Jacob, alyssum is a cool season annual. Not likely to do much before succumbing now.
We got rain (and it was probably due and appreciated), just as long as it comes about once a week, not a week long deluge.

Jennifer, That's great about the beans. I'm sorry about the stress. I hope you're able to get in some good garden therapy time soon.

I don't know about Atwood's but TSC had a lot of chicks when Tim and Aurora went in there over the weekend. I think that was on Sunday afternoon. The last time we were in Atwood's, but that has been quite a while back, they were completely sold out of chicks here.

Kim, I'm glad it let you back in. I agree the mosquitoes are horrible. I am slapping and killing all I can and they still outnumber me in huge amounts.

HU, Western and NW OK have horrible heat here lately and much of the area is in drought on top of that, so improvement in the heating is unlikely.

I just looked at today's drought map a few minutes ago and was shocked at how bad it is in some areas. The panhandle counties have slipped into a more prolonged drought and that has been going on for quite a while now, but the rest of the state that is lit up in colors on the drought monitor map is having a flash drought. I hate flash droughts because of the way they come on so suddenly. Here is this week's map, just released this morning:

Oklahoma Drought Monitor Map

It already feels too hot today at our house, though our temperature is only in the low 90s. The issue is the danged old heat index, which currently is 100. That's too hot for me so I am inside chilling out with the dogs and cats. Hopefully the heat index won't go too much higher because it already feels so awful out there.

So true about it now being southern pea and okra season. Oh, and roselle, so I need to dig up my roselle leaves. The roselle jam is better to our taste buds than blueberry or blackberry jam. Summer could be pretty bleak some years without all the various kinds of southern peas to keep us happily growing, though, because we are some pea-loving people here at our house.

Rebecca, Onions bulb up based on daylength and we have no control over that. No matter what you do, in the end it is the number of hours of sunlight per day that influences bulbing. They'll let you know when they are done by having their foliage turn a yellowish-tannish color and begin falling over. The way it works is that all the energy is stored in the green leaves, and when bulbing initiates, the energy flows from the leaves into the bulbs and, as the bulb takes in all that energy over a period of weeks, the leaves begin to wither and die because they literally have given everything they have to give to make the bulbs. The leaves soften and thin at the necks as the leaves slowly die back. I've noticed that about 95% of the gardeners who post photos of their onions are harvesting them far too early, while the necks still are solid or just slightly soft, and the leaves are green. Jim Shreftler, back when he was working in Lane for OSU, used to come here to this group and make that comment all the time that people were harvesting onions too early and people just ignored his expert advice and did it anyway. Gardeners are like that, you know. lol. Now, those are each gardener's onions and they (and you) can harvest at any time, but harvesting before the leaves turn brown and wither means a gardener is sacrificing size and storage ability for an earlier harvest. There have been times I've harvested my own onions earlier than I should just because I was eager to get the succession crop planted. I've tried to rein myself in and not do that in recent years because I really do prefer the longest fresh storage time possible. It is especially difficult to be patient with the long day varieties like Copra, Highlander and Red River because they don't mature for me until July, and often not until the end of July, which pretty much ruins my plan for a quick succession crop of southern peas in between the spring onions and whatever is planned for the space for the fall. This year it is easy---the garden was heavily waterlogged and I could not and did not plant onions. I miss having them. Had I planted them, every one of them likely would have rotted because the heavy rain went on forever, so it was technically the right decision to forego planting them this year, but that doesn't mean I was happy about making that decision.

I totally agree, too much heat too soon. The switch from cool and rainy to hot and toasty was so fast this year. I hate it. When I walk outdoors first thing in the morning, I'm always conscious of how quickly the heat index is going to drive me back indoors.

Larry, Everything you say is important to us! Sometimes none of us have great gardening info to impart, but we love staying in touch with all our fellow gardeners.

I'm glad you're drying out more. I keep hoping Tropical Storm Cristobal will veer east and not hit Arkansas and dump a lot of rain there, but the models persist in aiming it towards your state after it eventually makes its US landfall.

Jacob, I hope the arrival of the rain cooled y'all off some. Does sweet alyssum survive the whole summer for you there? Here, it burns up in the heat by July and sometimes fairly early in June. I love it, but it is strictly a cool season plant for me and I generally have a really short cool season.

dbarron, How delightful that you got some needed rain. It seems like we never get it when we need it, only when we don't....like someone flips a switch and we go from too wet for months to too dry overnight and then stay too dry for months. I've love to have rainfall that was spread out better instead of it being an all or none type of thing so much of the time.

The heat feels brutal today down here along the river. I imagine it is pretty much the same where all of you are, unless you're under a benevolent rain shower that cools down your area. So, let's look at the heat index map. I think I'll link today's Maximum Heat Index map so we can look at it at the end of the day and see who 'won' the award for highest heat index, although that is one award most of us would be happy to lose. It looks like the heat indices are really cranking up now.

Maximum Heat Index Value Today

Seems like a good afternoon to stay inside the air conditioning with a nice glass of iced tea. That's exactly what I'm doing. I already cooked dinner and will just reheat it quickly in the microwave at dinner time. I wanted to heat up the kitchen early in the day before it got too hot outdoors, so I cooked dinner at lunch time. Now, I'm headed into the kitchen to make an icebox pie because it is too hot to bake a regular pie.

Dawn

Peas are popiping already from Monday planting.

some of the melons are already up as well.

looks like a good stand of peas.

I had a icebox strawberry pie this past week. It fit the heatup we had. Isn't it cheery to see things germinating? :)
I got off my easy chair and planted remaining perennial seeds that I hadn't gotten in any hurry on today. Then I checked my research to find that 3 of them had complex dormancies, hot->cold->warm before germination, so I guess I'll be waiting a while. I thought I did that in January, but apparently I kinda skimmed (darn it). So now I gotta keep them moist but not wet, all summer and winter.

I did not get my peas, or anything else planted yesterday, and the storm did not get here till today. We only had wind and rain, but if was not bad, some of the plants were roughed up a bit, but will be okay. I need to come up with a good way to stake the container plants.

I had my first roselle bloom today, it was small but pretty. I think the crazy weather may be telling the plant that it is later in the year. Many of the plants have buds on them, so I don't know if they will just bloom and die, or just keep growing and blooming. I have more young plants to put in the ground just in case these dont make it.

My okra is just now starting to grow. I planted Heavy Hitter okra. It is so hard for me to leave the very large gapes between the okra plants. I want to plant something in between them. I planted collards in between the roselle, I just hate to see the empty space, but I am trying new things. My old gardens looked like a jungle, and I was happy with that.

I have brush hogged most of the wildlife garden. I left about an acre of uncut clover and weeds. I also left most of the area where I planted the wild flower seeds. I dont know what is growing there. There is one type of flower that I have not seen over there before, it is a very pretty blue, I did not cut many of those down. I am hoping to cut the fescue, in hope that the Ladino clover will grow up over the straw and stubble and start blooming again. I really like the Ladino clover, so does the bees. The clover blooms for such a long time.

The Old timey cornfield pumpkins are looking good in the wildlife garden, but I only have 7 Seminole plants left, and only 3 Moon and Stars watermelon plants left. The forage collards that I planted over there are looking good, but too thick. The sweet potatoes dont seem to be growing very well. I need to do some work and reduce the weeds in that area. Most of the wildlife garden is hard to work with, most of it was heavly wooded till about 3 years ago, and still needs a lot of work. But I can look at it and see what a difference in the past few years. If I live long enough it will be a beautiful building spot.

I still have roseele, straight neck squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, butternut, Seminole pumpkins and cow peas to plant. All but the peas are in little 4 or 6 packs and need to go in the ground

This made me think of Larry. https://www.teeallseason.com/lhce-om-tractor?checkout=cart

Hi all. . . Today is already Thursday??? Trying to get the new cell phone up and running and everything transferred, then all the machines synched up. . .took me most of yesterday afternoon and this morning. And then decided maybe I should read up on what these devices actually do or are capable of doing. LOL I've only had the Macbook for what, 3 months. . . about time. Monday I mowed here and cleaned house a little. Tuesday at the school in town. I'll share a couple photos. It's coming along so well--as is ours now. The tomatoes are all enormous and healthy (although just a few tomatoes so far).

