Here's another Dawn thread about succession planting after potatoes .for those still digging potatoes.:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4515261/succession-planting-after-potatoes

I just finished digging mine. And pulling shoulder high weeds at the same time in 110 heat index.

Will I die before I wake. Probably.

Rick

I am heading out shortly to do the same thing, Moni. I unfortunately have a bunch of tomato plants to yank out. The fungi have finally won their battle. There are a few that I will try cutting back, and I did plant 2 new Early Girls a couple weeks ago.

So, aster yellows has infiltrated my neigborhood. It is in the OSU Extension office garden, which is less than a mile from me, and at least one gardener in my neighborhood has had to remove most of her garden because of it. My coneflowers have looked like junk ever since they started blooming, so I’m afraid thats what it is. What plants are affected by it, so i know what to remove? Symptoms?

Since I’m removing so many tomato plants, I’m thinking about doubling down on root vegetables this fall. I have carrot and beet seeds that just arent being used, because ive never been successful with them. I have plenty of cardboard to put down until they sprout, and space. Planning on lots of spinach and extra flowers too. Give me your best practices for root vegetables, please. Getting the seeds to sprout and get past the baby stage is my biggest problem.

Sad, mournful day here. We decided to put in a privacy fence to help with the dogs and improve the resale value, so they'll be coming on Wed. Unfortunately, that means getting rid of the plants in front of where the fence will go. So I spent the afternoon digging up what I hope to save, cutting down what can't be moved, and mourning all the blossoms that won't get to bloom. I meant to rearrange back in the spring but never got to it. Just hope the coneflowers & rose campions survive transplant. I have a hunch the marigolds will die, but I dug them up just in case.

How do you store daylily bulbs? I dug them up & would like to take them with me, but if they can't be saved for 2-3 months (or more) then I'll just go ahead & replant them.

Jen, I am sorry you are having a mournful day, but just think about the new home and all the fun things you will be doing to it. I am glad it is you rather than me, moving at my age, with all the junk I have would be stressful.

Moni, I am glad you are having a good day. It is starting to cool down here, but no rain yet, there seems to be a slight chance, but so far just clouds and a temp drop, down from 92 to 83.

Rick, be careful in the heat. I have been too hot in the past, and get too hot now at the drop of a hat.

Rebecca, I am sorry you are dealing with aster yellows, I dont remember having to deal with it.

Nancy, I remember you asking me to post each months picture of out fur baby calendar, but I dont know how to do that yet with my new computer. My daughter and grand daughter were here today, but they were so tired that I did not want to ask for help.

I just went over to the wildlife garden about an hour ago to check on things. We have been out of town visiting friends and family, and the gardens have been neglected. I did however count about 20 baby old timey cornfield pumpkins, plus I have some beautiful Seminole pumpkins also. The Seminole and cornfield pumpkins are volunteers. I planted some Waltham butternut on the same trellis last year, hoping that they might cross pollinate, I dont know if that is what happened, but I have some beautiful pumpkins in that area. From the size of one of the pumpkins it looks like the bee had visited the old timey cornfield pumpkins last year, they were planted over 100 yards away, anyway I am happy to see what will happen. I also have some nice Armenian butternut that George sent. They are new to me also and I am excited to see what will happen with them.

Daylilies don't make bulbs and therefore can't be stored during the growing season that way. Of course that's true of true bulbs too. When the bulbs on for example, a crocus mature, they *may* be stored dry for a couple of months. But in May...forget it. Same with daylilies in mid-summer.

I saw my first swallowtail butterfly of the year Saturday, an eastern tiger swallowtail feeding on my liatris. I have host plants (sweet bay magnolia, black cherry, willow) This should be my most common butterfly, but it sure was rare this year. The common is the cabbage whites this year...

Darn, not what I wanted to hear. I guess I'll replant them once the fence is in & let the next owner enjoy them.

Well you can certainly move some with you...in the green or in pots.

Ok, I must indulge myself with puppy photos..I took about 10 this morning and found the best (and deco'd them untypically).

This is a typical look before he's always thought he needed a gallon of water per drink. Note the drip.

