracks in the yard that had appeared recently are all closed up and I'm grateful for that.

A great side effect of the rain is that the feral mama cat moved her three kittens into our garage to escape the deluge and they are so happy in there that they've even let me see them a few times, though they still are inclined to hide when a human appears. I'm happy that they are in a dry location, and one that keeps them safe from the wild varmints at night. I hope to tame them and save them from living the feral life. It is especially hard to tame feral kittens who do not grow up around humans, but we tamed Yellow Cat after he had roamed our neighborhood for at least a decade, so you never know---sometimes kindness, love and food win over even the wildest little feline.

I almost bought a pot or two of mums today. I really wanted to do it, but I still am inclined to not quite trust the cooler weather to stick around just yet. Maybe in another week or two. We'll see. If we heat right back up into the 90s, I'll know it was smart to wait. I'm already seeing mums in the garden centers that bloomed too early and are browning out even before someone has bought them and taken them home. You can't really blame the wholesale growers for that---they grow on the same time schedule each year so they can deliver the plants to the stores when the stores want them, and it is beyond their control if the heat sticks around for longer than usual. Ugh. Today we noticed that Wal-Mart is pushing the indoor garden center merchandise into a smaller and smaller area and replacing it with Christmas trees and such. I am SO not ready to see Christmas stuff in the stores, though it has been in Hobby Lobby for months and in HD and Lowe's for a few weeks already. I hate the way they rush the seasons. I'm not ready for all the gardening merchandise to disappear from the stores already when we still have another 2 months, more or less, of warm growing season left.

Dawn