I'll second the rain compression. There are areas of my garden that are steel plates because of the constant storms and rain amounts. Feels like it went from mud to dry concrete in only a few days. My garden usually doesn't crust over, but it did this year. I broke it up around the corn to try and do some weeding and fertilize. It was a chore.

Jennifer, I'm a watermelon lover but the rest of my crew are cantaloupe lovers. So, I usually did both. The first couple of years produced the best tasting melons I've ever had and they would produce until frost. Ever since that 2nd year mark, hordes of aphids would attack when the foliage got huge and weaken the plants. That left an opening for disease. They've also been infected by cucumber beetles too. The pests seem to always find the plants. If you don't think you have flea beetles, just plant some eggplant, lol.

I don't think you can kill flea beetles, I have them every year, no matter what, but it seems as tho the cucumber beetle is always the turning point in my garden. After I start seeing cucumbers beetles my garden starts to seem weak, and struggles much harder with everything.

I tilled more areas today, the areas were tilled before the rains, but seemed as tight as ground that had never been tilled. I am tempted to buy a broadfork, it seemed that the areas that I spaded with a spading fork did not pack like the tilled areas did.

Hey Everyone. I read all the posts, but will be back tomorrow to post and comment more.

We've had a family crisis and that's had my headspace for the past couple of days.

It was so lovely this evening. Almost chilly on our evening walk. Love that.

Lynn, I just watched Good Day Oklahoma. His forecast is low 90's at the end of this week and weekend and back in the high 80's next week.

How do people grow eggplant?! The flea beetles are crazy about them. We have eggplant in the hoop house bed right now. They've got some blossoms. We will see how long it takes for the flea beetles to find them.

(Who's tired of the Paul Bondar and Tom Cole commercials. Geez. ) Can you tell the TV is on here?

Josh, I stopped growing watermelon because I can never tell when it's ready to harvest. We have several cantaloupe plants and they're making blooms now. I also have Kajari melon. Melons are such a summer treat and I'm very sorry you can't grow them. So far, we've not had issues with aphids on melons.

Can't remember if I already said this....But I pulled the two Hardins Miniature tomatoes and shook the aphids off into the chicken yard. The chickens enjoyed them. Then threw the plants into a bag and put it in the trash. The plants were loaded with fruit. The three micro dwarf plants from Jen are still in the Vego bed. I shook them really hard so that the aphids fell off onto the soil below and dumped some neem oil on the soil as they were crawling around on the ground. I kept the oil off the plants. I have no idea if neem is bad for soil. It did cut the aphids down, but they're still a few around. I had to rescue a couple of "good guys" from the neem on the soil.

It would be a nice morning to work outside, but the plan is to do laundry and deep clean the living room today. The curtains are in the washer now.

I got Ethans room finished yesterday. Well, as finished as it's going to get right now. New, fresh sheets and dusted and vacuumed. Although, no one has used that room since the remodel. It wasn't too dusty. Just a few cobwebs.

I also pulled some flowers from the garden and put them in my flower press. And other things but nothing too gardeny other than watering a few pots of things.

I'm going to see the baby tomorrow. It's been over a week because we had stupid colds. Then, Uncle Ethan will get to meet him on Sunday.

I wish I had a self cleaning house. I'm not in the mood to tackle this deep clean right now, but it needs to be done. I normally do a deep clean the second week of December and the second week of June.

It's a good day to be outside. I hope everyone has time to do that. I'll probably take a walk around the gardens later.

Jennifer, egg plant is a shade cloth, so you can do companion planting. I have 7 egg plants and the weeds are really doing well under them. I think the flea beetles have the plants adjusted to about a 50% shade.

I planted another 8 tomato plants, 1 row of beans, then came into the house for more seeds. I plan on replanting another 3 rows of peas, and maybe another 10 or 12 peppers.

It really is a beautiful day.

Third try to post. Houzz suddenly would not accept any keyboard input.

Jennifer, neem has to be eaten by an insect to kill it. Then it causes them to stop eating.

"How does neem oil work?

