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.

Kim, I sure hope your head is continuing to feel better.

I've grown Malabar a few times. It's a pretty plant but I don't love to eat it. Cooked should be good, tho.

I'm about to head to Edmond in Tom's old, rusty truck. It runs good but looks like a mess. A co-worker came in yesterday and asked if I 'knew about my car". Uh....no? We went out and the backseat driver's side window was shattered. We do have a lot of homeless wondering around. Normally they're fine, but when there's mental illness and/or drug use at play, they can act erratic. BUT, turns out that it was more-than-likely the yard guy who was weedeating near my car.

SO...now, we have to deal with that today. Luckily we're getting it in today at 2. So...I'll go to Edmond. Tom will hang out with his sister until time to take the car, then they'll all meet back at our house to drive to Edmond for dinner tonight. It's a lot of shuffling around.

Larry, you and Madge could still have a nice, small garden to provide for the two of you. You've shown your kids and grandkids how to garden and all that can be grown and done. They have the knowledge now and at least a few of them will probably put that into action someday. I'm pretty sure my kids will garden someday too. Daughter has a small herb garden now, and a couple of peppers and the tiny tomatoes that Jen provided.

It's what she can keep up with now, with working full-time and having a baby.

The green beans are sprouting in the Greenstalk. I'll come back with a picture.

Then, need to clean up some eggs to take to daughter and get on the road.

Jennifer, I agree, I enjoy gardening, but it is not as important as looking after Madge, we both have to spend more time looking after one another. I will never want to stop trying to teach my kids, and grand kids, but there come a time when your teaching days are over.

Jennifer I am sorry about your car, but there is nothing wrong with driving an old rusty piece of junk, that is what I am more happy in. I like one that I can drive through the brush, and listen to the limbs scratch down the side of it, and not give it a second thought, but I don't like getting stuck, in the woods, or even in town, if the vehicle is dependable, that's all I need.

I will try to get out and work more in the garden today, but this weather is something else, it seems fine one minute, then raining the next. I have space almost ready for okra, peas, and more sweet potatoes, but I need it a little drier to finish up.

Aw Jennifer that stinks about the car window. That happened to me when I was at Natural Grocers and the manager was supposed to contact the company that had hired the lawn care people. Needless to say she never did. I paid for it. it happens when the windows are rolled up tight on a car and a Rock or something hits the windshield. It’s actually pretty common in Texas. I still don’t roll my windows up all the way. Even if I know it’s gonna rain I just leave one just barely cracked. This is the biggest garden I have ever had here in this property and it’s a lot to take care of. Everything is done by hand, weeding and trimming and pulling grass and it has gotten ahead of me right now. I slowly pull grass and cover with cardboard and cover with Hydro fiber And if I get it all done this year, it would look really good. I finally got my inventory done on the inside of the garden and part of the outside of the garden. There are so many areas I need to add something to the pots or an inground bed. So hopefully I can get that done next week I still have stinging nettle that I have not planted in the ground. And I think the one in the ground I had I’m pretty sure I whacked it off. So but I do have two in pots that I want to get in the ground. I have an empty mineral tub that’s halfway full of compost and soil and what not and I might just stick it in there and see what happens. I watched a video about stinging nettle and how it’s the most nutrient dense leaf so I would like to get some of those harvested this year toobe able to dehydrate and put into my greens. Who knows I might sell that in the future. They get a fortunate at the store for dried greens.

I'm a young pup at 73 yo. And its gettin harder for me. This is the first year I've thought about paying a lawn service to mow my small yard. This week I did the back yard one day and front yard the next day, just to break it up.

I need to quit fertilizing the yard, but I want the grass to grow thick cuz that eliminates a lot of weeds. It shades the seed. I've found out what happens when I don't fertilize and water.

My energy level has dropped a bunch in just the past few years. Part of my problem, is I quit riding my bicycle a year ago. Exercise will help boost the energy level. And that bike is great cardio for me.

Pulling weeds and slapping mosquitoes. I have 2 black from tula tomatoes growing, so I picked one for fried green tomatoes tonight. The other will get to ripen, and hopefully a few others will join it. I also have fruit on a few others, so maybe I'll get a nice harvest this year. I still have plants that need to either get planted or tossed; I'll try working on that next week, but otherwise they'll have to wait until I get back.

Larry, talk to me about walking onions. I have some I got a few spring flings back, and the bulbils are forming nicely. Most have about an inch or two of green growing out of them, too. Do I break them off and plant them? Or how do I propagate them?

So, I got some sweet potato vines at spring fling. I didn't have a place ready for them so I stuck them in one of my buckets with persimmon saplings. One was growing out of control and I had to keep unwinding it from the sapling. Yesterday I went out and realized it's not a sweet potato vine, but a blasted morning glory! I love the flowers but the things are too invasive for my veggie garden.

My day in the garden, really my hour here and there, is "ok, I need to weed this spot...oh wait, this zinnia can be moved over here...let's pull a few weeds here now...oh look, a ladybug! I wonder what that plant is? I'll let it grow a bit more until I can ID it...well shoot, I meant to finish weeding that area and got distracted."

