Only about 1/4" in my rain gauge, so I suspect it was blowing a lot. The garden looks like it was more.

Maybe dumb question, but how do I tell when the yellow squash is ripe? Firm or softer, size? I don't eat it so I have no idea.

These were the wilty plants FYI.

Rebecca, You're welcome. I'd like to say that I think you can overcome the fusarium in your soil but I can't say that. What I can say is that I know many people who've had it once but then never again, even if they plant tomato plants in the same spot every year, so I think there always is hope. At the end of the season,be sure that you sanitize (bleach works well for this) any cages, stakes, containers, etc. that have made contact with these plants so the pathogen doesn't stick around on them. That might be overkill, but with something as serious as fusarium, you cannot be too careful.

Dr. Carolyn's info is as good as it gets but I still don't want you to lose hope. If you can just rotate tomatoes out of the areas where those three plants grew, I think you might be able to break the cycle. Granted, a 4-year rotation is hard for home gardeners to make work with limited space but if the alternative is to not have tomtaoes at all, then you've got to do what you've got to do. I check Craig LeHoullier's "Epic Tomatoes" book to see if his fusarium info offered anything new that we don't know, but it really didn't. Well, he did say that part of a fusarium-infected plant can remain healthy and bear fruit, but I don't think that's a ringing endorsement that should encourage someone to keep fusarium-infected plants. Why risk having it spread more?

Amy, Thanks for the drought sympathy. It's our turn down here, I guess, but it aggravates me. I wonder what it would be like to live someplace where we don't have summer drought probably 8 years out of 10. Yikes! I just realized when I typed 8 years out of 10 that the 2 good years were 2015 and most of 2016, so even after this year ends, we're due to have 7 more bad years. That had better not happen or I'm going to have an extremely bad attitude about it. lol.

I'm green with envy that you're getting rain but happy for you. If we don't hurry up and get some rain in the next couple of weeks, I may be the only green thing here on our property.

Today doesn't feel nearly as bad outdoors as yesterday did. I think the dewpoint is lower so the heat index is a bit lower. We'll take relief like that in whatever form comes.

It sounds like the visit with the boys was lovely and what a thoughtful gift! You can tell they wanted to give him something that related to an interest of his and I think that is extra sweet.

Melissa, One thing I like about zucchini is that it makes you feel like the world's best gardener since it produces like crazy. There's nothing wrong with that. The time you don't spend worrying about zucchini can be spent worrying about something else.

Congrats on the lettuce.

You're probably drier up there than we are down here because we had rain right at the beginning of June and I think that rain missed central OK. We're in drought though and y'all aren't (yet) because we hadrainfall deficits for several months and the bit of rain at the end of May and beginning of June was not enough to overcome it. I expect y'all will be joining us in Moderate Drought very soon, though it is my fervent wish that you get some great rainfall before your dry conditions get too much worse.

Even though we're miserably dry, I think it is the heat that bothers me more at this point than the lack of rainfall. We can water to replace the rain that's not falling, but there's nothing we can do to cool down the air temperatures.

Earlier today I thought that the air temperatures/heat index felt so much better than yesterday's, but I should have known that today's weather wasn't done with us so early in the day. Our heat index now is 107 and could go up higher over the next 2 or 3 hours, and yesterday it was 110. So, while I think it feels better----it isn't like it feels all that much better. Two of our three long-haired cats didn't even last a half-hour outside today....and I think they are smart. If I had a permanently attached big thick coat like they do, I'd hate being outdoors for any length of time whatsoever.

We had a blast from the past last night---an owl sitting in the pecan tree after bedtime and hooting quite persistently. It reminded me of our first decade or so here when we had a couple of owls that spent most of their waking hours in that pecan tree. We haven't had owls around much lately, likely because the crows relentlessly drive them away.

Dawn

I love gaillardia. They just seem happy. And they're tough, too.

I went out to give the chickens frozen peas and carrots, they like the peas best. It didn't seem that hot then, but my thermometer said 97 with 49% humidity. I went inside and was washing some dishes. Hands in hot water. Run out to chase the Mockingbird out of the tomatoes, twice! Third time I filled some saucers with water, though the chickens have a big water dish and so does the dog. So end result, hot hands, hot weather, I thought I was melting.