He doesn't always look as dopey as he did with the water. :)

You can do carrot seeds several ways, Rebecca. In spring I plant radishes with them, to break the soil crust so the carrots can come up. Radishes are harvested long before the carrots are ready. Neither of us particularly like radishes, it is only for the carrot's benefit. When it's hot, I plant carrot seeds and cover with wet burlap. I like burlap because rain and irrigation flow through it and the seeds don't get washed to the edge of the bed. I keep it damp until I see sprouts. Then I like to support it with something and use it for shade on the sprouts for a few days. I think you could cover the carrots with vermiculite instead of soil and avoid soil crusting and keep the seeds moist, but you still risk seeds washing away when watered. Turnips (I like the little salad turnips) are easy. Beets...I only have been lucky with one variety, Crosby's Egyptian. You have to soak them first. Beet seeds are a "fruit" with 3 seeds in it, necessitating thinning, which I hate. In theory you can break up the fruit and only plant the seeds. I tried it one year, with a control group of regular seeds, but I don't think any of them grew. Maybe they need burlap, too. I think they all benefit from shaded soil this time of year.

We've had no rain. I was sad the last batch missed us, of course, Ron has had to mow, so rain and mow or irrigate and hopefully Bermuda goes dormant.

We canned tomatoes yesterday. Ron found a box of pint jars of tomatoes canned in 2017. I Googled, home canned is best in first year, starts losing quality 2nd year. Is it SAFE after that? It's probably ok, but won't taste as good. The experts go with one year, so I guess we'll dump those jars.

Why is my cat so NEEDY today? Has there been an earthquake? I felt bad, got out of bed yesterday and accidentally kicked her because she was right where my feet end up. Today I tossed the covers off and accidentally hit her. I was feeling bad till I remembered I fell asleep in the chair the other night and she jumped up on the arm and scared the daylights out of me. She also has a habit of jumping on the bed in the middle of the night and stomping around till she finds a spot. Pets, where would we be without them. I don't envy Danny. I wouldn't mind some puppy snuggles, but we both agree we don't need something under foot. Besides the 17 year old beagle is having accidents so it is not just puppies. However, she as no teeth so she doesn't chew anything. Your puppy is cute though.

Oh, Jen, I don't envy you! We've lived in this house for...29 years, good grief! I told the kids when we die to just burn it down. The idea of packing stuff, decluttering? Ugh. And tearing up plants on top of it!

Larry, it will be interesting to see what you get from the pumpkins. I want to try the Old Timey Cornfield and there's one I think Lori grows I'd like to try. But they take up so much room.

Rick, be careful in the heat!

The real estate is the reason I grow potatoes in bags. Of course, I've been rethinking having such a big garden. Obviously Ron and I don't need so many flipping tomatoes. (But how do I decide which ones to get rid of?) I've put natives in one bed and I've been thinking about making one a permanent herb and perennial flower bed. I would still have 6 4x8 beds to work with. Oh, and then I think, I have to have sweet potatoes and .... It sucks to get old.

I'm rambling and the dogs need to be fed. Have a good week.

Amy, I will keep you posted on the squash and pumpkins, and when I learn to post pictures. you will be able to see what I have growing. The plants are not producing as many fruits as last year, but they are not getting as good of care as last years plants.

I agree that getting old sucks, but I try to be thankful of what I do have. I have a meeting with the Dr. In about 1.5 hrs. My daughter and wife will be in on the meeting to discuss options. I have told them that my concern is Quality, not quantity.

Hugs, Larry!

Rick, we tossed them. Tried a pickle, it was too soft to enjoy. They are stored in our hall way, not the pantry in the garage so they get forgotten. Ron just picked about a bushel more. And he pulled the bush beans. I think we may have to can those.

Pickles don't last as long as other things. They get soft and mushy after a couple of years.

Rick

I lost you all temporarily. Forgot Moni began a new thread. And YES it's first week of August! Both GDW and I get to go to the doctor, but on different days. I cheer, because that means I get to go to 1843 on Broadway tomorrow--and maybe back to Bonefish Grille on Thursday to get loaded up on some key lime cake. I figure 3 pieces will be enough to last a good long time. I'm sure the doc will advise against going to MN in August, but will ask, at any rate.

When did you first see Jasper, Danny? Were they all red and white ones? I can certainly see how he made an impression, both in looks and character, apparently. He's a beauty!

I appreciated your beet and carrot tips, Amy. Between the grasshoppers and weeds, I'm about to retire for the year. AND I don't know how to weed among all the flowers. With grave difficulty this year, I expect. The mower sure is a game saver, though. What a lucky find that was for us.