Neem oil is made of many components. Azadirachtin is the most active. It reduces insect feeding and acts as a repellent. It also interferes with insect hormone systems, making it harder for insects to grow and lay eggs. Azadirachtin can also repel and reduce the feeding of nematodes. Other components of neem oil kill insects by hindering their ability to feed. However, the exact role of every component is not known."

From http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/neemgen.html

My husband is out on a ladder cleaning gutters. I can't convince him to not do stuff like that.

Our A/C quit yesterday. Thank goodness it was cool last night. Repairman is supposed to be here today.

Flea beetles. I found an article that said the can jump up 70 centimeters (27.5 inches). Back in the past I grew eggplant in a tall mineral tub and didn't have too much damage.

I don't know what to think about y'all's aphids. I think there's something special about Jennifer's place that is attracting them. On another forum, there is a guy with a horrible grasshopper problem. The theory is that his place is surrounded by ranchers/farmers who spray, so all the grasshoppers move to his garden. So Jennifer has some aphid vortex bringing in aphids.

XOXO

Larry, that's hilarious!

Yes, an aphid vortex here, Amy.

The neem I have is probably 10 years old. I bought it when we first bought this place and started gardening. Maybe 9 years old. (I'm not sure how long it's potent). That first year the garden was very small. I did dumb things like planting broccoli seed directly in the garden in May.

Something "special" about my place. Maybe it's the same thing that makes me smell like herbs and patchouli. It happened again at my Pilates class last week. Someone wanted to know what I was wearing. Uh, sweat from the garden? I truly was worried I smelled like sweat and cooking odors last week in class. Nope. Herbs and....."a little like patchouli."

Again, I had them smell my hair. Nope. Again, my "hair smells a little like coconut" (I use a curl activator from the ethnic care aisle).

And go through my laundry soap choices, my body soap. My body soap IS herbaly. I use the Farmer's Wife's Goat Milk soap. BUT, I take my baths at night and the soap isn't strong smelling at all. It's very light. I doubt it would last on my body for nearly 24 hours. (and had to answer a question about why I use that soap. Because I like it?)

I thought that very small insects like aphids could die from being coated with the oil. I have no idea, though. I pretty much left neem alone after it burned my tomato plants that first year of growing them out here.

I might have used it one other time more recently on a specific crop and had the same experience of burned plants.

Can't remember for sure.

Sorry about the AC. That's frustrating and expensive.

The meme that shows the woman sitting in a pile of stuff and drinking a glass of wine and says something like "when the urge to deep clean wears off".

That's about where I'm at right now. Minus the wine.

LOL

I have been trying to clean the north and south garden, as slow as I am, this could turn into a full time job. It seems strange, with as much rain as we have had, I still need to water. I still have some hay left, so I may have to dig out some mulch. The rain has some of my soil packed very hard.

I picked 3 more ripe tomatoes today, but one had insect damage. I also brought is some green tomatoes to fry, I really like the green tomatoes about as well as the ripe ones. I also have some peppers and cucumbers to harvest, but I can still wait a couple of days on the cucumbers, and maybe a week or more on the peppers.

Well, I lied, I had more produce than I expected. I went out to water, and as always, you find a few that were hiding from you.

Those cucumbers came off one plant, somebody has not been looking after the garden very well.

Larry, your passion vine is growing snd healthy.

I brought in our first ripe tomato tonight - an Improved Porter. We have several large tomatoes that shpild have turned

I think that I should feed my plants a little. I use to make compost to use in the garden, but I don't have that anymore, and I am going through a learning curve as to how much chemical fertilizer to use, my tomatoes are all still small. I am insecure as to how much fertilizer to use. My plants look okay, but have small fruit. I did feed the container plants yesterday, but I feel they have to be fed.

Jennifer, I am glad the passion plant made it, I hope it does what you want it to. There are many kinds of passion vines, and maybe all don't produce fruit. I bought a passion vine at a nursery one time, it produced a very large, beautiful flower, but no fruit. We have had passion vines on the place for at least 70 years, we try to kill them out, but I guess we have not been very good at it.

