I got 22 more peppers planted, I had to plant in the rain, and did not amend the soil. It seem as though I only have to amend the soil if I plant sweet potatoes, and that is because the ground gets so hard that I cant dig the potatoes if I don't amend it.

I must be getting in to big of a hurry. I planted 22 peppers, but I have hundreds of them coming up. Judging from the location I got these, they should be Tam jalapenos, and I put giant jalapenos back in that space. I must be losing ground if I am tilling in more peppers than I am planting.

I'm having a similar problem as you, Larry. Except most of mine are flowers. The black eyed Susan, marigold and salvia would have completely taken over the garden if I had let it. I took out so many marigold that I don't even have landscaping spots up by the house for them anymore. I have a lot of volunteer tomatillos that I need to find some room for also. I guess that's what they call "1st world problems".

Our neighbor is giving us a few blackberry plants, so I'm in the middle of coating a raised box for those. Outside of that, all that's left are the lawn areas. I need to put up a sign "free flowers" and just drop flats by the driveway.

Since I only lightly tilled a few inches deep, I've had a lot of left over clover that has flowered. The bees were absolutely killing it out there. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything with all those tall flower spikes, so I had to shear most down. Fortunately for the bees, the buckwheat has started to put on flowers. It's going to be a bushy garden this year, I think. Lots of work ahead...but that's what I'm here for, I guess.

Josh, we're going to have a weedy garden year. I just can't keep up with it.

But, wow. The rain. And more to come. I just got home and sorta glanced at my kitchen garden. I'm worried about the tomatoes. If they can hold on, I'm going to prune and mulch them on Saturday. And plant peppers. Fingers crossed.

I did notice that my oakleaf hydrangea is wilted. This makes me really sad. I spent more on that plant than any other ever. I hope it can hold one.

I do love rain, but we need to dry out a bit.

Rebecca, I'm glad your mom enjoyed the asparagus. I guess it was Dawn that left hers.

I can take more to her. And more. And more.

Larry, I don't grow as many onions as you do. I wouldn't be able to afford the fancy fertilizer if I grew that many. So far the onions look okay even with the rain.

Rick was asking about pictures of the SF. Kim, did you take any? Moni posted a few on FB, but we're all eating and they're not the most attractive pics. LOL

Alexis did take some when we were out in Regina's garden. Maybe she'll post them soon.

I didn't take a single pictures. I always forget.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight. I should hem some curtains. I've avoided that chore for a couple of months now.

Jennifer, my onions don't know what fancy fertilizer is. I will but a 50# bag of 10-20-10, or something like that. I will buy a 50# of a high nitrogen fertilizer every now and then. I will pour the fertilizer into one gallon milk jugs. The 50# bags run around $25 ea. and will last for several years. I fertilize by how things look, I have not fertilized yet this year, other than tossing a little nitrogen around the onions earlier in the year.

My onions don't looks as good as I would like. I planted using a different method this year, and it has not worked out as well. I normally use a "V" shaped how to make a furrow, then just press the onions into the side of the furrow, some times the fall over, but they root anyway. This year it was so wet, I just poked a hole with a tool and stuck the onion down into the hole, I think that I ended up with the onions too deep. I also noticed that I already have at least 4 of the 400 bulbing onions bolting. It it does not dry out some, the bolting will be the least of my problems.

I went out between showers and planted peppers today. I now have 69 peppers planted, which is about 7 times what we need, but I am trying to grow for others also.

Jennifer, I noticed those pictures Moni posted. I wasn’t exactly happy with those. But I did not take any pictures at all.

Larry and Lynn, you're two of my heroes--about my age, but you guys are rock stars! I love your posts. I was tickled that I actually got four pepper plants in. Mind you, this was a hard decision I made, to quit growing by seed, to quit planting 20 varieties of peppers, tomatoes, basil.

We need to get some young ones in this group!! We could recruit them to do our work! But seriously, I see our beloved Gardenweb group getting old. . . it's sweet and sad. . . and of course, we all honor our Dawn.

