This gave me a good giggle.

I got a plum tree this year and it has one singular plum. I am in the same boat! I look at it everyday.

I'll probably have as many peaches to show this year. Our freeze the second week of May hit all the peach blossoms. Right now I have maybe 10 peaches in two trees. Wonder if they'll make it!

Rats ate ours.

I have one plum. It's still very green and tiny. I don't think it's going to ripen this year. I had no breba figs ripen, they fell off the tree before they got as large as your plum up there. My peach tree is still loaded, but every morning I find another one on the ground. I hope to eat at least a couple ripe ones this year. The veggies aren't doing so well either. Hardly any tomatoes, even since it's cooled down a bit. The cukes are turning yellow long before they should. And the pole beans, the single handful I got was delicious. Especially the purple beans GGG sent me. I hope to get more with the current flush of blooms.

So sad...my apricots did the same thing - I should have watched more viligantly and we could have eaten more but they were just all on the ground and eaten by critters and gone - the couple I grabbed were delicious, too.

I used to have an Italian prune plum in the orchard and it made incredibly delicious pies. Somehow it died on me and I am going to replace it - I wonder if I could grow those red plums here in my Zone 5b (actually more like 6a) zone?

It is frustrating - the weather just kills things and then it's gone for a whole year. I totally understand.

cindysunshine:

I am in 6a, about 30 miles away at my old property is 5b. There is a giant plum tree there. I now have a Santa Rosa. I don't see why you couldn't grow a plum tree! Late frosts might bug it sometimes, but it's a risk that we all take!

Your plum crop looks like my tomato crop. We had four tomatoes on two plants. Just as the first one was getting ready to pick, I checked on it and it was gone. I found it in a flowerbed about ten feet away, with a big bite taken out of it. Some critter, probably a raccoon had gotten it. I managed to pick two little bitty ones and a bird pecked the other one. My parents had bad luck with their tomatoes too.

A lady I work with has been bringing buckets full of plums to work to give to co-workers, so I guess hers did good. We're in southeast Oklahoma. She doesn't like plums so gives them away.

I picked my first green tomatoes last week for Fried Green Tomatoes and then picked my first vine-ripened Tomatoes Friday, just in time for the Fourth.

This year I am growing the following: Super Sweet 100s, Big Boy, Beefsteak, Beefmaster, Rrandywine, Juliet, San Marzano and Stupice.

All my tomato plants are loaded and doing super this year. The Ground Cherries are loaded too. Can't wait to taste that first one.

The peppers are making, but I've only harvested a quart of Jalapeno peppers so far. I used some to make the Ortega family Jalapeno-apple salad with them - has toasted Calif. Walnuts or Pinon nuts in it and a dab of Mayonnaise. Scrumptious.

The 2 kinds of Hatch Peppers that I grow have fruit & the the Red Bell pepper plants are loaded. Nothing so far on the Big Bertha sweet peppers, but they are always late making their gigantic peppers anyway. The Aztec peppers are growing big now. Hope to get them in the ground or in big pots tomorrow. They are super hot. I don't know what they really are called. That is what I call them. They come in dried in the clear plastic canisters of Parrot food. They are easy to grow. Hot little buggers. I get my biggest pepper crops from September thru October. Hope that is the case this year.
I used the rest of the Jalapenos today to make Peach Salsa. Used the red peppers I froze from last year's crop with Mexibells and Jalapenos. HOT ans sweet. Got 6 large-mouth pints jars of Salsa and had enough left that we ate it with tortilla chips this evening while the jars processed. That is my favorite salsa. Terrific with ham or chicken or just eaten with tortillas chips.

The Cantaloupes finally took off this past week and are growing all over the south end of the tomato garden now and they are blooming. They are Hale's Best. Always get gobs of super-sweet melons with a buttery smooth texture. I hope to have enough to also make Melon Salsa again.

The pole beans have climbed to the top of the teepees and doubling back down. Beginning to bloom. Hope they don't collapse in all this rain.

Cucumber plants looked like they would die for awhile in late May. Didn't grow hardly at all. They began to turn yellow when the heat wave hit, so I put some old bamboo rake heads over them for shade, fed them and they almost immediately began to change to green and grow. Now they are going to town climbing up the fence and making blooms. So we shall see if I get cukes.

I've been picking the wild Sand Plums up on the creek to make jam. It is awesome eaten while still hot with butter on Homemade bread right out of the oven or on Indian Frybread.

So far there are only a few little figs on my tree. Last year they didn't put on fruit until late, so I only got one puny little fig before the first frost hit and spoiled the rest of the crop. It was a tasty little fig though.

I keep hoping I will get a bug enough crop so I can make fig preserves. I use them to make my Christmas Figgy Pudding (a moist spice-Fig Cake with a thin layer of fig preserves between the layers and more spooned over the top. Decadent.)

This weather is just so weird! IF this rain doesn't stop, I will lose some plants from standing water and the hot-cool-hot-cool temp fluctuations. I had to put on a Hoody to go put the chickens to bed tonight. Kinda ruined our Fourth of July plans for today. Our family get together is tomorrow. Sure hope it dries up and doesn't get spoiled too.

~Annie

Wow Annie all this rain will make things explode and you are busy! I used to do a lot of jams, jellies and canning - it is just my husband and me in the house now but I will do a little because I enjoy it.

We are getting ready to freeze sweet corn which we'll do later this week.

Well I had my first in about 10 years crop of plums. I think I have made around 6 large jars of old-fashioned (no pectin) jam and there will be another small bucket to pick.
I was able to steal 5 quarts of peaches from the scourge of Japanese Beetles. There were some greener left on the tree but the beetles are clustering on them as soon as they soften.

