Kim I don’t know how you do it. I just can’t deal with the heat anymore. That said, we always worked outside no matter what the weather because we had to. I don’t have to anymore.

The heat finished 98% of my garden. I had a couple of new cucumbers, 2 yellow squash, some peas, about a dozen okra plants, a few peppers, and sweet potatoes. The deer got inside for the first time and now the sweet potatoes are 3-4” stems, the okra are sticks with no leaves, and they ate the stems off the cucumber, the peas are about 3” tall. The one squash is still alive and still producing. Now is a good time to drag out the glyphosate and weedeat. No need to worry about a drift.

Larry I’m sorry. I know we all will face it sooner or later and it’s just HARD. No other way to put it. Nobody feels the same way about your stuff or your land. They have their own ideas and notions of what’s valuable and what’s not.

I have an old grain drill that belonged to my Daddy and is a treasure to me and thankfully will be to my daughter along with a few other sentimental things. I tend to be a pack rat and should clean out a lot of stuff before they have to.

I’ve cleaned up after my parents, my in- laws, and uncle, a sister-in-law, and a couple of neighbors. Although in some instances I had no help I still got a lot of advice and criticism. I also swore I wouldn’t leave a mess for my kids to clean up.

Jennifer thanks for keeping the threads going. I love reading but don’t have time to post. As you can tell I start a note and add to it until it’s almost a novel then copy and paste it. My chickens aren’t laying as many and the older ones have already started to molt. This seems awfully early. Hopefully when it cools off they will pick back up for awhile. I have extra eggs put back and froze several. The frozen ones are just as good to bake with. I’ve been buying cherries at the store and freezing them. I love them mixed with yogurt. I had enough peppers to make a couple of bottles of pepper sauce.

Not sure yet if planting anything for fall or not. Weather is going to have to change a lot before I even consider it. We got our hay cut and baled. Only about 1/3 what should be. Grateful for what we got. I took some tomato suckers to root, never had any luck at that before. Not sure if any plants for sale anywhere. TLC has their August bucks now so I’ll check to see what they have left if anything. I always use the extra credit to get a big bag of potting soil to put in greenhouse.

I have 2 huge piles of leaves and manure composting but it’s not breaking down because it’s been too dry and too far from water source to keep it wet. I plan to spread it thick on garden for the winter.

I’m rambling and just hope I can copy and paste this without losing most of it. Till next time -

I never dreamed I’d be working outside in the heat lol. I dreamed of this job just not the heat. The greenhouses run 122 to 130 during the day. I avoid them as much as possible. I do take more than my share of breaks probably. I also have a rag that I dip in water regularly and put on top of my head or around my neck. Whatever the Landscaping crew does is what I do. Stay covered as much as possible and lots of water, electrolytes and salt. I wear overalls and long sleeve shirts and everybody thinks that’s crazy. But it is actually cooler than when I wear shorts and T-shirt. I have a real good farmers tan going on and my hair is more blonde than it has been in decades. I have had heat exhaustion several times this year and I’ve also worked through pneumonia. I think the breathing is the hardest part for me when it gets really hot it is difficult for me to breathe. I am looking forward to the fall and getting a break from this heat.

Glenda, it's always good to hear from you when you're able to post. I'm not doing a large fall garden. Lettuce and broccoli maybe. Maybe another round of green beans.

My second job is with an estate sale company. It's very interesting to see what family does not want when their loved one has passed. There's times we throw away entire photo albums...because no one in the family wants them and no one will buy them. Before a contract is signed, the family goes through the home and takes what they do not wish to sell. Once the contract is signed, it belongs to the estate sale. However, we will make a spot to put personal items for the family to look at just in case they missed those items when they looked through the house.

I'm literally cleaning out junk drawers, bathroom cabinets, garages which are full of all the things people typically store in a garage. There's expensive collections too. And some people have extremely expensive vintage clothing items, furs, jewelry, art....

But, no matter how rich/fancy a person is/was, they all have junk drawers. lol

I suspect there's about 20 items my kids will want not including photos and jewelry. They'll get rid of the rest.

Kim, I know you're being careful out there in the heat, but I worry for you. Do the greenhouses not have shade cloth or fans?

The last two houses I worked in have had AC issues. Last week I was in a hot garage cleaning it out. This woman had an abundance of ALL the holiday decor items. Literally tubs of them. Her family wants none of it. It is all being stored and staged in the garage because inside her house has the nicer, more expensive items. I've been doing the Celtic salt a few times a day and that has helped with hydration and keeping the headaches away. I also cover up in the sun. My skin isn't made for a lot of sun exposure. Supposedly people with the red hair gene make vitamin D and use it more efficiently. Probably due to ancestry and the climate those ancestors lived in. My D levels are always good.