I'm so sorry we couldn't do SF and got very teary-eyed about not being there.

Jennifer, a shout-out to you--you've been so important in keeping this group alive and going. AND BTW, I'd be happy to send you a packet of "native trail" seeds for your pollinator garden if you'd like. I got a POUND of them from Native American Seeds for a project that has been delayed now, so am sending out packets of them to those who want them.

Rain rain rain here. . .

I have to laugn. . . told Amy I'd take some walking onions. . . two years later was ready to take them all out. . . but decided to keep a few because if I happen to run out of onions, they're a satisfactory backup. And now they're here and there, just happily sprouting up. . . . I just roll my eyes and say, "Whatever."

Nancy, flattery will get you everywhere ..... hahaha ........ thanks for the kind words.

Here in OKC, it appears we're gonna set an all time record for rainfall in the month of April. A real record, not a faux-record reported to be sensational. It will be the most rainfall since records have been kept.

The lake levels have to got to be straining at the top of dams. I'd bet there's a lot of water being released that will flow down the Arkansas. It could be Memorial Day before levels get near normal.

If I did any gardening now, it would have to be from a boat. Water gets deep in the midrows of my garden but somehow, keeps draining before the next thunderstorm brings more rain.

My tomatoes are holding up, most that fell over straightened up during that two day reprieve from rain. I still don't see any wilting and dying. I had planned on putting down cottonseed hull mulch. Right now, I can't decide if its a good or bad thing that I wasn't able to get that done. Mulch would've kept the soil from drying out. But may've kept it from getting soaked, too.

Had also planned to get my cucumber seed planted in the last week of April. So much for that.

I've still got a 6 foot stretch of fence on the side of the house, where I had to set a new pole, that I can't get to because its nothing but mud. It may be another week before I can rebuild that stretch.

I look around the yard and see so much to be done, and can't do anything but watch it rain.

According to Grok on X ...............

The record for the highest monthly rainfall in Oklahoma City is 11.91 inches, which occurred in April 1947.

At this moment, my personal weather station says 10.37 for the month.

My tomatoes are up out of the water, but I gotta feeling the root ball is below that water line under the surface.

Yes, thanks for the kind words, Nancy. I think Lynn, and I enjoy playing in the dirt/mud. It looks like Lynn also needs to take up fishing, his garden is wetter than mine. I think Lynn may be able to catch a few crawdads and carp in his garden

I think that the younger folks had rather Walmart do their gardening for them.

I dumped water out of trays this morning, and hope to plant a few more plants today. The pasture garden, which has never been amended is empty, and maybe I can reach over from the grass far enough to plant some of the plants that I have sitting in trays on the front lawn. These plants were to be taken to Spring Fling, but if I can give them away, I will plant them, and the kids can give away the produce this summer. I bought several bags of compost and potting soil just for this purpose. I think that I can just sit the plants in potting soil, on top of the mud, I am not sure how that will work, but the garden needs amending anyway.

I still need to plant okra and cucumbers. I have pots ready for cucumbers, but I plan on planting the okra in the ground, when I am able to walk on it.

I am currently sitting in my car watching it rain. I have no windows in the house so I had to come out here to see daylight. I have quite a few more things to plant but until I move my mulch, I am out of space. I hope to get it moved in the next week because I want to be done planting by May 10. I harvested a big mess of green that I am cooking down. I’ll freeze it and then when I get another bag or two, I will pull it all out and can it. So far in the last 24 hours, we have gotten 3 inches of rain, which should be enough to drown all the crop of grasshoppers that has sprouted And hopefully we’ll lighten the grasshopper pressure this year.

I have been working in the south garden. The old part of the south garden has been amended enough that I can walk in it, do I have been cleaning some of the old binder twine off the trellises, and tying up the 12 tomato plants that I have planted. We are under a tornado watch, so thought I should secure the tomato plants. Of the 69 peppers I have planted, only 10 are under a trellis, I will not do anything with them until I get some other projects done. I will be tied up at the clinic and hospital all day tomorrow, so it will at least Fri. before I will have time to do anything.

