We got 5” of rain Friday day and 1” today. Not sure what I got at work

Friends, I will be heading out in the morning. I'll probably check in and will post pictures of anything I find interesting that is garden/nature related. Maybe. We'll see. I think it's cherry season there.

Anyway....love y'all. Keep the thread going. :D

I hauled a lot of freight out of Washington, and Oregon. I would buy the best fruit in those states. I sit up in the cab of that truck, and stuff my self like a possum all the way to my destination.

I have not done anything gardening related, other than drive by and pick some peppers, which I ate too many of a whiled ago. I love hot peppers more than they love me, but I guess that to is an addiction.

I did manage to get the rear tire off of my mower a while ago. I have Dr. appoints for the next two days, but if I don't get the lawn mowed soon, I will have to have it baled. I will also try to run the tractor through the garden, or spray the weeds where I can. I have a real mess in some areas.

Jennifer have a great trip. Cherry season sounds like a lot of fun. I have cherry trees in the orchard at work but they did not make. I dream of a place with all the fruit trees.

Jennifer we got rain this time too! 7/10”

My garden was begging-haven’t watered since Bill’s surgery on Wed.

Enjoy your trip and be grateful you have someone to do your chores. When you own animals it’s almost impossible to get away even a couple of days. Add to that a garden and flowers and it’s easier to stay home unless you have a trusted person to help.

Now it’s a physical thing that keeps us home. We haven’t been anywhere since before Covid and doubt we will.

Kim, that’s a lot of rain. We need one of those to fill our ponds. Headed into July with low ponds is not good.

Larry I’m sorry for the changes you need to make but completely understand. We need to downsize A LOT but saying and doing it are not the same. We have kids who are willing to help but they have their own homes and life and do not need to be responsible for all the chores we have. I keep telling them I can take care of everything while Bill heals but truth is when I have all our chores plus the extra things helping him it gets overwhelming for a 75 year old woman with limited mobility. My mouth says I can but my body is screaming. There comes a time when you have to make hard choices.

The heat and high winds are taking a toll on the garden. Brought in a few ears of corn and some zucchini. No ripe big tomatoes yet but nice size green ones. The peas are blooming and a few okra everyday. I let the remaining green beans make shell beans to dry for seed.

Is anyone gaining rain? Jennifer went on vacation and we all went to sleep lol. Of course I am here just not posting much lately. So busy at work planting harvesting pulling crops planting repeat. Beans seem to be giving up so I will probably pull those this week and plant some sweet potatoes and melons

I have not been doing much. We did get a small amount of rain, but not enough. We have to start our plan on moving, I just cant the work around here anymore.

Happy Fathers day to all. I am expecting the kids over today, so I don't want to get out and get tired, hot and sweaty. I expect hat they will want to take us out to eat.

I feel pretty good this morning. We whet for most of the week without AC. The heat really drags your energy out when you have been use to AC, especially when you don't feel well anyway.

My heart monitor that is sitting besides my bed is going crazy, it looks like the Northern lights flashing against the wall all night long. I expect that something needs to be done with it. I will have Laken look at the instructions and see if I need to do something. Sometimes I have to hold something that looks a little like a cell phone up to my chest and let the machine talk to someone, or something. The Tech had to do something to my pacemaker/ defib unit before they did a MRI. My heart pounded so hard that I felt like I was goung to bounce off of the table in the MRI tube, but coming home to no AC was much worse than being in the hospital, but the rest that I am getting now seems to be helping a lot. Madge keeps telling me to quit worrying about the lawn and garden, that if does not really need to be done anyway.

I cant help thinking about the work that needs to be done, that is one reason that I tell Madge that we just have to get away from here. I need Madge around her kids so they can look after her, I am getting to the point that I am no good for anything, and I don't like it. I feel that life wont be worth much if I can go out and climb on a tractor, or scoot around in the garden. I even enjoy sitting on the mower getting hot and nasty. But, I cant lift a board, use a hammer, climb a ladder, turn a wrench, all I can do is sit around and lie and tell tall tales.