I've already fed everyone and want to work on a couple of wreaths. After that, I'll head out to water.

Tomatoes aren't setting fruit in this heat. I still have the Katrina cukes making fruit tho. I've draped shade cloth over the butternut squash. It gets nearly 0 shade and there's not many fruit that is developing. I don't need a lot, but would like to have a good dozen or so.

Rebecca, how's your hydroponic set up going? I'm trying to figure that out for lettuce. It would be nice to grow lettuce indoors during the summer and winter because I love a good salad. The explosive diarrhea stuff going around has me super cautious with what I buy and what I eat in restaurants.

My issue is I use lettuce a lot normally. How do you keep a constant supply going with your system? Some of the counter top ones that I've seen....well, I would eat the harvest from those within a week and have to wait another month or so for the next harvest to grow.

I put zucchini seed into a raised bed in the hoop house. Maybe the SVB and squash bugs won't find them there for awhile.

That's about it for me. Life is busy and this heat is no fun.

Take care.

Jennifer, I had a guy offer to buy me out, lock, stock, and barrel, junk and all, we may talk about it.

I still have some brush hogging to do, I wont live long enough to get the place cleaned up, but that is a never ending job.

Larry, my property is much smaller and I feel the same way--we'll never get it cleaned up how I want it. It looks tidy enough, but not how I would like it to be.

The AC in the Nichols Hills house is still out for a couple of days. The house sold and a new AC unit is coming but I probably won't work this week at that job. No one wants to work in that situation.

So now...I'm lost. What do I do with 2 full days off?!

My house hasn't been deep cleaned since January. I'm considering tackling the living room. But deep cleaning means I need to wash Josi and her two beds. She sheds horribly and has that smell.

Early this morning while I was out watering, I pulled herbs to bring in to dry. Lemon balm, stevia, peppermint, common mint and a few butterfly pea flowers. The neighbor and her freeze dryer isn't quite working out because we can't sync up our times. I really want the herbs to be fresh when she puts them in, but she isn't always available when I have time to pull the herbs. If they're going to sit for 24 hours +, I might as well just air dry them. Air drying is just fine. I do think that dried stevia tastes sweeter in drinks rather than fresh.

It's nearly time to up-pot the broccoli.

Even with this heat, I'm bringing in plenty of produce. We had Thai last night and I was able to use my garlic, onions, carrots, noodle beans, and peppers. Need to work on growing ginger.

Still have tomatoes and cucumbers too, although the cucumbers are slowing down. And the non-cherry tomatoes are setting fruit right now.

Basically, I'm just rambling and need to get something done around here while I have a chance/time.

Have a good day. Be careful in the heat.

Goodness, Jennifer two days in a row off! I hope you get everything done that you want to get done. I am staring at my garden at work getting ready to rip out bunch of tomatoes. There’s random basil popping up all over the garden and I need to get that pulled and weed whacked. None of the pumpkins are planted at work are coming to fruition one volunteer watermelon is doing great. It’s got baby on it. I pulled the ground cherries, even though they were producing they were taking over too much space and they are too messy for this pristine garden. The pollinators are out in full force doing their thing across the garden. I don’t know what to do about zucchini or yellow squash. I have gotten maybe four or five. Before the plant dies sometimes I get nothing in the plant dies so very unimpressed with that crop. I saw the lady that lives on Jess’s farm in Arkansas said that she never grows any crops that are subject to squash bugs. She said once you get them, you never get rid of them so maybe that’s the problem because the last Gardener he grew a lot of zucchini and they have a permanent residence here I think well breaks sober and I need to get a lot of tomato plants pulled out.

I am so depressed, it hard for me to have the drive to do anything. We have been giving things away right and left. I hate living in an apartment, and I hate living in town. To make matters worse, I have lived within 25 miles of where I am now. I was born about 3 miles from here ( as the crow flies). Moving to Fayetteville is like moving to foreign country, where the cost of living is much higher.

The kids raided the garden when they were here Sunday, they all took things from the house that we are trying give away. The garden is pretty well shot, but I just cant get into the mood to care for something that I am just going to walk away from.

I say that I am just walking away and not doing anything to the place, but I feel that I need to do more brush hogging, and spray some honey locust trees and bushes. I hate honey locust with a passion, I cant think of anything that tree is good for. I also need to spray the fence rows to kill the young brush. I will also try to brush hog up close to all the fences that I can get the tractor near. I know that the kids will not care for the place like I do, but if it looks good maybe someone that will care for it will buy it.