Bet the okra and peppers will take off now, in this heat--and yep, it's HOT.

I'll be glad when the garlic and potatoes are done here, so I can get some fall planting in. Everything else is probably a week or two behind you, HJ and HU. Our onions are finally getting some size on them. I fertilized a couple times and I'm sure that helped.

dbarron, alyssum actually does pretty well here in morning sun, and then shade the rest of the day. Last year I managed to keep one large tub of it blooming all summer. (The rest fried, though.)

Haha, Amy! Good one, Larry.

Nothing to discuss re veggies. . . they're coming along. The new cellphone has a great camera! I'l excited to capture some butterflies with it. :) The bottom two are at Lincoln.

Pretty astilbe, is that the dwarf one (chinensis I think the species is?)

Yuck. It's hot. Not my favorite.

Looks like the rain is going to miss us, so I'll probably put the soaker hoses on the Survivalist garden tomorrow. I tried to pull a green onion tonight and the soil was so hard and dry. I'll wait for HU's input on that, though.

I will water part of the other gardens tonight even though I watered it all a couple of days ago.

I really want to take a nap, but there's no time for that.

We took our class to a splash pad today. Luckily they have a shaded area that I could see both the splash pad and playground. Just sitting in that heat was exhausting. The kids should sleep well for their parents tonight. They played hard.

I am surprised at the number of people who walk (as in exercise walk) in the heat of the day. Several pairs of people were out walking the track. Weird.

I got home around 4:30 and got right on dinner. I fried up the first yellow squash tonight. The boys gobbled it down. I might have gotten three pieces. I don't mind, though. I'm just happy they like it so much. The rest of the dinner was easy. Baked Salmon and rice. I like to saute onion and kale/spinach/etc in a bit of olive oil and mix it in with the rice.

Don't worry, HU, I left a lot of squash for you. I know you like the bigger ones, so I fried up the smaller ones and left the larger ones for you. You should have a great dinner in Okmulgee on Saturday.

Dawn, I sure hope someplace has a good selection of chicks. Atwoods usually have more varieties. TSC has a minimum chick purchase of 4, which is better than their old minimum of 6. I could buy 4 and give 2 chicks to Stormy. I only need 3 chicks.

Jacob, glad your hen survived the attack. I'm sorry for those dogs, though. The number of unwanted/uncared for dogs make my stomach sick. But, you have to shoo them off. They can't eat your chickens!

Okay...I should prepare to go out now. I need to do a quick clean up on the old coop/chicken nursery #1, put down fresh bedding in both chicken nurseries. At dark we'll move over the 3 broody hens. I sure wish I had not lost the notes on my old phone. I can't remember exactly how I did this last year. I do remember that after I found the first hatched chick dead in the pen, I moved the broody hens. I think that's what I remember anyways. I do remember them hatching in the broody coops.

Every time I try something new/different, I know there will be a lesson to learn. I hope this lesson doesn't involve chick deaths.

If I sit here for much longer, I might not get back up.

I'll sleep good tonight too! Once I wash off the sweat and fried food smell. That bath is going to feel so nice.

Yep , it's sure enough hot , I think over east the heat index was horrible, what 104 or so? Gaaaa...

Glad I wasn't over there then. It's bad enough here in central ok.

I'm looking forward to a squash dinner , probably put some onions in with it and...yum , It's been a while.

By the way , squash can keep a while just out on the counter top., just like ripening tomatoes do.

Don't be compelled to do something with it right away. If it piles up and you can't give it away , then can freeze or can it. I put it in a soup mix to can later on in the summer when the gardens about peaked out. (Waste not , want not )

Canning vegetable soup:

https://www.google.com/search?q=canning+vegetable+soup&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS689US690&oq=canning+vegatable+soup&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l7.20574j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I can soup out of leftovers from the summer season garden. ( end of the garden thing)

I don't put in corn in the soup mix because corn takes longer to process than most other vegetables.

I usually can corn by itself and then can eat it separately or pour it in a soup mix later.

https://www.google.com/search?q=canning+corn&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS689US690&oq=canning+corn&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l7.7174j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

About freezing corn:

https://anoregoncottage.com/freeze-corn-three-ways-blanched-unblanched-whole/

A quick and dirty way of freezing roasting ears is to just put the corn ears , unshucked still in the husks, right in the freezer,

Maybe just pull the silk off.

Hu

I don’t have a lot to say right now. I haven’t been sleeping well this week, and am absorbing too much outside energy. I’ve had to spend time re-grounding myself. Repeatedly.

My onions on s are still standing, but some are growing on their sides. Still rooted, still with strong necks, just on their sides.

I went out to water this evening, and yeah, it’s too hot for this early.

dbarron, yes, it is chinensis, but not a dwarf. I think goatsbeard (aruncus dioicus) would do great in my yard. I have to chase some down this year.

I am getting so hungry for summer squash now, HJ, HU. By the way. . . no sign of squash vine borers there?

Jacob--you have about the same kind of yard I have, just 2-3 weeks slower than here in terms of planting--as I remember it. A lot of shade and very rocky, right? What do you think of the astilbes? They love part sun to shade. So does goatsbeard. So do hophead hydrangeas. THEN, I got a whole bunch of woodland (part shade/shade) native plants this year. I can't really remember all of their names at the moment. One was tall bellflowers, another, frost weed.

How hot is it there, Dawn? VERY hot here. We had a heat index of 104, I guess. I didn't care because I was stuck at the desk all day with #$%^&*( figuring out how to make everything nice and neat for all these computer "devices" and getting the data transferred to the new cell.

I was out early today, (well and a few quick trips out to the deck all day) and then finally got back out at 7. . . and it was still very hot and muggy. Like I told dbarron, I can grow alyssum here all summer, if I keep it in most shade. It probably doesn't flower as profusely as it does in cool weather sun, but SEEMED pretty profusely to me the past couple years.

Did ya get back up, HJ, to get the chicken stuff done? So hot anyway, and then you worked so hard.

I cannot begin to say how delighted I am to have the iPad, MacBook, iPhone and Dell all pretty much in sync now! YAY. Obviously the Dell is the odd man out with Microsoft. But I love it. NOT Microsoft but the Dell. Sigh. I feel like such a lazy slug when I have these kinds of days--and yet, they are frustrating and awful for me. I HATE trying to straighten out computer junk. I just got the iPhone and had to find a way to download data. I chose (stupidly) from old phone (Android) to new phone (iPad). THAT wasn't the problem. The problem was that cell phones don't work in the house. It went so long trying to connect that I finally shut it down. Well, let's just say, it was not a smooth operation. LOL. To my credit, I did not swear, not once. I did not throw anything. Good job, right?

If any of you have any inkling about wanting an iPhone, I'd say now is the time. Price is better than it has been for quite a while. I was without one for four years after having had one for 7 years. It was a tough transition and I got a cheap Samsung--hated the camera. I know the more expensive Samsungs have good cameras. But the more expensive Samsungs have the same price tags on them that the iPhones do. Roughly $1000. The iPhone 11 (great reviews) is $650-$700. This has nothing at all to do with gardening, I know, but I know some of my gardening friends have computers and cell phones, and. . . .

High fives to you all.

Nancy, I'm so used to iPhone that I don't want to change. I've thought about it, but now I have the 11 and hopefully will have it for at least 4 years.

Nancy, I did get up and get the chicken stuff done. Luckily the sky was cloudy and although it was hot at least the sun was not bearing down on us.

Bless his heart.. Tom mowed the backyard. Normally that is my job because I use a push mower and bag the grass to put in the chicken pen. He did it all. I'm so happy about that.

I came in to do my workout and the 'weather' blew in while I was doing that. Blew over our trash cans. So irritating though. Our trash pick up day is Tuesday. And they still haven't picked it up this week. We got some sprinkles, but that is about it.

