Thanks, Rick. I will know to buy straight neck next year. Gardening isn't for sissies, is it?

So many tomatoes, the vines are breaking down, but very few large ones hitting the breaker stage. Harvesting sungold, but not much else. Is this due to the heat or something else? All thoughts very welcome

Howard, it seems like most of us are experiencing slow ripening on our tomatoes. Early this morning, I was outside and my neighbor walked by. She said the same thing. Normally, my heirlooms have already produced a few fruits and are fading out by now.

I am guessing that it's because we've had a cool May and June (for Oklahoma). I don't know that for sure, it's just my guess. However, that will be changing this week. Maybe today.

I really wanted those heirlooms to ripen so that I could get some seed from them to start for fall. I have German Johnson and Abe Lincoln nearly ripe--just one of each. And they're not the biggest and best looking of the fruit. It's time to start tomatoes for fall. I might just have to keep them for spring.

I'm still waiting on Dr. Wyche, Old German, Arkansas Traveler, True Black Brandywine, and Black Krim.

I am over the green beans. As far as processing goes. Not freezing or canning any more. Not putting anymore in the shop refrigerator--it's packed. (I need to leave room for the ripening tomatoes. As they ripen, I'll put them in the refrigerator until there's enough to can a batch. Not the ideal way, but it works.) So blessed to have the beans, but I need to focus on other things. It's that "burden of abundance" thing. I just finished blanching the last of Rick's O garden's beans. They are drying and I'll put them in bags--and that will be it for me. Until the pole beans in the fall.

So grateful to have beans again after 2 bad years.

I need to get the corn in the freezer next. We'll eat a few ears fresh for supper on Monday.

Pesto is another thing I really want to make soon.

The bolted onions need to be cleaned up and used this week. We used several last week. I'll probably do that later this morning.

That storm that blew through yesterday afternoon, got the curing onions a tiny bit wet. Bummer.

We're going to get the sand plums tonight with our friends. I hope there's plenty to make a batch of jelly. I've never made it before, but my mom and aunt have. Probably in the next couple of weeks, the wild blackberries will be ready. We are completely out of blackberry jelly. It's my family's favorite, so it goes fast. Also need to make some pepper jelly with my real jalapenos. lol Not bragging, just glad that I have some!

Maybe jalapeno/plum jelly would be good. Hmmm....

The broody hen has accepted the chicks and the chicks have accepted her. Last night she was moved to the little coop with her fake eggs. She didn't really like it and jumped up on the roost. I was so tired and mad at myself for not removing the roost earlier in the day. This process really needs to be calm, dark, and quiet. It needs a peaceful type of energy. So, I grabbed a screwdriver and got it removed in the dark. Went back to the house for a bit, came back and she was sitting on the fake eggs. I had left the chicks in the brooder on the storage side of the main coop, so I'm sure she could hear them peeping all day in the main coop. Chicks peep while they're about to hatch--so that was good. She was aware of chicks. I took a chick to her and quickly scooped the fake eggs out from under her. She bit me and started to cluck softly to the chick. Then, I grabbed the other two and did the same.

So far, so good.

I wasn't sure how she would do. She's not a proven momma. My 3 proven momma hens all died this year.

The thing is, these chicks are 2 or 3 days old. And they need to begin eating and drinking. She thinks they just hatched, so instinctively knows they have a couple of days until they need to eat/drink if they had indeed hatched last night, but that's not the true situation). She needs to get them to the water and feed soon. If she hasn't done that by this afternoon, I'll encourage it along. She needs to eat and drink too.

I might need to take a nap today before sand plum picking. I was up last night several times making sure the chicks hadn't slipped out from under Gwennie. Didn't want them to get cold. If she had actually hatched them, they wouldn't do that. But because they've been in a store for a few hours, it can happen. They hatched in an incubator not under a hen.

Rambling.

Have a good Saturday. Hopefully our tomatoes will begin ripening a little more quickly!

Jennifer, I think we will see tomatoes starting to ripen, and I agree that the weather has not really kicked the plants into survival mode yet, but we, or at least I will have to guard against splitting tomatoes because the plants getting hot and dry, then getting rain or a heavy watering. I need to go apply more mulch today to help stabilize soil temp and moisture.

My computer says that we can expect 106 degrees this coming thur., it also says the lowest high will be 91 for the next 10 days. I don't like the temps being that high, but my " likes " don't have much affect on the weather.

I had to haul water to some of the plants in the wildlife garden. I also need to haul some water to the sunflowers in the wildlife garden, they have not been watered this year, other than the rain we have had. The sunflowers are blooming pretty well now and could put the water to good use. I noticed last night that the zinnias are budding up, they are in a row with egg plant, roselle, and younger sunflowers. I expect that the sunflowers will dwarf the zinnias, they looked nice last year, but the zinnias were planted several feet in front of sunflowers. This year I put the plants in a row so I can disc close to keep the weeds down, also so I can drive by with with the RTV with 2 barrels of water to spray on the plants.