Happy fathers to all our men. I hope you have a great day

We got some wind and rain this morning. We needed the rain much worse than I thought. I had gone into the garden yesterday morning and pulled a few weeds, and noticed the ground to be dry, and the plants needing water. I am not sure that I will ever get all the weeds pulled. My cousin said that they had trees down in their pasture, and would till most of their garden in because of the weeds, they have been having health issues also.

We had four days of rain scheduled in the forecast and it turned into zero. I am sitting at work watching a sprinkler right now. It needs to run for 30 minutes. I am not sure if I can sit here for 30 minutes. I’m having the same problem with Oprah as I always have it will be 1 inch long and then when I come back after one day off, it’s 4 inches long. I decided I’m gonna make a veggie broth and throw those in there with some carrots and celery.

I wish that I was smart enough to listen to my wife and daughter. I might have something productive, but right now I have a lot of plants that need care, but I have very little care to give. Now I am sitting in this recliner on pins and needles wanting to go outside, but afraid to try it.

We have 4 days with rain forecast from 24 to 71 percent. The forecast for tomorrow looks pretty good, but after Fri. it look hot and dry, with temp running near 100 degrees forever.

Hi Friends. We just got back into town. Got unpacked and checked on the animals. There was a delay in Denver so we got back later than planned....so, it was too dark to look at the garden.

The animals are all fine. Poor Jean Luc was in the pen but I lifted him into the coop. But, everyone else looks good.

Apparently we got bad storms last night. My neighbor got an alert at 130 am and came over to bring Juno into the house. She is an amazing neighbor and animal care-giver.

As I was lying in my bed in Portland, OR, I was following along with the storms (because I couldn't sleep) but I didn't want to message my neighbor. It's 2 hours later here than there. But, everyone's phones were going off so she was awake anyways it seems.

I can see damage on the plants in the Greenstalk...but, I think it will all be okay. It must have been a crazy storm.

We did get 1 and 1/2 inches of rain. She sent a pic of our rain gauge.

It was a very nice trip....but my heart is always broken when we leave. It's hard to leave part of yourself so far away. It doesn't get easier with time. It gets harder.

Glad you are home safe and sound. It’s so nice to come home knowing your animals were in competent hands. It is hard to leave. I have a new grandbaby in Lubbock and I can’t wait to go see them. I always bawl like a baby when I leave

Jennifer, I am glad you had a nice trip

We are supposed to get that storm front through tonight. I need to tie up some tomato plants, but will wait till Madge comes home, she is more comfortable if I stay inside while she is gone.

I had a nice walk around the garden this morning and was thrilled to see how everything has grown. But, wow, it is weedy/grassy. It's a wild place. But very pretty at the same time. The noodle beans are at the top of the hooped trellis now. I had several ripe tomatoes and several large cukes....and other things. The zinnias are really showing off.

I worked in Edmond today and noticed it was raining there, but when I got home it had done much more than rain here. It ripped the tarp off the breaking-down woodchip pile. The lids were blown off the Greenstalks, the outdoor furniture was askew, tomato cages blown over. Our neighbors tree was down. It was a mess. Apparently it was really bad on this side of town earlier.

I'm very out-of-sorts. I should not have worked today. Or gone to Pilates. I should have focused on getting things back in order. I'm working tomorrow too. It might be this weekend before I can get things in order and my head together.

I'll try to come back to edit with a couple of pictures.

So far most of the rain has missed us, but we are given 100% today, but the 100%'s so far would just give a small amount of rain.

I gave away another tractor, and a 6' brush hog yesterday. My cousin's husband came over and mowed my lawn yesterday, and I disked the south garden, hoping to chop up some of the weeds. I plan on mixing up some spray and killing a lot more weeds.

Jennifer, your place is beautiful, where are the weeds you are talking about?

