Game bird, What you just described is simply what gardening in Oklahoma is like sometimes. Gardening here can be like a roller coaster at an amusement park....there's ups and downs and all sorts of twists and turns and sometimes it is fun, and other times it is not. We have a very long growing season so we get multiple generations of all kinds of pests....and a huge variety of diseases that seem to ebb and flow depending on the weather. As soon as you deal with one issue, another one pops up. It can be very frustrating, but normally you'll get pretty good production out of your plants in spite of the pests and diseases. Beans sometimes stall in hot weather and often they will put out new growth and start looking better when the weather breaks, or they get a good watering, or they get fed or something happens that relieves their stress a little. Often, if you have yellowing on the lower leaves, that can be a sign of heat stress, and they'll improve and put out new growth higher up on the plant above the yellowing leaves. as they recover from the stress. The lower leaves that turn yellow often fall off or you can cut them off the plants if looking at them bothers you. Yellowing leaves on bean plants also can be a symptom of low fertility (which I doubt is what is happening in your case because of all that manure), wet soil, dry soil, spider mites (in that case, you'd have tiny red spots on the backs of the leaves--those are the mites--and some webbing on the leaves) or nematodes (in sandy soil only). I have the best success with bush beans that are planted very early--in late March or early April so they can produce before the heat arrives, and with pole beans that are planted in mid-summer for fall production. My beans just sit and stall once we're in the upper 90s/lower 100s day after day, so I don't expect much from them in July and the first half of August. During that hot time, it is the southern peas (black-eyed peas, crowder peas, cream peas,etc.) that are producing. Some plants outgrow the mosaic virus if insects aren't spreading it from leaf to leaf, or some produce in spite of the plants having it. Scarlet runner beans really don't like our heat, so mine put out their best growth in April through mid-June most years, then grow more slowly in the heat of the summer and then tend to put out a big flush of growth when cooler temps return in the fall. Yours may or may not perform the same way. Cutworms are an issue here, but I have found them to be the worst during a "new" garden's first year or two. I suspect they are already there in the soil and are deliriously happy about the improved soil and new plants. With careful attention and the use of some anti-worm techniques (like spraying your seedlings with Bt and tilling up your garden once or twice during cold weather to expose them to the surface so they'll die), you can get them under control. One problem with the southern cutworms is that they can climb the plants and cut them off up to maybe a half-inch or inch above the ground, whereas up north they often cut them off at or below ground level. I don't use cutworm collars. I just use toothpicks. I keep a box in my garden tool bucket and whenever I have new seedlings, I stick two tootpicks in the ground as close to the plant as I can. The cutworm has to completely encircle the plant to cut it off, so with half a toothpick below ground and half above, they can't completely encircle it, and I figure two toothpicks makes it twice as safe as one toothpick would. The only way to keep critters out of your garden is to have a fence around it that they can't breach. It has taken us years to arrive at that point because every time we thought we had a "critter-proof" fence, one critter or another eventually found a way to go over it, under it, or through it. I have two neighbors here who've gardened much longer than I have and they still have critter problems because they won't fix their fence problems. That's their choice, of course, but I am so much happier when I don't have to worry about walking outside and finding 4 deer in the garden like I used to. The only animal that still plagues us is raccoons because they can climb the two entry arbors, so I am planning to take out the entry arbors and just replace them with gates....maybe screen doors reinforced with woven wire.....and 2' of fencing above the top of the screen doors. That may or may not solve the raccoon problem, but we've already "conquered" deer, rabbits, moles, voles, gophers, bobcats, skunks, possums, armadilloes, and coyotes....so, surely, we'll eventually manage to keep the raccoons out too. And I don't suppose we'll ever manage to keep the venomous snakes out of the garden, but as long as the cats keep the rodents under control, the snakes don't come into the garden much any more. One fencing tip I'll pass on now is that you need two gates at opposite sides of the garden. That way, if a creature like a deer, skunk or venomous snake wanders in through one gate while you're in the garden, you can promptly exit throught the other. You can just imagine how I learned this important garden lesson! With all the insect pests, the reality is that no matter what you do, your garden IS an ecosystem and it is going to be inhabited by all kinds of creatures. So, you just have to do the best you can to attract beneficial insects, birds and reptiles because they'll keep at least 75% of the pest insects under control once you've got enough beneficials. My garden is full of all kinds of insects and bugs, but I'd say 95% of them do not do enough damage to impact the harvest because I have a good balance between the herbivore insects that eat my plants and the carnivore insects who eat the herbivore insects. This has been a harder than average year in terms of late cold weather and heavy spring rains slowing down planting and plant growth, but that's just how it goes sometimes. What keeps us going? Probably the hope that next year will be "better" and the acknowlegement that we enjoy gardening as a process, and the harvest is just the bonus....the gravy.....the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. Dawn

