Traci,

For Sweet Potato Plants, I'd contact Gary at Duck Creek Farms and see if he has any slips left. He is in the Tulsa area and he does ship sweet potato slips. He sent me some more as recently as last week (although these are trial varieties not yet available for public sale) and they arrived here one day after he mailed them and were in perfect condition. I don't think his website said he was completely sold out of this year's available slips the last time I visited it. If you e-mail him to check availability, he's usually really good about returning emails within a day or two even though he is incredibly busy. (We gardeners only think we're busy...I cannot imagine being a farmer and doing all the work someone like Gary does on a regular basis. I'd be a failure as a farmer because the workload would just kill me.) On Gry's website, go to the bottom of the page and click on his sweet potato list to see what's available. If sweet potato slips aren't available from Duck Creek Farms, you might find some from vendors at any of the farmer's markets or maybe from The Tomatoman's Daughter if she's still open and selling stuff for spring. Sweet potato slips can be hard to find in June (easier to find in May). Another amazing source is Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation Center (www.sandhillpreservation.com).

Otherwise, you could plant pumpkins (my favorite is a native from Florida called Seminole--it grows like mad, is delicious and SVBs don't bother it). If you'd like to try Seminole, send me an e-mail through my Garden Web 'my page' and I'll send you some seeds.

You also could plant any winter squash or summer squash, okra, any southern pea (blackeyed, purplehull, crowder, cream, zipper, etc.), any bush bean or pole bean although heat may or may not impede bean set in July/August--it depends on the variety and heat--or any hot pepper if you think you're missing one. You could plant an ornamental corn like Red Stalker for stalk production for fall decorations, some of the ornamental gourds, melons like cantaloupes or muskmelons, or you could plant sweet peppers now, although they likely won't set much fruit until fall. This part of June is in that 'awkward' time between spring planting and fall planting, but I am always putting southern peas, okra, lima beans, winter squash and succession plantings of beans (both bush and pole) into the ground in June to replace cool-season crops as they are harvested. Production from any of them varies depending on how bad the heat is.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Duck Creek Farms Website

Thanks Dawn - I emailed you on the pumpkin seeds (yes,please!) and emailed Gary about sweet potato slips. I have some bean seeds so I will try that and some southern peas I believe. So scared to do squash and more melons because of squash bugs but I will see how I do now that I am getting a grip on the bug massacre!

Thanks again!
Traci

I just planted my bush beans (Contender, Tenderpod Improved) 3 days ago, and they are already up. I was going to wait another couple of weeks to plant more (succession planting as Dawn mentioned), but maybe I should plant more next week? See, I told you Traci, I'm learning too. This will be the first ever time I've planted beans. Well, other than Hyacinth Beans.

If I get lucky, I just might get some Silver Spotted Skipper butterfly larvae on them, too! They don't eat much and I can share.

Susan

Traci,

I'll check my email early tomorrow to make sure your email came through. Sometimes Garden Web mail fails.

With our granddaughter here and requiring attention (she's 3 years old), it may be a day or two before I get the Seminole seed in the mail to you, but I promise it will be in the mail as soon as possible.

Susan, I try to time succession plantings of bush beans about every 3 weeks if space is available in a bed, because I get good production from any variety for about 3 weeks. Some varieties, especially if well-watered, will produce for a longer period of time although sometimes the heat affects that in a negative way, but with a new crop coming along about every 3 weeks, we generally don't have a lull where we are not harvesting beans.

I noticed today the blooms were opening on Tanya's Pink Pod bush beans and they're a lovely pink shade and quite attractive.

I have three more succession plantings of bush beans to go, and then of course, the pole beans will be producing later in the summer.

Dawn

Beans it is!!! (and hopefully sweet potatoes!!!) I have my seed packet by the door ready to go in the morning. I LOVE beans and remember sitting on my Grandma's porch with no less than 6 aunts and my mother breaking beans was a kid. I think I will try that succession planting too. So if I plant from seed they should be up sometime next week? We are leaving to go out of town in two weeks so I need to lay out some landscaping fabric and have my mulch down. I can't ask neighbors to weed for me, but they sure do love the benefits when we go out of town when they start producing!

I am more and more curious about these butterflies Susan!!

Traci