Edit to add this picture of the volunteer sunflowers in the wildlife garden, viewing from my northwest pasture across the highway.

Edit to add this picture to the flowers and some of the crops in the wildlife garden. The far left row is the row of of sunflowers, zinnias, egg plant, and roselle. The tow center rows are roselle, peas are planted in the rows on over to the edge of this garden, there are 4 other gardens within the wildlife garden. If I can keep the row centers this clean, I may plant Elbon rye in the row centers for a manure crop.

Lynn, that is a very impressive inventory.

Anybody else have to change everytime they come back from the garden? Yikes, it's a sweat fest.

My bush plants have gotten huge and outgrew the speed of my weaving. They are loaded down and the bush steak plants have put on some massive fruit for a determinate plant.

In my trials, everytime I've pruned, my plants suffer and don't produce. I do trim the bottoms, or at least try to. The best tomato hauls for me have been with crazy plants laying on the ground. A pain to manage, but I get the fruit out of em.

Brandy Boy

Bush Steak

San Marzano

Cherokee Purple

Hwy20, those are very impressive tomatoes. I will have to agree about production suffering when pruning, but I tried it again this year because I wanted to fight disease. I was not able to keep up with pruning, but did fair about trimming bottom limbs. So far my plants are doing fair, but nothing to brag about, and I still have some disease.

I had planned to use more bush plants this year, but neighbor beat me to all the plants. I still have plenty of plants, but many are the ones my wife started, of plants nobody has ever heard of, but they are doing pretty well. They have names like "Orange Hybrid", "Orange/Purple Hybrid", some look like roma, some look pretty good, but we really don't know what any of them are. I don't plan on taking my small plants down to neighbor's greenhouse next year.

I think I would like to try the "Mountain" series again, I had pretty good luck with them in the past. I also did well with a "Bush Beefsteak". I have had good luck with Earlygirl as an early, and late tomato, but I am not sure I have one this year, I do have one that I have marked as an Earlygirl, but it does not act like an Earlygirl.

Hwy20, that's exactly where I'm at. My plants have grown so big with so much top growth, its become difficult to get into my garden. But they're loaded down with tomato.

I put on my mowing/working clothes to go in and pick tomato. I end up crawling through a lot of it.

I'm deciding whether to ferment my cukes or pickle them. I'm looking at fermenting equipment. Watched some YT vids. I'm gonna be over run with pickling cukes very soon.

This day in June 2017. Mrs Dollar and I were making salsa this weekend. These were ready to go and I had a 5 gallon bucket filled with more waiting for room on the table.

This year, I planted a week later than usual, cuz I tired of dealing with tall leggy plants in late March.

Glad your getting a haul, Lynn. I would like to learn more about fermenting too. This year, I went with a traditional pickling cuke and need to do a batch tonight. We'll see if I can get around to it.

I'm ready for these bush tomatoes to ripen and then i'll yank the plants. I'm trying to clone those and go right back in with em. That is IF they root out and start growing. Almost salsa time!

We did a double row of zipper cream, so that is going to be new for us. Hope they do well.

After researching more today, I'm gonna be doin this dill recipe, using Foodsaver vacuum jar sealer.

Smoking Meats Forum

And I will do Tuffy Stone's bread and butter pickles.

Tuffy Stone

I had to buy too much stuff to ferment, and these refrigerator pickle recipes will work for me , just fine

I got beaned!

Dwarf Horticultural Taylor shell beans.

Happy hulling.

Rick

Rick, my mom and step dad were crazy about horticultural beans, while their health held up they would can and freeze a bunch every year. I knew that they would always have horticultural beans and Early Sunglow corn.

Lynn, I like to ferment cucumbers. I've done them both in my crock and in jars. I prefer to do cucumbers in my crock. It shouldn't be too long until I have cukes big enough to ferment! My favs are the Persian ones. They are crisp when fermented. I have dill too. Fermenting with fresh dill is wonderful! My mouth is watering.

Also, sauerkraut. Now, with kraut, I prefer to do it in large mason jars with my pickle pipes and weights.

If you're interested in fermenting, HWY, you might like to make kombucha too. It's easy and so good for you.

Rick and I sweated it out and shelled beans in the shop. I rarely sweat, but it was rolling down my back. I can't wait to get into the bath.

I can't stand to go to bed with sweat and filth on me. No matter how tired I am. Must shower/bathe before bed.

Especially on days like today.

We got a large batch of sand plums last night. I'll juice them tomorrow night and then make jelly on Wednesday.

We're at that overwhelmed time of year regarding gardening. I don't want to waste any of the food. Produce must be dealt with.