I hope we have another nice day, I feel so much better when I can get out and play in the dirt, but my doctors are a little fussy about that, but I really do try to take it easy.

They are supposed to start cutting hay today. Once I get the hay out of the way I can start spraying the fence rows, and if I can get a tractor to run maybe I can cut some brush. I guess that cutting the hay will send all the grasshoppers to my garden, and I already have a good crop of grasshoppers in the garden.

Jennifer, I don't think I would worry about smelling like herbs, till everyone starts licking you, then maybe you should not rinse off the soap.

I'm learning more about my dead and dying tomato plants.

I pulled one out yesterday. It was not completely dead, still had some green leaves. But when pulled it out, the stalk easily broke off at ground level, or just a bit below. There was not much left of the stalk. My first thought, is some kind of worm is eating on the stalks. Maybe some kind of cutworm ?

I've pulled out a lot of dead tomato plants, I've never had one break off like that.

So I pulled out another plant that was completely dead and has been dead a while, and it was already broken into at ground level.

Here's pics of the stalks, they look to me like something has eaten them into.

Lynn, I have had gophers eat my plants several times. I have even watched a tomato plant disappear into the gopher burrow, but when a gopher starts on a plant, it will most often go fast. You can most often see sighs of gopher mounds if you have gophers in your garden. I cant see the picture well enough to comment on.

These pics aren't gonna do it justice, it doesn't stand out like in person. But I'm convinced this is some type of worm.

I pulled back the mulch and dug just barely under the surface on another sick plant and found the same thing. The stalk has been eaten into.

Four of these plants were next to each other, two in one row and two in the next row. Two more that died or are sick , were close. Whatever is working on them is in the area.

I'm more concerned about next year. I've got to identify this and find a cure.

Here's the plant, can see that its alive and not doing well , especially compared to my healthy plants.

Then the stalk.

Another of the sick plants and a healthy plant.

Its cutworms.

I always thought cutworms only attack seedlings , but they also attack mature plants. I found a pic that resembles the damage to my plants

And I asked Microsoft's Co-Pilot AI ........... and got this ......

Yes, cutworms can indeed attack established plants. These caterpillars, which are the larval stage of various moth species, feed on stems and can cause serious damage. They often curl into a tight ‘C’ shape when disturbed. While seedlings are most susceptible, larger plants aren’t safe either; cutworms can chew through the base or gnaw on leaves and tender stems, potentially harming or even killing established plants123. If you’re dealing with cutworms, consider physical removal or other pest management strategies to protect your plants. 🌱🐛

I suspect it was cutworms that took out some of my cabbage even when it was almost full grown.

Rick

I've got some of this ordered from Home Depot . I have some Bonide Eight, which is permethrin . But I'm gonna try this organic pesticide first.

Organic Pesticides for Cutworms

Spinosad is an all-purpose natural insecticide that works on cutworms, as well as a range of other pests, but it won’t harm most beneficial insects.

Monterey makes a product called Garden Insect Spray that contains spinosad.

Lynn, have you ruled out a plant disease? Do you have any copper of daconil on hand?

I don't worry about the rough spots on the stem, but maybe some of your spots are from a fungal disease.

I'm 95% sure its cutworm, due to when I pulled the plants up they broke so easily. One of them was already cut in half.

Would BT work on cut worms? Dipel and Thuricide, which I think are just other names for BT works well on corn ear worms, not sure on cut worms.

Wow! That's crazy, Lynn.

I found a smaller pepper plant cut yesterday. I'm guessing the same--a cutworm.

Larry, I do believe there are ornamental passion flowers. The one you're trying kill on your property is probably the native one.

I did buy a second native one at the OKC Flower and Garden Fest in May. So, I have two now. And have no idea where to put them. They're both is pots currently. The other one, is in a large pot with a trellis.

I should put them in the native pollinator garden, but really don't want them to take over the entire area. Maybe I'll risk it. I can always cut them back. They don't have anything to climb on, though. Would cattle panel work?

