I am ready for some rain also. I also need to do some weeding. The home gardens are in pretty good shape, the wildlife garden in a mess in many areas. Two Seminole areas are overrun with tall grass. The spaghetti squash row is also overrun with grass, it so much harder to keep the vining plants clean. I am also loosing control of the melon and Ukrainian butternut area, the vines have grown so thick that it is hard for me to walk among them.

I am having trouble of telling when the Ukrainian squash is ready to pick. At this time I will plan on leaving them on the vines till the stem turns brown. some of the Ukrainian squash are quite large. This could be a replacement for the Seminole, but will have to see how they taste and store.

My Seminole cross is looking nice, it has gotten so large that I had to sit it on a table for fear it would get so heavy that it would break the vine from the trellis. Size wise it is ahead of my cornfield pumpkin, but it is starting to turn yellow and the cornfield pumpkins are growing fast (but I sure need to get some water on them).

Can’t believe 2nd week of August already. We got almost 1/2” of rain this morning - very welcomed. I needed to water everything today. My husband had back surgery 3 months ago so was late getting fields mowed and we finally got the one hay patch mowed and baled so perfect timing for a little rain, could use a little more. I have a new crop of green beans blooming, some Fall zuchinni and squash planted, and the okra is making well, or it was until the cows busted thru the gate and ”trimmed up the peas and okra”. I still have okra in the other garden so it could have been worse.

Larry, I know you are trying to warn me against the passion vine but I’m still excited to get one to survive - I haven’t killed the caterpillars eating it - YET, but my patience is getting very short - they are greedy little creatures. We have tomatoes for salads, but no extras to make anything else. My beds are all raised and mulched but still have a lot of disease this year due to too much rain and all the temperature fluctuations. We had to put our dog down and now the coons and skunks are coming around nightly, wish I could keep them away without getting rid of them, but we’ve been on the receiving end of too many people who live trap animals then take them to the ”country” to relocate them. Once they learn about bird feeders ( that i bring in every night) and creep feeders where the calves spill feed onto the ground they keep returning and before long they are tearing screens and wire from windows and into the chicken house or out buildings. I enjoy wildlife until they start either tearing up and destroying or killing my chickens or calves. If that offends anyone I apologize but not all life on the farm is idealic. Magic lilies are starting to bloom in several beds, and I have mums making buds. I‘m ready for cooler temps. Everyone have a safe week - I enjoy your posts.

Farmgadener, Passion flowers are beautiful, but the ones I have here are not as pretty as the one I bought from South America. Some of the passion flowers have a very large bloom, mine just come up wild, and no more than 4 inches across. They may be much prettier if cared fore in a nice flower bed. The ones that grow wild here produce a fruit that we ate when I was young. ( we did not have spray or a brushhog to clear them out).

Passiflora 'Incense' I planted this like six years ago...and it's spread across the yard and into the neighbor's side yard (guilty)..but they don't seem to mind in that 2 foot strip. It can spread at least ten foot (underground) a year. Kinda amazing. I insulted (amusingly) a friend by saying it smells like a powdery grandma (my grandmother used to have this big thing of scented powder applied with a puff).

and a shot for Nancy. The fall pitchers are starting.

Oh my, it is beautiful! And all of those are native, aren't they? And they have their own special bed, right? In a container?

I have little to report on, and less every day, as every day the grasshoppers encroach further. I'm afraid to go see the school--but when I was there last Friday, I didn't see any grasshoppers. I guess I'll go see tomorrow. I think Danny had the right idea. Peacocks! But I suppose I'd still have to have a fenced in place for them? Garry thought that was very funny, too.

We have passiflora incarnata alba. I don't know that it's native to OK, but it appeared in back when Garry quit weed eating back there.

Internet has gone out at least a dozen times today. I need to get Vive called. Okay, I'm on the line with Vive now. Waiting waiting.

Hmm. I wonder if the pitchers could get the grasshoppers!

Incense is a hybrid of incarnata and a more tropical passiflora native to Central or SA. And the sarracenia are native probably from Oklahoma and Texas through the East Coast (various species). I'm sure that one is a hybrid of course.

And no, I figure the grasshoppers would eat the pitcher. It catches mainly beetles, ants, and probably some small pollinators attracted to the bright 'flower' colors.

Danny the passion flower is gorgeous!

I have

mine on an old cattle corral panel so I can mow all around it I have several friends and neighbors who want one so volunteers would be welcome

Larry, I wondered about the fruit, so I found it at Sprouts and bought a couple so we could know what they looked like ripe and taste them. They are a bit pricey and we didnt care for the taste. I went out this morning to eliminate most of the caterpillars. Amy was right, the butterfly is beautiful! So i left about 1/2 of them and put about a dozen into a net insect cage for my daughter with plenty of leaves. I can replenish the leaves as needed. She is a kindergarten teacher and starts this week. The children are amazed to watch the process from caterpillar to butterfly and love taking them outside to release.