I really am sorry for those of you who didn't get rain. It doesn't seem like it made much of a difference to my garden. I think it's time for okra and cow peas.

I just looked up JD's Special C-Tex. Midseason, black beefsteak. I am harvesting saladette sized pink tomatoes from it. Wonder where I got those seeds, or if I mixed up cups. They taste lovely, and they are the first outside of Sun Gold and Fred's tie dye and the nasty Whippersnapper, to ripen. I will have to try to save seeds.

Yes--I too am sorry for the lack of rain you all are having. And am grateful for the rain we ARE getting this year. It's has been coming at more spaced out times the past 6-7 weeks, although has been overkill at many times. Last night, no real idea how much we got. The Mesonet says between .93 and .79 or some such. The rain gauge measured 1 1/2 inches this morning. . . at any rate, everything was mighty soaked and humid as all get out the rest of the day. Felt like a sauna, which most of the plants love. Hot hot hot. On the lake and here. And the wind did a number on many of the plants/flowers. I was running around with bamboo stakes; but need to go get more tomorrow. I may cut the zinnias off; likewise some of the nicotiana. No really bad stuff, though. Didn't push any trees onto the roof. That's always good. Some of the kids were here this afternoon and evening and it was a fun time with them as always. I think more are coming tomorrow and/or Sunday.

The sweet potatoes have a good start, George, I'm tickled to have them.

I have a question--for salsa or canning. . . how do you all handle the tomatoes coming in smaller batches? (I have oh, about 20 or so ripening on the table and am getting more each day.) . I was thinking I might just cook and prepare them, then freeze in batches until I have a bunch. ?

Amy, that is amazing that your son's girlfriend's boys did that for your DH!! How sweet! They must be awesome. The four outlaws who visited us today range in age from 8 to 13. Boys 8, 11 and nearly 13, and their sister, 8 (twins are 8). They are really fun kids. My favorite thing with them is board games or cards, but when their parents come with them we can't play. So will have to have them for a weekend one of these days like we did last year.

We finally got out on the lake early today, but after 11, it got hot fast, so we were ready to leave by 1:30. . . Titan refuses to go with us; he has more brains than we do. He's always invited, but this year has smartened up. He doesn't like the heat, and he doesn't like the water. So when we invite him, he trots out to the garage, lies down, tail wagging, as if to say, "Nah, thanks for the invitation, but I'll just stay here and guard the house." It is pretty amusing; because as long as that boat isn't attached, he's always willing to go anywhere with us.

Still haven't figured out the computer/phone deal, but recall that every time I upgrade Mac operating systems, I go through this; sometimes it takes a couple days for them recognize each other again.

I so agree with you Dawn; the heat, to me, is far worse than the dry. However, having both is SURE no picnic for any of you/us!!

Saladette sized pinks would not be the correct fruit as you've already surmised. JD's Special C-Tex has been around Texas (specifically the Conroe-Houston area) for several decades now, and if my memory is correct, when they first started offering seed at SSE, it may have been listed as JD's Special C-Tex Black. You should be getting 8-18 oz. (bigger fruit earlier in season, increasingly smaller ones later on) sort of oblate fruit. For me, they start pretty dark, sort of like Cherokee Purple but not as dark, and they do have a pinkish sort of stage before they are fully ripe. I've seen the color described in several different ways over the years, including seeing it described as black, purple, pink, pinkish-black or purple black. There are times each color description seems appropriate. I suspect that, like many other black tomatoes, it gets darker in hotter parts of the country and may stay a lighter shade in cooler areas. The odd thing is that JD Brann developed it from a cross of Cherokee Purple and Early Girl, so there's no known pink variety in its heritage. Still, it does throw off some pinkish tomatoes at times, but not in the shape you describe. So, the pink saladettes don't resemble anything you knowingly planted? Was your JD's from commercially purchased seeds or plants? Or from trades? It sounds like the JD's might have crossed with something.