Rebecca, my advice is to stop listening to current events. If you're sensitive, it will affect you. It affects everyone but especially people who are sensitive. You be the encouraging, loving person that you are to everyone who comes into your life and crosses your path. Put up walls to all other information...or at least some strong filters. And know that there are powers in play that are trying and succeeding in division. I don't pay much attention to the news, but occasionally I'll hear something and think..."wow, "they" are good". Good in deception and inconsistency.....,but making it all look real and legit. And I'm certain it goes deeper than most people realize....almost to a degree that would resemble a fictional work. 2 + 2 = 5

My onions are still standing except the Red Creole is beginning to fall over. They are also the smallest onions this year and the only ones who have had any bolt. Only 4, though. I've used all but one of the bolted ones in cooking.

HU, you can grab some more collards too. I haven't had time to check them for little worms in a couple of days, but some of them still looked pretty good as I was walking through. We probably won't eat the collards. I'll eat the kale and swiss chard.

The first Juliets are reddish now.

Our heat index was 104 too, I'm pretty sure. At least for an hour or two.

I accidentally left the hose that was attached to our rain barrel on and now the rain barrel is empty. However, the new Oakleaf Hydrangea got a good watering, because that is where I left it.

Oh, those couple of weeks of highs in the 70s were delightful. Let's all remember those days...

We haven't moved the hens over yet...will probably wait until this storm passes...

Amy, I just noticed the Tee shirt you posted. I like it. I was joking with Madge a couple of days ago, because of me having to use the tractor for everything. I told her that I could thread a needle with one of those tractors. I may have been stretching things a little, but I do have to do everything with a tractor. I can use my rear tine tiller some, but I cant walk very far.

I do think that some people could garden a lot longer it they had the proper equipment to fill in where their body may fall short. I told Madge that I had a lot of money tied up in all the junk that I have, she told me that if it made it possible for me to keep doing the things that I enjoyed doing, it was a bargain.

Talking about equipment, I stopped at the Poteau Ok. farmers co-op today, and we were talking about how many people were putting in gardens this year. The fellow I was talking to said that be had never seen so many people buying seeds, and it was even hard for him to find seeds to sell, he also said that you cant find a tiller in Arkansas or Oklahoma. I went from there out to the Kubota tractor dealership to buy some fuel filters. I was told a very similar story there. It looks like the home food growing business is looking good. I dont like the mess our country is in, but I do like the idea that more people are trying to be more self sufficient.

I just showed Madge the Tee shirt, she liked it also.

Collards and squash. Now that is a combination . I'll try it out.

High winds are slamming my back door now. Something is going on.

Now I hear thunder.

HU

Dawn, would you please take some photos of your crinums? My first bloom will open today, but would like to see what you have.

Nancy, my brain fubarred, I meant A. chinensis pumila (not just chinensis). I swear, I have mini-blackouts when I can't think of a latin name to save my life..usually it passes after 30 seconds to five minutes. Too much clutter up there.

Kim, Now you all you have to do is keep them happy in this awful heat. Our TV met said some of us here in the Texoma region were as high as 10-15 degrees above average yesterday, and I think that at our house we were only about 10 degrees above average for early June, but the heat index made it feel even worse. Our max high temp was 95 degrees and our max heat index was 106. It still was 86 degrees as 10 pm approached and I was worried we wouldn't cool down, but the gust front ahead of the storms headed our way from SW Oklahoma dropped us down to 82 degrees with wind gusts up to 51 mph and then, after the brief rain arrived, to 78. The brief strong wind didn't hurt anything but since we were so hot when it arrived, it was an oddly warm breeze. I was glad we cooled down a bit. I'm not ready for that part of the summer to arrive where the nights don't cool off.

I've been watching the western USA's drought creeping eastward for months and just really hoping and praying it wouldn't reach us here. For months there was a big gap of normal rainfall areas in white that covered several states between OK and the western drought, but now the drought has made it to OK, with a speed that surprised me, though there's still plenty of us in the state that aren't in drought yet. Honestly, with all the winter and spring rain many of us had, you'd think we might not 'go there' but flash drought can hit us shockingly quickly here, so we need to keep an eye on these drought conditions. Here's the overall USA drought monitor so y'all can see the western drought:

USA Drought Monitor Map

dbarron, I hate those seeds that have the complex dormancy. I have, at times, used the little dorm fridge that we have left over from Chris' college days to manipulate seeds that need such complicated hot-cold stratification but it drives me crazy to have to do so. It drives my husband nuts if I put my flats of stratifying seeds in the extra fridge in the garage where we keep bottled water and Gatorade for summer, but I've been known to do it.

Larry, Sometimes roselle will do that if you got it planted really early and it has to do with the various daylengths to which it is exposed. If you plant it early enough, you can get a few early blooms and I had that happen one year, but then I didn't get the big output of flowers until the fall.

I know that having all the rain has spoiled me. Now that we finally are dry, I was looking at the very dry garden a couple of days ago and stamping my foot in vexation, telling the plants "I am not going to spend the whole hot summer dumping tons of water on you, so just get used to being dry". lol Then I watered everything.

Amy, That is the perfect shirt for Larry!

Nancy, Well now your phone is about 100 years newer than mine. Tim and I try to get our maximum money's worth out of these expensive cell phones, so ours are, I believe, iPhone 8s...so they are antiques compared to the new ones Chris and Jana got for themselves and Lillie last year. They have some sort of Android and the cameras are amazing, and there's tons of features that Lillie uses all the time that I know nothing about and cannot help her with if something is acting up. I just keep reminding them that I use my phone as a phone so they cannot expect anything too fancy from me. Your garden photos look great.

Jennifer, When the girls were here for almost 5 days recently, I sat out there at the pool with them every single day for at least 4 hours and sometimes more. Even though I largely stayed in the shade, I'd come inside exhausted from the heat. Tim couldn't understand it, perhaps because he was in his air conditioned office all day long. Then, he was home for the weekend and out doing his share of swimming pool life guard duty, and he began to understand. The heat just drains you, whether you're in the sun or the shade.

We are rapidly becoming as dry as you seem to be. One thing I hate about clay is how it stays wet simply forever, but on the day it becomes dry, it becomes very, very dry and water beads up on it and rolls downhill and you pretty much instantly forget it ever was wet. So, we're at that point now. I expect the ground probably will start cracking down around the driveway gate and mailbox any down now after being muddy for months.

I do hate it when dogs get after chickens and I'm not shy about chasing off wandering dogs here. Right now I'm watching for a precious little puppy that wandered off from its people maybe a mile up the road from us earlier this week. I don't think it lives here but they were visiting and it was outdoors and it took off following some bigger dogs and never came back. I've been keeping my eyes open and hoping to have it show up here so I can call its owner and reunite them, but nothing has happened so far. Usually a stray dog eventually will find free-ranging chickens, so I'll keep watching.

Rebecca, It sounds like you need some good quality gardening time to get away from all the stress of the work world and the current events in our country. Maybe the wind blew over your onions? It is too hot too early. I hope the heat breaks and doesn't last nonstop for the next 3 or 4 months.

Nancy, I'm hoping today's heat index doesn't match yesterday's 106, but our high temperature is forecast to be exactly the same---95. Poor Tim. Every year cops have to 'qualify' to keep their weapons by shooting fairly high scores at the gun range, both the indoor range and the outdoor range. He has no probably hitting between 97-100% of the targets, but yesterday it was 99 degrees when he was out there at the outdoor range and he said the heat index was just brutal. The shooting was no problem. The heat was a huge problem. You know, it was one of those things where he comes home all exhausted and drained saying "I'm too old to be out in this heat all afternoon." I would say it isn't age that made him say that, just heat misery. He was starving hungry and even ate two big pieces of icebox pie after eating a big dinner. I hope the cold pie cooled him down internally. I know that he and I are not ready for this heat.

I'm trying to remember those days with the highs in the 70s, but on most of the ones we had, if it was that cool it was raining. It is in the 70s indoors, so guess where I am staying this morning?

HU, I think that parts of central OK and northwestern OK had heat bursts and strong winds last night as storms were collapsing. Some of the central OK meteorologists and storm chasers were posting warnings about the heat bursts and wind gusts in at least the 60s. In some areas that had cooled to the 70s with the rain, their heat burst temporarily and quickly pushed them back into the upper 90s. Heat bursts are so strange.