I don't think that I am having a grasshopper problem yet, but the Flea beetles are trying to eat everything.

Larry, I'm takin a stick with me to the garden, to beat down the water moccasins . I was just out there, and thought I saw a school of minnows.

Nancy, we missed you too!

I'll be happy to take some native trail seed. There's a spot (northeast corner) of our property that I try to get Tom to leave alone for as long as possible. At some point he'll have to mow, but I do try to hold him off for as long as I can.

Our property is very untidy right now, tho. I'm not exactly unhappy about it because when I see the bees of all kinds and ladybugs on the clover and yarrow it makes me happy. (I know that clover isn't native.) Sometimes I do think the neighbors might believe we are lazy because we don't keep it perfectly mowed.

Of course, who could mow right now. We have ponds all over the property.

And mud. Lots and lots of mud. Mostly in the chicken yard and pen. I slipped and fell in it this morning. Little darlings make dust bath holes and the area is very uneven. The holes are filled with muddy water and the entire thing is slippery. Normally I'll hold onto something but my hands were full of feed as I was trying to figure out how to feed them in the rain. Even their covered pen was muddy (which is where I slipped). Ridiculous.

Anyway....we will be doing some work to that area as soon as it dries out. Hopefully in about 3 weeks.

We'll need to recruit very young people to help garden. The youngish ones are busy with growing families as well as their gardens. They have zero time. There are a lot who are interested in the lifestyle. Both the very young and youngish. The youngish often have 2 working parents and baseball, band, dance, homework...maybe even church/youth group. It leaves little room for gardening. BUT, some are able to pull it off. We did and we were very active band parents. But, at the time we only had one kid involved in those things.

I did finally get my curtains hemmed and hung last night. Wow. I haven't had the sewing machine out in years. But did remember how to thread it and load a bobbin. lol

Probably will be unable to work outside tonight just because it's way too wet. But I will put on my boots and walk around to see how it all looks. That's another issue this morning when I slipped. My feet are all flared up and the boots hurt.

Lightning struck a house in my neighborhood last night. It was our neighbors house that just recently sold. The neighbor next to them said that there were 13 firetrucks there and an ambulance. Part of the thing is Moore, Noman, and OKC all come to our neighborhood. We don't really belong to a city as we are unincorporated. The house thankfully didn't burn and no one was hurt. I'm not sure how much damage it had. I might walk over there this evening if my feet permit me to do so. I don't know the new owners yet.

Kim mentioned grasshoppers. I keep thinking that maybe this flooding rain will lighten the load of them. They should be hatching about now. I saw a couple of baby ones in the native garden when I was cleaning out the dead stuff from last year.

I did not take my normal path to work because I knew Indian Hills would be close just east of the tracks. Luckily my chosen path wasn't closed or flooded.

The rain shut me down as I was working in the south garden, but I did get the tomato plants ties up, and the trellis tidied up some.

I was kicking over in my mind about the peppers that I have not planted yet, and happened to think that I have not planted any small jalapeno, or habaneros. I knew I had started some, and didn't rememder giving them away, so I went back and checked my plant supply, and I still have plenty of both. Matter of fact, I still have over 100 pepper plants that need planting, and plenty of other kinds of plants also, I am not sure I will have room for all my plants. I had planned on making the rows far enough apart in the pasture garden to drive the tractor and tiller between the rows, if I do that I will not have room for all of my plants.

Part of my north garden has gotten so shady that vegetables don't really do well there, so I had thought maybe some flowers should go there. If I remember correctly begonias, caladiums, and hydrangeas are what I use to grow in shady areas, but that has been a long time ago, and I had rather not mess with them in the garden.

This just a small sampling of the

holy basil that has reseeded.

That'sa bunch of basil.

Pill bugs. I know they have their place in the ecosystem, but they’re eating my cucumber and marigold seedlings. They have to go. I already put out Sluggo. Anything else I should do? I have diatomaceous earth and Captain Jack’s spray.