I have thoughts about having a year where I don't grow as many food crops, but focus on herbs...and peppers. If I could can enough diced tomatoes this year, I would love to do fewer tomatoes for canning next year, and just focus on my heirlooms and a couple of cherry tomatoes.

Peppers are so interesting and there's so many varieties. It could be so fun to figure out how to preserve them. We are foodies and like spices and herbs when cooking. But...if I'm dealing with so many other food crops, I wouldn't have time to focus on those peppers and herbs.

I still haven't made pesto.

Momma hen and chicks are doing well. I'm so glad momma is taking care of them so I don't have that chore too.

How is it Monday tomorrow already?!

Back to work.

Lynn just so you know fermenting does not require anything except glass container and salt water. There are many kits and supplies you can purchase but I do fermenting with a wide mouth jar. Use a cabbage leaf or something to keep the pickles submerged in the brine and you are good to go. A coffee filter on top is helpful.

Kim , I'm goin in several directions and just don't wanna do anything new. I'll be very happy with Smokin Al's dills. :)

I do need to be schooled on picking cukes though. Its been two days since I looked at my plants thorughly and I had some large ones this morning.

The largest is next to the checkbook in the pic, for perspective, but its also turning yellow. Are they still good if they're yellow ?

I've got some other larger ones that are turning white. Are they past prime ?

The phrase " hiding in plain sight " fits cucumbers to a T. They are really camoflaged. Amazing how I can miss them.

Maybe too much water causing the white and yellow cucumbers? Taste them and see if they still taste okay?

I can't wait to get some cukes! They're still very tiny. Although, that can change in a day as you well know. :)

I've found that turning yellow is over ripe. It will be bitter.

Too much water is one of the causes of turning white. And we've had a lot of rain.

Lynn, the cucumbers look nice. My wife has been playing with plants a little this year, she started some tomatoes and cucumbers this year. She has been messing with flowering plants for several years, but the food producing plants are a new project for her. Madge picked her first cucumbers this afternoon, she planted something I have never heard of, but they made a cute cucumber, they are small and smooth ( and 50 cents a seed ). I am going to try to get some of the seeds like Jennifer likes, I hope Madge will be happy with them.

My wife and daughter gave me a little speech yesterday ( again ), it seems as though I am growing too much produce, I really am not, but I do quiet a bit of work, but I do it with a tractor or tiller, but my walking has gotten worse, so I bought another cultivator today. My wife and daughter just don't understand that I just can't quit, not now anyway. I have a hard time telling my family that we could be close to hard times, and they could be happy that I have all this junk and these garden spots I have made, and it not, I still like playing in the dirt.

Well it has cooled off a little and I need to fire up the tractor and unload my cultivator.

Larry , I feel for you. I've always grown more produce than I can tend to ...., in a good year that is.

I don't walk too good either sometimes.

In good years (like what I seem to have now) , I get overwhelmed with summer squash , green beans while digging potatoes and onions at the same time. And succession planting cowpeas afterwards. And shell beans to hull out to can....and corn......and tomatoes

it's just that some years you don't always get a lot of produce due to too wet springs right when your trying to plant and then turning off too hot and dry....Grass hoppers....

I'm glad I got a planting of okra at least for the hotter months to come.

Need to get cowpeas planted in , then done for the summer.

Next up.... fall plantings... starting with turnips for me.

I always worry about hard times. Recession, inflation , war ....

Seems like Covid started it all...

Rick

I always over plant. Starting with planting too much seed, and I do that because I never know what my germination rate will be like. I always think its best to have too much.

And I put too many tomatoes in the ground cause ya just don't know what the weather is gonna do. Last year, I did not have enough for Mrs Dollar and I. This year, its looking like we're gonna be spending a lot of time canning, pickling, and making salsa. And then giving away.

I'd always rather have too much, than not enough.

Heck this year, I started habenero pepper from seed. And I got one plant but I've no idea what I'm gonna do with them. Mrs Dollar wants nothing to do with my peppers. So I'm on my own.

I've had this bad habit of bass fishing all of my life. Started when I was a young kid and we had four farm ponds within 1/2 mile of the back door. That's how I spent my youth. I got away from it during my college years and when I was trying to find my way in life in big city. It was an obsession until the last 10 years. Its been harder to get out, I don't have the energy, and its physically and mentally tougher.

But I got this Skeeter bass boat in the garage. Its a 2005 and its not been used , hardly at all. Last 10 years, its been in the water once a year, at most. Its close to being like new condition.

I need to put it up for sale. But I can't. Because if I do, and I watch the new owner tow the boat down the street, I will know I'll never own another one and its over. And I'm not ready for it to be over. I can't accept that.