We didn't get a heat burst, but we had outflow boundaries ahead of our storms (I thought outflow boundaries usually flowed out behind the storms, so I was confused by this!) so first we got the wind gusting in the 50s, and then behind that by about 20 minutes we had the tiniest fastest-moving squall line that had tons of thunder and lightning but only dropping rain in the merest hundredths of inches. We got less than one tenth of an inch here, but had tons of wind. The wind, of course, ripped the pool cover off the above-ground pool, which is not a surprise. It happens every time we have wind gusts in the 50s or higher, but we had recently pruned the trees near the pool so this time we didn't end up with a lot of leaves and debris driven into the pool by the wind, so at least there's that.

It is hot. The one dog outdoors is protesting and wants to come indoors. Our dogs are so used to being in the air conditioned house that they absolutely hate summer weather, and I don't blame them. I guess I should go let him indoors.

Dbarron, The crinum flowers all are withered, dry and limp this morning, so a photo wouldn't show their color. I can watch for the next round of blooming, because they do bloom on and off for many weeks, and will try to catch a photo of them in bloom. They are the really old red and white striped variety that has very narrow petals. Let me do a quick Google search and see if I can find something like them. One of these days I am going to order more crinums so we can have a variety of colors, well, to the extent that they come in a variety of colors. You know, you can have your crinums any color you want, as long as you want red, white, pink or some combination thereof. I don't know if the rarer yellow crinum lily is available commercially. I didn't find a photo of one with petals as narrow as ours in my Google search. I'll try again later after I deal with the hot, tired and by now irritated dog who thinks he should be indoors sleeping on the sofa.

Dawn

After looking at a ton of photos online, I think the one that is the closest match for mine is 'Maurine Spinks', though it is not necessarily identical. I'll have to wait for a new round of blooms so I can get an actual photo of ours, overgrown monster that it is. Originally we also had Ellen Bosanquet planted right beside it, but that one disappeared after a couple of years. I'm not sure what happened to it, but it never was as big and rowdy as our red and white one, so maybe Ellen Bosanquet simply got crowded out. I really want to dig and divide ours this fall, but I fear the only way to do it would be to remove the fence beside it and use a backhoe to dig it out. One thing I did learn by looking at all these photos of crinums today is that I want a lot more of them!

Here's the one that looks most like mine:

Crinum 'Maurine Spinks'

We've had ours for about 20 years and the nursery from which we purchased it no longer exists. I'm sure that if it even was a named variety, I've long ago forgotten which one it is, but it always has had more narrow petals than most.

It was 104 here yesterday. i chose to work on my shed. It took me hours and at the end I couldn’t finish. It was horrible. I go t so sick So tomorrow I am getting up at 530 and finish. I have put off this project hoping someone would magically appear to help with that. however no one did so I finally jerked myself up and tried to get it done.

new attitude cool air and a good drill bit should help.

I put droplets No dripline with my melons and okra and sweet pair potato slips.

excuse the typos gw will not let me fix them. Lol.

we did 9 ro ws about 35 foot long of peas.

when I picked peas for friend in Lubbock he never picked all the peas so I would when I picked and I kept the dried ones. I tried to explain that I thought they produced better if I picked the plant clean. He said it didn’t make a difference.

but I got 3 gallons of dried seeds. And they are very good germination.

i bought more okra to plant at my daughters. I like the burgundy red. At home I have the okra from Glen. I want to keep it pure so I am not planting any other there.

I have a very similar one, Star and Stripes, and Ellen also. I need more...but haven't quite found the one to compliment yet.

And like you say, they do multiply (kinda slowly), but would need equipment to dig and divide.
I've thought about a pure white, but haven't went that way. I'd like a real red too..and there's a new one out that is suppossed to be the reddest yet.

Oh for Pete's sake. Crinum lilies, yes! John and Suzanne were telling me about this one garden in Wagoner. I finally thought to go past it the other day on my way home and it was GORGEOUS! The lady was out weeding and looked up as I had slowed a bit--I was grinning in awe, and waved. I was in a hurry so went on by, but I can see this is a lady I need to visit with. I also noted that what I keyed into was a glut of lilies of every kind. I'll have to take photos later with her permission to show you all. I almost gasped at the sight. I GUESS I'll have to relent and plant a bunch of pretty stuff at the Lincoln Learning Garden. LOL. Definitely some of the lilies. Maybe a clematis--ah! Woodbine (virginana) might be good. Do any of you know, is it very much like Sweet Autumn?

The scarlet red bee balm are getting ready to bloom--I hope they do before the mildew gets them! So aggravating. The others are some of the more resistant ones, purples.

Oh! We ARE harvesting something. We have a nearly a half gallon of blueberries, most of which we picked today. There's at least that many still out there. Still. . . makes me think this is not a productive use of space. On the other hand, they're not hurting a thing being there. The only care I have given them is adding rhododendron plant food in the early spring. This is their 3rd year and they are very robust this year. We'll see if they begin a decline next year. The way they look, I'm thinking they will be fine. Oh, and of course have been freezing lots of kale. Pulling green onions to think them out. And lots of herbs.

Have any of you made poultices using comfrey. In fact, do any of you use comfrey medicinally in any way? (Apparently I have the wrong kind of comfrey to use, anyway, so it's probably moot.)

I talked Suzanne into putting in for a Monarch Watch grant of 32 milkweed plants. Well, she took a look at it and yes, one needs to sign over their firstborn, give a few quarts of blood, and then toil and sweat for a good long time. It was onerous. I had looked at it--I couldn't complete much of what they needed, and she couldn't complete any of the plant stuff or procedures. So she called and I sent her the plant info. She mentioned it last week, and I told her. . . . we didn't really have room for 32 milkweed plants. I said, maybe 10 or so. . . LOL. She said, "NOW you tell me." My defense was that I didn't know whether all the stuff I planted was going to grow. Got a great laugh. Well, the 32 plants are on their way. Yikes! It would not be right to take any of them for here--but I MIGHT take the 10 or so that I put over there and bring them back here.

Here is a wonderful new cook book I just got. My sister-in-law in Buffalo WY got it for me, for my birthday (which isn't even now, but in a couple-plus weeks. I mention it because we were talking Basque stuff. HJ, I think you need this book. It is SO beautiful--and some of the foods look scrumptious! It's called Basque Country (Marti Buckley), A Culinary Journey Through a Food Lover's Paradise. Tantalizing. Kind of a cross between a cookbook and a coffee table book. It reminds me of when Anthony Bourdain featured the Basque country on Parts Unknown.

Yay, I'm seeing butterflies! Tiger Swallowtails are showing up. I had some early on, but then hadn't seen them for maybe a month--just a smattering: whites, sulfurs, spring azures, painted ladies, mostly.

I've done hardly anything today. I AM parked on the deck, however, so it's not beastly hot. We're sitting in the shade with fans blowing.

Nancy, my blueberries are still all green, I'm jealous (plus I only have one plant, which is potted). I should look into cuttings I suppose.

Kim, Now woman, you know you are not supposed to work out in the heat until it makes you sick!!!! I did that during the wildfire summer of 2011 and now I have absolutely zero heat tolerance. Having heat exhaustion a couple of times that summer while out at multi-day wildfires totally and completely destroyed my tolerance of heat, which I understand is a normal consequence of having heat exhaustion or heat stroke. I have to be careful now and flee indoors before it gets too hot or I pay a terrible price for staying outdoors in the heat.

dbarron, Your crinums are lovely. I have the worst crinum fever today after viewing so many photos online. When we redo the backyard landscape, I want to plant a long row of them along the new fence (the new fence which currently exists only in my mind). I figure if I buy a couple and dig and divide what we have in the front garden, that will be a good start towards filling the fence line with them after we get rid of the Bermuda grass. Greg Grant posted a photo of a yellow one yesterday and it was spectacularly beautiful. I've seen them before (probably the same ones he posted yesterday) and can't get over what a lovely shade of yellow they are.

I want to go plant shopping this weekend and I want to go somewhere that has unusual plants. That doesn't necessarily mean we'll do it, but you never know. All my favorite nurseries that have unusual plants are in the D-FW metro, and there's over 20,000 Covid-19 cases there plus daily demonstrations, some of which turn into riots, so while my heart pleads with me to go plant shopping, my brain tells me to stay home. It is such a dilemma!