A couple of weeks ago---maybe 3 or 4---I got the heat lovers planted in the back garden...okra, southern peas, several varieties of winter squash, lima beans, late corn, and Armenian cucumbers. That means that when the time comes to plant succession crops in the front garden, I can play around and plant just any old thing because all the must-haves already are planted. I have one small empty bed, a 4' x 8' bed, where I harvested the last of the intermediate daylength onions 2 days ago. I need to plant something there, but it has been hard to get motivated to do it with this drought and heat. Maybe I'll just throw some zinnia or cosmos seeds in there.

I am missing bees and ladybugs right now. I wonder what has happened to them. I'm getting some things pollinated, because there is fruit developing, BUT there's more that isn't. Why? And there's aphids for the ladybugs. I've avoided spraying them with neem or anything, to encourage ladybugs to show up.

I'm still getting a lot of food and am happy. :)

I hate this heat. I"m sure people are tired of me saying, "why does it have to get this hot?". I do not necessarily like the cold, but I don't recall ever saying that about the cold. Then the heat combined with no water is so...awful.

Okay. Gotta rest up. We start putting the siding on the coop/shed in the morning.

It was a commercial seed pack. But heaven knows I am not infallible, so I won't mention the name. I looked through the list of tomatoes I pulled seeds for, I couldn't come up with a matching tomato. Perhaps it's a cross. If so, it's a good one. I will try to save seeds. Super early and salad sized is not bad for us.

Nancy, I wouldn't be surprised if you beat the mesonet amounts. It happens.

I'm glad you had fun with the children. These two boys are very nice, and there Mom is a sweet and thoughtful lady, too.

I told DH I wanted 2 more beds so I could grow mulch, and he AGREED. I really expected an argument, LOL.

Sunday. It is supposed to be cooler Sunday. I think I will only take care of the chickens tomorrow. Sunday I will try to plant the cow peas, melons, Egyptian spinach. That's a plan. We're doing Father's day/my mom's birthday tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day to you all.

Dawn, here's my question about the fusarium: so far the plants in ground on either side of the affected one are just fine. Not showing any of the same symptoms. They're within a couple feet of the affected one. So, then, why? Same soil, right? Dr. Carolyn's info was that once you have it, it's there forever and everything will always be affected. But, others, like you, have different experiences. Maybe it's an opportunistic disease, jumping in where it finds weakness, or something in the environment (soil conditions, weather) that triggers it into action? I don't want to be fatalistic, but the info is all different. At least, next year I can put containers in that part of the yard and still use it to grow. Unless the disease passes through fabric pots.

I love gallardia too, Amy. I planted them because they are tough, like pretty much everything else in that part of the yard this year. I had the feeling I should plan for hot and dry weather.

Anyone who has had success with fall brussles sprouts, can you throw me the name of the variety you like?

Sunday is going to be my yard day, too.

Maybe, in the northeast, where Dr Male lives, it is cool enough, and wet enough that the disease never dies. We all know the soil in Oklahoma gets hot and dry. We all know the rules most gardeners play by, don't apply here. When I find discrepancies in info, I chalk it up to OK climate. Maybe, for once, OK climate is in your favor. About time, isn't it?

Brussels Sprouts. Dawn told me to give them PLENTY of room. This from the queen of squeezing things together. Also have to plant it so DTM happens before first frost. Me personally, I have gotten a few, but not by Thanksgiving. I would say your best option is a shorter DTM. This is not a time to go heirloom. Use the hybrids. Cover it with tulle or insect netting, keep the cabbage pests at bay. Jade cross from Johnny's, or Rubine are the shortest DTM that I have. Dawn will have more words of wisdom tomorrow.

We have native gaillardia in the front pasture where I sowed wildflower seed mixes from Wildseed Farms for 2 or 3 years in a row after the drought of 2011 killed everything before it could reseed. I like them out there and they look good right now. I don't grow the cultivated ones inside my garden due to a lack of space and too many reseeding annuals and perennials.

Other than harvesting tomatoes and waterting tomatoes, today is going to be a garden-free day. It is too hot to do much of anything outdoors.