We are going to another class luncheon today, if you could call meeting at the Pizza Barn a luncheon. The Pizza Barn treats us very nice, and we have a good time there. We go to lunch, then to Madge's music lesson, then to the clinic for me to have another test. I seem to be doing a little better, but things have been going down hill for a long time, but I think that is true for most people my age. I really don't feel bad, just weak and not able to do much.

I really need to get some plants tied up, and some trellises made, but that may not happen.

A pizza lunch is always good for a meeting. And I love that Madge takes music lessons. That is awesome.

The weeds are there, Larry. Some of the weeds I leave because they are interesting....and I'm almost certain that one variety near the noodle beans repels aphids. Or maybe repels the ants that bring the aphids? (I know that Dawn did not believe the ant/aphid connection at all and a few other "originals" don't either....but at my property, ants carry aphids around.)

Speaking of noodle beans....Kim, when do you harvest yours? At what size.

I have a bad habit of letting unplanted things grow (like interesting weeds and volunteers) so my garden is really messy right now. There has been no time to work in the garden since getting home Monday night. Other than to harvest a few things. However, if everything goes as planned (how often does that happen? lol), I should be able to spend all of Friday outside if I desire. Tom is going to see his sister in St Louis this weekend, I'm not supposed to work, and as long as the baby is well by then, I"ll be home. Most of my time will be spent weeding and tidying up. Looking forward to that a lot. So much.

Found the first hornworm on a Isis Candy tomato. He's in the critter keeper now with some tomato foliage. I think I spotted wild datura on a property where the turnpike authority tore down a house. They're not going to build on that area anytime in the next few months, so I think I"ll relocate my hornworm to that property.

I'm going to chill out now. It's been quite a busy week already.

Jennifer, those pictures are gorgeous. I pick my noodle beans when they are thinner than a straw a little thicker than a spaghetti noodle. I like them super firm.

Thanks, Kim. I might have picked the first batch a little large. They are about as thick as a straw.

It's been a nice day. I didn't leave the house other than to drive the hornworm to the property where I saw the datura.

Although I unpacked as soon as we got home late Monday night, there were little things like the sheets I covered the furniture with while gone. They needed washed. I put out 2 extra litter boxes while we're traveling. Those needed cleaned up and stored away. The suitcases needed to be stored. Stuff like that. Boring.

But, I spent a lot of time outdoors this morning. I was able to weed 3 of the 8'x4' beds and the 40'x3' bed. Feels really good to get that done. Wow. It was hot, tho, once the clouds went away.

There were lots of garden snacks to enjoy like berries and Sungold tomatoes.

Everything looks mostly good. Maybe a little behind. The okra is still small but growing. The cantaloupe is small, but growing. The second 'round of Jade beans are growing as the old ones are finishing up.

There's some volunteer southern peas mingled in with the cantaloupe and green beans. I'm considering not planting anymore. There's still 2 quarts of dried peas in the pantry. We'll see how these Jade handles the heat that's coming our way and then make a decision on the cowpeas.

The one thing that isn't growing well or as quickly is the Armenian. Maybe now that it's getting hot, it will grow better. It's in the back garden.

There's elderberries ripe on the bushes. My neighbor is going to come pick them soon. I'm going to dry a few and maybe tincture a jar. Not doing the syrup this year. So much left from last year. Luckily it's still good. The tincture will last forever.

My blackberry bushes have produced enough for me to make a batch of jelly. The bushes look horrible, tho. I need to figure out how to prune them and care for them better.

The strawberries are alive and making runners. They didn't produce much this year, but I've only lost 2 of the 21. That's an improvement from the past 4 years. I'm still stumped on why they've struggled so much when before I got enough to make jelly, pies, etc. If I can keep them alive and spreading then maybe next year we'll get a decent amount.

The kitchen garden is in the shade now mostly--time for more weeding. Tom is still in St. Louis, so I won't need to stop to make dinner or anything.