I saw the baby today. And really need to work indoors this evening, but probably will sneak out and not do what I need to do.

I'm trying not to feel dread about the hot, dry weather coming our way.

I wish it would have stayed coolish while Ethan is here.

Oh well. It's not like he's not used to hot Oklahoma summers. But being in Oregon where it's forecast to be in the 60's and 70's all next week is just dreamy.

I am out of pocket right now praying my garden is okay.

Larry, the internet is not what it used to be. I've been searching for the best way to treat cutworms and all I really get are commercials. I do read that Bt is effective in the early larval stage of the cutworm and that chemical I bought is better in the later stages. But IDK what to think about that.

Years ago, it wasn't hard to find real people who had real experiences and would share them. Now, I do a search, and its all commercial results.

And if I do get someone's blog or a YT channel, IDK who their sponsors are or if they're being honest or just promoting a product cuz they're getting paid.

I'm gonna have to try my own treatment program and I'm gonna go nuclear at the start, right now. Then reassess. But I think it will be more important to prevent cutworm next year. I have seen some advocate toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes cut in half and then lengthwise. And put them around the stalk when I plant. Same thing I've done with Braums straws on my peppers. It seems to me, the cardboard would not last long, that after the first rain its gone. I guess ya just keep putting new tubes on the plants.

But what's also troublesome, is the cutworms attacked established plants. They were a good two foot high and were setting fruit when they got weakened.

Lynn, I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but I have never had a lot of trouble with cut worms. I do however have a lot of ammo to fight insects, but seldom use it. I keep it mainly to fight an outbreak in the pasture, which is likely to be Army worm or blister beetles. If I find a cut worm or grub worm when I am working in the garden I kill it.

I have had good results using BT on corn.

My problem in the garden is most likely to be from some kind of 4 legged critter. I notices yesterday that I have a lot of sweet potato leaves missing, and deer tracks in the garden. I have to put up an electric fence almost every year. I am having a lot of insect damage also, but most years I just let the insect damage go unless I get to losing a lot of produce.

I expect that I will see a lot of insect damage soon, because, I, and most of the neighbors are having their hay baled.

I would really enjoy seeing the Oklahoma Gardening YouTube channel, do a segment on cutworms. That would reliable tested information.

I think that I have some tomatoes and peppers planted for a late harvest. I have been nursing some stunted plants along, they have been in the 6 packs for over 3 months, and I am just now getting spots ready to plant them, they may never produce, it seems as tho I get slower and later every year. These late plants look close to being dead, but I hate to throw away anything, as it is I will be throwing away around 150 plants anyway. My wife, and, daughter tell me every year, "you plant too much", but I am just not the man I need to be, I just cant get everything done that I want to do. I have about 42 tomatoes, 90+ peppers, 118+ sweet potatoes, 4 hills of cucumbers, 7 egg plants, a few rows of peas and beans, two rows of okra, a hill each of yellow squash, and zucchini, and 6 roselle. I still have many onions to deal with. I did not get any winter squash or watermelon planted, but I still have a ton of work that needs done outside of the garden.

By mowing the lawn, cleaning the fence rows, keeping my junk repaired, watering the garden, and the endless trips to the Dr., and my many naps in the day, I am running short on time.

I went ahead and pulled all my onit during this dry period. I planted some long day variety to try and gain some longer storage. I know the Alisa Craig variety is only about a month. It'sIt'smy bestbiggest to date. It won't let me backspace and erase or I'll have to exit and type everything all over.

My pepper plants have been hit with broadmites grr.

They inject their saliva and it stunts the plants. Probably a total loss on most of them.

Something has hit many of my peppers also, it looks like some kind of blight. I will nurse my peppers for a while and see what happens.

I'm pretty sure we've got a cutworm problem out here too. It's not unusual to lose a plant or two each year. Afterall, I do have a lot of plants, but we've lost quite a few this year. In fact, yesterday I found lots of damage. I have a small garden area at the back of the property. Three raised beds in a U-shape (sorta). Every other year, I'll plant the onions and garlic back there. There's also a cattle panel trellis that arches between the two beds that are parallel to each other. This year, I've planted Armenian cucumbers on that.