I think that the fact that the kids do not care for the place as I do is part of my depression, but you cant live someone else's life for them.

Madge ran across this vinyl picture of our that her grand daughter had made of our fur baby. This is a picture Hercules, our yorkie, he was the sweetest little boy. The grand daughter gave Herc to us to keep while he was getting old enough to get his shots so he could move to Hawaii. Herc became attached to us, and grand daughter could not stand to take him away from us. The little boy lived with us for 14.5 years. Herc is buried in our south lawn near the south garden. Herc loved the gardens, and would eat many things right off of the plants. Herc really loved pumpkins, sweet potatoes, peas, beans and broccoli. I pulled Herc's grave marker that we had made at the funeral home. We will take the marker with us. I have no reason why, except that he was the sweetest little boy, and he loved us so, we really loved Herc also.

I had better shut up or this post may become tear stained.

Madge just told me, " why don't we wait at least 6 more months," We had told our selves that we needed to move within a year. Madge'skids want us in Fayetteville NOW!

Now, I am rambling, time to shut up.

Larry, my heart breaks for you and Madge moving is not easy. I’m going through kind of the same thing, but I have not lived there all my life only seven years,. Giving up my Garden is the hardest part and really the only hard part. I never have had to live in an apartment and can’t say that I’m looking forward to it. What I am looking forward to is having a washer and dryer in my house I’m looking forward to having a real toilet. I’m looking forward to having space and rooms to put things. I’m looking forward to being a lot closer to work. Right now I am 75 miles one way and I will be 22 miles if I get the apartment I want. So I’m gonna send you and Madge a big hug and pray that you are comforted and you can ramble and well don’t cry on the keyboard because that might not turn out well, but we’re here to listen.

I remember your cute little pup, Larry. My dog, Josi, is sorta like your Herc. She loves all veggies from the garden.

What you're going through has to be so hard. I don't have any comforting words, but can pray for you and Madge. And you can always vent/cry here.

We're not ready to move yet. But, I can see it happening for us at some point in the not so far future. Thing is, I would like to keep this property too. We've thought about renting it, but I would be very particular. I would like to find someone who wants to "turn their waiting room into a classroom"...they could easily grow a lot of veg/fruit/herb and have chickens...and even a couple of goats. It would be a good opportunity for someone to see if that lifestyle is what they really want before making a commitment. No junkers or hoarders.

But...I'm not sure how easy that would be.

I was able to get the living room deep cleaned. It took 4 hours. If I'm not working tomorrow, I'll deep clean the hall bath and our bedroom. It does feel good to sit in a really clean living room. Josi is bathed and her beds are washed.

The chickens pen is watered down. It seems to make it cooler when the soil is wet. The other coop hens and crippled roo seem to be doing okay.

My neighbor brought over several swallowtail caterpillars. They had eaten all of her dill. I still have some dill and parsley.

I was gifted a quart of honey from a guy who lives about 2 miles from me. What a huge gift!

Tonight is Pilates so I'll quickly prepare our dinner before going and we can eat it whenever we're hungry later tonight.

And I still need to pull the herbs leaves off the stems and set them on the drying rack.

Late tonight will be watering, watering, watering.

I forgot to say. Kim, I thought Jill grows winter squash. Maybe the squash pests don't bother her winter squash. OR maybe it's a new thing she's doing--not growing squash. I skipped zucchini for years because of the squash pests.

A fellow and his two daughters came to look at the place, he said that he would buy everything, hoes, shovels, rakes, tractors, equipment, and furniture. This guy has rented the pasture and baled the hay for a long time, and still wants the place.

That's intriguing, Larry. Does he have a good offer for you or do you even want to sell to him?

Oh goodness. We've had some digging around the shop. It's happened before with skunks. Haven't seen any sign of a skunk. The native garden is behind the shop and has been a disaster this year. I've spent very little time with it and had planned on cleaning it up and resetting it this fall. Every year there's a "favorite" and prettiest part of the property. The back part is NOT it this year. At all. However, I was looking at it last night as I had seen a couple of monarch butterflies back there. And discovered a HUGE pile/mound. It had been partially hidden by a giant poke berry. I had been considering leaving it because it is a native plant and it is pretty. And the birds like it. Anyway...we took a video and sent it to a friend who does pest control. Appears that we have gophers. Great. Honestly, I wondered if we had something underground just because one of the sweet potato vines in the hoop house is limp even with plenty of water. and the hoop house is next to the native garden behind the shop.

