Thanks for starting the thread this week, Larry.

We're supposed to heat up again over the next few days with highs in the upper 80's. I wouldn't hate if a little rain would fall.

I came in from work and my ankle was swollen, so I made a comfrey poultice to see if I can get the swelling down. I do need to go help Tom with some stuff in the yard.

It's the leftover injury from the witch's house from a couple of weeks ago. I just haven't had time to rest it...and now it's complaining about my neglect.

So, I'll sit for awhile with the poultice.

We are going to finish up yard work and I need to water. Hoping to do a firepit tonight. It's been months. With the full moon, it would be a great night for a fire pit.

Not much to talk about this afternoon. Maybe I'll find something interesting outside to share with everyone.

Everything is just lovely here. I am getting ready to dig sweet potatoes. It’s warm enough I will put them in crates in the shed. Then I will plant carrots and beets. I have my borax ready and plant tone. That soil should be delightful after getting the sweets out. I will plant a bunch more sugar snap peas. I also got some potting soil to start some broccoli, cauliflower, collards, mustard, etc. in a flat and then I will transplant them into place after they get big enough.

Kim, I borax, and boron the same, and is 2PPM about the soil have? My old soil test show B at 1.7 in the south garden, and 3.8 in the north garden. I have never tried to adjust the boron level. The only thing my soil test have ever suggested was lime and nitrogen. My garden need something, it did terrible this year, but I fed it very little.

Borax and boron are the same. Since I use potting soil I thought adding a little would help my beets. I don’t honestly know if it works for anything else

This list shows what can benefit from a little bit of borax. Pretty much everything else has negative results with extra borax.

Been doing some seed cleaning. Most all I have is radish and basil seed, though the chives are blooming so I'll have gobs of them soon. After cutting back the basil seeds, I harvested some of the lemon basil to make a batch of basil salt. I've discovered I like it better than regular salt, though the only time I really use salt is for boiling noodles. And I keep pulling gobs of licorice basil (not a fan of it at all). And morning glory seedlings. I swear, both of those are a menace!

I've tried planting more seeds for fall, but this river bottom sand just won't stay damp enough to sprout, and I can't always get out there every day right now. So, I guess the fall garden is a bust, though I'll keep on dumping out seeds. Even if one sprouts, it's a success, right?

The new fella got fixed Thursday and was tearing up the house with his cone so we got one of those inflatable donuts. He ate it, and the second one we bought. But he isn't chewing at the sutures much yet.

Hey Jen I remember Dawn suggesting to use potting mix on your direct sown seeds when you have soil that dries too quickly. I have done it for years. In fact that’s how I got my okra to grow in wood chips. Works great for carrots too.

I like using the potting soil for covering seeds also. My soil crust over so bad that it is hard for some seeds to come up if conditions are not just right, covering them with potting soil seems to really help. I have 2 bags of Pro-mix on the back porch now. I use it like seed starting mix in the house, and sometimes in the garden.

Another problem I am dealing with, is a dang cat is using my garden for a toilet. I have to deal with all kinds of critters here, but I had not planed on a cat being a problem. It seems as though I am having less problems with rats, moles, and gophers, saw that cat prowling in my sweet potatoes, and among other plant, so I have mixed feeling about string a hot wire low for it to get into. Its too bad that critters cant read and obey the signs, they would really be handy to have around.

Larry I grind up leftover citrus as a little water and put in places I don’t want the neighbors cat. It seems to work pretty good

Kim and Larry, I've used potting mixes too when starting carrot seed. And a few others things too.

Carrots are such a pain to get going. They really have to be kept damp until they sprout. It's hard to skip a day of watering...but it happens.

Jen, I like your basil salt idea, although I crave salt. I can't seem to get enough of it. Switched over to Celtic salt and Real Salt, tho. Luckily my numbers are good, including blood pressure, other than a slightly high LDL.

Have y'all seen the way to calculate if you have the "bad" LDL or the "good" LDL? It has to do with your triglyceride number and LDL. It's all very interesting. And I wish they would show people this before just putting them on meds. Medicine might be needed, but it might not.

