Congratulations, Dorothy, on the ripe tomatoes and the real beginning of the flood of tomatoes that soon will follow! Tomato harvest season is my favorite season, and I like it best when it is a really long season.

We've mostly been harvesting Early Girl, Chocolate Cherry, SunGold, Terenzo, Lizzano, Little Sun and some random Yellow Cherry that grew from seeds labeled JD's Special C-Tex but which clearly are not JD's Special C-Tex at all. Usually SunGold is the earliest spring-planted cherry type here, but Chocolate Cherry, Lizzano and Terenzo all beat it this year. Loving tomatoes as we do, we've enjoyed every last one of them. I know you're enjoying yours too.

Our early plantings of squash and beans have paid off big-time so I'm glad I took the chance and planted them early. My cuke plants are climbing, but haven't bloomed yet. We're harvesting oodles of zucchini and yellow summer squash, and so far have seen no sign of SVBs or squash bugs. Knock on wood!

The lack of rainfall worries me too, and we're starting to have little grassfires popping up here and there, which worries me even more. Fires are about the last thing in the world that are a concern for us here in May of most every year. Our relative humidity is dropping into the 20s in the afternoons, but I prefer that to the kind of humidity we had in previous weeks. Our high temps continue to overachieve, and I don't like that. Our forecast yesterday was for 86 and we hit 91 at our house. Today's forecast is for 88 and we're already at 87.

We have a slim chance of rain next week. I think it is a 20% chance one day and a 30% chance the next, but that's still a few days out and I'm not holding my breath waiting for rain to fall.

Our broccoli crop was better than our sugar snap pea crop, but neither was great and I feel like the space I used for them was wasted space. The cabbage is OK. I think the onions, potatoes and carrots will be just fine. So, it looks like this year was pretty hard on most above-ground cool-season crops, but not so rough on the cool-season crops whose edible parts grow below the ground. That means I will think long and hard about how much space I devote to cool-season crops next year.

At a grassfire about 5 miles south of us yesterday, I saw bazillions of grasshoppers about 3/4" long. I was not happy to see them. They were all over every single blade of prairie grass. Seeing them sent a chill up my spine. I have not seen them here near our house in large numbers, but knowing they are present in large numbers just a few miles away sets off alarm bells ringing in my head. I hope they were present in such large numbers because they were fleeing the fire, but they really weren't moving very much, so I think they may not have been fleeing...just sitting around eating grass while the fire burned a few yards away.

I have seen all kinds of bugs this year that I usually don't see, and the potato bugs are entertaining us as they creep around the garden looking for potatoes. I've seen potato bugs on tomatoes, peppers, catnip, snap peas, broccoli and now on the zucchini. They clearly must have emerged from last year's potato beds, but this year's potatoes are growing about 150' away and they can't find them. Of course, I squish the CPBs when I find them.

Our "Early Sunglow" corn is participating in the trend towards early harvesting. We usually harvest it right around Memorial Day, but I think it likely will be ready to harvest next week. The coons have been prowling around the yard and garden at night, and if that is not a sign the corn is almost ripe, then I don't know what it.

Dawn

I just wanted to say, as a part-time lurker, these posts are SO inspiring to me. Thank you for always sharing.

Thank you, Jacksonmom. I was an old woman and longtime gardener when I found this forum and I too have been inspired and enlightened.

Dorothy, Longtime gardener I can buy, but you are still not an old woman. Think of all you have done, and all that is left to do.

Jacksonmom, I'm excited to see a lurker posting! Now that you've broken the ice and let us know that you are "here", I hope you'll talk with us more often.

Dorothy, You're not an old woman and never will be. Age is a state of mind and you are so young-at-heart that you'll never be an old woman to me. People in our age group are just well-seasoned gardeners, and we get a little more well-seasoned ever year.

Carol, Amen!!!

Y'all, let's remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said "Though an old man, I am but a young gardener."

When I am feeling old with creaky joints and aches and pains that I never used to have after a day in the garden, I think of my friend and neighbor, Fred, who is still ranching and still gardening at the age of 89 3/4s years. He inspires me. We all should be so lucky to live as long as he has and to be able to continue to garden despite the advancing years.

Dawn

Hi Jacksonmom - I'm a lurker too, although I've ask questions and received incredibly warm, helpful responses. This forum feels like sitting around the kitchen table with family, discussing all kinds of topics. Gardening is the common link.

BTW: I live in southeastern Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay. A few months ago, I was looking for wind break techniques. The GW search engine sent me to the OK forum where I "met" folks who are are dealing with similar problems, although we are live about 1,500 miles apart - heat, wind, drought - and more of the same. I've learned so many helpful strategies. Reading these posts caused me to go out of my comfort zone - so I'm growing sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes for the first time.

I am in AWE of their creativity, curiosity, determination, and sheer grit.

Aww Shucks, Pam. We're just gardeners.....in Oklahoma.

Pam, Virginia is such a beautiful state, but do you not get longer winters there? I would imagine you have your own garden tribulations to cope with there, including many of the ones we face here in Oklahoma. One thing I learned is that just because a plant loves sun up North, it will burn up here in Oklahoma full sun. I can't grow Lupines and Delphiniums and that's that, altho our nurseries still try to pawn them off on the weak-willed, innocent consumer. Yee-gads, I was such a victim of the beauty of some of those plants in my early days. For awhile, I thought I was only going to be able to grow cacti and tumbleweed!

Dorothy, congrats on your tomatos! I had a huge, huge Bush Goliath tomato turning a gorgeous red on the porch, and the possum got it! My bad, I forgot to bring it in. I didn't expect the BGs to get that big. The Sunsugars are about to ripen, and I tried Juliet the other day. Not a bad tomato IMHO, just tasted like a big ole grape tomato, which is basically what it is. I am about to have Big Beef and Better Boy, but the CP and Chocolate Cherry have greenies and hopefully it won't be too long b4 I actually get to taste them, too.

I still have Red Sails Lettuce; hasm't bolted yet, but it grows with some shade. It has done very well for me.

I tucked a couple of Basil plants - regular Genovese - into the tomato tubs today. They kind of go together, and I've done this before with great success.

I also planted the Rosemary BBQ, Patchouli, German Chamomile, and what I thought was Parsley, but I accidentally picked up Cilantro. That won't last very long, but maybe I will get a small batch of Salsa with it. I decided not to grow Cilantro anymore. Most of the grocers carry it now, and I can't really tell that much difference between theirs and mine, so it's not worth growing anymore to me.

I have green peppers now, but the Orange Bells are not looking too good. The foliage is just ratty looking. I need to feed them, and I really, really like the Jobe's Organic fertilizer for tomatos and vegetables that I've been using. I think it may work faster than the Espoma brand. The plants seem to really perk up and grow like crazy after using it. The granules are much smaller, even tho it is an extended release, but seem to break down quicker than the Espoma products. Or, maybe I'm just fickle.

Susan