Rebecca, How do you know it is pill bugs? I have a ton of pill bugs, and I have plant damage, but I am not sure what is causing the damage. It looks like I have cabbage worm damage, flea beetle damage, and maybe other damage. I don't like to put anything out, but I have read that diatomaceous earth works, but I have not used any in 15 or 20 years. I saw a lot of snails also when I was weeding the garden. Do pill bugs eat plants that are 6"+ high?

Rebecca, I've recently watched a couple of YouTubers who are putting out cut potatoes to feed the roly pollies. It seems to be working for them. They eat the raw potatoes and leave their seedlings alone. Also, one put out sliced oranges. Just drop the pieces in your garden around the seedlings.

Jennifer, I like the idea of the potatoes, I think that I will try some potato peel, I toss the peel out in the garden anyway. I don't really do composting any more, I just toss the scrapes into the garden, and till them in at some point.

Larry, there are swarms of pill bugs.

Captain Jack's = Spinosad , that's what I was using last week for cutworms. Grok AI recommended that and bifenthrin, which is suppose to be preferred but I could not find it without ordering.

I used that along with diatomaceous earth.

Grok on Spinosad

Organic Option: Spinosad (e.g., Bonide Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew)

• Why It Works: Spinosad kills cutworms through ingestion or contact and is approved for organic gardening. It’s effective if larvae are feeding near the soil surface or on lower stems.
• Application:
  • Mix 2 fl. oz. of spinosad concentrate per gallon of water.
  • Spray the base of tomato plants and the surrounding soil in the evening to target nocturnal cutworms.
  • Reapply every 7–10 days or after heavy rain.
• Pros: Safe for edible crops (check pre-harvest interval on label, typically 1 day for tomatoes), low toxicity to mammals.
• Cons: Less effective for deep soil larvae; may harm some beneficial insects if overused.
• Effectiveness for Your Case: Moderate, as it works best when cutworms ingest treated plant tissue or soil.

The water midrow in my garden had almost completely drained by dark yesterday evening.

10 Day Forecast looks a bit drier, thankfully

Weather Underground 10 day

Rebecca, with the sluggo, I remember Dawn saying to get the one with the

”plus”. The ”plus” is what is for pill bugs.

maybe put the potatoes away from your seedlings to see if they will be drawn away. and put the Sluggo Plus around the plants .

I've found that Sluggo = Iron Phosphate , works for slugs and snails.

Sluggo Plus = Iron Phosphate and Spinosad.

Basically, the same as Captain Jacks.

I had to dump a lot of water from my trays, we had a lot more rain. Hopefully I can get more plants planted this afternoon.

I will go to Ft. Smith in soon, maybe I can stop and get some Captain Jack, I don't often go where there is a large selection of anything.

I have been out planting all day and loving it. I planted marigolds zinnia’s three different kinds of basil. I planted my raspberry and blackberry in the same pot. They can Duke it out this summer. The raspberry did not have roots yet and the blackberry did so I don’t expect the raspberry to do much this year. I had a lot of leaks and I just trashed those because it’s too late to start off with baby LEEKS. The garden is really coming together and it is going to be a jungle by time summer hits. Which is fine with me. I finally decided since this temporary space is turned almost permanent. I better just put it in the ground and enjoy.

Well I have not done anything but run to doctors today, and more of the same tomorrow. I stopped by Sutherlands is Ft. Smith looking for the Captain Jack or Sluggo Plus but did not find either, but I am so tired and weak that I can't do a lot of walking, and Madge is almost as bad. I don't do will going to the big stores, if Is much easier for me to go to the Co-op, where they say, " Hello, Larry, what can we do for you", I tell them, pay for it and they load me. I don't even have to walk a 100 feet when I go to the Co-op.

I did buy some caladiums when I was at Sutherlands, I like caladiums, but they are a lot more trouble than they are worth. Sutherlands had begonias also, but they were in a hanging basket, and I did not want to fool with those either.