Just looked at Portland's weather. It's a crisp 66. Last week, it was quite warm. I packed incorrectly and had to run to Target there to get a couple of short sleeve tops. It was warm there, but the evenings and morning were quite cool. We went to Bend, OR for the day and it was really warm there. It's high desert of Oregon. Well, I finished my tea so it's time to head back out.

What's everyone else up to?

My gardens look terrible, all of them look bad. This is the north garden, and it looks worse than the others. I pulled a few weeds, and found some sickly plants. I hope to pull a few more weeds, and maybe get the lawnmower out and cut a path or two.

Madge, and, one of her sons have left for south Arkansas to attend a church Homecoming, and I need to go a funeral here, but if it is not too hot I will try to work in the garden a small amount. Madge tells me just to till things in, but I cant do that yet. I just don't want to give up.

I tried tunneling through the weeds from fight to left, about midway in the above picture, and found peppers and sweet potatoes that I thought were worth trying to save. It may take a good while for me to pull the weeds, being as I only work when it is not hot, and when I feel like it. I even found some Covington sweet potatoes that were already starting to form potatoes. We still have 3 months of growing season left, so, surely I will have some sweet potatoes by fall..

We bought more hardy hibiscus plants this year, well, during the planting process we broke some limbs off, we stuck the broken limbs into potting soil, now some are trying to bloom. I don't if these plants will form roots or not, but it does not look like any of them have died. The plants must be very tasty, because the insects are sure after them.

It looks like the rest of you are too busy with your gardens, or have given up. I should give up on mine, but I am not that smart. I am making a little headway on getting the weeds out of my gardens, I am not sure how long that will last. It seems as tho I am putting in at least 10 times the labor as the plants are worth, but I hate to give up on anything.

This is my north garden. I mow a path where I know there will be no plants that I want to save. I then take my hand weeder and a low stool and sit on the stool, or the ground and pull or chop weeds. All of the weeds are knee to waist high, but I am finding some plants that I think will produce if I care for them properly.

Hi Larry. I'm here. It's been a crazy few days. I'll be back in a bit to catch up.

Okay....well, that was longer than "a bit" to get back over here. I was sure that I would have a few minutes during lunchtime to catch up but work has been busy in unexpected ways. The key issues plus now all the light switches are being changed over to where they need a little tool to turn them on. It's not difficult but it's one more thing to carry around and remember to take with. I get why the school wants them. It will keep children from turning the lights on/off. We're still trying to run all of our programs during this remodel/change-over and the "shared spaces" aren't working out as well. But...it's all fine. Sure hope we find our new place soon. We have had to temporarily halt some of our activities. It's a building that is (or was) used daily/nightly for many things. And our leaders--the ones who make decisions around a new building--have no idea how things function daily. Anyway...all that to say managing that situation is time-consuming.

Larry, it's cool that your hardy hibiscus is still living. I hope it makes roots. But...critters do love them. Something has chewed on one of mine horribly. Usually it's tiny baby grasshoppers.

Some of you who are my FB friends might have seen my Garden Monday post...but I'll talk a little about the garden. Sorry if it's repeat from the FB post.

The Kitchen Garden is weeded now but it won't stay that way for long. lol

I also weeded the east "flower" bed last night (where the hardy hibiscus are). Got that cleaned up and some mulch put down. About half of the carrots were pulled and they look really good. Did some watering--just the pots and Greenstalks.

Luckily we got a good rain a couple of nights ago....although my power went off. Only my house. Not our shop (different account and line), not anyone else in the neighborhood. Anyway...I got no sleep that night trying to figure out what the issue was and contacting OGE without an account number and dealing with AI. We have 2 accounts tied to our address (house and shop) and it couldn't figure out how to handle that. Finally got a customer service person around 230 in the morning to report my outage. I was able to explain to an actual person that one of the accounts is the shop and one is the house. And, I couldn't find any accounts numbers due to the power being out and the house was dark as it was the wee hours of the morning. And Tom has all of that info on his phone and was in St Louis.