The grasshoppers absolutely stripped the aralia racemosa. It must have been very tasty's all I can say. Garry pointed out one of the elderberry bushes is also getting stripped. Yep, and that's the way this year is going.

But the peppers are going gangbusters at least; tomatoes, not much. We'll pull the volunteer squash. It grew in true last year, but yuck this year. Everything is going well at Lincoln. I'll have to try to get in to take some pictures this week.

Regarding the daylilies, Jen. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. What kinds are they? In solidarity with you, I have decided to takle old canned goods, the garden section of the garage, and the freezers this week.

Larry--do you like your new computer? The girls need to get untired and get you up and going! I'm so sorry for all the doc appts, now getting a taste of them for the next couple months. But more, I'm sorry your health isn't better--yours, too, Amy!

I thought of you today Amy--my new Lodge skillets from the Chef's Collection arrived today. I wish I had known about the Blacklock ones before ordering. Maybe the next one. I do like these, though--they're not quite as heavy as the traditional ones.

Rebecca, just when we think we've seen it all, along come the asters yellow. GRRRR. I'm so sorry and hope they don't find us, but if they do, they do.

Best to you all. One of these days, I'll think to review for typos before I send it.

Nancy, they're a variety of colors, mostly reds & pinks with a white one thrown in. I did a seed swap a few years ago & someone was offering up a bunch of named crosses, but I didn't concern myself with writing them down.

Amy, we both hope this is our last move. We moved here 5 years ago & I had my house in Tulsa for 15 years. So packing it was an existential crisis. Towards the end we ran out of time (working 100 miles away tends to limit your free time) so I had to get ruthless at the end. This time it's been a little easier. And I plan to be senile or dead before I move again, so someone else can deal with it.

Jen, I wonder, if I could offer help? Such as, I take some or most of your Daylilies, put them in the ground, and next spring, when you are in your new to you house and all settled, you come over and we dig them back up, and you take them to their new permanent home. Let me know what you think.

Moni

Nancy, the computer is ok, it is not a touch screen because I am too shaky to use a touch screen. The computer says Asus on it. I ask my grand daughter to buy the cheapest one she could find. I have no idea what it cost, she has all my card info and just buys things I ask for and has them shipped to me.

I was over in the wildlife garden before dark checking things out. everything is needing water. Nearly all my tomatoes are gone, and some of my peppers are dying here and at the house, it looks like something is eating the roots off of them, they also may have a disease. I dont expect to have as many pumpkins and squash as I had last year, but I expect to have more than I need. I had over 40 pumpkins and at least that many butternut and Seminole last year. This has been a hard year. It took me for ever to get ground ready because of cool weather and rain, then it turned hot and dry.

At this point it looks like I will have a good sweet potato harvest, and I think we, and my daughter still have sweet potatoes and butternut from last year.

The Oklahoma Red sweet potatoes I got from George are going crazy. The vines are out growing the Covington. I only got two slips of the Red Wine Velvet sweet potatoes, but they are also growing like crazy now. I expect to have a good supply of slips from all three next year.

I had some seed that I saved from an acorn squash that Madge bought at Walmart, I feel sure I planted some of those seed in a free spot I had at the end of one of my rows, they are making some very pretty butternut. I dont know if I got my seeds mixed up, or they have reverted back to something else. The squash look a little like the squash I got from George, but smaller.

I put off test at the Dr. office for another 3 months. The Dr. that did my surgery over 11 years ago told me that he doubted that I would ever be cancer free, but I still do pretty well and plan on going just as long as I can.

Amy, thanks for the hug, a person can never get too many hugs.

Rebecca, I had never even heard of aster yellows! There's so much I don't know.

Jen, sorry about your lilies. But excited that you're about to start a new adventure!

Puppy is SO cute, Danny.

Larry? Rebecca? Whoever asked about carrots. I've been fortunate the past couple of years with them. BUT, it takes a lot of keeping the soil damp but not too wet. Once they sprout, then there's the thinning. They're so finicky. I found carrot seed tape at Lowes. It was around $4, so I'm going to try that this fall. Hmmmm....I need to look up when to start fall carrots. I still have spring carrots in the ground and they're doing fine. I put the swallowtails on them. The caterpillars have all disappeared except one.