I agree Larry in our heat begonias and caladiums are too fussy for me. I need something that is a thug or a beast and my Porter tomatoes zinnias cosmos and herbs are just right. And mint

I got to spend time outside tonight and it was so good.

Especially after spending the day at the Science Museum. It's a good and fun place, but with so many children on end-of-the-year field trips--it was a lot of noise and activity. Kfor was there and did a presentation about weather with Emily Sutton, so we'll probably be on TV in the early morning. LOL.

But it was nice to spend time in the garden. It's a mess. I planted the bell peppers and lunchbox peppers. Put mulch around them and a couple of tomatoes too.

I stupidly cut my Sungold nearly to the ground on accident while I was trimming off the diseased stuff. It had fruit on it too. Good grief. It was getting dark and I'm tired and messed that up. There's one little limb left, so it will probably rebound.

Another stupid thing I've done is leave all the chamomile. I had to pull some out and that hurts my heart, but I harvested the flowers from it and in between garden tasks, made a lovely glass of iced chamomile and lemon balm tea. There's a giant lemon balm plant in the burn pile right now. It's beautiful.

Anyway, the chamomile had to be pulled because it's in the way of where I want to put cucumber seeds.

Which I did. Four different varieties and also Kajari melon.

The ground is saturated. More rain to come in the overnight.

I'm dreaming of having a week at home. Staying up until about 1 am and sleeping in to about 8 and then working in the garden. Maybe taking a nap in the early afternoon. That would be just lovely. And will never happen. lol

Some of the strawberries are turning red. The biggest ones are a variety that Rick brought over a couple of months ago.

There's some issues with my tomatoes, tho. We'll see what happens when we dry out a bit. It may be a not-so-great tomato year for me. I'll start more seed mid June for fall tomatoes, but we'll be in Oregon the 3rd week of June, so I'll need to find someone to care for my seedlings because they'll just begin to be emerging. My Mom isn't going on this trip so I might take them to her house.

The Abe Lincoln is the one that looks especially bad. I believe the bed it's in is wetter than the others. I really makes me sad to see them like that, but at this point, there's nothing I can really do for them.

Everyone has different gardening styles, but I truly care about each of my plants. That's why I don't hand them over to others mindlessly. I always hope that others will care for them the way I do. I could never breed animals and sell them. It would make me a wreck.

I know that I'm ridiculously tender about such things.

Everything looks good in the herb spiral other than the 2 hyssop at the lower level. They might now make it. The one on an elevated level looks good.

Anyway...Happy May Day/Beltane!

I wanted to plant the spring equinox flowers today. But, the place for them isn't ready.

Jennifer I’ve gotten most things planted from the fling. I got a giant pro mix and used half of it already. I made a giant pot just for oregano. And the rotelle are in the ground. I’m going to draw a map of all my things and where they are and I will try to remember to post it.

Well, wouldn’t that be a trick growing rotelle? Of course it was supposed to say Roselle. I hope your sun gold comes back. I have had some near misses. with planting all over the yard because I forget where things are and then I step on them.

I did not get any plants planted in the garden, I did however help Madge with flowers, and plan on making her another flower bed tomorrow while she is at the beauty shop. I don't think that Madge has ever had anyone help her with flowers before, she seems a little timid to ask for help. Madge and I have different opinions, but we both may be wrong, I never really know what I am doing, I just lucky pretty often.

Anyway, we did get out and sort some plants this evening. I have told 2 different people to come by and pick up plants, I don't want to through any away. I do have plans of using sweet potatoes again this year as a living mulch, it seemed to work pretty good last year, and I still have sweet potatoes stored under our bed.

I may have lost my onions, the soil has washed over them and the soil is so wet. The onions look like they are trying to wilt. The bunching, and walking onions still look okay, but I don't think you can kill them. I have so much trouble with wet soil, I just may quit trying to grow bulbing onions. I think that I can better use the space on something else.

I also need to plant okra,cucumbers, and squash. If the rain would quit for a while I could get a few things planted.

Jennifer, I am living the dream, and it IS great. I most often don't go to bet till very late, often sleep late, and work in the garden about anytime I want, I would recommend it to anyone.