I am at the point of calling it quits on gardening, but I know I will keep trying as long as I can go. I started trying to improve the old home place to pass on to my daughter, but I can see that she does not have the love for it like I do, and i am concerned that she will not try to maintain the land like I do.

My daughter is a widow, and I know that most women don't have a lot of pride in the land, but I can't let that stop me from doing what I think my parents would have liked for me to do, the place looks better now than it has looked in 65 years, and if my health holds, the land will look even better, but it is a lot of work. Trying to care for 70 acres when you cant walk well, and have other issues also can be a challenge.

I think that it is time to change the wildlife garden back into a wildlife garden by growing winter grain and grasses. Neighbor is not going to want to give up that free growing area, but we can expand his growing area, he has more than he can properly care for anyway.

I have at least another years worth of work to be done on this side of the highway. I hope to leave some permanent food plots and a good garden spot for the kids to use. but I am afraid they will be used very little.

These are the tomatoes currently sitting on my counter. I suspect I'll do a small batch of diced tomatoes on Friday. I put 42 ripe ones in the refrigerator.

Also, the other pictures is from last year. It came up on my FB memories. I'm sorta standing uphill while taking this picture. They were so big and full that I had to crawl on hands and knees to harvest. They were even bigger in the fall. I never had tomatoes like that until then.

Lynn, I made habanero/peach BBQ sauce last year. It was really good. Maybe you could get your hands on some peaches to put with your habanero.

Sorry, about your boat situation.

Larry, I think woman have pride in land. Maybe in a different way. I've noticed most men are linear...in gardening and in other ways. The type of garden most appreciated are straight plowed rows.

Most women see the function in that, but it is not their favorite type of garden for aesthetics.

Plus most women don't love big mechanical equipment, nor do they want to use it all the time. Some do, tho.

I am trying to better my soil with compost and not tilling everything. Adding in native plants. I certainly take pride in my property--how it looks. How it functions. How it helps others/beneficial critters.

Our friend (whose property we got the sand plums from) has 900 acres or so. I was the one who was most wow'd by it. Just lovely.

Our property is small though. We wouldn't have time to care for any more than we do. We both work outside the home. And must make time for family, volunteer work, etc.

Larry, i understand your frustration. Nobody else is going to care for your place the way you do, they also are not going to care about the same things or do it the same way you do. My husband and I are older too and we have a daughter who loves the land and a son who would love to live on the land we do but their priorities are not always as strong as ours. The other kids and grandkids come to visit occasionally but want nothing to do with the work involved on a farm. Doesnt make them bad, they just have their own dreams. Women have as much pride as men, some have more. Most of us just can’t run all the big machinery and we arent physically able to do a lot of things - but we do try. Women also usually have household tasks that have to be done and not as much time to devote to land management. My husband has an illness that has returned and we are having to make some hard decisions about cattle and land both. He wants the whole farm mowed, trimmed, and maintained, He isnt able to do it any longer and neither am I. We have to decide whether to change our priorities or where we live. Hard choices.

i am jealous of all the ripe tomatoes - so far I’ve only had cherry tomatoes. I have really nice large green ones but between the wind and a few deer, and my own carelessness with Roundup - and now the heat coming, just hoping for a few to eat on and enough to share. Sharing is what I enjoy.

Watch yourselves in the heat this week

Reading but not posting. Got back from camp to find weeds have overgrown the garden. The circle bed needs some attention too. And we desperately need to mow. Thursday I took off to try and recover, then Fri and Sat and Sun we dug up the yard to replace the drain. Seems the previous owner installed a French drain for the sink and dishwasher instead of connecting them to the septic, and over time they got clogged up. So now maybe we won't have issues with the sink for a while. Spent a little time trying to weed everything, and found quite a few tomatoes. Cucumber vines are starting to grow hopefully it'll start blooming soon. And I harvested the onions and potatoes. Not a huge number but more than last year. Looks like my work is paying off.

And looks like we're back to fighting animal control about our dog boarding. Seems someone reported us again. I have my suspicion, but whoever it was played the coward and did it anonymously. Now to go back through the list of contacts and find out what nonsense hoops we have to go through to get this resolved.

Farmgardener, I know I get a little out in left field with some of my ideas. My daughter does a better job at "life" than I do, she is more of a manager, and I like to do things myself, but I have never had the money to manage with.

Madge and I hopped in the RTV and went to check the food plot, then over to the gardens across the creek, then back to check the wildlife garden, then on to the produce stand to pick up more veggies. We came home with a watermelon and about 3.5 gallon of veggies. We have a few veggies at the house, but grand daughter had about stripped everything we have at the house Sat. when she came over.

We had a pretty good rain today, and most of the day the weather was nice, but this was doctor day and I got almost nothing done.

