kg - Looking at the tree pic scares me. I don't know if I'd remove the damaged fence first or the tree. I can't predict what would happen if you catch the fencing with the chain saw. Is there a tree or something you could use to help lift, or pull the tree off the fence. I've got a few comealongs, a heavy logging chain about 25 feet long, and/or a piece of cable about 100 ft long. You're happy to borrow them, just stop over!

I got one cob of corn from my plot 1 and the critters pealed it back and are eating it. That means one plant will pollinate itself. Or Ambrosia will. I thought you needed lots of plants, the more the merrier? I also got some clumps of corn from planting 3 seeds in every hole. But if the critters are gonna eat the cobs i don't even know if they're worth thinning.

Think I might plant melons, next year, in the plots where this year I didn't get any corn. Never had luck with melons or sweet potatoes here. Need a judicious seed selection.

John, this is why I always plant more than we can eat and sometimes the critters leave us some. Caught a squirrel yesterday that had just pulled down a cob and was dragging it to the weeds.

I'm watching the rain come my way on windy.com with nice bands of rain but they just seem to part in half and go to each side of me. Some bands had 8 inches per hour in it if it was stationary, but the bands are moving pretty quick. The last band gave me about third of an inch with another band a few minutes away but likely to catch just the edge of that one. All total will be 1/2" to 3/4", thank you lord.

Nope, the best part of the last band missed me by two miles and on the edge at 0.1 in/hour for maybe 20 minutes. Still a 1/2".

Cindy my luck with the last corn has been planting seed by July 4th at the latest. Even this late planting only produces smallish ears (~30% smaller than July picked corn) probably due to the days grow shorter. My last plot above #6 was planted on June 30th this time around and should be ready by Labor Day. Maybe a short season corn would do better than Ambrosia (77 days?).

John, yeah I got 90% of the tree removed but this last 10% gives me the willies too, nyuk. I'm hoping that the fence can be crowbarred back into place (roughly) once the trunk is carefully cut up and off of it. It's too heavy to budge but is stable enough as the root of the tree is still intact in the ground. Thanks for the kind offer :-) but I think that I can wedge/wiggle the chain-link fence away from the trunk just enough to make it work. Will update fer sure, in no hurry in this heat.

I see those 2 waves Kevin, they're crossing over the Mtns now. Cindy & I might just get lucky with some rain if it holds together, just hoping that it doesn't hold together too well, ha, lots of lightning in that 1st wave and it's barreling towards us pretty quickly, may be here 8-9pm?

vgkg - Just looked at the hourly forecast and it appears that the storms will fall apart before they reach me. Hope that I'm wrong.

I'm going to chance the corn planting, hopefully tomorrow morning, since by next year the seeds will be two years old and probably not very viable.

Cindy - It's now two hours since your post and the storm hasn't broken up yet. It's over a strip from north of Harrisburg PA to Roanoke Va and headed your way. We got a very good rain; which we needed. Don't know how much, I need a rain gauge. But I was happy to get it. There was a lot of wind and some lightning.

vgkg I'd suggest you replace that top rail and hopefully you can straighten out the fencing to reuse it. Seems like you need a fence puller which I should have; but never bought. Sorry!

We are having lovely weather this week and the garden work is mostly waiting for warm weather crops to come in. Hoop house is full of great tomatoes,  yummy. And beans are growing like crazy with tiny ones on the provider bush beans. Squash and pumpkins are behind but coming. 

Next week forecast is for 95 degrees which almost never happens here! We will be at a family reunion in Georgia,  no cooler,,  but hopefully the heat will have gone before we return

Well, John. We had a few sprinkles yesterday evening but the only thing in my rain gauge this morning was a dead bug. Tomorrow is looking more promising. Rain predictions are up to 70%.

Lovely flower photos, Len.

Same here Cindy but not even a drop yesterday. This coming week promises rain almost daily but we know how that goes. I watered everything pretty good this morning and just got back in after repairing the lean-to roof, though I'm still not tackling the tree trunk today as it's heading to 99F. Picked 3 more cantaloupes and a few tomatoes, thumping a couple of near ripe watermelons, they sound good but will leave them on the vine a little while longer. Will attempt to mow some lawn after lunch on my riding mower, it's not too bad with a little breeze and riding in the seat with lots of fluids on hand.

vgkg - You had a dead bug, too??