I picked a lot of cowpeas last night. Also, my first round of lettuce and greens was chewed on still in their little pots. Ugh!!!

Probably a grasshopper got into the hoop house. We've not had many this year and no damage in the garden. But I did see a large one in the hoop house the other day hiding in the sweet potatoes.

Jennifer, I saw at one time hoe the LDL was calculated, but I did not pay much attention to it. I get urine, and blood test every 3 months, but to me it is just a print-out with the normal ranges on it. I have too many listings that are not within the normal range, but I guess as long as you can keep going is the most important thing.

I like the idea of Basil Salt, I have never heard of it, but my doctors are always telling me to use less salt, that is really hard for me to do. I like salt and pepper on most things. I have also noticed that when you get old, it seems as though your taste buds start dying along with everything else.

The sweet potatoes in the north garden are the only plants I have that look good this year. You can hardly tell that the deer got into them, and ate most of the leaves back to the orange string that is stretched between the two Tee post.

If these plants would produce like the plants in this area last year, I woul get my 100+ pounds of potatoes here in the north garden. And, I will add, that I have no deer damage here after string that hot wire, and it is only on 2 sides of the garden.

I actually don’t pay attention to my cholesterol. As long as it’s not double what it should be I’m happy. Here are some pictures of what I did today. I got tired of being inside. I am not done with that bed yet as you can see in these pictures there are a few that got cut and I have to go back in and see what else might be in there. One plant I got one potato and one plant I got nine potatoes. It seems the purple potatoes did better than anything That I have dug so far.

I gave the vines to my friend that has chickens.

Hi all! I've nothing to say, but it's fun to read all your posts!

Hi Nancy! Tell us about your paintings and the butterflies in your yard.

Kim, those look really good. I should dig some of mine, but am going to wait just awhile longer.

Larry, I do think we lose taste buds with age. Small children have more and is probably why they can't eat spicy foods...and other food preferences. Pretty sure my son was born with extra taste buds. When he was little he couldn't even tolerate children's toothpaste like bubble mint. Now, he can eat spicy foods.

Kim, cholesterol is a misunderstood thing for sure.

I am staying home today. We are hosting the neighborhood meeting and I want to make some snicky snacks for the meeting. Hopefully food will make everyone calmer and more cheerful. Food seems to do that. lol

The past 3 meetings were pretty intense with arguments and shouting. Maybe with cookies in their mouths they'll be too busy to shout and all.

I'm not doing anything healthy really. Just some cookies, pumpkin muffins, pigs in a blanket and crackers and cheese.

We might have a common "issue" that will make everyone friends. Sometimes a common concern can make people forget their disagreements. A house at the front of our neighborhood has a mess going on. Last week, I was in the garden and I heard over a speaker, "this is Officer Someone with the Cleveland Co Sheriff's Dept. Come out with your hands up". I thought maybe some kids were messing around and I couldn't tell where it was coming from at first....but, it didn't take me long. It went on for a few minutes and then the officer said they were sending in the canine unit. A couple of years ago, the man who bought that property came to the meeting and said he wanted to put in a lot of small trailers (looks real nice) and eventually tiny homes and make it a place for "wayward boys". Hmm. K

That property will be right next to the new turnpike.

Anyway, neighbors are a little concerned about letting the kids free-range in the neighborhood. A young woman who lives next door who is 25 but maybe 8 or 9 mentally, likes to roll around the neighborhood in a golf cart. Her Mom told her to not go to that section, but I saw her doing that yesterday. Anyway, I'm rambling again.

Point is, I'm not working today and will be baking and making snacks instead.

What about the 90s that are supposed to come back in a few days? Yuck.

My min/max shows that we dropped to 53 last night, but it is warming fast.

Jennifer, I adopted one of those "Wayward Boys". We gave him a lot of love, a good home, and sent him to a private school. That boy was so loving, but would steal anything that was not nailed down. I understand why no one wants to live close. My adopted son may still be in prison, I just had to give up on him, the stress was about to cause my heart to shut down. Sometimes it takes more than love and counseling to change someones habits. In the case of my son, it looked like he was always looking for the easy way out, and in some way be able to beat the system.