I stopped by Farmers Co-op today and had to check the seed racks. I was getting low on BT, so I bought a 4# bag, we are having insect problems, plus we have corn planted and the BT may be needed. The corn I have planted is deer corn, I will use it for green manure for the fall food plot.

We made 6 pints of bread and butter pickles yesterday. I used a recipe from BBQ man Tuffy Stone. But every bread and butter pickle recipe I've found are basically the same, with small variations.

I used a jar attachment to a Foodsaver to vac seal. Its not canning, but they will last a lot longer in the fridge. And they will " age " faster.

Problem now, is after I make dills this week, we will have enough pickles for many months and I've still got cucumber plants producing.

Here's a recipe from Alton Brown

1. 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
2. 2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
3. 1 cup water, filtered if possible
4. 1 cup cider vinegar
5. 1 1/2 cups sugar
6. 1 pinch kosher salt
7. 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds (not brown)
8. 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
9. 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
10. 1/2 teaspoon pickling spice

Tuffy Stone

Pickling Liquid:
½ cup kosher salt
1 quart apple cider vinegar
1 quart sugar
1 teaspoon celery seeds
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon whole white peppercorns

Another at random

Sweet Pickle Chips

1 lb cucumbers, sliced 1/4"
1/4 lb sliced white onions
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup sugar
1 tsp celery seeds
1/2 cup plus 2 TBS white wine or champagne vinegar
1 tsp allspice berries
1/2 tsp ground turmeric

And I have to post a link to another one, can't C&P it

Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles

They all have basic common ingredients.

Thanks, Lynn, I hope to talk Madge into trying one of these. We have said that we are not canning any more. Madge grew up in a strict household, even what they ate, pickles are not something she cares for, but I will eat almost anything.

I stopped be the farmers co-op yesterday as we were coming back from the dr. office. I try to stop every time we go through Poteau OK. just to see what is on the racks. I saw a cucumber seed that I did not remember having, Spacemaster 80. I get home and look the seed up on the computer, I should have known it was a bush cucumber by the name, but I plan to plant it anyway. I dont normally plant "Bush" anything, I have tons of room, and it seems as though I always get less produce from bush plants. I still have Beit Alpha cucumbers on my list to try, but I will have to get my grand daughter to order those for me, I have yet to find them on a seed rack.

I can remember my mother pickling squash, which I loved also. My mom would pickle almost anything. I loved everything mom pickled, except pickled pigs feet I think one time is all she tried the pickled pigs feet.

We it looks like it has warmed up enough for me to leave my coat in side, and the garden has dried enough for me to go repair the damage done yesterday when the wind and rain moved through, you don't have to believe that about the coat, my coat is not getting a lot of use now.

Sand plum jelly made....and finished before 10:30! I even had to go to the store for sugar.

It's good, too. Was worth the chiggers.

Larry, that's funny about the coat. My "chore" coat is still hanging in the utility room. In the spring, I usually wonder what will be the last day of the season I'll need to wear it. I grabbed it up to wash (to have it fresh for fall/winter, and then realized I had already washed it. I think I actually wore it for the last time on an early May morning. I do my morning chores in my PJs, so like to cover it with a coat or my big denim shirt in the hot months to keep my PJs clean. So, I don't have to wash them every wear.

All of this reminds me of the time when Dawn finally got a new winter coat and Tim spilled paint on it....or something. Remember that? Lol.

Lynn, thank you for sharing your recipes! So happy you're having a great harvest year.

Jen, congrats on your onion and potato harvest! Is that comfrey actually comfrey or dock? If it's dock, I'm SO sorry. The dock showed up this year (or maybe last year???) without me noticing. That bed on the west side of my house was 100% neglected last year. And it's growing right there with the comfrey.

Also, let me know when you want to come get those concrete blocks.

Farmgardenerok, praying for your situation with your husband and the decisions/choices that must be made.

I agree with what you said about different roles. It seems like women (even working women) must juggle a lot of things. They usually plan the menu, do the shopping, have to keep the social schedule, as well as keep the children's schedules of activities and the children's current sizes of clothing/shoes, and keep doc/dentist appts. And be aware when laundry soap and similar things are low or out. It's why we don't always think in a linear way. Even while making the jelly, I had the roomba get stuck, the dryer buzz, a chicken get out of the pen, and a pet vomit. We have to think in more of a "webbed" way.

Then, you have to think of all the single parents --both male and female--and they have to keep up with it all. Anyway...rambling about that.

So....jelly is done and I'm taking a rest. I am about to start blanching the corn and getting it into the freezer.

Tonight, Rick is coming out so we can begin the shelling bean canning. He is estimating we'll have 50 pints of beans. I like having these on hand for chilis and soups and casseroles.

Other things that are breathing down my neck are the tomatoes and cabbages. The cabbages need to be pulled from the garden and dealt with very soon. Maybe Friday on both of those. Tomorrow is a work day.