Hi friends. Today was a great day, a very long day and my feet hurt so much I had to take my shoes off and walk without them for a while. The weather was absolutely beautiful! What an experience. First we were able to go into the paddock that is where all the owners go along with their horses. First my husband was only able to go but then an extra ticket came along and I was there too. Our horse was Funny Feeling, the 4th race number 10. And guess what she won!! Everything happened very fast, we were escorted to the winner's circle and they took a picture of all of us. When I get my pictures I'll download them. A picture of our horse winning will be sent to us. The purse was only $50,000 but what a race. Pete and I got a picture of us holding the trophy. By the way when I picked up that hat at Dees' (what a terrible experience) my hat was not done right, it took them 3 times to fix it, still not right but I'm accepting what I cannot change. I didnt get the pink hat I wore the one I bought at Macys and I got compliments all day long. So I've learned no stressing about sill stuff. Tomorrow will be a terrible weather day but I'm under cover but my sons and soninlaw and nephew are not. We bought them rain gear, etc. Talk to you tomorrow. The race starts at 5:45 but the commentators will begin at 4. Hope we win or come close and if not the experience was worth a lot. Thank you everyone!

Around here, people need to build fences eight feet tall to stop deer. Yesterday, I watched a juvenile moose casually hop over a six foot fence. Of course, deer can easily scale that, too. OP: Stick with black. That will disappear to the eye relatively well, particularly from a distance. We have field/livestock fencing, but we do not have livestock. It's just common here and economical to be able to fence a large area. There are many reasons we have considered adding a gate. Adding it to deter crime doesn't mean one lives in a high crime area, necessarily. It just means your head isn't in the sand about crimes that can and do happen across rural America. It is true that if a perpetrator wants in badly enough, they'll get in. However, if you have a fence and a gate, but your neighbor doesn't, why would they pick your house for a smash and grab crime? It's just a deterrent. Not perfect, but it helps. Another reason.... to keep out solicitors. The Kirby salesman? The weekly visit from missionaries? The sketchy magazine salesman without a permit who looks over your shoulder into the house? Whomever. Those types of visitors might not bother everyone, but for a shift worker (DH,) the doorbell ringing in the middle of the day can be rough. Around here, people need to build fences eight feet tall to stop deer. Yesterday, I watched a juvenile moose casually hop over a six foot fence. Of course, deer can easily scale that, too. Our fence does deter most dogs, though, and a gate would add to that. (I am probably in the minority here where there are lots of nosy dogs that roam around.) I could list more reasons we considered one, but we ultimately decided against the gate because of package deliveries. I get packages very often for work, and I didn't want those packages easily accessible to people driving by.

jeanne, enjoy your time with your daughters and putting your husbands remains to rest. it will be a nice time for closure and rekindling at the same time. thanks for a great swap, don't worry about the prizes at all. as you can see, the prizes from April are still on their way... jayeanne, don't worry i won't send. i really thought they would be okay. im sure you know morning glories are hard to transplant but hopefully something sprouts for you. heidi, i am so glad you told us about the flower bomb idea. i am a borderline hoarder/collector and i have so so so many seeds i'm almost ready to stop swapping (but won't even dare to think of that! :) i even promised some local newbies i would send the seeds and i never did. i don't know why but i have had a total disconnect with gardening this year. in other news.... my youngest got accepted to a local competitive soccer league so i'm officially in over my head if i decide to accept that. good thing is we will be adding a driver to the family in July so she can help! last but not least, my eldest is graduating H.S. on saturday so both grandfathers are coming into town thursday/friday to get the weekend festivities going! (both grandmothers are recently deceased and will be greatly missed as he is the first grandchild on both sides!) hope everyone has a great weekend. and as i said above, I'm still "thinking" about what prizes to send for the April prizes, my brain is working in slow mode these days.