The onions are pulled now, other than the long day variety, so an extra 6-pack of red habaneros that Rick brought over were planted in one of the beds.

They're basically gone now. Four of them are only stems now, and two have a couple of leaves each remaining. The majority of the cukes are just stems now. One remains on one side of the trellis and two remain on the other side. It could be a cute and furry that's eating them too. It's very dark at night back there, but normally the cats keep the bunnies away. Finbar patrols at night and Sturgeon during the day.

I really would like to have cucumbers growing on that trellis, so am trying to save the remaining 3 plants. I put toothpicks around their stems in case of cutworms and those wire wastebaskets over the little plants in case of bunnies. I used landscape staples to stake them down. They're all alive this morning.

That garden area is confusing to me. Things, other than onions/garlic, do not seem to thrive back there. Probably something lacking in the soil.

Tomatoes are rolling in from the Survivalist Garden. Nice, large sized ones. I've got them in boxes to send with Rick. I won't be processing tomatoes this summer. If I process any, it will be later in the season. I'm keeping a few for fresh eating.

The first Dr. Wyche is nearly ripe. It's in the kitchen garden, tho.

The SG tomatoes are already diseased. but that's not so unusual. They weren't tied up properly or pruned at all.

And there's a little disease on the Kitchen Garden tomatoes. If I had time, I would prune that off, but there's not time this weekend. Maybe not time next week either.

I have an ambitious list of things-to-do today. Deep clean both bathrooms, deep clean the kitchen, wash Josi and trim her nails, do some touch-up paint on the bathroom door (it's a new door and has never fit properly but we'll have "guests" this week and had to shave it down a bit and that requires me to touch up the paint now. ugh.), make a shopping list and go shopping.

I would like to bake, but it's too hot for that and there's not enough time.

I spent a couple of hours watering last night while Tom mowed and trimmed.

The plants should be fine until tomorrow now.

E and S are going to Ft. Worth for a concert tomorrow, so I'll have time to water then.

First up--giving Josi a bath.

Have a good day, Friends. Take it easy out there. Don't get overheated.

Dr. Wyche

Cuke stems

The cutworm will leave a small plant laying on the ground, which in your lower pic that appears to have happened to one plant. The other is gone, maybe you took the plant out ? The cutworm won't devour the entire plant.

I've been using Bing search and this morning I went back to Google search and found some better cutworm info from Better Homes and Gardens ( Google is a better search engine but dang, they control about everything ) . But its mostly about seedlings, not mature plants. Says its mostly an early spring problem, but they hit my plants the first week of May, right after we had that little F1 tornado.

There is more info on where they live in the daytime. I'm gonna have to rethink using a mulch, especially the cottonseed hulls. That's where they're spending their days, Im pretty sure.

I'm gonna spray the ground around the base of the plants and a little ways up the stalk. But I'm not spraying the entire plant. I see no need.

I've lost 8 of my 24 plants. I think I've got an infestation.

8 Tips on How to Get Rid of Cutworms Before They Eat Your Seedlings

OSU Fact Sheet on cutworms

CUTWORMS – THE ARCH NEMESIS OF THE OKLAHOMA GARDENER

That's so frustrating for you, Lynn! 8 of 24 is a lot.

That's only 2 of the stems. I didn't get the entire row in the picture and there are other plants lying off to the side.

Some of them on the other side of the trellis arch were cut down earlier.

Maybe they blew in with the tornado. (not really).

With Bt, the worm/caterpillar has to eat it and then gets sick and stops eating and starves, I don't know how quickly that happens for them. They could destroy a plant before getting sick.

Anyway, I came back here to check my to-do list. LOL. I didn't write everything down except here.

I did get the both bathrooms scrubbed down, the dog washed and nails trimmed. I only got distracted once when I went to the shop to get paper towels. I saw the elder flowers and had to go look at them. Then got distracted by the smell, so had to smell them. Then saw the calendula had some blossoms I could bring in to dry, so did that.