Beetles also got most of the blackberries. I as able to freeze 5 quarts.

The apricot tree was the real winner. First crop ever. I think I froze about 14 quarts and have made one batch of jam. Strawberries did well. They ripen before the beetles!

Too early to know how everything else will do. All is looking good so far. I have to water weekly since we have had little rain for over a month.

I don't know yet how the pole beans will do. I am warring with the JB for them!

Worst insect year I remember.

Annie, I wish we could have some of your rain. They all keep passing us by.

Does anyone else have problems with early blight on tomatoes? No matter what I do, every year, I get early blight. It slowly travels up the plant. This year I've been applying daconil and it seems to be working.

Maybe it's a regional thing? dunno.

Wow, you guys all get crops harvested so early! Here, we have a short growing season, so almost everything gets planted in May/June and is ready to harvest in August/September...except for peas, which are planted in April.

Sorry to read about all the bad weather in the midwest and southeast. We've been cool and rainy up here (almost like Seattle) but it's supposed to get in the 80s and 90s next week...more our typical July weather. Maybe the tomatoes will start to grow more. Right now, I have a few flowers, but they've been there for the past few weeks. No fruit yet.

krycek,

I had 6 tomato plants that were effected with Early Blight back in April. They were in pots. So I moved them over by themselves and pulled all the infected leaves off and burned them. I couldn't believe it, but they recovered. I had seriously considered tossing them in the burn pile. Now they are in the garden and were the plants from which I picked my first ripe tomatoes. :) (Lucky, I guess)

There is what I believe might be Verticillium Wilt on two of my Big Boys. It showed up when the heat wave hit. Leaves turned yellow and they turned brown. It has accelerated since the cool wet weather hit.

I pulled all the brown leaves off and they went into the burn pile. Naked plant - looks awful but tomatoes are fine. One smaller tomato died. It got yanked. Two of the Cantaloupe vines are growing up on that tomato cage now, happy as larks to have something to climb. They are covered in blooms, loving this rainy weather.

Glenda,
This is definitely the buggiest year ever on my place too. In dry years we have grasshopper & blister beetle invasions. In wet years...well, too many insects and bugs and diseases to fight off. Seems like no matter the weather, we can't win for losing in the Plains areas. I am trying to make the most of what I get out of my crops.

My broccoli and cabbages are done for. Going to go yank them here in a bit. Butterfly & Cabbage moth larva consumed them to the point of no return, I'm afraid. First year not to have any cancer fighting broccoli in my Larder in more than 15 years. And still no squash. None. They make male blooms, but no female blooms. Why is that? All but one of the squash plants are dying. Drowning I suspect. Only the one Zucchini looks good. It is finally taking off. It sits on higher ground.

The Ground Cherries doubled in size in the past two days! Amazing! Covered in those little fruit husks. Hope they make fruit inside them.

Cindy,
There is just the two of us in the home now too, but with adult children and grandkids and my parents, there are always mouths to feed around here, even now. That makes me happy.

If I had planted sweet corn this year, it would just have been food for the bugs. :(

~Annie

In my area all the fruit trees are loaded this year.We had an excellant crop of sweet cherries(Stella). My neighbors apricot trees are ready to pick now. Nectarines and apples coming on well in my daughters yard. My brother 50 miles away has a good peach crop this year. I have a dehydrator and dry a lot of fruit.

I have some blightly tomatoes I think. I always keep a bucket with me: some garden scissors and an old spice bottle with a cotton ball full of rubbing alcohol in it. After every cut on affected tomato leaves I wipe blades clean and wipe off hands or gloves. Works well. I threw out two tomatoes this year only because I remember that last year in that spot I was concerned about tomatoes. There rest look like they are slowly starting to fruit, so they will stay.
I planted some ground cherries but their leaves are way different than those I've seen before, and no fruit yet. Annie, will you please save me some seeds from your ground cherries? Many are different, I'd like a variety please. And yours are earlier than mine.
Beans are struggling. I have not seen bean beetles but the leaves of some are terribly eaten (neem tomorrow), and other are getting yellowish leaves places (which again, I remove and alcohol wipe everything down). Ants are EVERYWHERE on them so I treated them again with diamotaceous earth but that seems to be doing nothing for the ants this year for some reason.
Today I planted 6 more hot peppers, the little black pearls and a 40' wall of various types of pole beans along part of our extra lot (the pink house basically came with two lots) to help block off all the extra tomatoes, melons and sweet potatoes that are so close to the street. I'm hoping the bugs don't follow the beans! I'm thinking of trying some more zuccini over there (The borers keep finding everything else!!!)
So far flowering plants are OK here. I sprayed the zinnias with Safers fungicide once, and will do it again. I know this will be a bad powdery mildew year!

GGG,

Will gladly send you some seeds.
I would love to have a pepper pod from your Black Pearls, if you want to swap. If not, that is okay. I will send you the GC seeds anyhow.

Here's a pic of one area of my Vegetable garden where the Ground Cherries are growing

8 plants in one row, divided by the garden entry path. The Ground cherries are the ones center right with Oregano behind them and the big tomato plants behind the oregano to the right.

This pic was taken just two days ago, but you cannot believe how much they grew since then. I will take another picture tomorrow and see if I can show the incredible difference in their size and the fruit on them.

I'd like to share a few pics of the pears growing on one of my trees. There are two varieties of pears. Both trees are loaded this year. Here are pics of some of the fruit on one of the trees.

I think they are just beautiful! No wonder pears are among the most commonly painted fruit in still lifes.

~Annie

I also have two plum trees. Both are about 8 years old. You got more plums off yours than I got off mine. I hope you enjoyed the fruits of your labor. I guess there's always next year. Cheryl