So...I know very little about caterpillars and get confused when I research it. Once they get full, do they crawl off somewhere to transform? Or do they do it on the plant they're eating?

I think I saw a Monarch a couple of days ago. Is it time for them? I didn't get a good look at it. But it was big and had the coloring.

I'm jumping all over the place, but speaking of daylilies....I don't have anything rare or cool. Just the orange ones (from Bruce) and the yellow Stella d'oro. They are in a bed on the west side of the house with comfrey, yellow iris, a couple of different cannas (and some crabgrass).

The orange daylilies are ridiculous. They're taking over everything! That bed is ridiculous too. Normally in the spring, I'll clean it up. That didn't happen. It's not been watered once and it looks horrible. This fall, I'm cleaning everything out except maybe the comfrey. Starting over.

This is all new to me. How bulbs multiply so quickly. I guess I didn't really know this. Even the shasta daisies (which I love) are out of control. They're in the front flower beds. Those are the only beds I would like to look a little tidy because they're at the front of the house.

Wouldn't life be nicer without bermuda grass?

We canned tomatoes last night. I think we got 9 pints and 3 quarts. I prefer diced tomatoes in pint size and Rick prefers quarts.

Tonight, I'm skipping Pilates and we'll clean up the SG and get it ready for fall beans. While Rick is tilling and Tom is mowing, I'll move wood chips to the paths in the KG.

Needy cats. I've got 'em, Amy.

I understand why people want to grow in high tunnels. Even in our small hoop house, the peppers are looking amazing. And it gets hot in there. I guess that they're somewhat protected? They do have a shadecloth, but it is equally hot inside. I don't know.

Larry, our sweet potatoes are doing very well too. They are competing with the melons. That area is full of vines. It's crazy looking.

I'm pretty sure I won't do noodle beans again. I know (at the other place) we give people a hard time when they complain about aphids, but the truth is, aphids will destroy your plants even with beneficials. So, I really do understand their frustration. I know not everyone struggles with this, but if you do, it's very frustrating. I don't spray anything on my plants to harm beneficials, so it's not that in my case. And ants are busy with them. Not sure what they're doing with them, but they're all over them.

These plants are just dead now. The PEPH will be attacked next, I'm sure.

The noodle beans taste only okay, so they're not worth it to me. IF they weren't so attacked by aphids, their coolness would earn them a place in my garden every year. Because they really do look cool (until the aphids show up).

Wow. What a beautiful couple of days we've had. SO very nice. I haven't had to put fans on the coops.

I'm wondering when the first Momma Hen will be ready to go back to the main coop. Once the first one is ready, they'll all go. It's easier (on me) for them to all go together and then the babies are all put together to make their own little flock for a couple of months before they're introduced to the main flock. They can all see each other. The little coops are in the chicken yard, so everyone can see everyone.

It's sad for a day or so. The hens actually "get over" the separation in about a day/night. The chicks will see their mommas out in the yard and call to them for a couple of days, but they settle in with each other and bond fairly quickly. Four are already in the same coop--but 2 different sibling groups. Five were originally in that coop--2 with one hen and 3 with another hen. But, little Lucy died last Thursday. (I think it was the heat).

Two are only children, so they will have a harder time.

Stormy tries to sneak her chicks out. She has the hardest time with separation.

Rambling.

Starting this number of seeds in the fall is proving to be a challenge. I've always started a few, but have a full light shelf now. In the spring, I put them out almost immediately for an hour or so each day (weather permitting), but in the summer it's too hot for such tiny seedlings. But, I'm gonna have to figure this out soon. And caring for the seedlings is another garden task, when there's already so much to do in the garden. If that makes sense. In the spring....your garden is mostly the seedlings on your light shelf and gets all the attention. And in the summer, it's time to put up harvest--canning, blanching, freezing, etc.

Rambling again.

It's time to get off the computer and get to work. This is my last full week working part-time and then it's back to full-time.

OSU says start fall carrots July 15 - Aug 15.

Fall beans Aug 10-20.

Last year we planted fall shell beans in the SG a little earlier , around the 1st week of Aug.

They just barely got filled out enough to pick before the 1st freeze ( ice storm) around Oct 27-28 in the OKC area.