Nancy, Great photos. Enjoy eating the blueberries!

I came back here to post more weather data from our house where it currently is 94 with a heat index of 106. We're under a Heat Advisory from 1 to 7 pm and I imagine some of you are in the other counties included in the Heat Advisory. This graphic below shows you how hot it feels based on more inputs than just the heat index type data. The black colored area on this map is the most dangerous area for folks to be working outdoors, and I always try to make it back indoors before our area falls into that category.

Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Risk

Dawn

I’m learning a lot on here about onions! I’m growing for the first time this year Gladstone white and Monastrell red, about 75 of each. They’re intermediate day onions I chose being in northern Oklahoma. It’s been fun! They’re really doing well as far as I can tell. So there is no bulbing yet, wait for day length to get that ball rolling? The leaves are nice and strong but lots are flopping over but no browning on them. When I look at pictures, it looks like eventually the onion appears to be “sitting” on top of the soil with just the bottom part and the roots below the soil. Is that what they do?? I’ve been giving them fertilizer with a higher N because that’s what I heard they like!

i can’t catch a break with my Clemson Okra this year. Never in a lifetime would I think I’d ever have such trouble keeping it alive! I honestly don’t know what’s going on....I’ve had new leaves chewed down to nubs, others shrivel and die, I’ve decided what’s to lose? So I started some seeds inside under my lights. Well see what happens! I’ve already got 3 sprouting.

Dawn, that heat index map is crazy red! Ugh. I feel May was more like April at my place, cooler temps and more rain than April. Now here comes June blazing hot and miserable! My mornings are lovely now though and last night I sat out with a fan blowing on me and had the best evening! That fan must’ve kept the skeeters away cause usually I’d have random bites all over.

I have several green Sungolds, Cherokee Purples and Big Boys in the works as well as green bell peppers and cubanella peppers. I’m STILL getting lettuce greens and spinach although I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before they’ve had enough of the heat. My carrots are peeking through the soil. Crossing my fingers as I tried a new short size. I planted them in a container that has about 6” soil. I’m planning my fall veggies now and am very excited to use my cold frame I built in April! I’m imagining all the yummy stuff I can grow during the winter. Here’s a pic of some of my onions.

Speaking of lilies, has anyone grown Oxblood Lilies? They’re a beautiful crimson and sound pretty hardy…

https://oldhousegardens.com/display/category/DiverseFall?bulb=DI19

All the lilies are gorgeous! But I just remembered that I have a deer situation. I may have to confine lilies to the school garden.

I have discovered the strangest thing. I had quite a long post just before my photos today. I don't see it here. I see it on my Macbook (which is where I wrote it) with Safari. Signing onto GW with Google on the Dell, it doesn't give me a choice of whether to view newest or oldest posts on top (which it does with Google on the Macbook), nor does it show my older post. Signing onto the cell with Google, not showing my older post, and no choice of whether to see newest or oldest. Signing onto cell with Safari, get a newest/oldest choice but my post still doesn't show up.

If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? If a post shows up on laptop GW, does it show up in GW? LOL Hmm. . . 5 minutes later. NOW it's there on the Dell. But no choice on newest/oldest. I'm thinking perhaps it's no Houzz. Maybe it's strictly a computer/browser deal--or maybe it's how various browsers/computers work with Houzz.

Yes, I have an oxblood lily, now more like 20 of them...love it. I would buy more...but they multiply enough I probably don't need to.
They bloom like rain lilies, there is no foliage. I believe flowering is late August or early September and quite unexpected. Foliage comes in early winter and lasts till March or so. It's very demure and fine grasslike.

Nancy—That sounds like a caching issue to me (on your MacBook, the post is saved in your cache because it was written there, but your Dell and phone are pulling from an older cache and not seeing your new post for whatever reason). You can clear your Safari cache in your phone settings and force it to load fresh; my phone is much older than yours, so I’m not sure they’d be in the same place, but you can search for “clear safari cache iPhone” and find where it is easily. Not sure about the Dell, but it’s usually in the preferences somewhere on a desktop (been a Mac person for decades, so I’m hopeless with PCs).

—Marleigh

Ok, if inquiring minds want to know...I went crinum shopping and have crinum Antares coming next week. I umm also couldn't just buy one thing and pay postage..so a few others had to be bought (it was such a sacrifice) from Plants Delight. Here's a pic of Antares, suppossed to be the reddest crinum available.

The other things hitching a ride along with it are: nothoscordium sellowianum (a bulb that looks like a yellow crocus, but may bloom fall and spring), cardamine douglassii (a native ephemeral), a calla lily white with violet throat, western maiden hair fern, an asparagus fern (hardy).

You were exactly right Marleigh, about the computer and phone having older caches. I just wasn't connecting the problem with the caches. Indeed. I got them by shutting down for a while. I have no idea what I'm doing on the phone. I'll have to get to know it.

dbarron--can those be planted any time?

I wouldn't plant in fall, they should have a long warm season to root in, which is true of anything you want to zone cheat a bit. Considering the warm season (for us at least) just started last week, I think I'm still very safe.

HU showed me how to can tomato sauce tonight! I didn't have many frozen tomatoes left but this was great practice!

(these jars are prettier in person!)

Hailey, Nancy...everyone. I'll come back to reply tomorrow. I'm super tired and dealing with young chicks and broody hens. Please let everyone live through this process!

Tomorrow is good because no one needs me for anything! I'm super excited about it! I can decide how to spend the day.

I have never really canned anything in my life, I helped my mother a few times, but don't have the required hardware and not quite sure I want to can stuff (I don't have a garden, just a city yard), though I certainly appreciated canned goods when other people did the work. Don't get me wrong, picking produce, shelling beans or peas were kinda fun, so not like I just ate it :)
Do you all think it's worth it? I mean freezing most things is easier, but it seems to really keep better canned (not freezer burnt) for longer. And I really did like going beyond canning vegetables (or rather my mother did), and even canning my own soup. There's something about all those ingredients sitting there melding flavors for months. I would imagine a ready to use tomato sauce (with garlic, spices, etc), would also experience that zen of flavor melding?

So, if you have a free day today, what are you going to do? :)

dbarron—You don’t need much to can—you’ll need a pressure canner for soup, but tomato sauce and pickles just need a big pot of water, jars, lids, and bands. I think it depends on how much you like canned things. I prefer frozen green beans with dinner, rather than pickled ones. But I like pickled beans in general. ;) And I like having food that doesn’t require electricity to keep.

You can 'can' without pickling. Green beans can easily (I think)...my grandmother always canned at least 100 jars a year. Oh my! And the texture is more mushy than fresh beans, but I grew up southern, and don't really like crispy vegetables anyway :0
Hmm, maybe I should try to pickup one of those big old pots that mom used to use to can, that would hold a good number of jars.

These days, Dbarron, the safe way to can green beans is a pressure canner. Same for anything with meat in it. It seems our freezer is always packed so full canning gives us more room. And if the power goes out it doesn't spoil. That said, I personally hate canning. I can't lift a canner full of water any more. I bought a small jar rack that fits in a stock pot. I can pickle a few pints at a time with it. I also have a dehydrator. I have never figured out how to re-hydrate things and have them taste right. Some people swear by them. You n make chips with them. Dehydrated cucumber chips or okra slices. Of course those can be done in an oven.

The grandsons are here today for the first time since lockdown. We plan some kiddie pool time later.

I planted sweet potato slips yesterday. And had to stretch a sheet over them it was so hot. They need to be watered today along with the 3 beds I missed last night. I have baby beans on the bush beans. A piracicaba sprout, along with a bunch of secondary broccoli sprouts. Harvested most of the salad turnips last night and roasted them. Ron had turnip greens. We have plenty of greens right now, but the lettuce is bolting. Ron got the cattle panel arches up. I need to plant seeds for climbers. Need to plant okra.

Did I mention I got a new fridge? Freezer on the bottom.

Have a good weekend.

Lots of the onions have soft necks, but tops are still green. Pull or not?