Nancy, You have a couple of choices. You can go ahead and prepare the tomatoes as if for salsa and then measure them and freeze them. I freeze them in 8-cup batches or, if I have less than 8 cups, I write the amount in that ziplock bag on the outside of the bag with a permanent marker. Or, you can wash the tomatoes, toss them into freezer bags and freeze them whole. Later, when you take them out of the freezer to make salsa (or anything else), after they thaw out, the skins will slip right off, which I consider a nice perk of freezing them. Some years after the canning is all done and we're still getting tons of tomatoes, I'll freeze 8 or 10 gallons of them like that for winter cooking. Then, in winter I'll use them to make soup, salsa, sauce or whatever. We have a huge chest freezer in the garage and it gets all the long-term frozen stuff like that while the smaller upright freezer gets the shorter-term items that we are eating on a weekly basis. That chest freezer enables me to freeze ridiculous amounts of produce---like excess tomatoes, but it also is perfect early in the season for the short-term freezing of them until you accumulate enough for a canning batch.

Titan is smart! Jet is the same way. He knows exactly when it is too hot for him and won't step foot outdoors after that point. Each pet we have seems to have their ow idea of when it is too hot, but Pumpkin is the toughest one and he would love to stay outdoors all day up to a certain point. We have been so hot this week that if he goes outside at 6:30 to 7:30 a.m., he is back in to lie down on the cool floor and cool off by 8:30 a.m. Then he'll dash back outside to play a little more, and he's been coming in for the day by 9:30 a.m. That is unprecedented. This heat really seems to be bothering him and I'm glad he is smart enough to come inside.

Hazel, The polliators and lady bugs are around, but they are like migrant farm workers---they follow the harvest. So, when you aren't seeing them, I bet there are some other pests nearby that they like and are pursuing. They will return to your garden when there's enough to whatever they like best at that point in time. In this heat, I see pollinators very early in the morning and then sporadically after that. The lady bugs are around all day, but I've noticed they move to the shadier areas in the middle of the day. The shady west end of the garden has lots of native flowers for them and I think that's where mine disappear to. We also have a lot of native wildflowers in bloom in the front garden and the pollinators are going there a lot. In this drought, the natives will dry up quickly and then the pollinators will move back to the cultivated garden spots. I'm not seeing any lack of pollination other than on the types of plants that drop blossoms in heat, and the pollinators are not a part of that issue.

I just feel disgusted with the heat in the sense that it arrived so dang early. I know July and August will be unbearable. They always are. June can go either way depending on when the heat arrives. Well, for us the heat arrived in late May and I knew right then that June would be awful, and it is. We've already had heat indices in the 109-111 range several times, and I guarantee you that weather like that sucks all the fun out of gardening for me. We're also having typical August overnight low temperatures in June, and that sucks as well, especially for the wildlife since they just don't get to cool down inside air-conditioned buildings like we do. When I wake up in the morning and look at my Min-Max thermometer and see our overnight low was 78 degrees, I know that by the time I make it outdoors, sometimes even before the sun really is up, we'll be hitting 80 degrees. Today it didn't hit 80 until after 8 a.m Woo hoo! We might have a decent enough morning, but I doubt it.

I started watering the house's foundation with soaker hoses yesterday. It is essential to keep the clay soil from contracting and cracking enough to damage the foundation. That happened to our neighbor's house in Ft. Worth and it was a very costly issue to repair, so I've always worked hard to prevent it here. The chickens, of course, think the soaker hoses are on for them, which is okay with me.

Rebecca, I think that much depends on the climate. It also depends on whether someone gardens organically or conventionally. I know organic gardeners who remediated their soil and got rid of the fusarium wilt. It takes a lot of time and effort but it seems like they did it. I'll write more about it tonight. Tim is chomping at the bit to go to the store and work our way through our shopping and errands. I think he wants to get out of here, get stuff done and get back home to beat the heat. If I don't get off my computer and go, he may take off without me. This time we aren't going to forget anything because I made a list.

