Larry, I don't know what to do with my potatoes, garlic and onions. They are way too wet. I don't really have time to deal with them right now....and the garlic isn't ready. I pulled one and it needs a couple more weeks. I also pulled about 8 onions that are medium sized and a large one. They aren't bolting, but are so wet. It's hard to know what to do.

There's a lot of things I don't know how to deal with this year. The weeds are coming up strong in the corn. That garden cannot be tilled right now because it's too wet. I have a bad feeling that when we get back from our trip, we will have to mow the corn over...because of the grass. IF it's dry enough to mow. It just depends on what happens in the next couple of weeks. I hate, hate, HATE the thought of mowing Rick's corn. Maybe I'll think of another plan.

It's so wet out there, the corn is yellowing some. And, some of those tomatoes are looking pretty bad.

(The storm just got here. High winds. I heard something blow over)

In good news, the green beans look really nice. And the okra is coming along. The tomatoes in raised beds look okay. And I harvested another bundle of asparagus.

I spent time in the front flower bed this evening. It's all cleaned up and looks nice. We'll add some cotton seed hull in a couple of weeks.

So...thinking about gardening and my future. IF we were ever to move....I would have a kitchen garden right out my back door. We don't plan on having dogs after Josi. Then...a little ways out from the house, have 3 or 4 very long beds for production crops for preserving. I would keep a smaller flock of chickens too.

I don't regret the ways we've done things at all. It's all been such a joy and we've learned so much. But....I think about how I want to go forward now.

Even with our coop....it's utilitarian now. It needs to be easy to clean.

This coming week, tho. I'm just not going to stress. My house will not be clean for Tom's sister and brother in law. Luckily, they stay in their fancy RV to sleep. I won't have time to clean or cook meals for them. It's just how it is. We'll take them out to eat for all meals (that will be expensive! They're here from Thursday evening to Sunday morning) and if they can't be in our house, we'll visit in their RV and I'll promise to make it up to them next visit.

I've got my clothes together for Oregon. The coast will be about 65, so I'm packing things for that type of weather.

Rick's nephew is coming Sunday afternoon and I'll need to meet with him. The estate thing is a mess. I'm just glad that it seems he has the electric bill come out of his bank, so the power is still on at his house in Norman. Not sure what is happening exactly at his house in Morris....but I can't worry about that.

So, other than small garden things, I'll be putting the garden on hold until June 24. If things rot, they rot.

What a crazy year, huh?

Jennifer, this is the wettest gardening year that I have ever had to deal with. I live in a valley, the valley floor is about 1/2 mile wide here, my old house is on the east side of the property, this house is on the west side, both gardens have a wet weather creek running near, and the whole valley is wetter than most areas around. I just gave up on growing Irish potatoes because my springs are just too wet, I may have to do the same on onions. If I were younger I would build raised beds, but I don't want to go to that much trouble this late in life.

If Ricks garden was here, I might try to run my small mower between the rows, you may not have a narrow mower. I have started making with clean-up in mind, which mean my mowers are often in my garden, and from time to time my brush hog sneaks into my garden. If I can't get my weeds under control, my garden will soon see a mower, tiller, Round Up, or all the above, it is a mess.

Some years ago George gave me some Egyptian walking onions, those things have been through hell, and high water, they are like a Timex watch, they take a lickin and keep on tickin. I have given away starts of them every year, you can't kill them. I want to rely on them more. Madge does not like them as well as the bulbing onions, so I have to prep them and put then in a bag in the freezer to get her to use them. I told Madge this afternoon, that I bought $30, or $35 worth of bulbing onion plants, and I harvested about a dollars worth of bulbs. I have given away sacks of walking onions, and still have more than I can use. My multiplying onions are doing very well also. I used a head of the multiplying onion yesterday in some hamburger patties, they worked out fine, but I spiced them up a little too much with onion, garlic, and hot pepper from the garden. I used a Hungarian wax pepper, it was a little too hot. The Jalapeno is my go to pepper, but the Hungarian wax was closer, and larger.