Went to Cherry Street Market this morning. First time open this season. Different set up to allow for social distancing. Tomatoes, local sourdough and cinnamon raisin bread, fresh garlic. Lots of good things, and plenty of plants. I wanted plants but didn’t cave. Should have made it down to the chilaquiles truck, but my left hip is acting up. Chiropractor is really struggling with it this time.

Yall who are struggling with arthritis pain, check out Voltaren gel. It’s otc now after being taken off prescription status, a local anti inflammatory that stays in the area where you put it rather than being systemic. Usually safe for those of us with stomach problems. I’ve been using it on my back and I think it helps.

I think Fatboy is nibbling on the green bean plants.

I think I need to do some hardcore fertilizing. Some things are just so slow right now.

The only things I’ve canned are jams, and the only things I bought to do the job, other than jars and lids, were a small rack and jar lifter. I used a deep stainless stockpot I already had. I’m not a huge canner since mom and I really prefer fresh or frozen produce.

The first Porter peaches were at the market this morning, so I guess they survived the late freeze.

Even over here, we love Porter peaches, so that's good news. Fertilizing has been scant here, because of flooding issues, but I too need to do some today while the dry weather holds.

Haileybud, I've never heard of either of those two onion varieties, but regardless of that, yes...daylength will initiate bulbing. Onions need to be planted shallowly because they won't bulb up if planted too deeply. Generally the deepest you'd plant the transplants would be 1" below the soil surface, so yes, as they grow they will look like they are popping up out of the ground and literally sitting atop the soil, and that is normal.

It was the same at our house as it was at yours---May definitely felt like April and then June arrived and feels like July. It is like we totally skipped June and I don't like this quick switch from cooler than average to hotter than average much at all.

Marleigh, I don't have any oxblood lilies but grew up around them---they are tough old passalong plants in Texas, handed down from one gardener to another seem to tolerate all sorts of soil and growing conditions. I think they'd do great for you.

I'm glad you know enough about computer and phone stuff to help Nancy because what I know about both computer issues and phone issues could be written on the head of a pin with space left over.

dbarron, I knew if you spent any time at all on the Plants Delights Nursery website, you'd find something you wanted. I'm the same way, but I haven't ordered any crinums yet. That doesn't mean that I won't, just that I haven't had quiet time to sit and look at them. Have you ever visited the webpage of Jenks Farmer? They sell crinums too, and enabling is what I do best.

Jenks Farmer---Crinum Lilies

Jennifer, Congrats on learning to can tomato sauce. See how easy it is? Now you can go nuts and expand to canned tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc. They're all easy.

For most veggies like beans and peas, we prefer frozen fresh from the garden to canned. I like their texture better when frozen, and I like not dealing with the big old heavy pressure canner. The things I like to can mostly are those that can be canned in a boiling water bath, like tomato products, jams, jellies, and some fruit products. They are quick and easy and even when the BWB canner is completely full of filled quart jars, it isn't nearly as heavy to lift as the much heavier pressure canner. I am completely over lifting the heavy pressure canner and have no intention of using it any more, but I hang on to it in case I change my mind. I used the pressure canner a lot in the 1990s, but not so much since then. Of course, having 3 freezers helps.

Green beans must be pressure canned or can develop botulism, which is invisible and doesn't give up an odor to alert you. A decade or two back a nurse who thought she knew how to can green beans canned them in a BWB canner and poisoned herself and her child. Well, probably it was 2 or 3 decades ago because it might have been even before we moved here in 1999, but I never have forgotten her and her child....as an example of what not to do. Fortunately our power almost never goes out, and it has only been out for 'a long time' once since we moved here. That was just a year or two ago and it was out for almost 4 hours. Still, we have a generator so we could keep the freezers going if the power went out.

My grandmother froze her green beans and they were mushy. I loved her green beans....mushy, cooked with lots of onions and black pepper and enough bacon drippings to make them taste divine. They were true southern green beans and I adored them. I never could cook mine down long enough to get her texture though, and by the time I had questions about why, she was gone. So, one day when I was sitting with my favorite uncle, a very talented gardener himself, discussing gardening and preserving food, I complained that I couldn't get my frozen green beans the same texture as Mamaw's. He just grinned real big and said "I bet you are blanching your beans before you freeze them" and I confirmed that I was. He said she never blanched hers and that was why they were mushy. Well, who knew???? One of these days I'm going to freeze some without blanching them first and see if they give me green beans like Mamaw's when I cook them.

Amy, Have fun with the grandkids! We have been enjoying ours so much once they were allowed to come over again.

Do you like your bottom freezer? Our previous refrigerator had one and I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, but I think the whole freezer part of that refrigerator was a lemon and we'll never buy that particular brand again. It constantly melted down and defrosted itself just spontaneously here and there, ruining everything in the freezer compartment if you didn't catch it on time. After that happened several times and no one could explain why or fix it, we were done with that thing and bought the one we have now. Of course, with Tim being a pack rat, he has that big old fridge sitting out in the garage and one of these days he is going to fix it and use it out there. Sure he will. When pigs fly. He's really bad about hanging on to stuff like that to repair because, surely, it must have some good years left, (ha ha) and yet he never does anything with them. If Chris is lucky, our detached garage/shop will burn down spontaneously shortly after Tim and I die so he doesn't have to deal with his father's lifelong junk collection.

Rebecca, It is your choice with the onions but they are not well and truly mature until the leaves have completely turned yellowish-brownish and withered and died. Until then, even with limp necks, the leaves are still sending energy/nutrients to the bulbs and enlarging them. Some gardeners just don't care and harvest them just whenever they get ready, but for maximum storage, they do a lot better if allowed to fully mature before being harvested. They're your onions so you should do whatever pleases you.

Why is Fatboy still alive? Is there nothing that can kill that little beast? I guess Audrey is not a squirrel hunter? Pumpkin is a squirrel hunter, and he tries, but the squirrels elude him every time.

We had a chicken disaster overnight and lost one of our few remaining hens. Tim closes up the chicken coop when he comes back from taking Jersey and Jesse for a walk after dinner. The timing of the walk works out perfectly as the free-ranging chickens usually are still out when he leaves to walk the dogs, but have put themselves up in the coop by the time he gets back, so he just takes a minute to close and lock the door. Sometimes I even ask him "Did you remember to close up the coop", when he comes inside but just asking the question annoys him because it seems to imply that I think he might forget to do it. (We are happily married, I swear. lol) So, during the night, the 2 dogs who sleep downstairs in Tim's office started having a barking fit, which is not that unusual. They'll bark if a skunk, coyote, bobcat, fox, coon or possum wanders by or whatever, but they'll stop barking if you tell them to hush. They woke me up, I went into the office, hushed them and they looked at me like I was nuts and starting barking and carrying on as if Godzilla was stomping around outdoors. I cautiously opened the front door and peered outside and couldn't see or smell anything, but heard a chicken screaming (in that way that a chicken screams as it is being carried off in the mouth of a predator) and the rooster hysterically calling out to her. The noises from the poultry were coming from south of the house.....not where the coop is located. I ran back upstairs to wake up Tim and he grabbed a flashlight and gun and ran outside.... So, we lost a chicken, and he found the rooster outside frantically searching for her. Whatever had taken her was long gone, and this morning we couldn't find a trail of feathers, so it must have been a large enough predator to carry her off easily. It took Tim a while to calm down the rooster enough to get it back into the coop, and this time he closed and latched the coop door. This means we are down to one hen and two roosters, and the hen that is left is the bravest one of the three. She has been out free-ranging around the yard all day while the clearly-traumatized roosters are hiding inside the coop. We have so much more trouble with predators than we used to, and I'm through inadvertently supplying poultry to them. After these last three birds are gone, we aren't going to get any more, even though we love having chickens. We just cannot keep them alive here as the woodlands provide too much cover for predators. I couldn't fall back asleep after all that middle of the night excitement, so today I am totally running on empty.

Dawn

Hey All.

Nancy, I picked up a comfrey from Dawn (I think) about 4 years ago. I've never made a poultice from comfrey. At one time it was used internally, but that is frowned upon now. (Although many herbalists personally still use it internally. There's reasons that I won't go into.) At one time it was called bone-knit. My plant is on the west side of the house and gets quite large and can handle the afternoon sun just fine.

I'll check into that book, Nancy. Thanks for showing it to me.

