Thanks to you all for your replies. We were watering again last night and my husband said we should just pull them up and start over, instead of watering and getting nothing (another concern because we are on a well and haven't had enough rain to mention since early June, if then). I just keep thinking the tomatoes will surely start to produce. I raise a couple of heirlooms including Green Zebra, which will normally produce over 100 tomatoes per plant (my experince with them) and I've had three!!!!!! Oh and squash bugs. We got invaded last year and I'm at my wits end with them. I have tried to be an organic gardener but if ever something makes me reach for the poison it will be the squash bugs. I've pulled thousands of eggs, 100 of mature bugs and nyphms but everyday there are more. At least this year I know to keep working at it every day, last year they killed my plants. But this year I don't have squash ripening so don't know why I am so worried, guess I want to beat the little beasts! My mom in in South Arkansas and she has yet to have a single okra. Said it is shoulder high but just now getting flowers. Dad said she has the prettiest garden he's ever seen, not a lot out of it, but way more than I've had. I hope this isn't our new normal. COLD winters and HOT summers..... may have to look at a climate controlled garden!

You really NEED a moisture meter. I have drip hose in my veggie beds (in-ground and raised, both heavily mulched with slightly underdone compost) and right now they are getting 10 min 2x daily. Under the mulch the soil is evenly moist as far as I can stick the meter in. Spring seedlings = 5-10 min 2x daily Then it will be 3x daily, then I will increase time as the temps go up. A 5 minute increase = 15 more minutes that day. By June it's 15-20 minutes 3x daily. I water to avoid my preferred early AM harvesting ... 3AM, 11AM and 6PM are typical. I have that clay-ish silty stuff, and the raised beds have about 60% dirt and 40% compost, so I get better results with several light waterings. Doing it all at once would give me too much runoff. I check with the moisture meter and by scraping back the mulch to check the surface. The goal is moist and consistent so they don't have their growth checked by water stress, but not water-logged. NOTE: In the heat of the day, tomatoes and squash will wilt ... do not panic. it's how they handle too much transpiration. If they fluff right back up when the sun goes down, they are OK. ========= Am growing for summer: Romas in the west-side "great wall of tomatoes" (a bed walled in by two sheets of remesh for support) and in one of the full compost bins. Matt's Wild Cherry also in the great wall, and there's a blooming volunteer where I have Armenian cucumbers. There's volunteer Matt's all over the yard! Tomatillos in the in-ground bed on the west side and in the east-side raised bed. Serrano and chilaca chilis in the west-side in-ground bed (they do best there) Okra in the west-side bed as shade plants for the chilis, and in the east bed too. Herbs ... all over the place. Rosemary is up to decorative shrub status. Basil likes full sun, but invariably dies of the cold, the oregano has self-seeded itself into a ground cover status, the marjoram cowers in the shade of the orange tree and the mint is also in the tomato wall. ============ If you are short on space - and my method of composting tends to leave me with bins of it slowly degrading, take the full bin, put in a drip line and a puddle of dirt. Plant things (tomatoes and squash do splendidly) in it. It's a giant planter box.

Thank you all for your comments, this is such a hard issue. I do appreciate the feedback. I was taught that the "R's" are in order of importance, so REDUCE is the most important one with REUSE being second best and Recycling a measly third. Recycling is great but full of pitfalls and we really need to reduce. If everyone could just reduce one plastic item from their world, just say no to one thing. My family said no to yogurt and cottage cheese. Yes we miss these foods, but until the industry wakes up and makes a plastic free container I am not buying it. (I have seen Oui, we only eat plain so that doesnt help us, Oui has too much sugar for our liking.) Can you give up 1 thing? Could you buy a paper carton of milk, instead of plastic jug? Could you buy a wrapped stick of butter/margarine instead of plastic tub? Are you interested in reducing your family's carbon footprint. If so you may want to check out, One Million Women @party_music50's 're-using' is awesome, but in my family we just dont want stuff and eventually that stuff is going to get trashed so it is better to reduce. I agree sometimes there is no choice, blueberries are a great example, they are pretty much always in plastic. Same with frozen berries and vegetables like peas. Yesterday the NYTimes had an article about the climate effects of fashion and clothing. We have to buy less. @User like @Fun2BHere I use reusable fabric or mesh produce bags. Yep, sometimes the clerk will be annoyed, maybe the stores will fix that. I do try to assist them by placing the bags on the belt, slightly open with the code visible. @jojoco great question about food waste, yes it is a huge problem. Did you read about France's Solidarity Fridge campaign. Interesting. Probably wouldnt catch on in the US. To waste less food, buy less food. I have a notepad on my counter with the fruit and veg in the fridge to make sure none of it goes bad. Yes, I chuck the occasional food item. This week it was 2 T of black beans and some icky outer cabbage leaves, they went into compost. @bpath - you made me doubt myself, I dont always get English words right, but I checked my Oxford and newsprint is paper. news·print/ˈn(y)o͞ozˌprint/noun cheap, low-quality absorbent printing paper made from coarse wood pulp and used chiefly for newspapers.

Roasted garlic, leek and cauliflower rice, (instead of potato), celery with lots of the leaf tops. Great soup. A good use for asparagus that is woody. Has not been so good recently...not even during the holidays. Tips are good. Good idea for blendered soup. My recent obsession has been quick flatbreads. Trying different flours taking the lead from Siete. No dough, no kneading. Just a blendered fluid mix like a crepe batter. My sister and SIL are avoiding gluten. Another SIL has long Covid and trying to gain her strength back...she is on an elimination diet. Terrible cook that relies heavily on bread sandwiches and tortilla wraps. Siete is silly expensive so this should help her. A dozen are done when the usual dough for flatbreads are still on the prep board. Soaking chickpeas for tomorrow falafel and hummus. Cucumber salad.