I will welcome some more warmer weather because I still am waiting on okra and sweet potatoes. I would like to cook some sweet potato leaves, I ate a couple of leves while watering then last night, I think that with the right seasoning they would be tasty.

I do think a place for troubled kids is needed for sure. I'm just not sure our neighborhood is the best place for that. For a few reasons. For one, the safety of the kid. Some of our neighbors won't play around with someone breaking into their homes and will "make my day" on them. We have people with large Jesus crosses in their yard right next to a giant monument type of stone that has a g u n pointing at the viewer that says "wrong house". It makes me laugh. Do the two yard ornaments go together? I just don't know. lol

I don't want the 90's again, Larry. Lower 80's would be great.

I have the baking done and the laundry, so I might roam around outside for a bit before I make the next snack. Really, I should start more lettuce seed. And kale, arugula and chard.

50’s is even better. In my opinion. People dressed and acted respectfully of others and help each other. People keep saying oh you need help doing what you’re doing you need help. Yes where do you find that help for less than $25 an hour? It is my project and I am enjoying it. I really think if I got big enough and I brought someone else on board I wouldn’t be as happy. I like the peace and quiet of my garden and makingherb blends. I’m always thankful for the rain, but I do enjoy the days when I can just open the door and look straight out into my garden. Larry, I’m glad you took that boy in. In the end, there will always be a seed that you planted in his head About the right way to do things. Whether he listened or not, that seed is still there. Even if that seed never comes to fruition, you did the right thing. I have been wanting to do foster care for many years and I still do want to do it. I want to have big gardens and lots of children.

I picked a good mess of sweet potato leaves for Madge to cook for lunch, they were good. I have no idea why I have not really tried them as a meal before. I picked some onion, peppers, and garlic off the porch. I plan on eating them again, I may end up doing more damage than the deer do to the potato plants. I also hope to try them as a salad.

Larry, I’ve only ever dehydrated them into a powder so this year I wanna try them fresh cooked. The first bed I dug I sent all the vines with my friends that have a lot of chickens. But I have about seven pots and I think I’m gonna go out and cut those vines back to about 3 feet and harvest those leaves. Right now I have vines taking over all the pathways in my garden. If that’s in the indication of how good the potatoes are I will be very, very happy. I’ve been doing lots of herb harvesting and drying and today I am going to make peach jam. And package some of my herbs.

Kim, Madge told me this morning " Your peach tree is up". I planted a seed from a store bought peach that had split, and looked like it wanted to sprout, and something is sticking about 2" tall from the modified milk jug that I had placed on the island top in the kitchen. I place the milk jug there because I have been know to plant something, and forget about it, and then it would die from lack of water. I am not sure I can keep that peach sprout live long enough for it to live, and I doubt that it would produce anything worth while if it did, but I still like to try.

My sweet potatoes vines have started growing again. The had slowed a lot when it was so hot and dry, but I was able to keep enough water on them to keep them a live. I hope this last round of rains does not make the potatoes split, am expecting that it wont. but I do expect more smaller potatoes.

Larry, that is awesome. I got my peach tree from a pit from a tree that grew from a pit in Lubbock. It was an amazing peach tree grown by a man that had just thrown his peach pit over his shoulder into the yard. I think a homegrown peach would taste better than store-bought any day, but I have yet to prove that theory.

Cloudy looking here - wish we’d get some rain. My garden is dry, been watering the new plants. The new squash I planted, Butter Dish, is producing a beautiful smooth yellow squash. Okra has almost stopped, but expect it to pick back up. New green beans are blooming, cucumbers still making a few and lots of peppers. Sungold tomatoes making a few, rest are blooming but not setting. I haven’t dug any sweet potatoes yet, hoping they look as nice as the ones y’all have been posting. I want to try the vines, how are you seasoning them? like regular greens or different?