Emily Sutton at Science Museum

I enjoyed taking my daughters there when they were little. But it had no impact on them wanting a STEM education , hahaha ...................... one is a now a VP of a bank and the other is still trying to figure out her path in life. I worry about her.

My " on this day " pic from Microsoft. This is 2013. I can agree with that. But I'm not sure its May 2nd. MS doesn't always get the day correct.

I've got the buckets out protecting from a late freeze. I do recall a year we had a freeze this late. But I'm looking at the leaves on the red bud tree in the background, and it doesn't look like May.

My garden was smaller then. I grew onions and tomato. I had yet to do the raised row.

Still got the same wheelbarrow. I bought it in 1985 and its on its third set of wooden handles.

The boxwood shrubs around my shed had not yet been attacked by the scale. I've battled those things for years. If I don't spray them every 2 weeks they will take over the shrubs. I'm trying to bring the boxwoods back now. And I have to use malathion. I don't like that, but I also want shrubs.

Lynn, I like your pictures.

I doubt that worrying helps much, if it did, this world should be in better shape.

My garden looks a lot like your's, in your recent pictures.

This garden is not very old, I am still working on drainage and erosion.

This is the same garden a few feet away, I have beem working on this area for several years, maybe 15 years, it is amended better and drains much better, although this area is only about 15 feet away from all the water in the sweet potato area.

Jennifer, you said that you place is untidy, just look what a mess I am dealing with. I can fish from my back porch, my gardens still need a lot of cleaning, and planting. The hay needs to be cut, and it is much too wet for that.

I am digging out some of my Egyptian walking, and bunching onions to toss in my drainage/composting ditch to let them decompose to add back to the soil. I want to use the space for something else.

Lynn, I don't know how old your daughters are, but the museum is a lot better than when my kids were little and enormously better than when I was a kid. When I was a small child, the "planetarium" was at the fairgrounds. It didn't have much then. I remember giant mirrors that faced each other from a distance. And you could talk into them and the person at the other mirror could hear you.

I was most fascinated with an Egyptian princess mummy they had.

Anyway....

We got rain last night but it wasn't much. I'm okay with that. lol

Kim, I hope the Sungold comes back too. It probably will, but it sets me way back for getting cherry tomatoes.

Out of the 279 tomato plants that Rick has in the hoop house....none are cherry types, I'm afraid. lol

It's okay. I'll pick up a plant at OKC Flower and Garden Fest next weekend.

I do have an Isis Candy. The other Isis Candy was one that snapped in the wind.

Have a good day, Friends.

I did manage to get out and plant 12 flowers, it was really a mess.

Weather Underground site has a history feature. On the morning of May 3, 2013 , Will Rogers recorded a low temp of 35* .

So yes, that pic of the buckets over the tomatoes was accurate .

I often wont plant till after the first of May, because of my microclimate I often get late frost. At one time my area had a late April frost date, but it has mover a little earlier now.

I just looked on the computer, and it gives my spring frost as Apr.3, and, fall as Nov 1, I never remember that being true for me.

Jennifer, I had to repair an Isis Candy today, I found that the wind had broken it over, it was pretty bad, but not broken in two.

I tried to find Captain Jack, or Sluggo Plus in Poteau today, but no luck, but I bought some bait instead, I don't have much faith in the bait but I will put some out.

Maybe tomorrow I can plant more plants. If I had room, I think that there is around 400 plants that need go into the ground. I will try using some of the sweet potatoes as a living mulch again this year.

Larry, I've been finding free shipping from Home Depot. It varies from item to item. Sometimes its there, sometimes not. And there's not been a minimum purchase to get it shipped free. And on top of that, the price is right. Its either the same or lower than Amazon. IDK how HD is doing that, evidently they're wanting to compete with Amazon. Which I think is a good thing for the consumer.

IDK what was going on with the weather in May of 2013. But it was a very unusual month. We had a near freeze. Then a terrible F5 tornado hit Moore and an elementary school.