Jennifer, I am sorta like you, I want to give everything a fighting chance, and the things that are given to me have a special meaning. The plants or seeds I get from others are special to me also.

I was going to try to get caught up on the last thread, but I never did. I read everybody’s post and I had so many comments I wanted to make and I just didn’t get it done. I’m glad y’all are here so that I can read about all the exciting things going on in your life in your gardens. The only thing I envy is that y’all have more space than I do. I do not envy the amount of work you do or the amount of mud you have. This year just seems like a mess. But I am going to go to the garden with a pad of paper And make a list of every single pot. What is in it right now and what needs to change. Wish me luck because there’s about 28 to 36 pots and three in ground spaces and the green stalk. I know for sure the strawberries are coming out. I am not impressed with the way that they produced this year because of all the rain. But June bearing strawberries might be great for some people, but they can’t have prime real estate in my greenstalk. I’ve got pretty much all the sweet potatoes planted that I want to plant, but I still have so many beautiful slips that it is hard to not put them in the ground. Waste not want not. I also got 50 pounds of potatoes and 40 pounds of apples to deal with oh and about 20 pounds of peaches. I definitely have enough to keep me busy. The market went well this weekend actually I did two of them and they did pretty good. I’m trying to get ready for the next Market and I need to build some more risers for myself and a friend of mine

Kim, I feel like the garden is a mess this year too. I'm sure there's many reasons for it.

I sure wish I could get my June bearing strawberries going again....but it's been 3 years since I've had good harvests. The Greenstalk does okay with strawberries, but maybe better for everbearing ones. I've gotta find another place for the June bearers. I've thought about putting them on the east side of the chicken pen. (there's hardware cloth so the chickens can't stick their heads through the fence to eat them) I made 2 new beds for them in 2022 and could never get them established there. I'm at a loss. Just a few feet away, they did beautifully in a 3 tiered type of bed. Made pies and jelly and all sorts of good stuff.

Congrats on a successful market weekend!

Larry, I wish you could help me with Rick's garden. Although, honestly, even if he were alive and well, it would be a struggle just because of the amounts of rain we've had.

I remember Dawn saying something a long time ago about how she didn't really plan her day in the garden. She just went out and "felt" what she needed to do. I've noticed I do work better than way too. It's why it's hard for me to keep a planner. Once written down, it feels like an obligation hanging over my head. Although I do enjoy crossing things off of a list. Dawn had the good fortune of staying home, so it was probably easier to work that way. I enjoy working that way...and actually do so more than I intend, but those lists are important too. For me.

I had no plans of cleaning up the front flowerbeds yesterday, but after walking around outside, it's what felt right. That's how I will handle this evening too. Right now, the kitchen garden is calling to me (from work lol). But, I might change my mind once home.

Tom is going to grill pork chops, so all I'll have to do is put some potatoes in the oven and steam some (of my neighbor's) green beans.

We'll try out the new auto chicken waterer tonight too. See if we like it and if so, order another one for the small coop.

Another thought...

Amy, is it you that did asparagus with strawberries?

I wonder how that would work for me. My asparagus beds are difficult to keep weeded, so do you think the strawberries would sorta help with that too? Maybe like a living mulch....?

Aspargus and strawberries was a bust. The strawberries were too aggressive. Try something without runners and a short root system, like lettuce or spinach.

That is how I garden. I just walk out and do what I feel needs to be done at the time. The list is mainly for next year when I look back and I see what was I doing and what was I behind on. Maybe things that I could have done ahead of time. And it just helps me be more aware of what needs to be done. I don’t feel my lists as an obligation as much as I do just a Guide. I like to look through my list in the morning and just see what I feel like doing. And then I get out in the garden and I don’t do anything that’s on my list. So many of the pots have a corner that i can put an another herb in. I think I’m gonna go out and gather up all the things that need to be planted into one place including pecan trees. I’ve had kind of a lazy day after running for two solid days. And we got rain last night so I did not have to water a drop. I did have to save some drowning plants. I need to get another bale of soil. I thought I was done for the year, but I absolutely am not.

