That's been the question here for a while. Now the question is "How many ways can you disguise zucchini in other food?". Still, it is nice to have it even though it produces so well that we get tired of it.

Cukes seem to go from too small to too big in about a day. No matter how often I pick them, and no matter how thoroughly I've checked the vines, I always find some that are too big the very next day. I wish tomatoes got that big that fast.

I didn't even step food in the garden today. I just went straight to the kitchen to work on food processing, then went out later to run errands and buy chicken scratch and dog food. By the time we made it home, the high temp was 94 and the heat index already had hit 106 and was headed back down. The temperature currently is 98 but the heat index has dropped to 104. I didn't open up the greenhouse this morning and it probably is 120 or 130 in there, but there's no living plants in it so I don't care. Tim and I always joke that our greenhouse is our sauna...not that anyone in Oklahoma needs a sauna in the summertime.

I don't have much of a garden plan at this point, other than keeping it weeded, mulched and harvested. I hope to get out before sunrise tomorrow morning so I can harvest while the temps are at their lowest point for the day. If the rest of this week is cooler than today, as it is supposed to be, I should at least catch up on mulching, weeding and harvesting. I'll likely continue succession planting, but while keeping one eye on the temperatures.

We have a slight chance of rain, including severe thunderstorms, for the next couple of days, so it likely will be hot and steamy for a while. All winter long I look forward to the arrival of warmer weather in March. Well, here it is June, and I'm looking forward to the October cool-down, which seems a long way off at this time.

I have one tomato plant that looks especially bad today, and I likely will yank it out this evening. It has declined very quickly the last 3 days, with yellowing and wilting foliage that isn't going to protect the remaining tomatoes from sunscald, so I'll just pick them and discard it. Rain is such a blessing and we really needed it, but you can count on at least some of the tomato plants going downhill not long after a big rain falls. I kind of understand how they feel, though, because you wouldn't catch me standing outside in this heat and humidity 24/7 either.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mesonet: Today's Maximum Apparent Temperatures

I got out and pruned more foliage from the tomatos this morning. Seems like its getting worse and worse since the hail damaged the plants. I do have about 5 or 6 good back up plants that are doing much better than the main crop, and if it doesn't perk up soon, they'll be pulled and replaced with the back ups. I was disappointed that the hail took most of my Cherokee Purples. I still have 3 fruit on the vine that should be ripening very soon, so at least I will get a bite to see what all the fuss is about. Indian Stripe is one of the backups, so it will have to carry on for CP.

It was so miserably humid today, even with intermittent cloudy skies. Almost unbearably so. I went to play with the kiddos for awhile and even they wanted to stay inside.

Susan

The question Glenn asks me every year this time is, "Why do you plant so many cucumber vines?" Well, because I love cucumbers and want to try different varieties, of course. But this year I did overdo it. Especially since I long ago gave up making pickles from cucumbers. (No matter what I did they got soft and I hate soft dill pickles. I can dill asparagus, okra, and beans and they don't get that soft.) There are 6 round cages out there with 2 or 3 plants per cage and they are producing 6 or 7 or more a day, so I am giving cucumbers away.

Dorothy, I haven't made pickles for awhile, but I didn't have a problem with them getting soft. Of course, I used pickling cukes for pickles because the slicers have too much moisture to make good pickles. At least I think that is why they don't work.

My two types were planted the same day and while both are producing, the slicers are doing best. We just came back from Tulsa and I walked out back and picked a handful of Sungold tomatoes and a cucumber. I snapped the cuke in half and we split the cucumber. I told Al that was his really fresh salad. LOL

Yep, I'm filling up the fridge with cucumbers too. That and yellow squash. I've also finally been picking some ripe tomatoes...mostly black cherry and one gorgeous beefsteak that ended up having BER. Many of the green tomatoes on that one plant also have BER, which is very disappointing. I don't know why it would just affect one variety and not the others.

Dorothy, Like Carol, I always use pickling cukes. Once I got my cukes confused while picking and made some pickles from slicing cukes and it did not give me good pickles.

Sometimes I get soft pickles and sometimes I don't even when I use pickling cukes. I think it may hinge on how fresh the cukes were and how small. I get firmer pickles when I pick them small and pickle them the same day. I also sometimes do a lime soak, or ice bath soak for 12 or 24 hours, and this year I'm going to try the pasteurization process where you pasteurize them at 180 degrees for 30 minutes in the canner instead of boiling them. I want to see if that does make them firmer. They say it does, but I never believe stuff like that until I try it myself and see it with my own two eyes.

Heather, Plants are individuals, just like people, and different ones (every different plants of the same variety) react differently to different stresses. That's why one variety is affected and not another. Even within a variety, you'll see some plants have it and others not. I have 18 'Heidi' paste tomato plants, and 2 of them have had some fruit with BER and the others haven't, and they all grow in two long rows side by side. It happens.

Dawn

I always used Boston Pickling but still got soft pickles. But I don't want to make pickles anymore so it doesn't matter. What I do want is a longer season of fresh cucumbers so from my experiment this summer I have learned which varieties have shorter vines. Those are the ones I will plant in the greenhouse, along with some of the compact tomatoes I'm growing this year.

This is a quote from the Mrs Wages website:

"Remember for pickles you must cut off 1/16-inch from the blossom end to help prevent soft mushy pickles (the blossom end contains an enzyme that will cause softening)."

Never heard of that so that may explain it, but I still dont want to make pickles so sshhh, don't tell DH.

I have read that advice twice in a week so I guess I needed to know it. LOL I don't know if I will make pickles either, but I would like to. My pickling cukes are coming out in very uneven shapes so I don't think I will be making any whole ones until they become a little more consistent. It is probably a water issue because it is hard to keep the moisture even. On the other hand, the slicing cukes are straight and even.

Dorothy, if I do make them, it will be the easy way. The only Mrs Wages that my WM had was Kosher Dill, but that was the easy way out.

I think I am going to make some dilly beans. The Japanese Beetles started eating on the bean leaves today, but so far I don't have a lot of them. The vines are pretty strong so maybe the nibbling won't affect them terribly.

Kentucky Wonder pole beans are a Japanes Beetle magnet in my garden. They pretty much leave the Blue Lake and Cherokee Stripe alone.

Dorothy, Kentucky Wonder has always been a JB magnet in my garden and I don't even like to plant them. In fact, I have seed for pole Kentucky Wonder that I would gladly send to an active Oklahoma Forum member if they want them, but it probably should be someone that doesn't have beetles.

The Japanese Beetles have now arrived at my house and I am seeing some damage on the Old Timey Tennessee Greasy Bean, but they seem to prefer grape leaves to most anything else at my house, unless I have Kentucky Wonder planted.

I planted Kentucky Wonder and haven't seen any japanese beetles on them yet. I like how productive they are, but I think I prefer the flavor of the Provider bush beans I planted instead. I still have a ton of KW seed left to use though.