We kept foster children over 40 years ago. We had one little girl from the time she was 3-6. Then she was returned to the same situation she was removed from only worse. We stayed in touch with her for years, even after she wss grown - finally had to break ties except for occasional calls. She was keeping company with a rough, bad crowd - we had small grandchildren here a lot and she would show up at all hours with

” friends”. It was a very hard heartbreaking experience that killed my trust in the

“system”

As for cholesterol and triglycerides i have had trouble for over 45 years. Even when I was slim and mostly healthy they were high and I took statins but they really didnt help much. About a year ago I felt the statins were doing more harm than good so stopped them. I had my wellness exam last month and my tryglicerides were 427, and I have fatty liver disease due to the cholesterol now, so don’t blow them off like I did.

Need to head out and do some watering, think those showers went away

I made a small bed yesterday, about 3' x 10', that I would like to plant something in, not sure what, but I added a bag of potting soil, a bag of compost, a cup of 42-0-0, and a cup of lime. I have no idea if anything will grow in it of not. My last soil test was over 5 years ago, but all of my soil test just say add lime and nitrogen, two or 3 of the other nutrients are above optimum.

Glenda, our system, if you can call it that, needs a lot of work.

Larry, can you do greens or root veg in them? Lettuce, kale, chard--stuff like that. Or turnips and beets?

Glenda, I'm sorry you're dealing with that. It's so unfair. I'll be going in for my annual blood work in a couple of months. Typically my triglycerides are oddly low--like in the 50 to 59 range. HDL is high (which is desirable) and my LDL slightly high. I do think some people need medicine because of genetic reasons that is out of their control.

Even, with my cholesterol being slightly high....a few years ago when I first stated getting it tested....over the phone, the nurse suggested that I lose weight (my weight is around 118) that I exercise (I exercised daily back then and walked every evening), to eat less meat (I was strictly vegetarian at the time)....so, I understand that sometimes it is just genetics.

I'm so happy to finally sit down. It was a good productive day at work and at home. Started some more lettuce, kale, chard, and arugula seed. Watered things. Harvested a lot of small cukes that will probably be fermented. Harvested more dried PEPH.

Jennifer, I expect I will plant mustard, collards, or turnips. I also have room in the south garden to plant beets, and arugula. I also need to get a place ready for winter onions and garlic. I just have not had good luck growing a lot of the thing on this side of the property. The east side of the property has much bedder soil, and a good well, but the old house was going to cost too much to repair, and my health had failed. So, it was much easier to put a mobile home on this side of the property. and try to ride out the rest of my days. You might say, also, that I did not expect to live this long, but I am not complaining.

I was thinking that someone earlier, not sure, ask about seasoning sweet potato vines, or leaves, we season all greens about the same way, but Madge will use olive oil, no pork in anything. Salt, pepper, and sugar are three things that I eat too much of.

Hey Everyone. Hope you all had a good day. It was a crazy work day and I also attended a memorial for my sister's best friend. Unexpected and really sad. She was 53.

I made a quick dinner for us after work and then went outside and played around with pruning and weeding and watering. It was nice. I just wish I had a few more hours to do more.

Came inside at dark and started some fermented pickles. I was happy that one variety of cucumbers started producing well and haven't been as bothered by the pests.

Boy, I sure have pests this year--striped cuke beetles, spotted cuke beetles, leaf-footed bugs, stink bugs...even the roly polies are climbing up trellises and causing issues. Honestly, if they're this bad next year, I'll consider some time of control. They've ruined the Kajari melon fruit too.

Anyway...just checking in. I'm going to sit and veg out for a bit before bed.

It seems as tho I always have problems with ants. Fire ants are the ones I really don't like, they will make a spot on me that stay for a long time. The ants that I seem to have most of the time, I call Sugar ants, I am not sure that name is correct, but those ants arn't a lot of problem, other than being hard to get rid of. I don't like to use spray or anything like that, but sometimes I have to.

I have been trying to repair a wood sign that Madge's son had made for us years ago. I ask Madge if I could do something to preserve it when we got it, but she wanted to leave it like it was. If I can repair the sign, and make it look half way nice, I will post a picture. Things that are given to me, I think are "Special", and I like to treat them as special, like seeds, or plants, and like to keep them going, sort of as a reminder of that person.