I felt like going to the garden this morning. I worked for 30 minutes and came in, I will try working short periods, and maybe I can start getting some of these task done. I got a row tilled to plant okra. I have all kinds of plans, but I am not able to make them happen, but I do hope to be able to get another row ready for okra, then a row for peas. I would like to get a lot more done than that, but I start running out of energy very fast.

I picked a head of cabbage, it was still not ready, but I need to get that area cleaned up. That area is next to the sweet potatoes, I might be tempted to put another row of sweet potatoes in that row where I remove the cabbage and onions.

Madge is to go to the doctor again today, if she is able to drive herself, I may be able to mow the lawn while she is gone.

You young folks enjoy life while you can, because it sure changes fast. It seem as tho I work slower, and get tired faster than ever before.

Larry, you're so impressive to me! I really admire you. Even with all your health issues, you do so much.

Kim, it's so good to make garden notes. I wish I was better at it. I like to look back at the FB Garden Monday memories because it reminds me of things that I had forgotten. That's why I often write a novel on those posts even tho most people just like to look at the pictures and aren't interested in the details. I do it for future me. :D

The past few years, I've kept a journal of sorts--it's a leather book and I make notes about the garden, but mostly just the overall feel of each gardening year. The unique weather situations for that year and what plants did well, what didn't, insect pressures....and a little of what is going on in my life.

I haven't touched it this year. I realized that I had a lot of fear early on when I saw how sick Rick was getting....and it messed with me. It might be autumn before I pick up the journal. I'll probably forget some details by not keeping up with it earlier.

My new work schedule is Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not going to work at the school next year other than volunteering for an hour or two each week. I'll go to Edmond on Fridays to play with my little grandboy. I do believe this schedule is going to feel much better. Right now, I feel a little lost--what to do first on a day off?

So....I'm home today.

I went out around 7 and decided to prune some of the disease off the SG tomatoes. That poor garden is out-of-hand with grass. It's at the point that the corn might have to be mowed over. It's beginning to tassel, but isn't tall yet. It has many skips too. Tom can make the call on that.

It is full of ladybugs. I hate to mow them over. It's like they know that something is coming. (Aphids). They are on the tomatoes, corn, grass....

We have a lot of assassin bugs too. I don't like them messing with the ladybugs, but can't micromanage the ecosystem. Oh! And I saw quite a few green lacewings too. They are always fun to see.

And, I saw a hummingbird!

It's not only the SG that is a mess. The entire property.

I'm going to have a chamomile issue. The plants were beginning to die back. But there's the tiniest seedlings coming up everywhere--1000's.

So....I need a chamomile bed where it can reseed all year. I sure love it...and the smell is one of my favorites. And tea is one of my favorites. I didn't get around to harvest much and that is why I have so many tiny ones. But....it needs its own spot to do it's thing. Anyway, I pulled all of the worn chamomile plants out and trimmed a couple of things in the KG too. I have a ground cherry coming up in a bed. I've never grown ground cherries. The plant ID app said it was a ground cherry....but maybe it's a tomatillo?

It will be both scary and fun to see what the garden will look like in 2 weeks when we return home. The herbs in the herb spiral.... I don't even know how to explain how much they grew in the past few days. They enjoyed the rain because they're in raised areas. I was stunned. I guess I hadn't been paying attention until last night.

I'm inside now and trying to decide the best way to use my time. The other new auto chicken waterer was just delivered so could get that set up.

Amy, that's disappointing that the strawberries don't do well with the asparagus. I was hoping that would be the ticket for my strawberry issue.

Jennifer, thanks, but you must be easy to impress. I don't get much done, but I do have understanding doctors that say they will be happy to prescribe the medication I need, if it helps keep me moving. When the day comes that I can't get out and do something, I will be an unhappy camper.