The grass has grown up terribly in that garden in places. It's just a mess. So I took my little weedeater and whacked some of it down this morning and cut down the poke berry so it's not in the way of our friend who is going to trap it?

I had this thought of downsizing that garden too. Letting some of it go back to grass. Our shop is 40 ft long and the garden runs the length of it and is probably 20 ft wide. I'm considering just doing a strip along the back. Maybe just 6 ft wide. I'm not going to put gaillardia there, I'm sure it will come up but I'll pull it. I've been able to establish gaillardia in other places on the property. Maybe leave the Blue False Indigo, milkweed, and echinacea and replant a few things that have disappeared (like the bergamot) probably because I let the blue mist and obedient plant get out of control. I just have to get it more manageable because it is next to the shop. The burn pile "garden" can grow wild and the property corners can grow wild until June or so.

But...the gophers.

In good news I did see monarch caterpillars on the milkweed back there.

I'm trying to get the motivation to clean the bathrooms and bedrooms.

Jennifer, I have set up a trust, My daughter will manage it. I have a grand daughter that has an unstable home. I hope to look after that child, if her father does not mess her up. I have almost no faith in that son, and I am not leaving him anything, but if I can, I want to gave funds set aside so my daughter can help the grand child. I think that I have enough money set aside for Madge and me to live the rest of out lives with out this place.

I use to eat these things 70 years ago, I guess that once they are started you never get rid of then.

These Passion fruit were on the brush hog when I came in this evening., The fruit wont be ripe till fall, and the vines are still blooming.

I never got passion fruit, Larry. I barely got any of the pretty flowers. The Gulf Fritillary caterpillars would strip them.

They've (Tom and friend) decided that the digging is, in fact, skunks. Makes sense really. I have the kitchen compost at the corner of the shop/native garden. I've neglected the native garden this year so it's WAY overgrown. Perfect hidden place to dig. So, we're gonna have to clean it all up...and move the compost. The trap didn't catch a thing. I've made a cozy spot for them back there and it needs to be uncomfortable for them now.

We got a little rain....but very little. I was in Edmond when it came through and I'm pretty sure Edmond got more. I did appreciate the cooler temperatures... and I didn't have time to water yesterday so the little rain we got was much appreciated.

We had our little grandson overnight. He just went home. We're about to go to dinner with friends.

It's gross out right now. Absolutely gross.

Everyone hanging in there?

I am, but it's not fun. Our backdoor is starting to have difficulty closing now. It happens when we're this dry for this long. It won't click into place correctly although the door actually shuts. And I can't lock it. We may have to make some adjustments on it.

Just rain already. More than a tenth of an inch.

Plants look droopy. I'll go out in about an hour and start watering.

I might up-pot the broccoli as it's past time to do that. The pansy seed germination hasn't been great. I'm not sure if pansies are difficult to get going or if my seed is just bad.

That's about all I've got for today.

We need rain very badly. I cant keep the gardens looking even fair.

I got to see my youngest grand daughter yesterday, her foster care parents came over, and we had a great visit. Madge and I got lots of hugs, and we hope for more.

It is just too hot to do anything out side. I may try to do a little brush hogging in the mornings when it is not so hot.

Madge is going to Fayetteville in the morning to look as apartments. I will stay home because it is just too painful to walk.

Hanging in there is just about what it is. Finding a place to move is proving to be harder than I imagine. With budget constraints it is challenging. I qualify to get Social Security this year so that will help. The garden is absolutely drying up faster than I can do anything about it. Trying to keep water on. It is very challenging at work as well. I’m trying to get seeds up at work and not sure how that’s gonna go. It’s too dry outside or in the greenhouse. we just need to catch a break with this rain.

Sounds like we're all in the process of moving this year.

To repeat everyone else, my garden is turning into a crunchy mess. A couple of tomatoes are limping along, and a couple of peppers are just setting fruit. Other than that, I'm growing weeds. With this heat, I can't even motivate myself to plant anything for fall.

I tried watering a little, I doubt that it will do any good, everything just seems burned up.

Madge called from Fayetteville, and said that she found an apartment for $1900.00, and $2500.00 per month, I told her that we can live here free. I cant believe the price of rent. I can have her go to Fayetteville every week and stay in a motel cheaper than that.

Larry rent is ridiculous anymore. Especially for what you get. One apartment I looked at was the size of my tiny house and they wanted 900 a month. I would not give you 900 a month to live in this teeny tiny house. There are some around for about 600 a month but they’re all snatched up.