ANYWAY...we got rain with that storm and I don't need to water fully yet. Just the pots and stuff.

I'm not working at either job today and will focus on house work and some gardening clean up. I'm about to head out and work on the very neglected west flower bed. It hasn't been touched this year. I wanna do it while that side is shaded.

My comfrey plants are there with some daylilies.

The kitchen garden looks pretty right now with the viney things and many zinnia volunteers added pops of color everywhere.

A neighbor has a co-worker who is experimenting with garden amendments (?) I was amazed at how far along her garden has come. She has large watermelon and pumpkins already. They are both scientists and work at OU. He's very "organic" and such. They were showing how he planted 3 of some type of pellet thing in the yard. Those areas are super green and lush. He also made a garden for them and put this stuff in it. I'll try to find out more about it.

She has to go to Canon City, CO for most of June with her work (takes students to a field office there) and her friend/co-worker dropped her off to her house on Friday. She told me as they were driving by my house, he said, "so, what is going on over there?". He was indicating my garden. lol Apparently he has turned his front yard into a cottage garden and his backyard into a veg garden in Norman. Regular neighborhood. I wanna drive by and look at it. He doesn't believe in tilling and all.

IF he wants to come experiment on my garden, he's welcome to.

Anyway, I better get outside before it gets hot.

Kim, Glenda....I know y'all are super busy with various things. Would love to hear from you if you get a chance. I wonder if Lynn is okay. Rebecca, Jen...y'all doing okay?

Jennifer, the same day that Madge broke some limbs off of the hardy hibiscus while trying to plant it, I also broke a limb off of one of the hibiscus in the garden. I took part of the limb and stuck it into potting soil, and sit the container in a flat, and pretty much forgot about it. After your remark, I thought that maybe I should check on my plant.

I think that you can say that it looks like it is making roots. I had pretty well stripped the stick before placing it in the potting mix. I think that I could go ahead and plant my little hibiscus. Maybe I should try to root more of the hibiscus.

We got 2 1/2” Friday night. A huge blessing to us as it put a few drops into the ponds along with a little runoff. That said, the wind and high temperatures of 98-101° have sapped the moisture back out of the garden. My cucumbers are blooming like crazy and no cucumbers. I water deep and have them mulched but with air temperatures so high that doesn’t do anything except hopefully keep them alive. I have a bumper crop of aphids in the PEPH peas and an abundance of ladybugs-they are trying to keep up.

Okra is producing well, lots of green tomatoes but only a couple have ripened. The Sunsugar cherry tomatoes are producing but the yellow pear tomatoes are growing but not ripening. Zucchini plants are bountiful, even with squash bugs. Yellow squash looks good but only getting 1 occasionally, rest turn brown and fall off. I have pruned leaves to get more air circulation and fed. Any suggestions? I have many pollinator plants, lots of ladybugs and bees and wasps. I don’t think it’s a pollination problem, maybe just a temperature problem??

I have tomatillos this year- first for me but neighbor/friend gave me a few. She makes a jam with tomatillos and jalapenos that is wonderful mixed with cream cheese and used as a dip. Cantaloupes and SugarBaby volunteer watermelons are making and growing. Sweet potatoes look good and I’m sure we will have plenty of those. Not near as many as Larry lol. My zinnias are looking pretty except where I didn’t make a trench or allow water to stand and soak so they dry out so fast every day. Echinacea plants would overrun the garden if I allowed them. And the hotter and drier it gets the more they bloom. I planted more green beans (Contender) and have a good stand but not sure even with shade cloth they will survive. I haven’t had much time to devote to garden since husband’s surgery so it’s looking neglected - the heat and wind have not slowed the weeds at all.

I’m going to decide this week what to save and what to let go. Our electric bill is already like a data center and I know the water table is low so will have to make choices. At least the coons have stopped. I guess they’ve found a better deal somewhere else.

Hoping for cooler temperatures and more rain. Dreading the next week because of fireworks. Have a safe 4th of July.