Wow...quiet yesterday.....I figured I needed to throw some photos in to make people talk (or something) or maybe I just wanted to post.

That would be Rhexia mariana, Maryland MeadowBeauty.

The ubiquitous cardinal flower (lobelia cardinalis). Greater blue lobelia opened today too..but will need a few days to have enough flowers open to photograph.

And finally a swamp mallow (hibiscus grandiflorus), along with a bonus insect (probably a leaf-cutter bee..or maybe flower cutter (note the edges on the front flower)) with a backdrop of brown eyed susan (which is more black eyed than a black-eyed susan in my opinion).

Interestingly the flowers were all within 6 foot of each other...busy area.

I feel August.

August has its own feel, doesn't it? It's very hot....but there is a hint of fall. The sun looks different, the days are getting shorter, and even though it's very hot, there is a strange thread of coolness in the breeze.

How can it feel like a hair dryer and have that cool thread? I don't know. But it does. It's August.

Having said all of that, the fans are on the chickens tonight.

Chickens. So, my "Silver Spangled Hamburg" chick has feathers on its legs....and five toes. This is no Silver Spangled Hamburg BUT the chick looked near identical to one. AND I ordered one. The one that died was not a Silver Spangled Hamburg. I just don't know. What a weird 'round of chicks. Two die, one I think is a male (even though I paid for females. Mistakes happen.) And now...where is my Silver Spangled Hamburg! Her name can't be Dot now.

We are hoping for a decent rain this weekend. Some of the plants--especially the tomatoes--look really rough, although still productive.

We're getting a lot of food. The cantaloupes are ripening. We pulled 8 yesterday...and there's more that is ready. Peppers are productive, okra is too. And other things. No one wants or needs a rundown of everything in my garden.

Rick and I will be making jalapeno jam on Friday. I'm going to try to use all red peppers. It should make a pretty jam.

We will probably start our lettuce, kale, arugula, collards, and spinach too.

The brassicas are slowly being hardened off to the outdoors.

And the fall beans are popping up! Good news!

Hopefully the grasshoppers will leave them alone. We have insect netting for them just in case.

Y'all should check out nativeplanttok on tiktoc. I think the native folks would really enjoy this guy. He's pretty interesting and the videos are short.

I know...I know. Everyone thinks tiktok is just teens/20's dancing around, but it's not only that. There's some good stuff too. Just like with YouTube. All media forms have good and bad. There's good and bad books, good and bad TV shows, good and bad radio, good and bad magazines....same with the newer media. I hope to always be open-minded to try new things.

I think a few of you would really enjoy this guy's work.

In personal life...

Tom and I just dropped Ethan and Stella off at the airport. They are going to Albuquerque to see her grandpa. Ethan will come back on Sunday and start an electrician's program on Monday. Stella will head back to Portland.

Mason and Mack got moved into their new house.

We've enjoyed some good family time in the past couple of weeks. I love them all so much.

School starts tomorrow and while I love my jobs, I would rather be home. There's so much to do around here. And my jobs have...hard-to-explain issues.

That's probably enough from me.

Oh no, more..more...it's too quiet...more! Well I should update Jasper news. He's stopped biting my nose (wow) and acting much more civilized and less frantic activity (still a puppy). His final puppy vaccination is Monday, then we can go places (like city parks).

He's discovered feces in the back yard (and I don't know what kind, all I know is it's fecal shaped (vs blobs) and has an odd aroma that reminds me of Lysol (really weird, maybe a Covid relic of my smell, taste still off) but the dogs eat it like candy (which is usually true of cat poop))...I really wish they wouldn't (ie licking me later and the odor from breath, plus tranmission of diseases and parasites)). Not knowing what it is..I have no idea what to do about it. Anyone a fecal expert? I can try to make dogs stay in and look for it and take a photograph tomorrow? It's lighter brown, with chunky stuff, and usually deposited on clumps of mowed grass.

Well, I have a Wild Ones thingy tonight at 6, to inspect and advise on native plantings. Can't say I'm looking forward to anything in August outside.

Can't it just be September already?

Babysitting today, first shot Tues, nothing else going on.

I am back. Last week I was in a convention from Sunday to Sunday. What a glorious time it was. Came home to well watered plants (yay) and 3 giant cucumbers.
My grandson came from west Texas on Saturday and I have to return him tomorrow :(
He is such a love. I am going to attempt a small fall garden under cover.
The niece’s chicken I hired is doing great job. I feed her empty watermelon halves and she takes out grasshoppers. She enjoys her job.
I still plan on getting 2 as soon I can get a coop built.

https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/fall-gardening.html

Guilty yet / hum ?