HJ, about chamomile, do I harvest and dry the leaves? Or just flowers?

I went out and harvested some herbs. Basil and dill mostly, plus a few sprigs of fennel. Which, to me, looks identical to dill, and I didn't mark which was which. So now I'll find out if fennel flavored dill is any good. Or is it dill flavored fennel? Eh, if it's gross I'll add more dill until it masks the fennel.

And I have celery flowering! They're so pretty. I need to do better at taking photos and posting them, that way I can loook back every year and see the changes.

Been checking the 10 day forecast, hoping for nice weather at camp. We've had camps with 80* and camps with 100*. I much prefer the 80* camps, we can be outside more and not be so miserable.

Just the flowers, Jen. Theyre good fresh in tea too. especially with a drizzle of honey and lemon balm over ice.

More to say.

Later.

Jen, I don't know the proper way to propagate onions, but I will tell what I do, and have a lot of luck with it. I let the walking onion grow till I need it, then most often have to dig it because my ground is most often too hard to pull the onion out. Once I get the onion out of the ground, I trim it up by cutting off the stump, and roots to about 1" each, and replanting then. It it is this time of the year, I just dig the onions to the side, and reclaim the ground to plant something else. Once the ground is amended and ready to plant what ever, and the onions have dried a little, I pick the bulbils from the top of the stems, trim the roots to about an inch long, and place them on the back porch. or in the shop. This fall I will replant what ever onions I think I can use, the rest I will grind up with the mower. I have an area in the south, and north garden where onions are still growing, if I don't need the area, I will just leave them be, they will come back with a vengeance before winter anyway.

This time of the year I normally have other onions that work better for eating, and cooking, but I don't have anything that will beat the walking onion at coming back year after year. I have given onions away by the sack full, and still have more than I know what to do with.

I have a ( new to me ) onion that I may like better than the walking onion. I don't even know what this onion is, but I have been doing some of the cooking lately using this onion, and it is working good in cooking. The new onion is small, and I don't have to deal with left-over onion in the frig. I will eat on these onions till fall, then replant most for green onion, and seed stock for next year. I also hope to get some potato onions, and see what kind of luck I have with them.

This is a very long post, just to say, If you have walking onion, you don't have to worry about propagation, you just need self defense classes to keep them from taking over your home.

Yeah, walking onions don't need attention. The flower part with bulbils will fall over from the weight and start a new plant all on it's own, hence "walking" onions.

Jen, you know seet potato flowers look much like moning glories? I'll see if I can find a Pic.

https://www.picturethisai.com/identify/Ipomoea-batatas.html

I have lost two post in a row, but I think Amy has pretty well covered both, onion, and sweet potatoes, I don't think you can go wrong with either plant.

Yes, sweet potato vines, and Morninglory vines look very similar and the flowers look very similar. I have sweet potatoes, escaping a bed, and I almost jerked him out because I thought it was morning glories

I have a vine that has come up almost under a pepper plant. The vine looks like a sweet potato vine, and it is where I had purple sweet potatoes last year, but I have never had a sweet potato regrow the next, I have left the vine there to watch it just out of curiosity. I am guessing that it might be a morning glory, which I fight every year, but not often in the garden.

Here is a picture of my unknown plant growing from under my pepper plant.

Here is a picture of a Covington runner growing toward my pepper plant. The leaves don't look the same, but different sweet potato leaves don't look the same.

If it ever quits raining, I hope to get some of the weeds out of my garden. You can see that my insects are very well fed also.

I know you may be getting tired of seeing my sweet potatoes, but look at well they are fighting my weeds.

Those look awesome and I never ever get tired of looking at gardening pictures. Mine have smothered the grass too.

Pictures are fun, Larry. Thanks for sharing them.

Tom's truck is fine. It doesn't have a few of the features I'm gotten used to, but it's fine. And my car is oldish too, but not as old as the truck. We will be getting a new vehicle soon, but will keep the truck for hauling stuff. The AC was struggling a bit. I actually took the time to style my hair this morning, but the AC wasn't keeping the humidity out of the truck very well, so it frizzed, and my time spent trying to look decent was wasted.

Jen, normally that's how I like to spend time in the garden too.

We got in about an hour ago and I was able to water some things and grab the blackberries, asparagus and my first ripe tomato. Not sure the variety because it's one that Rick planted and we had those crazy winds which blew away the tags. It's a smallish, round one--but not small like a cherry.

Thanks for sharing the link, Amy. That's helpful.

Lynn, are you able to cycle again?

Kim, I wish you were closer to me so you could help me with all the elderberries. Pretty sure the ranch variety will have ripe ones soon.

There's still so many in my freezer.

My favorite way to do elderberry syrup now, is put it in a fizzy drink. I like the La Croix Strawberry and Peach. Just a TBLS or two of the syrup over ice makes it a real treat.

Little boy had the first MMR vax today. It gave him a fever and he was really tired and took 2 long naps. But, we had some fun playtime too. SIL and BIL went to their RV so I'm relaxing now. It's been a long day.