Larry! Your hibiscus is amazing. I could try that too! Not that I need more hibiscus, but I could share them.

Glenda, is your husband doing okay?

I'm always stumped by squash/zucchini. For some people, it produces like crazy. I would like just a couple a week. Rick's Okmulgee/Morris garden produced a lot and he would share with me. I grated and froze a lot of future zucchini bread. Mine isn't producing at all yet, but I planted mine late. I have kept an eye on the butternut squash in the Vego beds. I can see the shells of SBV moth. I'm considering spraying the vines/stems with Bt.

It seems like everything is just a little later this year. No okra yet. No blossoms on the cantaloupe and kajari melons. I love Facebook for the memories. They pop up and I can see what the garden was doing years ago and sorta compare. 2019 was a great year in my garden.

I'm not complaining, tho. I just pulled half the carrots and although they're not as sweet as fall/winter ones, they're quite good. Had some with dinner last night. We just finished the last of the asparagus. It held in the refrigerator while we were in the Pacific NW. There's green beans for dinner tonight. It feels good to use at least something from the garden in our meals.

We should have cabbage soon. It's about ready and there's a lot of it.

My tomatoes are so-so. But, honestly, I'm the only one here that eats fresh tomatoes. I share with my Mom, tho.

My FB memory yesterday from last year....I said that I would only do about 4 tomatoes this year. lol. I did pretty good with 12 this year....but didn't quite downsize to 4. I propagated the Big Beef and had about 7 more. They looked awful but I stuck them in the ground and guess what....the ones who survived look good. They're very small but maybe they'll be good for fall tomatoes. There's 5 that survived. I lost two while we were on vacay. But...they were planted in a stupid place.

I will complain about the heat. I don't like it.

Here we go with July.

I'm no longer a fan of fireworks. We have many days of fireworks in our neighborhood. We get the trash from them on our property.

Has anyone saved herbs in an ice tray situation? Kim? If so, how did it turn out for you in using them in cooking?

I am still slowly picking away at the weeds. I have uncovered some sweet potato, and pepper plants that look well enough to survive, but I was surprised at how dry the ground was. I will keep digging out the weeds, and deep watering as I go.

I placed the spray tank in the tractor bucket this morning and sprayed where I use to weed eat.

I hope to go over to the wildlife garden and do some spraying and mowing, but my outdoor temp is showing 95, and at that temp I don't like doing much of anything.

It dries out fast, Larry. Glad you found some savable things out in your garden.

I'll probably get dinner cooked and then go out. I have a bad habit of cooking dinner early and then not eating until 9 or so when I come in. That's how dinner is for me in the summer. I love plants and the garden and the summer energy (not the heat). But, the lazy part of me likes winter a lot. LOL!

I just noticed that the Karjari melons and cantaloupes have blossoms now. That is good to see.

Yesterday, I pulled a lot of herbs--lemon balm, tulsi, stevia, and sage--and messaged my neighbor about freeze drying them and she said "yes". But, then I asked if I could bring them right over but no answer for a couple of hours. By that time the herbs were wilty, so I just pulled out the hanging mesh drying rack and put them in that. I've got to coordinate with her better. Air dried herbs are just fine, but I would especially like to freeze dry some of the culinary herbs. And maybe freeze some too.

This is probably a "no"....but has anyone used snapdragons medicinally?

I made a sun tea yesterday with roselle, peppermint, stevia, and a few goji berries. It is a nice summer blend.

Also did a full moon tea with rose hips, rose petals and roselle. It was good too. A little tart. I have about one quart jar of dried roselle left and won't have any to replace it. It's okay, tho. There's lots of other herbs....and we'll try again next year.

Been busy with camp, so the garden has been low priority. And my laptop decided to blow up right before, so now I'm trying to get a new one set up. Got home to find the garden was an overgrown weedy mess, so this weekend I'll have to try and clean it up.

Hey Jen! Sorry about your laptop.

I'm going to start a new thread since it's now July.