Jen, good to hear from you. I'm not moving this year. I agree about the lack of motivation for starting a fall garden. I do have broccoli on the light shelf. And will start some lettuce but it's hard to find the energy to do it. The heat is draining. And, I can even start it indoors....but motivation.

I would like to do fall green beans and it's time. But, they're not planted. Maybe I'll do that tonight. Maybe. All my outdoor time is taken up by watering.

There is a crack so big in our front yard that I can get my foot in it. Once I saw that, we started a sprinkler. Last night and this morning.

Kim and Larry, rent is ridiculous.

Well, time to get out and water. Looks like this is something we're gonna deal with for at least a couple more weeks.

Is everyone hanging in there?

I am. Some of my plants not so much.

The cucumbers are pulled now. I will miss them.

A couple of nights ago, I did plant the green beans. Hopefully they'll have time to be productive. It's time to do the carrots too. It's just going to be so difficult with how hot it is. And dry. Maybe I'll do the shade cloth thing. And wet the soil morning and night. I don't want to go without fall carrots.

I put 5 zucchini seed into the hoop house bed and they've all germinated. Trying to keep fresh veg going for as long as I can.

Lettuce needs to be started like the carrots. I would also like golden beets but don't know if I have seed.

It's hard to know what to do with the current green bean plants. They are full of very small beans that aren't sizing up. I suspect it's the heat causing that. I'll just leave them for now.

I'm going to fix dinner and then head out to water. So far, I haven't lost anymore chickens in this heat. Trying to keep it that way.

Check in if you can.

We had one of Madge's daughters, and her husband down today, and we went to Ft. Smith to eat, they took a load of house utensils back north with them. We are slowly getting rid of junk.

The garden is terrible, I hope to water some this evening. A lot of the lawn is toast. The trees on the hillsides are turning brown.

It is so dreadfully dry here. I don’t have time to water at home. I may have found a place where I can take some of my plants and still garden. It is 3 miles from work. What a dream. Perfect job and barely a commute. That would save 3 hours and $350. Sign me up. I’ve lost most of my gs planter plants. I need to dump all the soil out and get the grass out and start over. As soon as it cools down. One bonus of the new prospect is it is on the lake. I will have to get some fishing gear.

My computer is showing 104 in Ft. Smith, my min/max is showing 106 on my back porch, my indoor temp is showing 81, and I am afraid to tell you what my attitude is. We are under a burn ban. The creek and pond levels are low.

Madge and I went out late yesterday to see if we could see any deer moving, yesterday we saw 11, the day before we saw 4. It looks like the deer are coming out of the woods walking the tree lines and the creek beds looking for something soft enough to be tasty. I will expect that the rest of the sweet potatoes will vanish before long. Something has been eating the pumpkins in the wild life garden. I guess the pumpkins still have a little moisture in them. I expect that I will be buying a little wildlife food before long.

Kim, that's exciting! Keep us posted. Saving all that money will allow you to buy new soil for your pots too!

Larry, I have a bad attitude in the type of weather too. And it only makes the other "issues" in one's life feel worse. I'm struggling as well.

Water, water, water. That's what's happening on our property. Got started early this morning to get to the stuff I missed last night. It's not that I'm trying to save all the annual things as much as trying to keep the soil from drying out. And, I don't want to lose perennials. I'm even watering the vitex, crepe myrtles, native beauty berries, elderberries.

I did bring in a basket of okra last night. And a few tomatoes that had formed back a month or so ago when we had those days in the upper 80's/low 90's. I'm bringing them in greenish--just breaking color.

Our shop door won't click into place now. So we have our backdoor doing the same thing and the coop door too. If we could get some good rain, that would change.

Regarding the backdoor. I just told Tom to use the dead bolt (I can't get it to click) and we'll keep it locked that way and I'll just use the front door for everything. It's a pain, but until we get some rain it is what it is.

Might try to get some lettuce seed started this weekend and carrot seed sowed (with a plan to keep the soil shaded and moist until they sprout.

Heading over to Nichols Hills to work today. Luckily the AC is working again at the house.

Have a good weekend, Friends.

I need to go water the sweet potatoes, they look like they have just sat there for the past 2 months. I know that I have a few potatoes under the plants, but it looks like a very few. I am afraid to water much because it has been so dry for so long I am afraid that they may start sprouting or growing and split.

We we drove to the back side of the property last evening we saw no deer. It was so hot yesterday, and we had been spooking the deer by driving into their territory. We did find a little stuff in the wildlife garden. It looked like the wildlife had eaten what little stuff that was left. The critters did leave a few pumpkins. The pumpkins were out in the tall weeds, and I guess that the deer did not want to get chiggers, so Madge let me go pick her a small pumpkin, it may be a deer reject, but I want to check to see if it was any good.