Dawn

Well, Stringer's inspected part of one of the tomato plants, and they aren't sure it's a wilt. They think it's some kind of fungus, probably wind borne and weather related. But no thoughts on why only those plants are affected, and not discounting wilt. The stem we looked at today didn't have the internal evidence of wilt. So, still a mystery.

Amy, my mom says my yard is magical, because plants do things there that they aren't supposed to do. Like, my current pot of spinach, or the dill that hasn't bolted yet. Wish that magic would drive my squirrels away, though.

Bought tomatoes at Cherry Street. And cucumbers, although mine are finally setting small cukes. Some pretty fingerling potatoes, and garlic. And corn. Isn't it kind of early for flatbed trailers filled with corn?

I just paid $2.49 for 10 Sungold seeds. Robbery. Wonder why this variety is so expensive? Because of the popularity? I'm going to try to get a plant for fall tomatoes.

Sungold....my new favorite. They are just so good. That's why they're expensive probably. People will pay it because they get hooked. Then there's the funny thing about the plant smelling like something illegal in this state. Makes you wonder....hmmmm....I think I'm going to grab a handful right now.

Yes. It is hot. Yes. We are outside working in it. Glad for the clouds and breeze.

It actually has been cloudy and windy since daylight today. Great day to work out side. We were supposed to have a heat advisory, and if the sun comes out, I'm sure it will be hot and humid, but I think we lucked out today. Storms to the east of us. Did you get rain Nancy?

We harvested potatoes. Maybe a total of 5 pounds, from 4 bags. Lots of babies. I was afraid it would be too hot for them in bags.

I also moved 3 tomato plants from 3 gallon bags to 15 gallon tubs. The roots may not go through the pouches, but they did stick to the sides. They did NOT circle around like they would in a pot. They call that "air pruning". We'll see how they do.

Dawn, I make great lists and leave them at home.

Rebecca, someone recommended Sweet Sharon as a substitute for Sun Gold. The seeds are MORE expensive, but it's open pollinated, unlike Sun Gold. I've never grown it. Personally, I'm done with golds...although it is always the first to ripen, so maybe I'll waver.

I saw on Cherry Streets Facebook page that they had corn. Apparently it's not too early. Carmichael's has it, too.

I think you need a magical dog to chase those squirrels.

This morning I feel like we don't even live in Oklahoma. We're like a separate little country this year, this spring and into June. In the past 3 days, we've gotten close to 3 inches of rain. This morning a little over an inch. And I came out in my new cooler gardening uniform (a sturdy but lightweight pair of khaki colored pants and a light-weight T-shirt, only to need my shirt jacket on. At the moment it is 74 here, but a cool 74, and again, the soil is wet wet wet.

So weird, You may remember I said last year we got NO rain. Every time it rained--EVERYWHERE around us, the clouds parted over our house. Kind of like you're talking about this year for you Dawn.

And because so many of the flowers in the yard were unreasonably tall, the heavy winds the other night knocked many over, and this morning's heavy rain knocked more over and I realized the futility of staking them up. It's not like they'd quit growing taller. So I went on a rampage. Cut zinnias, the newly blooming gaillardia, even the end tithonia got the top half cut off, 4 o'clocks, rudbeckia, even holly hock zebrinas, nicotiana, tore a bunch of the mildewed tall bee balm out. Massive haircuts. And I was praising things like coleus, coreopsis, the datura, Brugmansia, hosta, daylilies, catmint, elephant ears, hydrangeas, mums, and several others. The cleome and bee balm down in the back bed look fine, along with the shasta daisy clump down there. GDW couldn't believe I was cutting all these flower blooms off mercilessly. I think I'm even going to lop off one the newly prized echinaceas! Sheesh.

Rebecca, Eileen, Amy and others near me; did you get any of that rain this morning? Mesonet says you folks in Tahlequah got tons. And Rebecca, am watching your tomato lists keenly, as Dawn's, Amy's, and everyone else's. However--I AM gettting tomatoes, so cannot complain. And while I really will get the ones you all recommend so highly for next time, ANY home grown tomato beats the store bought, huh! I got another dozen and a half this morning. And thank you SO much, Dawn, for the freezing tip. Fabulous! Why would anyone not store their tomatoes this way--wash, throw in a bag, and let them skin themselves when you take em out. LOL--what could be better!