Rick

It always seemed like fall crops were a crapshoot, will there be enough rain/water, will the frost come too early, will it simply be too hot for them to grow? The chances always seemed much lower than the primo spring crop which usually would only suffer with will there be enough rain or too much rain?

Roll your dice!

Fall gardens are a little tricky starting with the heat and the bugs and ending with frost.

But at least it's a second chance if you had a failure in the spring.

Got my dice rolling.

Rick

H/J, I grew long beans (green) early on. Didn't have problems with them. Then PEPH, don't remember aphids. The next year I grew several kinds of cow peas. The aphids showed up. The next year, I did a whole bed of "cream" peas. (They're white) and OMG the aphids. That was a well established bed, so it was "cooking" as I say, meaning plenty of microorganisms. That was the bed that I just let go. Eventually the aphids got better. Every year after that at some point aphids would show up at some point (usually later like in August). I don't remember ever seeing them on the green long beans (which I grow a few of most years) and I don't remember ANY on the huge mess of volunteer whippoorwill peas from last year. My theory is some varieties are more attractive to aphids, or the soil they're grown in makes them more attractive (maybe my bed had too much nitrogen?) and, maybe cowpeas just attract aphids. If I was younger I would experiment and see if richer soil brought aphids to cowpeas. I know, in August heat, when the plants were way above my head, spraying them with the hose was impractical. So I just ignored them and picked pods not damaged. The cream peas were shorter, but hosing them didn't work. I haven't grown them since then.

I had something else to comment on...maybe sweet potatoes. I can't believe that breaking starts off and immediately sticking them in the ground they would grow!!! I may not get potatoes, but the plants look good.

I had a sleep study Monday night. Yeah, I have sleep apnea. I have to go back. Sigh.

Everyone busy? Doing okay?

We had a productive night at our house yesterday. Rick got the old beans pulled out and planted new ones. Several rows of them. Lots of tilling and hoeing.

Tom is working on a table for my bathroom with a neighbor and got the mowing mostly done.

I got about half the KG covered with new wood chips in the pathways. It always looks so nice when it's weeded with fresh chips. We worked until dark, really. I hope to finish the paths tonight. So glad to have finally gotten a Chipdrop.

Charlotte's Garden needs some attention as well. The tomatoes are looking a bit haggard, but are producing well even so. The peppers are loaded, but many are getting sunscald.

The noodle beans need to come out.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a vining plant for fall? I would like to put something on the arched trellis.

The leeks are still in the ground. The calendula is toast. Had I know we were going to have a cooler summer (until a couple of weeks ago), I would have planted more calendula.

That garden is all dead and weedy and ugly looking.

It all needs to be cleaned up. Maybe I'll put extra brassicas back there. Or some salad turnips for fall. It sure was pretty in June, though. <3

I've started the hardening off process for the fall brassicas. This is not a fun process. So much can go wrong.

And shoot! I pulled elderberries from the Ranch elders, put them in a jar and they molded! I still have a few left still on the Oklahoma John and Bob Gordon. It's time to read up on elderberry preservation.

So, a few heirloom tomato varieties really need to be in my garden every year. They don't produce a ton, but they are SO good. Bruce gave me a True Black Brandywine---so good. Alexis gave me a German Johnson--DELICIOUS.

Those are my two favorites as far as flavor and texture.

I could keep rambling because it's so cozy sitting here, but I'll shut it.

Hope you're all doing well.

Amy, welcome to the mask club.

Amy, I hope you like your CPAP better than I like mine, but my heart has been doing better when I use it, and maybe I sleep better. I still use it, and hate it.

I have been out cleaning the south garden, very few weeds left. I plan on taking out a row of tomatoes to make room for something else. I need to do something with all the onions that are coming up, I hate to till them into the soil, I have already done that once, maybe if I till them enough it will kill them out.

Amy, I think the sweet potatoes well produce fine. A few years ago I had my grand daughter cut and trim runners off sweet potatoes in my north garden, then take them to the south garden and plant them, she was very pleased with the sweet potato plants and harvest. Sweet potatoes have to be one of the easiest plants to work with. ( except harvesting them ). I had better learn to like harvesting them, because, I have over 90 plants to harvest, and my neighbor has over 150 to harvest.

Wednesday afternoon, 3:45, 89 degrees and I thought it was HOT when I was just outside moving the waterhose again.