There's little butternut squashes, Kajari melons, cantaloupe on the vines. Some of the Persian cukes are almost ready.

Oh, and another task for today. The German Johnson and Abe Lincoln are ready. I've never saved seed from tomatoes, so need to research the best way. There's a True Black Brandywine about ready.

Be careful out there in the heat. I sure hope we get some rain in the next week or so. I will need to do a bit of watering sometime today.

What do you do to extend your tomato harvest? This maybe should be a different thread, but I don't remember how to start one.

I will talk about the things I am trying, although I think the choice of tomatoes may be the best way to extend your harvest.

This is the first time I have tried to plant where there is a lot of shade. These tomatoes are the same age, but the closer to the right get a lot of shade, the tomatoes on the far end are in full sun. Note the rebar tied to the T post, I whack the end of the rebar, hoping to shake pollin loose to pollinate the bloom.

Here are 4 suckers that I pulled from plants a few weeks ago and stuck into the soil. It is hard to see, but I pushed up a mound to make the soil deeper where the plants are ( I have very shallow soil ) I also scooped out a little pond between the plants, in hope of holding water long enough for it to sink into the soil better. I will cover all of this with mulch, but knowing the little ponds are in place will help me as I hand water. The stick you see is a ripped piece of treated fence board, I use them and/or bamboo in a trellis that I will build later. I started on this today, but it got too hot for me to be out side. It was 101 when I took this picture.

If you have a trick, or a tomato that helps with hot weather production, please share.

Thanks, Larry.

My harvest is gonna end at the end of July. Nothing I can do about it. Between blossom drop and the blight, the plants will be mostly dead first of August.

That's another reason I over plant. Was the same thing Dawn would do, she would overwhelm the blight with numbers of plants. And she would get in the ground as early as possible to extend the production window at the start, instead of the end.

Lynn, I am convinced this is the only way to have success with tomatoes in OK and TX. Planting seedlings in mid April simply doesn't work

But on the front end there's soil temps to consider. Until soil gets to 60* , the plant won't do much. But I'm in the camp of taking my chances and I want to be in the ground when soil temps get right. Lot of years, in the spring, its a matter of planting when I can, rather than the perfect time.

I've found that the plants may set fruit early but they don't mature at a fast rate if we have a cool May.

I also learned this year that when the seed is started matters. I started seed a week later this year and it sure seems like my tomatoes are ripening a week later. Just judging by Amazon Photo's " This Day " stuff they send to me every day from past years.

I use to have a pretty good fall harvest but it seems harder to make that happen now. One year many years ago I had a plant that got damaged in some way, and I trimmed that plant back to a pretty small plant, may even down to 12 or 18 inches high, and I am thinking that was around the 4th of July, maybe even earlier, anyway that plant grew out of the damage and produced a good fall crop of tomatoes, that is the main reason I stuck the suckers in the ground on about the first week of June, but those suckers came from "over flow plants" I don't even know what type of tomatoes they are. I will say that it seems as though Roma, cherry, and Earlygirl plants seem to be some of the better lasting plants, but I don't care much for caring for cherry tomato plants, there is just too much picking involved.

Our container plants are not doing as good as last years container plants, but last years container plants got quite a bit of shade. I moved the containers out into full sun this year, they are producing more tomatoes, but they have blight more than most of the other plants. I would really like to make the containers work. The shade thing is why I planted that row of plants shown in the first picture. The north end of the row gets full sun, the south end of the row in under an oak tree and only gets a little morning and evening sun.

When we canned tomatoes it seemed less important to have a fall, or all summer crop of tomatoes. Maybe the weather has changed too much to expect an all summer crop of tomatoes.

Jennifer, some people just lay tomato seeds on a plate and dry. Avoid paper towels and plates they would stick to. I always "ferment " mine. Rinse as much of tomato flesh off as possible, put in a jar and cover with water. Set aside for 3 to 5 days. Rinse and dry as above. I'm told there are seed borne diseases and this is supposed to prevent that. To be honest I've never heard anyone around here complain of such diseases.

Rick, I had horticultural beans on my list to buy, I think because you talked about them last year. Would you compare them to pinto or white beans, what kind of flavor are we talking about?

Farmlandgardener, I'm sorry to hear about your husband's illness. My husband is having some health issues now and it's grating on him to not be able to keep up with yard work. He would be happy to move, I would not. I hope things get better for you.

Jen, I'm sorry about the animal control thing. Seems like you have enough land to be left alone!

Lynn, we can help the soil temp issue by putting down black plastic before planting and leave it til it warms up. I have mixed feelings about that. We have too much plastic in the world already, it's another expense and wouldn't be sustainable long term. I wonder if a sheet of tin, painted black, would have the same effect? At least it would be a one time expense. If I was younger and serious about tomatoes, maybe a hot bed to start tomatoes in. Of course Dawn planted early and was prepared to cover them as needed. She also put gallon jugs of water between them.