Oh! Reading your post above, Rebecca, just remembered I haven't planted the rest of the cucumbers........ off this minute to do it!

Flower funeral:

Rebecca, I think our soil might get hot enough and dry enough here to knock out fusarium in summer, but I'm not sure about that. We generally are so hot and dry in summer that I find it hard to imagine the pathogens could survive---especially in soil with an adequate amount of organic matter which presumably also has a good microherd of healthy microorganisms helping control disease.

If y'all didn't find internal evidence of either verticillium or fusarium, that's the best possible news and I'm excited for you. As much rain as some places (lol, not mine!) have had this year, it would not be surprising to have all sorts of fungal issues or even bacterial ones or the two mixed together. It only takes maybe 15 minutes of moisture on plant foliage for these sorts of diseases to attach and start growing and spreading and, even in dry areas like mine, our plants often have had mist/fog/dew on them for most days of the week in at least May and some parts of early June. Often, when rain was in the forecast, we only had mist or sprinkles or drizzle, so the leaves got wet enough often enough to get diseased (the disease spores can travel through the air) without benefitting from having good rainfall to water them. I have plenty of fungal disease things going on........and I don't much worry about it because we'll harvest all the tomatoes we can eat and preserve anyhow. These diseases are so common in OK that no matter what you do, you will get them some years, if not every year, and they normally hit plants that are loaded with fruit that is near ripening. I think this happens because at that point the plants are putting all their energy into maturing the fruit, not fighting diseases to keep the plant foliage healthy.

If fungal, you can fight them with the standard fungicides and by removing diseased material as long as they are not already completely dead. It may be frustrating to have these now, but it would be so much worse to have other things.....fusarium, verticillium, or root knot nematodes to name three worse things. Or, tomato russet mites or spider mites. Or Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. So, as bad as things seem right now, they could be worse...and it will be time to plant fall tomatoes before you know it.

OSU says to plant fall tomatoes July 1-15 but I prefer to get them in the ground before the end of June when I can, and that's because the later you plant them, the greater the chance that an early arrival of cold weather will shut them down.

It would not be too early for corn. Sweet corn in OK can be planted around March 23 or shortly thereafter, so early varieties could have been planted in plenty of time for them to mature now. When I plant Early Sunglow round March 23, we are harvesting it before Memorial Day. Most commercially-grown sweet corn crops are slightly later than Early Sunglow, but then we are a few weeks beyond Memorial Day too. If the Cherry Street Market doesn't require all produce sold there to be locally grown, that corn could have been trucked in from South Texas too.

The SunGold seeds are pricey because they are hybrids and because they are so popular. Most online seed sellers sell them for roughly 10-15 cents per seed, so you might find a packet of 20 seeds for $2.50 or $3.00. I know that Johnny's sells a packet of 40 seeds for $4.10, and that is about typical. There are some very expensive greenhouse hybrids that sell for a whole lot more per seed. When you buy them locally, you may pay more for seed, depending on the packet's seed count, but then you aren't having to pay shipping and handling fees.

Amy, I hope your break lasted all day. I don't think it has been quite as hot here today as they last two days, but it still is very, very warm. I had wondered if I could feel the difference between today's max heat index of 105 and Thursday's max heat index of 110, and I really could. Today felt so much more pleasant. I'm looking forward to even more pleasant weather beginning tomorrow, if the forecast is right.

What was special about today is that I did remember my list. Usually I make a list and forget it. Then, we led a charmed life for the whole shopping/errands expedition---close parking, found things we were looking for with no trouble, short checkout lines, etc. Every now and then you have one of those perfect days where everything works out just right, and this was one of those. Other than watering fall tomato seedlings, I stayed out of the garden today and likely will do the same tomorrow. It is too hot today and it is Father's Day tomorrow.