I decided it was high time for some spot watering, after I dug some weeds out. It was way dry out there.

The back yard, aka veggie garden gets watered by a soaker hose... well, not one, but an interesting array of several, with shut off and bypass options.

Thus, I have been going out every 10 minutes and move the hose. I think, I have 4 spots left.

I shall have an impressive amount of steps this evening without ever haven left the property. LOL

and the naked ladies showed up. :)

Moni

Amy that sucks! So you have one, too, Danny? Garry has a doc appt tomorrow. I know he has sleep apnea, but don't know why he has to have a sleep study to show it. Can't they just take my word for it? lol I don't know that they'd ever get him to wear a mask.

The peppers are from here--the aliens and mural are in Coweta. They're so fun!

I'm so anxious to try the Sugar Rush Peach peppers. I'll have to do that this evening. All the rest in that photos are hot ones, too, more or less. Even the Belle--is from Jen, I think. . . Cajun Belle.

I thought I best show you my pictures before I lose them all--again.

Happy birthday, Danny!

We ate at 1843 again yesterday--and YUM! The pork belly was superb--GDW had it on a peanut butter and sriracha burger. That's what I have to have next time. I had shrimp and grits, always good.

HJ, the caterpillars (at least the black swallowtail ones) will travel away from the host plant when they're ready to pupate--sometimes quite far. The Monarchs will, too, but not necessarily far. Until they reach their final stage (5th instar), they will molt their skins as they grow--and each instar (stage) has a different appearance. You could google for reference photos.

Yes. Our lawn work would be ever so much more pleasant without Bermuda.

You need to know how much pressure you require to keep airways open (sleep test).

I had a study years ago, but I'm claustrophobic and they could never come up with a mask I wouldn't rip off in the middle of the night. So I quit wearing it. Plus at that time after fixing my hips I could sleep on my side, which is better. But I've put on weight again and acid reflux keeps me from sleeping on my side. It was suggested the sleep apnea might be making my blood pressure worse. I don't sleep well away from home anyway. IF you sleep long enough to proove you have it, they can figure the pressure without a second appointment. (There are certain requirements for Medicare/insurance) My oxygen went real low about 4:30, which is worrisome, so I will try to be a good girl and keep the mask on.

Who is doing Garry's study? I know Ron has it too. I've sat in the hospital and watched his oxygen drop on the monitor. You would think someone would have mentioned it to him. He is a snorer and loud, but maybe oxygen didn't drop enough to be worrisome. But me, who doesn't usually snore...

Hoping for rain today. 40% chance?

Babysitting today.

Amy, I have had 3 or 4 Doctors to tell me that it is important to use the CPAP if needed, sometimes they are not very nice if they find out you are not using it. I was told that my oxygen dropped as low as 69, which, I was told was much too low. My breathing and blood pressure and heart rate was messing up also. I hate wearing the CPAP, but it does help me. I know two other people that love there machines, maybe some day I will love mine. One thing I would like to add, is I almost never sleep well, but the night I had the sleep study was the best nights sleep I can remember, they must have a million dollar bed in the clinic.

I was told that medicare wanted you to use the machine at least 4 hours a night, I have a hard time keeping the mask on that long, I often do 2 hrs and then sleep a while and put the mask back on to try for another 2 hrs sleep before I get up in the morning.

My oxygen dropped to 10% (I am on supplemental oxygen at night too). The key is don't care if you like it or not, just do it (wearing).

I was at Lincoln today. A riot of color. The snake gourds are killing me! Melons are setting on--not much else. Well, tomatoes, of course. My peppers are a lot bigger and better than the school's. I wonder if it's because the ones at school are in full sun. Strange. BUT. Everything else at school is a lot better than here. Finally I'm seeing a nice number of black swallowtail caterpillars. . . small, however. . . probably 2nd instar.

Danny, I dont think I have every heard of oxygen dropping to 10%, I expect you are lucky to still be around. I dont know what my oxygen is at night, but in the day it stays above 90%, it is best when I am up doing something.

We just got a rain, not much, but every little bit helps.

Nancy, the pictures are nice. The first one looks like the morning glories growing in my butternut. I wish I had sprayed the morning glories because they can just take over the garden; I mowed the wildlife garden today ( between and around the veggies ). I noticed several passion vines just before cutting then down. The passion vines are another plant that can take over.