Rick

Welcome back Kim, I'm proud to hear you did 'Rent-A-Hen' :)

Yesterday I did a Wild Ones consultation visit to a homeowner who requested help. Due to it being a new subdivision and the homeowner being unaware of her soil or moisture/drainage conditions, we couldn't help much really. It was my first time to do this and I was expecting to hand her a suggestion list of plants..so I was shocked kinda. I did put together some suggestions in email that I titled things to thing about (fruit bearing plants, seasonal interest (with a focus on fall/winter/earliest spring (the bare months)). I felt like the most important thing we did was put her into contact with a neighbor about 2 blocks over that had done a lawn replacement with natives. That gives her an example if she's interested in going that far.

Rain, give me rain (versus wanting a fleet of Dawn's little ships to rescue my drowning plants)!

Danny, rain might be coming to you. Had a brief shower this morning. Not enough to be considered a decent watering. Keep hearing thunder but I think it is east of us. I'm only asking for enough so we don't have to water tonight.

There's still nothing going on. We are going out to lunch today for son in law's birthday.

It's Friday the 13th. Have a good weekend.

We are hurting for rain also. I am trying to water, but just cant keep up, it is hard ( and expensive ) to try to replace rain.

The wildlife garden is hurting much more that the house gardens. I picked the first Ukrainian butternut, and Sugar Baby watermelon yesterday, they are growing in the wildlife garden. My "Seminole Cross" is looking good, but it is hard to get enough water to it. I planted a Walthum butternut and a Seminole pumpkin about 4 feet apart last year, hoping to hand pollinate them for a cross to get a sweeter butternut and a meatier Seminole. I got busy with life and did not hand pollinate, but these plants are two volunteers that came up in that location. One plant has 2 or 3 beautiful small pumpkins, colored like a Seminole, and a plant that has 2 or 3 pumpkins that look like a cross between Old Timey Cornfield pumpkin and a Seminole pumpkin. I am interested to see how these pumpkins turn out. They may taste like they were pollinated by a tumble bug rather than a honey bee, but that remains to be seen.

Nancy I took a picture of the wild looking sunflower that may have come from you, it has more flowers on it than I was thinking, it has one large flower and 18 smaller flowers. I had some sunflowers planted in that area last year also. The strange sunflower may be a mutated reseed flower or one from the seeds you sent. That ever I have I am looking forward to saving seeds from them.

I tried to check my sweet potatoes yesterday. The Oklahoma Reds vines look the best, but I am not sure they are out producing the Covington, both have potatoes under them, but I did not want to disturb them. I did not check the Red Wine Velvet, the vines look very good, but I only have two vines of them, so they get babied the most.

The butternut I have in the north garden look like they crossed with a Seminole, they are shaped like a butter nut, but with much larger bulb, and small neck. All of my strange plants are volunteers. No seeds will be saved from these butternut unless something spectacular happens.

I need to go repair some garden hoses. I try to pull my weight by working the ground and keeping things repaired.

Larry--are you going to post a picture of the sunflower, please? :)

I used to say the way to not have to see doctors is to never see them in the first place. Wow. Yep, shoulda listened to myself. Between GDW and me, we so far have 9 appts before Oct 1. I'm guessing he will have a couple more at least, to add to those 9. I'm just glad we both like our new family doctor, so not as much of a drag as it otherwise would be.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the garden beds down to the ground and start over--the weeds got that much out of control with me not working out there. It's going to be a daunting job.

I've messed up the computer or photos on cell. Can't figure out how to transfer them right now.

Nancy, I have taken a picture of the sunflower and my half- breed pumpkin. I am proud of them both and want to see what they will reproduce. I hope my grand daughter comes over this coming Sunday to show me how to post with my new computer and camera. None of my pictures will look good, we are hurting for rain.

My grand daughter and daughter both have new positions at work, and, I expect they both may be under more stress than normal.

Neighbor came up and picked my okra and some of my peppers, says things are selling pretty good in his produce stand. I think he is also selling some of my butternut, and if I cant give away my onions and garlic by Sunday I will take them down for for him to sell.

Dogs and poop...not sure I'm an "expert ", but our girl had a poop eating habit. She only ate our oldest boy's, but our youngest now will snack on any he can get his mouth on. We did some research & found it can be caused from a few different things. Mothers normally eat the waste from their pups to keep the den clean and not attract predators. So pups see mom do it & they start too. Most of the time they grow out of it eventually, but some continue. When that's the case, it can be a behavioral thing. "I eat poop, dad gives me attention". Or it can be because they have a nutrient deficiency and are eating the poop for the undigested food. Or it can be because they're disgusting & develop a taste for it. Unfortunately I think our boy is now doing it because he likes it, which means we may not break him of it. With Jasper, it could be because of his age or being taken from his pack. Try training him to leave it. Give a treat every time he comes back to you without eating any. If it works, you might be able to break him before it becomes learned behavior.

You don't typically have time to do anything about it...it's GONE. And needless to say they're faster at finding it than I am (smell and all).