I could not begin to guess how many potatoes we harvested. At least 100 pounds, but I'm no good at guessing weights by eyeballing a crop. I know it is more than we'll be able to eat fresh before they start sprouting, so I'm going to have to do some food preservation...and we've been trying to eat them several times a week so we can enjoy them while they're fresh and so good and so tasty. I love homegrown potatoes, but have really, really cut back on how many I grow ever since the year I planted far too many...maybe 2012? We harvested around 350 or 370 lbs. It is horrifying to have that many, but they cured well and stored well. Still, we lost a lot of them to sprouting so I knew I had to grow a lot less....and have done so ever since. The worse thing about growing that many is digging them in 100-degree heat.

Nancy, Enjoy it while it lasts. With Oklahoma, it seems like if the weather gods figure out you're happy with your weather, they change it.....so try to act unhappy about having lots of rain so they won't take away your rain.

Sometimes one does have to cut back flowers like crazy. I did it a couple of weeks ago and they've regrown so quickly that you can hardly tell I did it. I think it is good to try to keep them under control now, because the deeper we move into summer, the harder it is to go out there in the heat long enough to cut back everything that needs it.

When I look at your flower funeral, my brain says "compost", so it's all good, right?

If I was a good, dedicated gardener, I'd be out in the garden right now at least harvesting tomatoes, but I'm an old, tired gardener who is getting burne dout quickly on having too many tomatoes so I'm not. I need to adjust my attitude and get happy about having too many tomatoes, as I certainly can remember those years when I felt like we had too few.

Dawn

Dawn, absolutely good! That's exactly what MY brain said, and that's where all those flower are, right in the new pile of compost, Loved it.

Yeah, I didn't mind cutting them all, at all, really. And who knows, might have to cut em back again in August!

Had to break out the canner and blow the dust out of it today. Early on I planted some real old seed and I thought it would not come up. So I started to panic after about a week and germinated some more to be sure. And of course as luck would have it the original plantings ended up coming up. I even ended up putting 4 plants in the front flowerbed

I have squash running out my ears and we are eating it just about every day, but I get about 9-14 squash a day and have given it away to everyone. Oh and of course this is probably THE ONLY year I have ever had only one squash bug show up when I need the help. Getting real close to time to have the Squash Olympics with the events like Zuchinni toss and Crooked neck shot put

Sometimes I think the hardest part of gardening is figuring out the right amounts to plant for your needs and what will be left for you after the bugs and weather. Except onions. I believe I could plant a field of those and this bunch could run through all of those.

I freeze squash some but I really don't like how it mushy disentregrates after you thaw it out due to the cell walls rupturing from the ice.

Nuking it in the canner is not much better but at least it holds its shape. Of course cramming it in the freezer is easier but this is just flat purdy after your done. :&)

Maybe I'll win a ribbon at the County Fair eh? Ha. I only have about 60-70 jars and most of those get filled with green beans, pickles and tomatoes so this will be about all for the squash canning. I just don't have the jars or the need for much more.

You're right--it IS pretty!! Bet you will if you enter it--probably maybe even a purple!

Dawn, the corn was local, I was able to talk to the grower and ask what variety it was - Empire? And I'm glad they didn't think it was a wilt, but the plants are pretty much far enough gone that I want them out of there, just in case it's a fungus that'll spread. Better to be safe about it. Then I can think about what to replace them with. Tomorrow is a work day, so I'll get on top of it. Making the hot pepper spray tonight.

I was just kidding about the County Fair thingy. I also started some Southern Lime Pickles today but those take a few days to finish.

If I were going to enter something in a fair it would have to be those as not many people still make pickles with lime.

But, boy you will never eat a crunchier pickle. The things turn out so crunchy you have to be careful with them packing the jars to keep from snapping em in half.

I am not even a real big sweet pickle fan and prefer crock dills but those things are just flat good and snappy with a zing if you like a sweet one.

Since this is general garden talk, could I ask if anyone in the hotter, dryer parts of Oklahoma manages to grow red rhubarb? I had some luck with it in MO, but still think it could have benefitted from some light shade. Oh well, not sure my son would want it in one of his regular grow beds, but if we can get back to no-till, it should not be a problem. He may not even like the stuff.