Our weather forecast stinks, if I go by the forecast, Aug. 30 will be the first day that the high will be below 100 degrees, which shows 98 degrees, I may have to go buy a coat. It is so hot and dry that I am afraid to go out and brush hog because of fear of starting a fire. It hurts me because I am not able to keep this place up anymore.

I have all but given up on the garden, I do want to try to keep the sweet potatoes alive, I may still get a little harvest from them. With this dry weather the water co. may cut off all outside watering.

Thankful I am city water at home
That old well would be suffering. At work we have an awesome well. I started the sprinklers on the way to church. I will go after church and move the sprinklers. These raised beds can not go one day without water.

So far our well is holding up. We've not had issues with it before and for that I am glad.

Sometimes the hot water gets a certain smell when it's been dry a long time. I sorta understand the science there--something about an anode rod and yeah.

Anyway....tonight will be more watering--around the house and the garden too.

Tomorrow is supposed to be under 100. Barely, tho.

Oklahoma got some rain. Not at our house but I'm thrilled for those who did.

I decided to shop for next year.

Most people shop during the winter, but I seem to prefer the summer when it's so hot....and dreaming about a better summer next year. Plus, it's so hot to be outside and when I'm buying seeds it feels like I'm gardening.

After making my list for next year and going through my seeds, I purchased: Kajari melon, Valerian, Musik garlic (I want to try a hardneck too next year), Jade beans, Armenian cucumber, Ashe County pimento, Signet Starfire marigolds, Oklahoma salmon zinnias, and some container varieties: container bush slicer cuke, Astia zucchini, and French Mascotte beans.

With our downsizing, I really want to try these container veggies. Both for pots and maybe the Greenstalks too.

So...I think only the onions remain.

Next year could be really busy. We'll see. I mean, let's get real, all years are busy. BUT, if Ethan ends up getting married there will be extra trips to Oregon.

Kim, I'll share some of these container variety seeds with you if you want to try them at your new place on your patio.

It might be time to revisit some of the YouTubers I used to watch that did more of backyard gardens.

Alrighty, I guess I'd better get out to water and check on a hen that is struggling in this heat. I wet the soil down in their pens and she settled down on the cooler, damp ground. Maybe it helped her.

Thank you, Jennifer. I am always looking for more seeds lol. I dug up one of my sweet potatoes here at the job and it was not terrible but I definitely will wait until I can just cut all the vines out at one time. A 4 x 10‘ raised bed with vines going in every which direction is hard to get into and pull sweet potatoes. When I get ready to dig them, I will just whack all the vines off and put them in compost. When I used to plant them in the ground, I would raise the mower as high as I could go and run over the patch of sweet potatoes. There was just enough of the stem to find out where the original plant was. I have planted in these mineral tubs for so long now that it’s kind of fun see them grow in raised bed. This morning at work I am pulling lots of tomatoes and trimming my hyacinth bean vine. It was really out of control and trying to wrap itself around one of the sweet potato beds one of my eggplants and my long noodle beans. I was able to get some carrots to come up outside in the raise bed. It is 1130 and that particular bed is still in the shade so hopefully it will do well tomorrow. I am going to plant Bray‘s and put them in trays outdoors and see if I can get them to germinate. The greenhouse runs 130° so I’m not gonna be able to plant anything in there until it cools off. I’m really struggling with this heat as our most people I’m sure. I’ve always ripping out all these things all of a sudden I got overwhelmingly hot. So I decided I needed a little cool air so I’m sitting in the car with the air conditioner. I am going to get back to work and water down a towel and put on my head and around my neck that should help.

Seed to spoon Carrie just did a video today on container varieties. I am so proud of them. For how far they have taken their gardening knowledge

I'll have to check out her video. I talked to her a little last year when she came to get some of Rick's tomatoes. There were a couple of years when she wanted to come to our gardens and do videos of them....but for some reason they never figured out a time to come over. They're really into their singing/music now, tho.

Please be careful in this heat. I know I say that all the time. But it is absolutely ridiculous.

I'm impressed that you've been able to get carrots up. I'm scared to even try right now.