I'm jelly of your blueberries!

Hailey, both my short day and intermediate day onions are bulbing...and sitting on top of the soil. (I'll try to remember to take a picture and post it when I go back outdoors.) I plant them very shallow, though.

...and ya know, the okra in my raised bed is also being nibbled on. Those few plants aren't doing well at all. I suspect they'll be fine, but they are having a rough time. The ones in the Survivalist Garden are doing much better.

What is your coldframe like? I have the hinged hoop that we finally got "right'. I would like to add plastic to it during the winter (vented, of course when it's not actually cold enough to hurt lettuce and such.) or at least frost cloth.

Nancy, I had to change browsers on my laptop a few days ago. Otherwise Houzz did not work properly. It wouldn't allow me to post. It worked fine from my iPhone, but I do not like to post from my phone except to post pictures. My issues may have nothing at all to do with your issues, but it seems like a lot of us are dealing with Houzz issues right now.

dbarron, boring things. That's why I'm doing...and I'm so happy about it. Just a very chill day so far.

I want to can because I don't want to waste the garden produce. We use quite a bit of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce throughout the year. It will be so nice to just pull a jar to use and not have to purchase any. The tomatoes we canned last night were mostly Juliets, but even the Juliets-- EVEN after being frozen for months-- made a fresher and tastier product than store-bought sauce. Our freezer space is limited. We have a freezer in the shop but Tom puts stuff in it as well. There's certain things I prefer frozen too. I like green beans frozen instead of canned. Ethan likes the texture of canned. So, we'll probably do some of each depending on freezer space. With the amount of okra plants we have, we might need the entire freezer for it alone! If we have an abundance of zucchini, I'll freeze it for breads in the fall/winter. We purchase many cans of black beans (and other beans) over the year, so would like to dry some of those beans, but can some others so that cooking dinner will be easy.

Other things I freeze are chopped/ready to use onions and peppers.

I've started paying attention to the things we purchase--can I grow/can/preserve those items? Like the little cans of "green chilis" that many recipes call for--what are those specific chilis? Anyone know?

I started Cardinal Climber seed. They are very stunted. SO, does anyone have a recommendation for an annual, fast growing climbing vine?

Today, I got up super early to look in on the mother hens and their chicks. Everyone is doing well. It's awfully hot and I feel bad for the moms. The chicks need the heat, of course, so it's not bothering them. I'll probably drag the shop fans to the chicken nurseries in a bit. It helped last year.

One of my broody hens lost her mind last night. I was afraid she would fly off our property. We did finally catch her, but I moved her back to the main coop. She was really upset with the move and never did settle down. The other hens--proven mothers--did fine. Dolly was a bit upset by Eve's antics, but settled in. All of that craziness seems to have broken Eve's broodiness. Maybe she can try again someday. She's not even a year old yet. With the name "Eve" she should be a good mother, right? haha.

Forgive me if I've already posted this. I get confused on what I post where... and I don't feel like scrolling up to see if I did or didn't.

I did not get an easter egger. Atwoods had some and some nifty "special blue egg layers", but they were straight run. I got a New Hampshire Red, which I wanted this year. Her name is Saffron. A Barred Plymouth Rock. Her name is Cozette. And I'm THRILLED to get another Buff Minorca. Honestly, I thought I would never get another one. My Pet Chicken doesn't sell them. They are vocal and flighty, but I love Stella so much! She has always cracked me up. Stella is getting older now. I've had her since March 2015. Anyway, the new Minorca is named Jonquil.

Stormy has Jonquil and Saffron. Dolly has Cozette.

I almost stopped at Lumber2 down the road today on the way to Jen's to see if they had easter eggers, but don't need anymore chicks. And there's always the chance that Rosa or Blossom could still go broody.

We stopped by Jen's house to drop off some stuff. Her garden looks great.

We also went to the grocery store and got caught in the march /demonstration (not sure what it was called). We had a hard time finding our way out--roads blocked everywhere. People everywhere. I was worried about everyone getting heat exhaustion and sunburned.

Oh, I ate my first garden tomato since November. It was just a Juliet, but still so tasty.

Currently, I've got the soaker hoses on the garden. Started this morning and it will take all day. I don't have an ideal situation. It's fine and is working, but it's not ideal. What would be ideal is for it to rain about an inch at my house.

I've had a slight headache all day, which is very annoying.

I'll probably continue to sit and water and then exercise and sit some more.

Dawn, did you flower shop? What did you get, if so? I should run up to Marcums and buy some flowers for my turquoise pots....

There was more about the garden, but I can't remember right now.

It seems as though my plants are starting to grow. I think a lot of my problems were the soil staying so wet for so long. I watered the north garden just a few minutes ago. I planted 2 squash plants yesterday and 2 cucumber plants this morning. I know I am late on everything, but I guess I am getting too old and slow.

Kim I hope you follow Dawns advise about the heat. I have also been too hot a few times. The last time I collapsed and my son had to load me into the truck and take me to ER. I had been too hot a few times before, but, that time liked to have been the last time. I can not handle the heat at all now. I was over at the back side of the place brush hogging yesterday and started getting sick, so I headed home. When I got the tractor on the pavement the breeze cooled me off a little, so I stopped to finish the brush hogging I had started in my wildlife garden. My neighbor came over on his utv and told me to go on home, that the heat index was 106. I feel like crap today.

I planted a few seeds yesterday and to day, but just stopped and came into the house, I don't feel like doing anything. When the sun goes down I will get out and water the south garden, and maybe put out a little mulch. I got out at 5:30 this morning and was working in the wildlife garden. I expect I will have to keep working early and then coming in when it starts getting warm because I sure cant handle the heat.

HJ, I think the canned chilies are usually Anaheims, at least the mild ones. I know Dawn has said they need to be pressure canned. But I think you could do a mix of peppers to get your preferred spice level.

Dawn, that’s the info I needed on the onions. If the leaves are still producing food, I’ll leave them. They aren’t that big yet, maybe golf ball size. I don’t need huge ones, but I need them to be bigger. Audrey would be a great squirrel huntress, but she will be indoors only. Just not safe to let animals roam in the city. She’s excellent with mice, so she’d probably bring me every small mammal in the neighborhood.

Bless you all and your chickens. As much as I love fresh eggs, the last thing I need are chickens. At least I have a couple places to get local eggs during laying months.

Nancy, I want to come see the school garden.

I’m thinking the peas and broccoli won’t last much longer in the heat. I’ll put pole beans, squash, more cucumbers, and flowers in their place. We weren’t impressed with the southern peas last year. Just not our thing.

I also found a rectangular bag bed in my garage that I bought a couple years ago. Last weekend I filled it up and am doing a couple extra tomatoes and some squash there.

Its too too hot out, so I was in today. Will get out after work tomorrow and water and fertilize.

Haileybub. . .I got a good laugh out of your expertise with the varieties of various veggies (not to mention so many other things). I'm learning with peppers, tomatoes, green beans, okra, squash, melons. But zinnia varieties? Like I care? All I care about is whether pollinators like them. Same with cosmos and all the rest.

But it was just 4 years ago that I learned it was important to remember varieties. Of tomatoes, peppers and other veggies. I was clueless. I cannot believe how much I have learned from the OKGW crew (CEO and president, Dawn). Although I didn't know anything about veggie gardening, when Garry and I decided we'd give it a go, I googled every single question I had. I quickly found the most true and legit Google responses most often listed Ok GW posts, and they were almost ALWAYS by Dawn (and helped by Bon and Amy). Sheerly by Google, I found these detailed and long posts by Dawn, explaining what was what, to be the most logical.

As has been my mantra since the age of 40, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Do you all know what your special gifts are? Well, I will tell you one of my main ones is--that is to recognize someone who knows what they're talking about when I "meet" one.

We're lucky to have you here, Marleigh, as we're lucky to have dbarron, HU, Larry, Robert, Bruce, Lisa, and so many others. Jacob is SO smart! He's gonna be a JoeGardener in another 10 years, or 5. How much I owe to all of you who add to my knowledge. I soak it in.