And on May 31, we had another huge tornado form out west of OKC. This was when Channel 4's Mike Morgan told everyone to get in their car and drive out of the path. OKC emptied. For a lot of years, my plan for a tornado was to drive to Crossroads Mall, which was half in the ground. That day I got caught in everyone on the road and we never got to the mall.

That was the summer I finally decided to have a fraidy hole put in the backyard.

There was a lot of weather fear mongering going on at that time. We were told that due to climate change, we would have more and more of those F5 tornadoes. But that one that hit Moore, was the last F5 we've had in the entire state since. We've not even had an F4.

Now, the fear mongerers have had to resort to " record " number of tornadoes, where they count every little dust devil that twists up a tree. The tornadoes are " radar indicated ", then the next day they go investigate the area and if they find any damage, they call it a tornado. 50 years ago, we would not even have known there was a tornado.

But some how, due to climate change, we're seeing record numbers.

Lynn, there are a lot of things I don't understand, but I have lived long enough to see that things are changing, and I expect that they always have been. I can remember when we were headed in to an Ice Age, the earth was cooling, now we are getting hotter. I am having trouble making up my mind if I need to buy a coat or go naked. People look at you funny if they see you walking down the street naked, carrying a coat, but as unstable as the world is, whats a guy supposed to do?

It was down to 51 here this morning. I was planning on planting okra today, and expect that I will, if it is dry enough to get into the garden. I suppose I will just put on my rubber boots and plant anyway, dragging out half of my garden stuck to my boots, and pants.

I would like to buy more on line, but I can't keep up with my pass work, and other info, so I just have my grand daughter, of daughter buy what ever I need, and I hate to bother. .them

Jennifer, this is my damaged Isis Candy, it looks like it has been lynched, but I think it will heal and be okay.

This is my largest tomato, a Black Krim. These plants were started at the same time as the plants that I still have in my 6 packs. The plants seem to grow better in the ground than they do in the 6 packs.

If I can find a spot dry enough I will try to plant more plants today.

Lynn, Emily Sutton talked about the climate changes and did mention that she believes people who study and have education in that field. She does believe we are getting hotter overall. And she did say that in Oklahoma, we'll have periods of drought and then floods. Not nice soaking rains.

I'm not here to argue with anyone because I don't study the climate nor am I educated in it so I don't have an opinion. I will say that there's been climate changes through out the history of the Earth, I believe.

But, she also mentioned that part of the reason 2024 had the most tornadoes is they now have the ability to detect even the smallest ones....and years ago, those smallest ones wouldn't be counted.

Makes sense.

2013 was a nightmare. My workplace was hit by one of those little ones. And our house had mild damage. And we were a relief center--my workplace--for the May 20 one and then our building was hit by the May 31 "mini" ones.

I still have stress from it. People I know were injured and I have friends who worked at all schools that were destroyed/damaged. And talked to a grandmother who had found her way to my workplace (like I said we were a relief center). She couldn't get to her granddaughter's school nor contact the parents. When she mentioned the age of the child, my heart sank. We had already gotten word about the children who had died at her granddaughter's school and the class was the same age/grade as her grandchild. We made phone calls for her and eventually an "official" looking car picked her up to take her to a church for a "meeting" about the damage to that school. Actually they were gathering the families of the deceased children. Later, on the news, I saw her granddaughter's name listed as one who had died. The May 3 1999 one, like this one, is such a disaster the night of--people trying to get home. And it's just congested and roads closed and it's just the worse. Anyway, I could go on and one about it. So many stories.

Larry, I'm glad your Isis Candy will make it! And look at you! Already having fruit!

I had time today to plant a little raised bed with the leftover lettuces.

We didn't get into until 10 last night. Our daughter's flight was delayed. As a result I didn't get to water the hoop house plants. Everything looked pretty good except for Rick's tomatoes. Those ones in the 6 pack especially really have to be watered at least once a day--twice is better. They're really, really large.

They're watered now.

Got the grocery shopping and recycling done.