Larry, we have lived here for 18 years. This is the first year we have had more than an occasional deer in the yard. Now we have multiple deer during the day and especially at night. My flowerbeds have been reduced to rocks. I’ve tried to protect and save a few plants that have sentimental value but if the deer haven’t eaten it the heat has killed it. I have a doe that has become much too comfortable around people and doesn’t even run if we walk near her. They got inside my garden - my husband and I have now surrounded it with 6’ cattle panels hung about a foot off the ground. We’ll see if it’s enough. There’s nothing left inside except a couple of new cucumbers that I can’t believe are still alive and a tub of purple millet I’m trying to keep alive and save seed from. There is a culvert piece and a few mineral tubs with sweet potatoes stems in them. Wondering if they will come back out and grow enough to produce anything or if the heat has ruined them too. Out of all the okra there are 4 stems with a couple of leaves. Not sure if they’ll come back or not.

I was so mad one day because they’ve eaten all my lilies, hibiscus, purslane, even came onto the porch and ate begonias in pots! They’ve also started eating on my lilac that was a Mother’s Day gift a few years ago. Decided I was going to start shooting towards them- not to harm, just scare off. Then I saw a skinny doe with 2 tiny fawns still with spots. She led them to the calf creep feeder first then to the area where my daughter and son-in-law have been watering the pond dam to keep the grass on it alive. I just can’t do it. They are hungry and just trying to survive too. Yes I have yelled and made LOUD noises, even thrown rocks. They look at me like “there’s that crazy woman again” .

Right now I’m not planning a fall garden. I have a couple of huge compost piles with leaves and manure that we started early Spring but have not had enough rain to keep it going. I intend to spread it on all the beds and let it break down over the winter. It will be close enough to water in the garden that I can wet it down as needed.

I can’t believe any of you are getting tomatoes. Mine all burned up over a month ago. We went to the market today and bought $20 worth of West Texas tomatoes. That breaks down to about 6 tomatoes. I won’t be making a return trip. And okra for $4 a pound. Got a handful to mix with an onion and potato and fry.

Kim really - be careful. We’ve had 2 friends have heat strokes this week. I didn’t have heat stroke but did get too hot one evening and terrible headache and nausea. Then felt bad for a couple of days.

My thermometer read 111° today and thought not possible. Then lady down road said hers was 115°. Just unbelievable.

Monday morning the rain was close enough we saw the lightning, heard the thunder, and smelled the rain because there was a north wind. We went to Stillwater and got feed and they had water standing in the streets. Waiting for our turn.

Glenda, I get uneasy with the weather conditions like they are. I had rather there be plenty of food and water for the deer and cattle to stay farther apart. In the back of my mind there is always a fear of Mad cow disease, and chronic wasting disease. I don't know if the diseases can cross or not, but I fear both of them.

I may put up a feeder and plant some food plots hoping to keep the deer herd more healthy.

I have been hogging down some berry patches that have been taking over some of the areas.

I hate to destroy the wildlife cover, but a place can be over run with brush if it is not cared for. Maybe if we can get some rain we can get new grasses growing in the areas that I am brush hogging. I have decided to place a 25 gal. sprayer tank of water in the bucket of the tractor that I am hogging with, so I will have water ready to spray an area if I do hit a rock and start a fire. I also have a lot of seed to toss out in the cleared areas, hopefully we can get some rain soon to get the grass growing soon.

Now, I am finding t hard to string a hot wire to keep the deer out of the sweet potatoes. The potatoes have been so bad for so long I doubt there is a lot under them, plus we still have sweet potatoes from last year.

I may be moving soon. My min/max is showing 110 outside. I had a one room shack up at North Pole, Alaska at one time, it may be time to move there, the temp there showing 67 degrees, I could use some of that about now.

Be careful mowing or brush hogging. We’ve had 3 fires in the county just this week from mowers and tractors. They said probably hit a rock and sparked a fire. One guy lost several round bales plus pasture.

I haven't been on the tractor in a day or two, and don't plan on being out till it cools down some, then I will place a tank of water in the tractor bucket to spray an area if I hit a rock. One nice thing about this place is that I have very few rocks.

The poor animals who have to be out in this. It's just yuck. I have 3 fans in the main coop at night and one in the little coop. I've been wetting down the soil in both pens.

The trees are dropping leaves.

I'm watering around the house trying to get it so the backdoor is easier to lock. Also, when we're really dry, the pharoah ants come in looking for water.

The birds are cute, tho. They play in the spinklers. And after watering the KG, there will be dozens of them. I have a wine bottle garden within the kitchen garden. The bottoms of the bottles are like little bowls. There's also a small bird bath. We drug a super heavy 2-tiered birdbath from Rick's house last year (so glad we did since the bank took the property). I've been filling it every night. All the flying things like it.

There's 3 yellow birds that stay close to a fountain thing that Tom made on the side of the house.

It's too hot for the cat to even want to stalk them.