Canning. . . I thought I'd be really excited about canning tomatoes, and have several pints sitting up there. But here's the deal. I've become addicted to San Marzano whole tomatoes in the can. They're expensive--$3.48 a can. . . but they are amazing. How many of you use them? I actually use them pretty exclusively. And I have to say, my own homegrown tomatoes when canned don't hold up well to them.

HJ, I self-educated on comfrey after claims by questionable sources (people with whom I am acquainted.) So I researched it thoroughly and am pretty comfortable with the facts surrounding the controversy. As far as I am concerned, the jury is out.

I will be getting short soaker hoses for a few places in my yard this year. Speaking of hoses, I'd like to ask you all a question. When do you water? Me? I water whenever I think I need to. For me, doesn't matter what time of day. For example, I was pulling out of the driveway today to go to the school, glanced over, and the hydrangeas were screaming "HELP!!! We're DYING of thirst!" It was so bad, I almost jumped out of the car and put the water to them. But then told myself, they could survive for another 90 minutes. And they did. But then I poured the water to them (this at 1 pm). I have a friend who insists that we only water in the mornings. I was griping about this with Garry this afternoon. I said that if we only watered in the morning, then that meant that most of our gardens wouldn't be getting enough water every week. We have a BIG yard. I use overhead sprinklers for seeded areas to maximize the coverage of newly seeded stuff.

HJ--do you have any great pics of your other garden with all the wood chip paths? Would love for you to post them.

HJ: Where DO you come up with all these chicken names? I could NEVER do that!

And Dawn, reading your posts is better than reading a good book. I don't often comment, but I soak in your words. Thank you.

Funny you said that, Rebecca. I was meaning to tell you I just cut back both black hollyhocks, but they're doing well, so you could come get them anytime. I would LOVE to take you to the school garden! If you can only come once, then wait a month. If you could come for before and after, then come now and in another 4-5 weeks. I am beyond excited about it all. Have between 40-60 different forbs out there. I'm not even sure what some look like, since many are natives to here that I've never grown. But there are many familiar flowers and herbs, too.

Plus, you could stop and see where I live so you'll know how far away it is from where your (grandparents?) place was.

Jen—I’ve never used it internally, either. My understanding has always been that you can accomplish its internal uses with other, more efficacious herbs that are better taken that way. I planted some Bocking-14 comfrey this year, so I’m excited to have it back in the garden. I make Rosemary Gladstar’s olive oil-comfrey-calendula salve for burns that is the best all-purpose remedy for sunburn and skin issues ever.

Dawn, you and I must have been posting at the same time!

I'm taking a break between moving soaker hoses. I won't get it all watered today.

Thanks, Rebecca! Anaheim. I'll put those on my list for next year!

Nancy, I don't have a set watering schedule. It depends on the rain. And I'm sort of like you with my plants. If it looks thirsty, I water, which isn't always the best way to do it. I'm laughing 'cause I did the same thing with my hydrangea today!

I will take some new pics of the kitchen garden soon. I was able to get fresh woodchips put down in about half of the garden. It always looks so much better. But, ran out of time last week. Need to get the rest done soon. The kitchen garden isn't at it's prettiest. Several things were slow to get going this year, but there's some good stuff in it for sure. I like when things start climbing trellises, etc. I think it's pretty.

Let's see...chick names. I'm apparently going with a "french" theme this year. Saffron because she will be an orange-ish hen. Jonquil because she is yellow. And Cozette...I don't know. I asked my niece for a french sounding name and she suggested it. (We all had lunch yesterday and they went with me to pick out chicks) Cozette is a character in Les Miserables.

Went to Marcums. Got some annual lantanas for the pots. Also a Mandevilla. Because my cardinal climbers are stunted, I need something to climb up the ridiculous arch thing in the kitchen garden. A pretty vine will distract from it's ridiculousness.

I'm going to have to reread tomorrow. Already put ointment in my eyes and every thing is blurry. That and brandy.. y'all I raised 4 kids. FOUR. HOW DID I DO IT.? I smoked then, it must have been the nicotine. A cigarette would have helped. I couldn't afford alcohol then. I know they were just boys. Really sweet, cute, onery, loud, did ( mention LOUD? I'm to old for this and it was 100* out. Just too hot to set up the pool. Both of them were Pop Pop 5his, Pop Pop that. The youngest is just starting to talk. I wanted to watch ET on Netflix. Not there. Supposed to be. We watched All Dogs go to heaven and the last Airbender, which neither Ron or I could really follow...since we couldn't hear half of it. Four. I'm so tired. My son was telling stories. They were so like family legends. Maybe we shouldn't do the mother's curse, (May you have a child just like you. ), because, as a grandparent you have to deal with those curses.

Jennifer, Morning glories, moonflower vines, blackeyed susan vines, cardinal climbers, cypress vines, purple hyacinth bean vines and, for something edible that doesn't flower but which is gorgeous, Red Malabar spinach. All are fast-growing annuals and most of them reseed in my garden.

I did not flower shop. I was too exhausted to do anything after being up all night following the chicken coop disaster. We're headed for the upper 90s in a couple of days, so if I flower shop today, I'll just have to put whatever I buy on the porch in the shade and keep it well watered until we get a break in this heat. I don't like transplanting plants once we're in the 90s and certainly not when we are in the upper 90s. We have crazily gone from too cool and wet in May to too hot and too dry now, and we're just trying to stay indoors as much as we can and to stay cool.

Tim hasn't even mentioned mowing, which for me is a really good indicator of just how hot it is here.

Rebecca, I figured Audrey probably was an indoor cat, and increasingly, our cats are becoming indoor cats more and more---there are so many predators here that I don't let them out nearly as often as I used to, and they don't even seem to miss going outdoors that much. The predators are so, so bad right now that I'd rather keep them in. Once they are used to staying indoors in the climate controlled house, they don't even stay out that long once they do go out so I think I could pretty much keep them in all the time and they wouldn't mind it. With the sunroom and its 10 windows, they can sun themselves inside in air conditioned coolness and watch the world go by in comfort.

Those people who bought the tiger park from the idiot Tiger King that some of you have been watching on TV are about to move their animals to their new wildlife facility in Thackerville, just a few miles down the river from us and plenty of people here are not thrilled about it. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume all their fences and pens and buildings will keep those animals contained and none of us ever will have to worry about them getting out and roaming. We have enough roaming native wildlife as it is and don't need for any exotic animals to escape and join the mix.

It is too hot out. I had a To Do list in my mind for yesterday but after walking out into the early morning heat already running on empty from a sleepless night, I did exactly zero of the items on the list. The next few days will be even hotter, and my gardening ambition dies in this sort of heat. The nurseries and garden centers here are full of far too many plants for this time of the year, and their employees sure are going to stay busy trying to keep it all watered. I think we may get a 1-day break from the heat in the middle of the week, but one day is not enough. I suspect people were not out buying plants as much during the virus lockdown so the stores now are overstocked. Maybe this means ultimately we'll find some good plant bargains over the next few weeks.

Nancy, You can grow and can your own San Marzano tomatoes as that is a variety that does perform really well here in our climate. I have grown them many times, so of course I don't buy them because when I see them in the cans in the stores I just say to myself "I can grow those". My favorite San Marzano seeds are the Franchi-Sementi seeds, which are sold in this country by Seeds From Italy. My favorite San Marzano of the varieties they offer is San Marzano Redorta, though I haven't grown it in a few years now.

Seeds From Italy

Amy, Grandkids are a handful for sure. When ours are wearing me out I think to myself that there's a reason women bear children in their younger decades---because trying to raise kids at our current ages would kill us. Our granddaughters are really well-behaved, as I'm sure your grandsons are too, but their energy is boundless and it is hard to keep up with them, much less stay a step ahead of them. I love every minute that they are here, but it takes me so many more days to recover after they go home again. I'm laughing at the mother's curse---it is so true. My sister's son was a big handful and it is a wonder she and he survived his childhood. We always said that someday he'd have a son just like himself....and now he does. He himself said that God sent him a child just like his younger self to get even with him for all the things he did that drove his mother nuts. We always laugh so hard when he says that because it is true. His other kids are girls and a lot more easy to deal with, but his son is a Mini-me who acts just like he did....it is uncanny to see genetics in action, isn't it?

Dawn