Glad you finally got to use that camper Merryheart. I haven't posted for a long time because I haven't gardened for a long time. We went on vacation the third week of May and the day we returned was the day my foot started hurting. I tried working in the garden with that but I just couldn't do much. Then I went to the doc and found out it was broken and I have been wearing a big boot for six weeks. Yesterday I got the boot off but still have a brace that looks like a small black corset laced up on my foot. I have made a few trips to the garden just to pick cucumbers and tomatoes. The grass is thigh high and has gone to seed, so I will never get it back in shape again. I hate roundup but I will probably garden in pots next year and try to get my area cleaned up again.

Now mind you, my garden has had NO care, NO supplemental water, and has basicly been on ignore since May. Since I didn't have a boot to deal with today, I decided to go pull the "too big" cukes and okra from the vines so they could start making some good ones (although I can't keep with the cukes now). I took a Wal-mart bag with me just in case there were too many tomatoes to carry in my arms. I filled the bag with cukes, tomatoes, peppers, and a few pods of okra. I was afraid the bag would break, so I brought that bag in the house along with two cantelope and got another bag which I almost filled with a few tomatoes and some green beans. Unbelievable. Of course I am covered with insect bites and will have to remember to look for ticks tonight. Talk about a lazy man's garden. Of course I am a little embarassed because I like that well tended garden look...........but I am not hungry.

Hi Merry Heart!

I was figuring you must be at the lake. Hasn't the weather been wonderful....so much cooler and cloudier than usual and not nearly as much rain these last 2 or 3 weeks.
It sounds like you had a great time there.

I am still getting ripe tomatoes from some sorry-looking plants too, and I am very grateful for that because many people here lost all their tomatoes to the rains and/or flooding. I am slowly removing the yucky plants after I harvest the last of their good-looking ripe fruit, and am replacing them with fall tomato plants I raised from seed. I have been doing that since June, and some of the June-planted replacement plants are already 3 to 4 feet tall and have blooms and fruit, so I think it will be a good year for fall tomatoes at least.

I always grow about 15 tomato plants in containers (in additions to those in the ground), ranging from 5 gallons to about 30 or 40 gallons and they always do incredibly well as long as I keep them well-watered and well-fed.
This year, Better Bush, Jaune Flamme, Early Girl, Little Lucky, Lucky Cross, Kimberly, Orange Banana and Nebraska Wedding have done very well in containers. Several others, including Ultimate Opener, Red Star and Galina's Yellow did not do as well in containers. Susan has had really great results with a tomato I think would be PERFECT for a container. I think it is Husky Red Cherry. There is a whole line of Husky tomatoes that are short internode plants which are great for containers. In the past, I have had lots of success with Better Boy in containers too.

My melons have been slow too, but have finally begun to form fruit. My pepper plants are like yours....smaller than usual and bending under the weight of the fruit. I bet that we will harvest peppers until the first frost, though, so the plants ought to be able to grow and get a little stronger.

I also have basil everywhere, and have been having to cut it back and cut it back and cut it back.

The flowers are looking great, and it is still hard to keep up with all the mowing and weed-eating.

We had bobcat problems earlier this spring/summer....he got a total of 2 chickens and 2 guineas, but we haven't seen him the last 2 or 3 weeks, so maybe he has moved on.

The coyotes haven't been howling and running much yet, but it is usually August when that kicks in big-time, so I guess time will tell.

The river is back down in its banks, although a lot of pastures near the river still have huge amounts of water that just will not drain and dry up...so I am guessing the water table is high under those pastures.

We have had lots of deer, including one doe who always leaves her still-spotted fawn on the edge of the woods while she (the doe) nibbles around the edges of the garden. I just love little fawns, so, of course, I have been putting little piles of cracked corn, sunflower seeds and hen scratch on the edge of the woods so the fawn can eat them while the doe devours the garden. (She stands outside and reaches over the fence.)

We are having tons of birds (including some we've never seen and haven't identified yet), butterflies, moths, frogs, turtles, dragonflies, etc., so it is a great year for sitting out in the lawnchairs at night and watching the wildlife.

It IS hard to believe it is August 1st, and we haven't even hit 100 degrees yet (which is OK with me). I hope we have a really late first frost so we can enjoy a long, lovely, mild autumn.

Welcome home!

Dawn

Hi again ya'll,
According to the weather "guesser" I heard last night we better really enjoy the cooler temps. He is saying it will hit upper 90's in a few days. Oh my! If it gets that hot with the humidity like it has been I won't be going outside at all.