I would like to keep the sweet potatoes, the newly planted green beans, and the zucchini alive, as well as the strawberries. The berries were doing really well until a couple of weeks ago. They're well watered, but the heat is so intense.

Also, something weird that I've noticed. Some of the pods on the okra are really hard. Like when they get too big. Only these are a smaller size. I wonder if it's the pods that aren't shaded by foliage.

Things aren't great at all out there but I would like the above mentioned things to survive.

It appears I'm going to get one butternut squash, one cantaloupe, and two Karjari melons this year. LOL

IF it cools down ever, the peppers should pick up production. And, I really want to plant some root crops.

Glenda, Larry, and Kim--hang in there!

I have a nice stand of sweet potato stems. The deer just about wiped them out last night. I may dig around a few of the sweet potato plants to help me decide if I want to fool with them anymore. I also noticed that something is eating my butternut squash, I expect that it is rats by the size of the bite marks. I don't think many of my peppers will survive.

Jennifer before the deer finished my okra off I noticed the same thing. Okra even just 3-4” was rock hard. I figured it had to be due to the extreme heat. I don’t remember it ever being like that before.

I went to TLC today to use my August bucks and get more potting soil. They had tomato plants-Early Girl only. I got 2 to put in bigger pots and try to keep alive until the weather breaks then maybe get a few tomatoes for fall. I’ve never planted Early Girl for fall but guess it’s because of the shorter hours of daylight and they are bred for that? The lady I asked didn’t know the reason for that variety only. They also had cabbage, kale, and some very tall leggy peppers. My sweet potatoes are still alive. I’d sure like to plant some green beans but it would be a wasted effort. Weathermen tonight said maybe 10-12 more days of this heat and then it should cool off and start raining. I hope they are right.

We got a little rain and I think a lot of the metro did as well. Not much but enough that I could skip watering tonight.

I am so thankful for that. I prayed for rain for the entire state. I also had a really good and funny dream last night. I needed that.

Glenda, Early Girl used to be on my list of "I'll always grow", but it's no longer there although it's a good one.

The lettuce needs to be started and the carrots so badly do as well. I just don't know how to do that in this heat. I guess I need to figure it out soon.

Glenda, it's so weird about the hard okra pods. I guess it is the extreme drought and heat.

I’m jealous you got rain. Everything is so dirty here from the gravel caliche dust. I have been using a sprinkler instead of have watering to try and knock some of that dirt off. I am currently laid up with double pneumonia so not much gardening going on. Mostly rest.

So thankful I sold the greenhouse. As excited as I was to get it, I was more excited to see leave. The couple it was a super sweet husband wife to kids and she has a YouTube channel and I’m already subscribed to her channel. I needed the money to get my car fixed on Tuesday so it worked out perfect.

We had a little rain a couple of days ago, but it was next to nothing.

I did a little brush hogging on the east side of the place where there is an artesian well. This well has been flowing water down across the pasture for over 70 years. The ground is so soft that you cant walk in it is places. The past several years the well has seemed to be flowing a lot less water, but still there is a large patch of cattails growing down below the well. Being that this is the driest year I can remember, I thought that maybe I could brush hog some of those cattails down. I managed to get a good part of them down, and that area looked a lot better. That evening Madge wanted to go to the east side of the property to look for deer. I thought that this would be a good time to show her the area where I had been working. I drove up to the northeast corner to show her how nice I was making it look. I took the RTV out into an area that was a lot softer than I thought, I hit a soft spot and the left side of the RTV just sunk up to the axles. There we were over 1/2 mile from the house, and it was 104 degrees, and neither one of us can walk very well, but we survived. The next morning I took a tractor, with cable, tow straps, and chain over to drag the RTV out of the muck.

As I have said before, my garden is dead.

This is my sweet potatoes, the deer have eaten nearly all of the leaves. My neighbor came over while I was spraying some water on the ground to see if I could soften it enough to dig to see if I had any potatoes, he ask me what I was doing, and I told him that I was trying to soften those dry leaves so the deer would not get choked on them, they were getting under my bedroom window coughing and keeping me awake at night.

The roselle does not look great, but they look better than anything else that I have growing. I only have 3 plants.

It's sad when it's too hot for roselle and for okra pods, Larry and Glenda.

Kim, are you feeling better. Happy you sold the greenhouse. Can you share the couple's YouTube channel name?

All my seeds are in other than the ones from Renee's! That was fast! I'm nearly ready for next year! Other than onions, of course. I ordered Musik garlic from Renee's too. Those won't be delivered until the fall.

Just watered some this evening. Most of my day was spent in Edmond with daughter and grandson. A good day.

I'll start a new thread.