I have my share of insects every year, but this year seems to be a little less, maybe because I have less for them to eat. I did notice that I seem to be having more grasshoppers move in, that may be caused by the hay being baled, and the hoppers are moving into the garden to feed.

I sure enjoy reading you guy's (Gal's ) post, please keep it up. I also seeing the pictures.

I don’t have much going on. Just trying to keep everything watered enough to stay alive for another month or so, without bankrupting myself.

Powdery mildew finished taking out the cucumbers. The cooler spell benefitted my green beans by giving the new ones time to establish. I’m working on stashing enough for Thanksgiving in the freezer right now. And, the tomatoes took advantage of the weather to load up. Maybe I’ll have a few in a couple weeks. My fall tomatoes always do better than my spring ones. I’m also still only getting 1-2 okra at a time. I think I’m the only person in oklahoma who can’t grow okra. I’m just planting it in the ground and letting it go, should I be doing anything else?

HJ, you asked on the last thread about my indoor lettuce. I’m working on learning the Kratky method of hydroponic growing. The lettuce grows in a jar of nutrient solution, suspended in a basket type thing and sponges or rockwool, under grow lights. So far I’m having good luck with it. I’m able to grow enough for both mom and I each week, and its clean, no need to wash off dirt. I’m hoping to be able to grow some micro tomatoes and cucumbers eventually, as I have room. Fresh greens will be so nice this winter!

Rebecca, this has been my worst garden year in a very long time. I only have one tomato plant alive, and I don't think it is producing anything. I have several peppers plants alive, but only 2 habanero plant are producing well. I picked a gallon bag of okra this morning, and what I can pick Sunday morning we will have enough for lunch when the kids come over Sunday. I just plant okra seeds in the ground, side dress very little, water if needed, and it grows very well. If I give okra too much fertilizer, or too much water, it gets too tall to pick by the end of summer.

I had to look up the Kratky method to even find out what it was. I do hope to grow some lettuce under the lights, but I expect to do it in potting soil. The last of my sweet potatoes will be in the ground 120 days by 11-5. I doubt that we go till 11-5 without frost, and even if we do, that leaves me no curing time. I am thing about digging my last potatoes and curing them over my grow lights for the heat, and if I do that I might as well have some lettuce under the lights. I have the seeds and potting soil, so I might as well see what happens. I have never tried either before.

Kim, watering is such a chore. I didn't have time to water anything yesterday so watered the front porch area--beds and pots this morning. It's very quaint this year. I'll get the rest of it this evening.

You've had a good run on your noodle beans. The one year I tried those, they were SO fun until the aphids took them out. The ladies and lacewings were trying, but there was just too many aphids.

THAT is one pest that is mostly absent from the garden this year. It's a first for me. The yellow ones are on the milkweed which is very discouraging because they're destroying the plants and there's nothing for the monarchs are are due to come through anytime. And I have tons of milkweed.

Anyway, only the yellow ones have caused issues this year and only on the milkweed.

I agree about H and phones.

Larry, we enjoy your posts too. Grasshoppers are in my garden but the hungry babies ones have been absent. Figured they drowned as they were hatching back in the spring.

Rebecca, I'll check out the Kratky method. I would love to have one of those fancy machines. But....One, I don't really have a place for it. Two, the cost.

Also, my okra failed this year too. Not sure why. It grew, made a couple of pods and then died. I suspect those back two beds are very deficient. The soil I bought to top them off was shameful. We should have taken it back. Pretty sure it was hydrophobic. But, it was in the midst of my dealing with Rick's stuff, trying to rebuild those beds quickly to get stuff planted. I thought I could amend it enough but failed. However, the green beans did well back there. I just don't know.

We are heading into the Norman for brunch in a bit. To celebrate my sister's and daughter's BD. Just the ladies are going, so it will be nice to catch up. Maybe do some light shopping too.

Then, I'm going to water this evening. Give the dog a bath. Refill the cleaner bottles. Stuff like that.

Ready for the cooler temps to come back.