Welp, I'm gonna rest now.

H/J , oh yeah, I can ride the bike. Its just a matter of motivation. My excuse for not riding is Im too busy with work around the house. And a bike ride pretty much does me in for anything else that day. But I'm gonna get back to it, if for no other reason than it allows me to up my calorie intake.

I don't need an excuse up my calorie intake.

Well, the wind and rain chased me in again today. I tried to move to the back porch and work on trimming and sorting onions, and garlic, but the wind was strong everything was getting wet on the porch also.

With all the rain we have been having, I been thinking about writing a book, I want to title it "Gardening from a boat". I am not sure what I will plant, maybe lilypads?

Larry, that’s a good idea. you have had a lot more rain than me this year and I feel like I’ve had a ton. As much as I enjoy a good rain once a week I don’t like it every day. The mosquitoes and the humidity are too much. I actually had to drag the hose out yesterday and water thoroughly. some reason whenever I do a Market, I have all these great ideas of what I wanna do in the garden when I get home and then when I can’t home, all I can do is take a shower and lay down in the cool. It was so hot today and most of the time at the Market we did not have a breeze. I am going to go pick blueberries and eat those for my dessert and see if there are any Cucamelons ready. I took 2 baskets of the little cucumbers to Market and they sold really quick.

Onions 158 so far.

Those are pretty, Kim!

Lynn, maybe you could bike every 2 or 3 days? I need to up my workouts too.

Larry, maybe we could put our garden beds on floats or something. Then drive our boats to the beds. Sorta like when we used to check the trotlines when I was little...but not exactly.

We did get a nice rain today. I wasn't expecting it, but it had been about a week, so I was okay with it. Saved me from having to water today.

It would be good if we got one nice, non-violent rain next week while we're gone.

We got home about 630, so had a nice hour and a half in the garden. The tomatoes are quite diseased. I pruned them and tied them up a bit. Other than watering all the pots on Monday, this will be the last of the gardening before we leave.

Tomorrow, I need to work on laundry after work. Tom's sister is leaving in the morning. We had a nice visit. Took them to brunch, shopped, came to our house for awhile, and did an early dinner, did a few more errands and took them back to their RV.

Glad I made it through that. They are going to come back in September and I should be able to be a proper hostess with a clean house and cooked dinners and cookies baked--all the ways I like to be a hostess.

Tom keeps saying..."did you plant those? Are they tomatoes?" He's referring to tomatoes that are planted in crazy places all around the property. LOL They are those Super Fantastic tomatoes. Then he says, "those look really good".

I knew they would if they could just get in the ground. They looked like C rap, but I've had equally bad that went on to be great plants once planted.

Anyway....

I'm feeling good about the weekend. It wasn't a disaster and my SIL did okay staying in our house for a couple of hours. I would be so sad if I was allergic to cats.

When I'm committed to the bike, I try to do 50 miles per week. Which my rides would normally be for about an hour and I do 10 miles. But I can't do much else when I'm all in like that, my legs are dead when I'm done. I've tried cutting it back to 30 minutes, but that doesn't last, I keep pushing to go further.

It seems counter intuitive , that when the energy level is falling , the way to increase energy is to burn energy. But it works. Gardening really doesn't do that for me. And I don't mow the lawn often enough.

Got 1/2 " of rain Friday night and as of right now, got 3/4" last night.

the Weather Underground 10 day looks a lot less severe , as far as high temps this week. But night time lows are still all over 70*. It may not be an early July after all.

10 Day

However the Natl Weather Service still has 7 days over 90*

NWS 7 Day

Same for Mesonet 5 day

Meso 5 Day

We got rain again last night, but that is nothing new for this year. I don't have any of the records handy, but this seems to be the wettest year I can remember.

I need to go to town for supplies, so I thought I would take "Sweetie" out for breakfast.

Kim, your onions look nice. I think that I need to build a new onion bed, I need a place that drain, no matter what. I have a space at the south end of my south garden that will work good for that, but I need to expand it. I have a berm along that end that I use for erosion control , I will try to add more wood chips to make it higher, which can give me a larger area for planting, but I have that area full at this time.

I wound up mowing some of my weeds yesterday, but gor rained out way too soon. That is one of the reasons I am going to town, I have gas can in the back of the pickup, so I thought that I would kill a few birds with one stone. I have my pickup rigger to where I can chain in 5 gas cans and several 2 bys, and just pull one pin to release them, that is enough supplied to last me a while, and that is about all I feel like unloading at one time anyway.

I would like to plant a few things, it is getting a little late for some of the things that I want to plant.

Kim, you wound up with a much better onion crop than I did. This is my bunching onion, walking onion, and garlic that I am trying to save for seed. I will be using some of these before fall. My bulbing onions are not even in the picture, I doubt that I got over 18 of them, we will use them soon anyway.

It has been so wet wet here, it is so hard to cure anything. I got 4 of these produce boxes, I will try to use these in the curing process. It is hard for me to find a place with air flow for something to cure with such a large amount of blowing rain, because the produce will mold or sprout.

I'll make a new thread for the new week.