Larry, I understand that. I will/would be an unhappy camper too.

Irritation! So....the Honeynut squash that is in the Vego bed (there's a pic of it with the carrots on my Garden Monday post this week) is still small. Like...they have 4 or 5 leaves small.

I watered them last night because the Vego bed dries out more quickly like a pot. Anyway....two flippin squash bugs climbed up. Are you kidding me? Already? It's so tempting to spray them with a "bad" chemical. I haven't seen SVB moths yet. Also, these are C. Moschata, but it doesn't always matter. I am glad that they are in tall beds just a few steps from my door. Once we get some type of trellis for them, it will be easier to check them for pests and I will spray Bt on the lower parts where the SVB bore.

Tom wants to leave the corn and said he would try to clean up around it.

I ended up taking a nap yesterday afternoon. It was so nice. Kim, I put on your latest garden tour on our TV in the living room and dozed off. Woke up to another one of your videos. THIS is a compliment to you. Your voice is soothing and relaxing. I'll often fall asleep to Jessica's garden tours too. Her voice is also relaxing to me. It's like they put me in such a calm mindset that I'm able to sleep. The only irritating part is finding the place where I dozed off to watch the rest of the video.

I'm happy that the neighbor who will care for our animals while we're gone, said she has time to do some watering for us too. We'll have to figure out the hose situation. One of the faucets has the hose that will reach to the hoop house/ back garden and even to the SG BUT it also has both of the auto chicken waterers on it.

We're planning on mowing and weedeating tonight after work. That's about it. Maybe water the pots on the porches.

What are y'all up to today?

I am behind, as always. Madge is not feeling well, but wants to go out to Texas Roadhouse to eat. She tells me that driving does not bother her, so I told her if she would drive, I would take some pain medication, and try really hard to get as much done as I could, then shut down and go to Ft. Smith to eat.

I still don't have all the garden work done, but this time of the year you just can't get caught up. I did get the lawn in fair shape. The ditches, and pasture where I have too much junk is hard to mow because I have too much junk to drag out of the way and mow under it, but I don't do that every time I mow. I hope to spray some glyphosate, and maybe burn a brush pile if the wind will permit. I need to air up the tires on the tractor, and pack the brush pile so it will burn better, I also need to in stall the box blade to do a little dirt work. Spraying a strip in the pasture garden for peas, and burning the brush will come first ( weather permitting ), then I will take my sweetie out to eat. I have places in the north and south garden ready to plant, but I can do that when we get home, I hope. If I am able to get all of that done, maybe I can start on the dirt work tomorrow. I never know what I will be able to get done, I never get everything done that I want to do, It seem as though my gas tank is too small, and I have to go inside and rest.

Well, I got my mowing done, the brush pile burned, and all the spraying that I felt like doing done, now, I need to rest a little and feed my woman.

You can't see my pepper.and tomato plants, but there are a few in there. I tried to push the weeds away from them, and spray with glyphosate. I also sprayed around my watermelons, and cantaloupe plants. I noticed that I had a bloom on a cantaloupe plant, they were planted a little late, but I may get some melons if I can keep the bugs and critters away from them.

The NWS 7 day and Weather Underground's 10 day forecast, are saying we gonna be mid 90's next week. Hopefully it doesn't last long.

Although right now, my tomato plants are loaded. I might not wanting any more fruit set.

My fruit set is low, but I always seem to have lower fruit set with indeterminate plants, but they seem to be lower than normal.

Our forecast is showing all but today, and one more day being 90 to 96 for the next two weeks, I am not looking forward to that.

Well, on the optimistic side ............. any forecast longer than 3 days out is suspect. The 5 day is a bit more reliable ....... but after that, its not much better than a wild arse guess.

Weather Underground 10 Day ..................... for what its worth

10 Day

My tomatoes might end up being fall tomatoes at this rate.

Especially those sickly Super Fantastics. They look ever so much better after being planted, but they are small. Maybe they'll produce for fall.