Nancy, I dont know if I mentioned it or not, but I have a beautiful sunflower growing in one of the flower beds in the wildlife garden, I expect it was in some of the seeds you sent. The sunflower is about 6 or 7 feet tall with about 6 or 8 six inch blooms on it, I plan on saving seeds from it and the large sunflowers. It has been so hot and dry and the flower beds are hurting.

Yes, I was thinking about that after posting. But that's what the dr told me..and yes, he acted surprised. It is possible he meant 90% (10% down..but I don't think so). I don't even think I have brain damage, but I am unable to sleep without my CPAP (so no power means sitting up).

I sleep a lot sitting up in my recliner. I try to keep moving as much as possible during the day, I tire very easily. I come into the house to cool off and rest, most of the time going to sleep with the commuter in my lap and my head phones on. I seldom snore sitting up. Sleeping so much in the day makes me want less sleep at night. Madge does like me going to bed early with her, but if I do I toss and turn a lot, and I am afraid I will harm her rest. ( corrected to say Madge does like me going to bed with her early )

I have not done anything this morning. I need to replant some volunteer onions, modify some tee post for trellises, and plant seed for a fall crop. All of that will not get done today, maybe not for many days. I also have equipment that needs worked on, with all the JUNK I have there is always something in need of repair.

Hi friends. Larry--we had just one sunflower come up at Lincoln this year. And like yours, it has 5-7 blooms on it. I realized we had NO room to plant any there this year, so we laughed to see the one come up. But I DID plant one of the 4x12 beds with nothing but dwarf sunflowers. Since I got everything planted so late, those are just now getting ready to bloom--it should be a blast!

The snake gourds are so much fun--but. But but what does one do with them? I'm researching; haven't come up with a fun idea yet. From the looks of things, I'd say we're going to have more melons than any other vegetable. I was waiting to see the green beans sprouting and finally realize I didn't plant any!

I'm not sure there will be any way to ensure that Garry will wear a face mask even if he does go in for a sleep study, Amy. I'm going to guess it would be an exercise in futility. And I forgot to bring it up at his appointment yesterday. We got pneumonia shots. I didn't even know pneumonia shots were a possibility. Trying to think what else she was trying to sell us on. lol

I think a couple of you said your heavenly blue morning glories had been blooming. Lori D noted today on FB that hers were just beginning to. The first year I tried to grow them here, they didn't begin to bloom until the end of September and then it froze. I said to heck with that. But last year, they just volunteered at the school--birds must have brought them in? There aren't any flower gardens anywhere near the school. They were so pretty--I certainly hope that's what's vining over the trellis. I think if it were Grandpa Ott's they would have begun blooming quite some times ago. We'll see. I'll have to tell John to let me know as soon as the sunflowers and MGs begin blooming. He gets as enthused as I do.

So, I have acid reflux and can't sleep flat. I sleep in a hospital style bed with the head raised quite a bit. Ron was having trouble with night time reflux so he put bricks under the feet at the head of his bed. People his snoring was legendary and loud. I've used earplugs all our marriage. With the bed raised he rarely snores, maybe I should say barely. Sometimes I get worried because I can't hear him!

I fall asleep in my chair a lot. I woke up this morning wondering why there were dogs in my room. I was still in my chair in the living room.

We babysat yesterday. He wasn't feeling quite right so I got a lot of snuggles. We think he's trying to cut a molar.

We got enough rain to turn the dust on the cars to mud. Not enough to wash it off. I need to go out and water pots.

Nothing else new. Have a good weekend.

Danny, YIKES, that sounds like you ought to have a back up power station.

Amy my ex snored really loud too... but once he started using a cpap, no more.

I spend the morning outside. First watering the flowers in front. Then taking out the soaker hoses that were along the east and west fence, for the bushes there. Since I am cutting the off, and eventually taking the roots out.. no need for them. I re-arranged one, to be on for the back fence cannas. I hope, now they will grow better, and bloom more.

Then I cut more brush/bushes off, and filled the third trashcan. Garbage can come now... LOL, but I will have to wait till Monday

It is way to bone dry/cracking soil dry out now, except where the hoses are, to do extra weeding or enlarging the garden/aka digging Bermuda grass.

I hate "wasting water" to be able to dig Bermuda. What will I do, once I am done with the bushes cutting down carp?

Moni