Larry, in a good year we have a week here and there with cooler temperatures. Some fruit can set and ripen when we get hot again. And then we have hot drought years to make you want to give up.

I've been in Phoenix for the last couple of days. Looks like i've got a lot to catch up on. In a few hours, i'll be home and get a pic of my tomato clones. Hope they are doing okay...it's been hotter there than in the desert, it sounds like.

Amy , I would compare horticultural beans to Pinto beans ( brown beans).

Rick

Mid April is when I plant tomatoes outdoors. They seem to do okay. Normally, we'll get a big batch of them, then they trickle in for awhile, and maybe even stop for a couple of weeks. But, if the plant is healthy enough, they'll often bounce back in the fall for another round. And, more often than not, I'll have a big crate of green ones that I pick right before the first frost.

However, most of the plants look like crap. Most of them look like crap right now. But, they're still producing.

Part of the reason Dawn pulled most of her tomatoes (and she had a lot!) is because she was done with them. She had what she needed for canning purposes.

I'm beginning to appreciate that.

At some point, you want to do things other than process tomatoes. Or green beans. Or brown beans. lol

But, grateful to have these things, of course. Always grateful.

Especially after bad gardening years.

I have a volunteer tomato that came up behind the shop in my now native/pollinator garden. I left it. It is full and bushy and healthy. The picture I shared above is of its "parent" plants. Or one of them is its parent plant. (Either a Heidi or a Jet Setter).

That area is heavily mulched with wood chips. It was last year as well. It also had a lot of chicken droppings/zeolite dumped on it before the wood chips.

Most of the gardens aren't mulched well. Or they're mulched late....often after a hard rain. Disease sets in. I'm wondering if the heavy mulch keeps the plants healthy. Duh, right?

Amy, I am trying the ferment method. I'll check them each day for the mold that is supposed to show up. Even tho it is getting a bit late to do so, I'm considering starting a few of the seeds to see if it "worked". And, maybe we'll have a few fall heirloom tomatoes. Dr. Wyche and Old German are being pokey.

We canned 29 jars of beans last night--the horticultural ones. We had another half jar that I just put in the refrigerator. Might eat it tonight. Actually might not have time to eat tonight, because we are going to can the remaining beans. We didn't finish with the canning until 10. I ate some crackers before bed.

These are all from Rick's O Garden. We still have the ones at my house. LOL!

So...it's exciting and good to can a lot of food late in the night, but one of the downsides is you have no time to cook all the wonderful things rolling in from the garden. We've been talking about Dawn a lot, but I remember her asking Tim to pick up dinner on the way home from work because she was canning all day/night.

I would like to fix a dinner tonight of squash, okra (yes, it's starting!), potatoes, onions, and beans. But no time.

(I'm at work and clearly not interested in doing my work because I'm still typing on this post.)

Amy, the horticultural beans would be great in chilis, soups, Mexican style casseroles--stuff like that. Or they are good just put over some rice with a little bit of hot sauce.

I am hoping to pull the onions tonight too. After we fill the jars in my kitchen, we take them to the shop where Rick watches the pressure canners. It's a hot job. I should be able to pull onions while he does that. During that time, we often sit and watch weather on the shop TV. haha.

When I can small batches, I do it inside with my small canner. We have a glass stove top and Rick's canners are heavy, so we can on a stove in the shop.

The little chicks are doing great. I'm so happy they are. Last time we had chicks, it was difficult. Lots of deaths and injuries.

Okay. I really should get back to work. It's great so see everyone posting.

Amy, my step dad like to plant horticulture bean, he said they were just improved pinto beans, I thank they were much better than the dried pinto beam, but I also like the fresh shelled cow peas better than the ones that have been harvested dry, but shelling both peas and beans can give you sore fingers.

The sore fingers reminds me of when mom lived with us. Mom was in her 90's and did not want to be a burden on anyone. One time I came in with a bucket of peas, and started shelling them, mom insisted on helping, so I get her set up with the containers and peas. Mom started shelling and in a little while mom said " this is harder than I remember it being ". I have so many good memories of the time mom lived with us. I will have to say " if any of you get a chance to care for an aging parent ", go for it, what wonderful memories.

My fingers are sore 3 days later , just canned 30 pints of shell beans and counting.

Rick

Dawn's soil had the blight. I know because I was hanging on her every word as to how to deal with it. She said to beat it, she would have to mulch large areas under the plants. But I don't think she worried about it, cuz she'd had enough by the end of July. She overwhelmed it with numbers.