Soonergrandmom--
Good to hear from you! I am sorry about your foot. I know it has been harder to have that going on this time of year...it would be for me. To not be able to get outside in the warm months would be terrible.
I am thrilled to hear how well your garden is doing in spite of lack of care! It just goes to show you that if it is happy with the weather and other conditions it will grow reguardless of attention or lack of it!
I hope your foot is almost well and you can soon get the "corset" off too.
Enjoy all the good food you picked from your garden and I hope insects didn't feast on you too badly.

Dawn
I just knew you would be having a great harvest in spite of the adverse conditions the weather has presented to us all. I need to cut back the basil here too. I have cut it back a few times but it is in need again. My hubby LOVES fresh basil.

I am not planting any gardens for fall. We hope to be at the lake as much as we can this fall. We would love to just stay there until it gets cold. Friends of ours spend Thansgiving at the lake and have a wonderful time. They have their family out and cook a big meal just like at home. For us it will depend on the weather...I just don't handle the cold well at all. I freeze too death when everyone else thinks the temps are just perfect. In fact I freeze nearly too death in the stores with their ACs going so cold.....Brrrrr. Always have to take a sweater in with me....haha. (not so funny actually...but others probably think it to be funny).

Perhaps your bobcat migrated to Lake Murray and that is why he is not around your place lately? haha.

I really hate to hear coyotes howling....it is such an erie sound. We used to hear them when we lived out east of town. They stayed away from everyone's property but they were not far away. Of course sound carries so far at night they may have been further than it sounded like they were.

We crossed the Red River again one day early last week during the time we were at the lake. The river is looking a little more normal now...but there was still some low land flooding near the river.

We are having an extraordinary amount of birds here this year as well. And I have never seen so many sparrows in my life. There must be around 100 of them at times...they don't stay all the time thank God, But they come in and sit all in the hedges and small trees and make a trememdous amount of noise. But this year we have barn swallows like crazy. I have also seen birds I can't identify either.

Well I need to get busy. Today is DH's birthday and I am making him a special meal today. We will grill some New York strips, and have baked potatoes, snap peas and Bruschetta, and I am making his favorite Banana-Orange cake. So I have baking to do and steaks to make marinade for...better get busy.

Ya'll enjoy the cooler temps....we may get a blast of heat in the near future. Ugh!
G.M.

G.M.,

I hope y'all have a wonderful time celebrating DH's birthday! It sounds like a really yummy, special meal.

Spending all the time you can at the lake sounds like a terrific plan to me. One year when our son was about 10 or 11 years old, his school gave the kids the whole week of Thanksgiving off....so we went to Galveston and spent the week camping on the beach. It was a non-traditional way to spend the holiday (and my mom was not at all happy about our absence from the family's Thanksgiving gathering!) and we had a simply marvelous time! We have always enjoyed camping.....and the weather that November was perfect. We have such great memories from that trip.

I am always colder than anyone else, too, so I understand what you go through. I always carry a lightweight jacket with me in the summer, especially when going into restaurants and malls. I even get cold in Wal-Mart.

This morning when I walked the dogs, I saw two does and one fawn about a quarter-mile from our house. They must be some of the ones that regularly eat in our yard and garden because they weren't bothered by us. They just stood and stared at us until we got about 30 or 40 feet away from them. Then they turned, hopped the fence and went bounding across the fields.....towards our place.

Just when I was hoping for a cool August, our local weather guy, Steve LaNore, ruint it all for me by forecasting highs in the upper 90s. Oh, well, it was bound to happen sometime this month.

Soonergrandmom, I have a neighbor who always lets the weeds and grasses invade her garden (big-time) and just doesn't get real concerned about it....and her garden is just about as productive as anyone else's. There's a Japanese garden writer who insists we should raise our crops that way.....says if it works in nature, it should work for us. I don't know that I could do it, though. I am afraid the bermuda grass would eventually choke out everything else.

Y'all, the goldenrod and western ironweed are beginning to bloom alongside the roadways in our part of Love County and they are so gorgeous. Everything is oddly green for August, so that is nice too.

And "our" purple martins often leave before the end of July, but they are still here today, and I am hoping they stay a few more days. I miss them once they are gone.

Among the huge numbers of birds we've been seeing are many, many more mourning doves than usual. Tons of them. Of course, I feed them, so we always have quite a few. It looks like dove hunting will be great this fall (although not at our house!).

Dawn