Last year, end of June/beginning of July I was giving away buckets of tomatoes.

There's still plenty of diced ones from 2023 in the pantry.

Next year, I'll try to grow some production ones for canning purposes.

Tom got the mowing done before our little rain. Hopefully will do the weedeating tonight. I trimmed a couple of trees and as I was putting them (correctly) in the burn pile noticed a fire that was above the tree line to our east. And a weird buzzing sound. Then a pop. Went to get Tom and my phone and more pops so called 911. Luckily the power on our side of the neighborhood stayed on, but a portion of the neighbors were without. This morning I saw that some had it back but not everyone. Those poor OG&E guys working through the night out there. I could see their headlamps and all. But, those trees probably have millions of ticks under them....and I kept worrying about the guys working back there.

My son's path to work (I84 Portland to the Dalles) was closed due to fires in Oregon. He said it was a mess getting home last night. And they didn't have him come in today.

I'm not looking forward to the heat coming our way. Just yuck.

Nothing really garden related to talk about. Kim, you doing okay?

Yes ma’am, I am well. I had a horrific headache yesterday and this morning when I woke up, it was still there. I don’t normally get headaches like that unless I’ve been exposed to some really bad chemicals which I was yesterday. But on a brighter note, my garden looks so amazing. The mallow is blooming as well as some random hitchhiker from my petunia pot. Beautiful pink blooms all over the garden zinnias nasturtium Marigold‘s andthe yellow orange peach vibe that I love. I’m still taking inventory so I can finish planting. The mosquitoes were horrible yesterday. I went out for about 10 minutes working around the garden and I got five mosquito bites. I fertilized in advance of our rain, but I don’t think it rained that much. So I’m gonna have to go out and water that in. I guess I will wear long pants and long sleeves to prevent getting eaten alive. I have lots of sweet potato planted not like Larry or anything. I’m pretty satisfied with that, but I am going to plant some Malabar spinach and try cooking it this year. I grew up years ago in. Quitaque and I did not like it raw. It’s actually quite cool here today and I was shocked when I woke up. We may still get some rain today, but I guess I better get going. I’ve got three hours to get some stuff done. Y’all have fun in the garden.

I tried to work out in the south garden this morning, and got rained out. The weeds in all 3 gardens are terrible. In the north, and pasture garden you can hardly see the pepper plants, the weeds are growing faster than the peppers. My plan is to try spraying the weeds, because I had rather not disturb the roots of the plant by pulling large weeds up next to the plant. This is a learning curve for me, because I have never had weeds this bad before. It seems to have stopped raining, so I might be ablr to get out and pull some weeds. I think that it is too wet to spray anything, but with the hot weather coming,if should be s perfect time to spray herbicide.

I think that I have more disease this year than ever before also. I think that I still have some Daconil, and copper also. I normally don't like to use chemicals in the garden, but this year I don't have a lot of choices. I am not sure that I can even save my pepper plants, although the ones in the south garden look pretty good, but many that have the weeds close to them, and stayed so wet have a lot of disease.

Larry, weeds are keeping me busy, not only in my small garden but around the yard. Me and the garden hoe are becoming close buddies. Its a daily thing to pull and chip away at weeds.

And we've never had a mosquitoe problem here, but we do this year.

Lynn, I see trouble ahead for me. We seem to be getting enough rain that I can't do much in the garden. The rain and heat is going to make the disease worse, and the heat will make the weeds and plants grow faster, and the heat will cause me to have to stay in more because of my heart. I need to pick up more of the load from Madge, because she is going down hill also. Madge, nor I want to give up, but we just can't do the things we use to. I am going to be forced to cut back, or stop gardening. Madge also said that she was going to have to cut back on flowers also.

With a riding mower, and with a sprayer I can still take care of the lawn, but that to will also have to go sometime, but I think the same thing is true for everyone, I think that it is called old age. I really am not complaining, we both know people younger than we are, and having a harder time coping with daily task. Many people have larger problems than weeds.