We have dinner plans tonight, but will work outside all afternoon/evening tomorrow after we both get off work. Tom will probably be able to mow most areas of the property by then.

We have some situations with people's electricity being damaged by the lightning the other night. Not just the one house that was directly hit. Anyway, we're currently supplying water to two other homes. Because of damage to their electricity and our wells run on that. All the houses out here are connected to others so we can do that for each other if needed.

I fed the sourdough starter yesterday but wasn't expecting to not get home until 10 so it went flat again. I'm about to start the stretch and folds and somehow get some bread baked tonight even if it's super late when we get in.

Amy, you okay? How's your foot? Ankle?

Anyway, I'm rambling. Gonna stretch and fold and maybe plant a few more things in between.

Goodness Jennifer that’s so terrifying.

Lynn, that post was interesting. The two tornadoes that I remember the most is the one that hit Greenwood Arkansas in 1968, and the one that hit Joplin in 2011. I went to school in Greenwood, but I was gone by then, but 12 people were killed out of a town of less than 2000. A lot of people were at work in Ft. Smith, or at school picking up their kids, and the tornado did hot hit the school area, but took out a lot of down town. Most of the people that live around here remember the Joplin tornado, I think 150+ people were killed in that tornado. I use to drive an 18 wheeler, and would haul fright through that area,It is hard to believe the damage a tornado can do.

I tilled up a spot to plant a row of okra, and spaded up a spot large enough to plant a few peppers and tomatoes.

I started mowing, but got a garden hose tangles up around the center spindle on the mower. I will have to lift the mower to untangle the hose, and I don't have time for that right now. I will sorta touch the lawn up with the other mower, and get back on my garden work. Madge sorta wants the lawn mowed, but I think it can wait, I am sot sure if I can ever remember anyone coming over and to mow my lawn because they did not like the way it looked.

Wouldn’t that be nice Larry? Someone walk over and say hey your lawn looks rough. Do you mind if I mow it? I weed eat when my neighbors mow. Otherwise I try not to get too excited about it. My oak grows up about an inch and a half 2 inches And I planted some more this week. My Black Eyed Peas are making a show but not much. I’m gonna have to replant those again. I’m not sure about this crappy soil. Today I’m too tired to do anything. I did the market that was enough.

One more thing on climate. It could be getting warmer, but that could also be natural variability of weather.

The entire decade of the 1930's was hot. Some of the hottest records were set in that decade. There were heat waves all across the country and severe drought in the Dust Bowl, which was western Oklahoma, Texas Panhandle, and SW Kansas.

The heat and drought persisted for so long, that people thought the climate had permanently changed. They moved out of the Dust Bowl, mostly to California. But it had not changed.

That was just natural variability of weather.

And its awfully suspicious that the climate alarmists don't want to quote weather stats for that decade. They want to pretend that did not happen.

I saw some young guy who'd just got out of OSU on X, saying that he'd learned in college that the Dust Bowl was man made, nothing to do with weather. Yeah, farming practices exacerbated the dust. But man did not make those record high temps nor the drought.

And those who've studied the true history of weather, say the decade of the 1870's was even hotter.

The final clincher for me, is every " solution " the alarmist provide to change the weather, involves moving our economy toward socialism. It involves more and more control of our economy through Federal spending, which means politicians in DC gain economic power. They can use that power to keep getting elected.

We did this in WW II. The Federal govt took over large segments of the economy. No autos were manufactured during the war, they made tanks and airplanes. The Fed govt rationed commodities. There were people with connections to the Fed govt who got very very wealthy from the war. But it was done with the assurance that it would end, when the war was over. This climate thing, goes on forever.

Lynn, I agree, but I think that you only scratched surface, power and control equal money, and it is in every part of our lives.

It looks like another good planting day. I have things that should have been planted weeks ago, but most of my areas are still too wet, but I will "make do". I don't know where that term came from, but I have heard it all of my life, so I guess everybody likes "do".

Daughter is to come over today, I always like that. I hope others come also, but it seems as tho visiting old folks is not a high priority.