Dinner.

Nothing for us either despite the rapid escalation of wind and dark skies that had us fastening everything loose outside! Maddening.

Ha, yeah Cindy, a dry dead bug. I survived mowing the lawn ok, afterwards our cool jacuzzi tub helped lower my core temp. Keep us posted on how your late corn turns out. Plot #4 is almost ready. Tomatoes have done really well this year, we've canned and froze several gallons worth already. Main pest problem with the tomatoes now are Stink Bugs turning some into speckle balls. The ground over the septic tank is turning brown, hope we get a good rain this week without the flooding and/or destructive winds.

vgkg - I didn't plant the corn seeds yet because of the heat and complete lack of rain. I might plant it tomorrow morning before the rains get here. (if they get here.) We'll see. It's ok if I don't get a significant crop because the seed is getting old anyway.

I'm debating whether to plant a bed of fall green beans. I don't have one of my taller raised beds available to plant them in so I'd have to bend over to harvest them. There is also the watering that will be needed multiple times a week in what I expect will be a hot and dry remainder of the summer. I would also need to fence them off from the deer. Almost sounds like I talked my way out of it. Need to decide soon.

We are getting a nice, slow soaking rain this morning with temps around 80 today. I hope it makes it to y'all further east.

Jack - I planted Sieva pole lima beans (82 days) on July 11 last year. They never fully ripened and the crop was therefore small. The first to ripen I left go because I realized the crop was going to be small and wanted to save some for seed, but my BIL harvested those. Most of the pods never fully filled out. The plants I have this year are from old saved seed.

John - the last week of July is when I have always planted my fall beans but they are always bush beans which are about 50 DTM. I'm harvesting in late September into October. I don't care about saving seed as I have plenty. I was thinking about a 10' row of Maxibel green filet and a 10' row of Goldilocks yellow wax filet.

Optimist that I am i put some

Provider and 1/2 runner beans in a tray before we left for a week. Idea is to plant those right after I get back. It is also almost time to sow a lot of spinach spinach for or the hoophouse after the tomatoes are done.

If you plant pole beans you get to harvest till frost. But also, for some of us, you don't have to bend over...... as much to harvest.

I planted more Ambrosia corn seeds this morning. Just received a notice for severe t-storms this evening. And the chances have risen significantly. The highest percentage predicted now is for 96% at six pm. I'm liking those odds a lot better.

Just waiting for the rain here in VA.

But I don't want pole beans John! Plus its too late for pole beans. It would be second half of October before I could even start to harvest any. If I want pole beans I plant them in May and harvest them between my spring bush beans and my fall bush beans.

And it's raining! We just had two mini power outages, just enough to have to re-set certain things. But I am so happy to have the rain.

The weather channel is all messed up right now, at least here.

That line of storms is knocking on our door here too, hope we don't thread a gap needle. Picked the first 2 watermelons today, will give one a test drive tomorrow. Finished cutting all of the grass today too so hope that rain is a good one.

We received 8/10" from this first line of storms. There may be more coming but I'm not seeing anything on the radar right now.

Well as per usual that rain missed us by about a mile. But today is another day of promise, we'll see. At least the temps have cooled off a bit, back into the 80's.

Rain? What’s that?

Look…twins.

I have now picked 5. The first was Sunday, 2 yesterday, and these 2 this morning.

Nice melons, Margi.

Just picked my first beefsteak of the season - Striped German.

Wow, Cindy!

Itsmce, what kind of melons are those? I have two minnesota midgets forming and i just spotted a Mini Love yesterday. Very exciting.

Anna - They're Ambrosia. It's the only variety of cantaloupe that I've ever grown. I always get rave reviews from anybody that I share them with.

Cindy - Impressive!

It's been raining here since before midnight and is raining petty hard now. We needed it in my area as we're in the severe drought category but unfortunately the storm is tracking over St. Louis area as well that definitely doesn't need it after yesterday's terrible flooding.