And came back in withOUT the paper towels so had to go back out again.

Thanks for sharing the links, Lynn.

Lynn, thanks for the cutworm info, I seldom have a problem with them, but that does not mean that I wont in the future. I will cover the info in detail, because I like to learn.

Lynn, here is my critter damage, the deer hit my sweet potatoes again last night. The damage is hard to see in the picture, but you can see that the potato plants in the upper left corner of the picture look like they have had a haircut. The deer had rather have the tender upper leaves, but they will strip a plant if the food supply is low.

If I could train the deer to only eat the weeds, I would also sit out a pan of peanut butter for them.

Jennifer, you said something about cucumbers on a trellis. I have 2 trellises with cucumbers on them. This trellis has a Parisian cucumber, and Kim's tomato on it, both seem happy. The cucumbers in the mineral tubs are not as happy. I am still going through a learning curve on container growing.

Jennifer, I thought I would show you a picture of my Bush Beefsteak, I took a hit in a storm, and there was, is a big hole about the center of the picture, but it has filled in very well. I was hoping to show how the plant was loaded with blooms and fruit, but they are hard to see in the picture.

I now have 2 tie dye, and one Dwarf sweet sue in the ground, along side of a Sonny Boy, all are new to me.

Your plants look great, Larry! Even the ones in containers. Very nice.

My cucumbers aren't as far along. The ones in the back are very slow (the ones attacked by cutworms) There's something up with the soil in that garden area. They look decently healthy, tho.

The ones in the Kitchen Garden are further along, although not as far along as yours. They're beginning to climb their trellis.

Okay....

Kitchen is clean except the floor. Paint touch up is done on bathroom door. Eggs put into cartons.

For those of you who eat breakfast, what do you eat?

Here is one box of Rick’s SG tomatoes. i generally pick them half ripe.

Jennifer, those tomatoes are great, I don't have anything that big, does Rick feed his tomatoes? I have a weird soil test and I am afraid to feed much. My soil test above optimum on P and K, I don't show low in anything, but they don't check N, because it can vary so much, and I am afraid to feed much nitrogen because of excess growth.

No I don't feed my tomatoes , just do the manuring over the winter.

Rick

Larry, sometimes we add a bit of organic granular fertilizer in the hole when planting. I usually do that. I didn't help plant these ones though, so don't remember if Rick did or not. But, I don't feed during the season. I forget about it.

There's a lot of large tomatoes out there right now. I've picked two boxes of them.

Yeah I remember now I did put a little granular fertilizer in the hole with the plant.

Rick

My scientific question of the day, why don't cutworms ever attack weeds ?

This is actually what New York City kids learn on a farm, but I thought it was interesting. I grew up on outskirts of a small town. I could ride my bike all over town easily, but we had cattle grazing up to the back fence of our one acre. And I fished five farm ponds within 1/2 mile of the back of the house.

My older brother was in FFA. Raised chickens at one time and was on a state champion poultry judging team. He also showed sheep and at one time, we had a show bull in the backyard. Dad, who grew up on a farm, was all over that.

What City Kids Learn on My Farm ‘Hens don’t lay on demand. Tomatoes aren’t ripe in June. And animals don’t care about your feelings.’

Oh wow, Oldbusy! That's great! Tell us about your blueberry growing techniques. I've never tried them.

Good question, Lynn. Maybe they do? But the veggies are tastier, so given the choice, they attack veggies.

My son had a nightmare of an airline experience yesterday. From PDX, they had to go to Phoenix and then to Dallas and finally to OKC. The flights kept changing times and places and whatnot. They finally got into Dallas after 1 this morning and their flight to OKC is in a couple of hours. Thing is, they were supposed to be here yesterday and was taking our car to a show in Ft. Worth this evening. BUT, they're just gonna stay there and we'll pick them up after their show tonight.

Last time he flew with this airline, it was the same type of deal.

There's several things I need to do in the garden, but I'll just keep it watered as best as I can this week and enjoy my family.