Amy, I've seen the black plastic used to warm the soil on Oklahoma Gardening. Last one I saw, IIRC, they were also using it for mulch into the growing season. That may very well be in my future, it would work very well with my raised row garden. My only problem with it is how to water. On Oklahoma Gardening, they ran the drip system under the black plastic. Something about that bothers me. I like to actually see the water coming out of the emitters on my drip system.

Blossom drop may not be a thing just yet, according to OK Mesonet

Below normal temps in 6 to 10 day forecast

Sore fingers here too. Not too bad, though.

I sorta get them in shape in the spring with all the intense weeding. Plus, (this is a ridiculous part of my job), I peel tape off of 1000s of plastic easter eggs. We like to reuse the eggs after our community event. We have prize eggs, so it encourages people to open their eggs before leaving. We have "used eggs" tubs they dump them in....and then these tubs make their way to my office. At one time I had interns to do this job, but I no longer have interns. The tape is nasty often. They sometimes have grass and/or melted chocolate stuck to them. Trust me, I've considered dumping them in the trash and buying new ones. But, that seems very wasteful....and a lot of plastic to just throw away. Hopefully I'll have all the eggs clean and stored away for next year by the end of summer. We tape them shut after filling with candy, because otherwise the break open when we toss them out for the egg hunt. I wish we didn't need to do this. Anyway....

But, yeah, shelling beans. In between canning rounds; Rick, Tom, and I pulled the shelling beans here at my house. (Just the black beans remain.) We got 15 gallons. Rick took some home to shell and I have some too. We have 47 pints from the Okmulgee garden and will probably have 20 to 25 more with the ones we just pulled last night.

Tom and I took the black light out to the SG to look for hornworms and found a few last night. There were actually some on the tomato plants in the hoop house too. I got those the night before. OR some of them anyways, I found more yesterday. I didn't search well the night before because we had a snake incident, and I was a little nervous. It wasn't a venomous snake, but they still make me a little scared. I saw it (as did Sturgeon the cat) on the shop porch. I was able to scoop it into a bucket. It was not a giant snake, but it was a decent size. Showed it to Rick who was minding the canners and then took it inside in the bucket, along with the hornworms in the Critter Keeper, to ask Tom to drive me to the haunted house down the road. The bucket had some dirt in it, so the snake was hiding under the dirt. But, Tom just had to shake the bucket. It made the snake mad and it freakin' jumped out of the bucket onto my kitchen floor. We managed to scoop it back up, put a lid on the bucket and drive it down the road.

I do not feel great today, so I'm sitting for a few minutes and drinking my tea. I have a full day ahead. The 47 pints of beans need to be brought up from the shop and put into the pantry. The pantry needs to be reorganized to make room for this year's food. The first batch of diced tomatoes need to be canned today...and the cabbages need to be pulled.

While Rick watched the canners, I pulled the rest of the onions. Honestly, I feel like they could have been left for awhile longer. They were all long day. The Red Creole, a short day, was pulled last week and looks about ready to put in storage. The long day ones (Highlander and Cipollini) still have a lot of green on their leaves. I put a fan on them. Anyone know if that's a bad idea? They are on our covered shop porch.

And then there's the bucket of beans to shell.

Rick and I have quite the system for canning. I feel like a surgery prep nurse. I get the kitchen clean and tidy. Wash the jars and lids/rings and any utensils that we need. I'll sit out towels. Just get it all laid out and organized. Often will wash the vegetables and have them in the pot and ready. Then Rick comes in and jars the veggies. While he's jarring up, I'll prepare the next jar usually with salt. Once he puts the lid/ring on, I move it to the towel. It's a system for sure.

Tea time is over.

I don't find hornworms on my plants till the second half of July. I can't explain that.

I'm sure the globe is warming somewhere, or so I'm told. But OKC just finished four months in a row with below average temps .

NWS Tweet

NWS Norman@NWSNorman·34mIt was only 93 degrees at 3:00 today in OKC. It's not official yet, but it looks like we're going to end up with a below-average monthly high temperature.

NWS Norman@NWSNorman·31mReplying to @NWSNormanHere's a fact that I didn't want to believe but is actually true - this is the 4th straight month that OKC has had below-average highs! #okwx

Actually, I was planning on digging post holes tomorrow morning. This fence repair could get iffy.

NWS tweet

NWS Norman@NWSNorman·24mIf you're looking to get some mowing done this weekend, why not tonight? Rain chances will increase late this evening and continue through tomorrow afternoon. #okwx #txwx

I'm fine with below average highs in the summer. I hope for it.

My property is full of critters. It's no surprise the hornworms show up early here. They probably never left.

Thirteen jars of diced tomatoes. My goal is 30 for this year. That, with what we have left over from last year, should be enough for the year.

I'm so tired, tho. And I still haven't made pesto or basil tea.

Hoping for rain.

Sounds like everyone is doing good this year. We got a break in the heat. Today