We finally got a little over 1/2" of rain last night and hopefully there may be more on the way this afternoon. Our first watermelon was ripe, sweet, and juicy, it's a Gold Strike...

There were a few drops in my rain gauge just now, unfortunately.

I have more than a few Minnesota Midget cantaloupe that just pollinated. Hope they have time to mature.

Behind the storms I had 3 days ago came cooler temperatures. I went from the low 90's to the low 70's three days ago (MN) but higher humidity and ideal conditions for fungus growth and I'm now showing signs on my less resistant tomato plants. So now it's fungus season and time to get out the sprayer.

had my first sweet corn last night with grilled garlic herb chicken and Beit Alpha cucumbers, with a euphoric food induced flood of endorphins in the brain, it feels so good.

This is why I do it, and will continue my addiction until the harvest runs out.

My next "large" tomato to ripen. A fused blossom, however I did not make note of the variety this time.

vgkg - That watermelon looks sooooo good!

It was Cindy ;-) we finished it off for lunch today. We also finished off that fallen tree to where it's now off of the crushed dog pen. As you know the heat was on High today so being gorged with watermelon before tackling that sucker worked out well. John I crowbarred a few pieces of 2by4s in-between the trunk and the fencing, it gave me an inch and a half buffer, all went well but that trunk was almost as stubborn as I was, almost. Still in need of a good rain, it's coming tomorrow....again.

We had rain last night. No thunder or lightening, just a good steady rain. My gauge had 6/10" in it. Very much needed and a complete surprise.

Jack - I really like that seasoning that you suggested for potatoes. Thanks!!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XS3B9KP?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

More rain expected today in about two hours.

Cindy - I'm really glad you like it. It better be good at that price! A few years back I got 4 jars of the fry seasoning plus a few jars of their rib rub and BBQ sauce as a birthday gift from a friend that manages one of their restaurants. Jack Stack has really good BBQ...one of the best in KC.

Ah...Jack Stack BBQ...we love it! It's a treat nearly every time we come to the KC area!

Yesterday I finally got some rain...about 1/2". I'm impatiently waiting now for more that is promised in a few hours.

I picked 3 more cantaloupe this morning. I'm starting to run out of people to give them to. Time to circle back to the beginning of the list. I even shared one this morning with a new 'neighbor' a couple blocks away who collects his grass clippings for me to use in my garden.

Margi - which Jack Stack do you go to? The original one in Martin City? They completely renovated that one recently so it's not chopped up into little rooms anymore. I go to the one at the Freight house near my office for lunch sometimes or if I'm lucky my company has some catered in for meetings. They built a new one in Lee's Summit a few years ago that is closest to my house...only 20 miles!

Jack - I believe it's at 95th(?) and Metcalf. I have family that lives VERY close to that one. hmmm...I think I need to go up for a visit. :-P

LOL Margi - I didn't even know there was a Jack Stack in Overland Park! I think I may still have a warrant out for my arrest in Kansas from 4 decades ago when we used to go to the Kansas bars back when you only had to be 18 to drink there. So now I avoid the state entirely. :-)

Jack - It turns out that the price I paid was a deal around here. Here's the price for Wal-Mart. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Jack-Stack-French-Fry-Seasoning-7-oz/178778838

Plus, I really only paid about half of that price because I didn't have to use a gallon of gas! :-)

We just got 1.25" of rain over the past hour and it looks l like another wash out knocking on the door. These storms just pop up like toast. I wished for rain but that 1.25" is enough for now thx :-). I'll need to go out after this next batch and pick the thin skinned heirlooms which are showing any color. Need to do some more melon thumping too. Glad it's raining though, if any melons split open there are many more young ones out there which will benefit greatly from more rain.....Lightning looming, better hit submit....

URG. The deer and the squirrels are eating my corn, and before it's ready. Last year, nothing touched it. There should be plenty of food for them to forage around here without going after my garden.

We're getting some light showers now.

Here's the link for the August thread.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6291449/veggie-tales-august-2022