Currently, we're harvesting green beans, tomatoes, a few peppers, strawberries, blackberries. I could keep up with the asparagus, but I'm letting it go now. I'm not tired of it, I just can't eat it all and it's one more thing to do. Herbs..

What are y'all eating from your garden now?

Lynn, to a cutworm, your tomato is a weed, it thinks it is helping you. My deer think that I need help pruning my sweet potatoes.

Jennifer, my list is short of what we are eating from the garden. Onions, garlic, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

I have been out trying to tie up the tomatoes. I'm a wimp, I need my garden air conditioned. It is not really hot yet, and I am already whining.

I was sitting in my RTV yesterday looking at the north garden, thinking that I must have been very drunk when I planted it. I did not know that a person could get that drunk, the rows were so crooked. I can remember my dad saying "you can get more in a crooked row", or he might blame it on the horse, saying the horse was drunk, but when we were eating the produce, we could not tell if the row was crooked or not.

Larry, my husband comments about my garden planting style - if there is an empty spot I plant something there, then when it all starts growing it looks haphazard. He says ”I make you all these nice raised beds then you plant in between them!” I use every available space - sometimes that is good, sometimes it looks very crowded and not good.

I typed 2 long posts and included pictures of the new squash but Houzz wouldnt accept it. Needless to say I love it and will plant again in fall and next Spring, picking first ripe tomatoes and already decided if they start blistering or cooking will pull off and take inside to finish ripening. Deer found my garden and ate tops of okra and peas. I now have it boobytrapped with bamboo stakes and deer netting so far that is working. Pulled old green beans and replanted more beans and PEPH. Okra only about 8” tall but producing a few. Cucumbers are crazy - sharing with everyone, need time to mske some refrigerator pickles. Zuchinni are producing too and I’m still

ahead of squash bugs. Found 2 HUGE green worms on tomatoes. Trying my best to like cucumbers - I’m eating but not loving them. Having to water every other day -stay careful in this heat

Glenda, I think that the soil stays cooler, and there are fewer weeds when plants a close. I know that there is a greater chance of fungal disease if the plants are too close, but I like the looks of a crowded garden, and if the rows grow together you cant tell if they are straight or not. I have a friend that is afraid of snakes, and he tells me that he would not walk out into my sweet potatoes for anything.

My okra is about 8" tall and I have not even seen a bloom yet. What kind of okra did you plant, Glenda?

Larry the okra I plant is Long Green Pod, Burgundy, and Baby Bubba. The BB works well in the raised beds and is the earliest to produce. The other okra is planted in the ground but what the deer didnt top is about 12-15” high and starting to bloom.

Glenda, I grew a small okra several years ago, one that Dawn talked about, but I don't remember the name. The okra was very short and very productive and very pretty, but I don't have raised beds, and I try not to bend anytime that I don't have to, so I just left the okra in the flower bed and never harvested it. I don't even harvest the first pods produced on my big okra, I just leave them for seed. Bending is painful, if I have to get low I just go ahead and get down on my hands and knees, the worry about getting up later. My trellises are heavy duty with tee posts that I can climb to get back on my feet. I often have a hoe with me that I can push myself up with. My poor wife is an Angel, she tries to keep my jeans looking nice, but they look like they were worn by a coal miner. I wear the knees out of most of my jeans, but a pair of shoes will last me a long time.

I took Madge out to eat yesterday, and while we were in town I bought a couple of rolls of baler twine. I got the largest they had at the co-op. It is getting harder to tie the twine I have. This is another thing you younger folks have to look forward to, fumbly hands, and weak eyes. Anyway I tied up more tomatoes today, and the larger twine seems to be easier to use, it sticks out like a sore thumb, being a bright orange color.

The bunching onions that I harvested, and was going to wait till fall to replant them, seem to be wanting to grow again now. I may have to do a little research on how to take care of them. The walking onion bulbils I harvested seem to be doing well, I see no problem saving them, but you cant kill an Egyptian walking onion anyway.

I don't really have a blueberry growing technique, I planted them about 14 years ago . I don't even remember what varieties I have.