I agree, Jerry. I LOVE lime pickles. I've never made them but my close friend always did. Now I'm going to!! (She made refrigerator lime pickles.)

Millie, last year I accidentally planted a rhubarb root instead of horseradish.(I didn't know what it was until it flowered this year, I posted a pic of the flower and someone recognized it) It is still going strong. But it does get shade in the late afternoon.

So...my friend who runs in the early morning, was stopped by a police officer and he warned her about feral pigs in the area she was running. Y'all! This is on s. 119th just west of I44! I used to live right over there, across from Earlywine Park. There's feral pigs in the city?! There used to be someone who posted here (Cochinokc? Maybe I just made that username up.) who lived over there too.

I wonder what ladybugs find more tasty than aphids. My bush beans are covered in aphids. No ladybugs around to enjoy them. Maybe they are nasty tasting aphids.

Jerry, nice canning. I agree about zucchini and squash in the freezer--it's mushy.

I pickled some peppers and they are yum!

Nancy, I saw your yard pics on fb. So pretty. I wonder what it would feel like to wake up to that every day. Nice.

I like boiled squash and squash casseroles made from boiled squash, so the mushiness of thawed squash just doesn't bother me.

Millie, I have managed to keep rhubarb alive for up to 3 years, but never longer. Either extra hot weather gets it, or extra cold weather gets it, or a year with 19" of rain gets it, or a year with 79" of rain gets it. I've tried over and over again and it finally has exhausted my patience to the point that I'm through trying. I really tried, many times, to grow it for Tim so he could eat it (I don't even like it but he grew up eating it in Pennsylvania) and had success up to a point, but it just doesn't like all the wild extremes our weather throws at it. I was pretty successful keeping it alive in containers kept at the shady west end of the garden in spring through autumn and in the unheated greenhouse in winter, but got to the point (after the 79" of rain killed it in containers that seemed well-draining) where I just decided I was done with it.

Hazel, Those feral pigs are everywhere. DFW Airport just went through a huge ordeal having a feral pig herd (herd doesn't sound right, but I don't know what you call a bunch of pigs) removed. If they can happily thrive at a huge international airport (the airport is 25 square miles), I think they can survive anywhere. Sometimes Tim sees them right alongside I-35 in Texas south of Denton on his way to and from work. Who would think you'd see that in a metro area with a population of over 7 million people?

I finally gave up walking our dogs on leashes on our rural roads after too many encounters with feral hogs. It just made it all too nervewracking along with the standard encounters with skunks, snakes and coyotes. Reading that sentance again, it is a wonder I ever leave the house!

Dawn

Hazel, great, so it is possible to grow "red" rhubarb here with some shade. I know that it flourishes in the Northern states, but was a bit hard to grow in MO, so wasn't sure if you could expect much success here.

Feral hogs are bad down South of us. My Grand-son-in-law was chased up a tree while bow hunting not far from here. After he was able to get out of the tree he went back with his rifle looking for revenge. LOL

We had the problem for awhile in MO, but since I was near a National forest, it was taken care of by governmental agencies. They put radio tracking devices on sows who would find another herd to join after loosing her own to trapping and they would go after them from Helicopters with automatic weapons. They were also taking DNA samples to trace it back to where these hogs came from. Seems that the forest was being "seeded" with hogs so they could be used for conducted hunts for profit. Crops were being ruined as well as natural springs. We were told they were testing for over 30 different diseases carried by these hogs... not just diseases that pass to other animals such as spontaneous miscarriages of cattle but human disease. I suspect the same thing is happing all over the country... it's about someone making a profit. If not, why now after all the years people have had livestock in this country. I don't for a minute believe this just happened.

Nancy, it did rain here yesterday morning. There's a thunderstorm this morning too.

My plants are still taking their time to grow. I finally see some baby cucumbers and bell peppers. Hmm.. is it too warm for my heirloom tomatoes to produce now? Anyway, I have to try growing SunGold tomatoes next year just to taste some.

Another random question: how do y'all compost? Do you have a compost bin for your compost pile? I missed out on a compost tumbler at an estate sale last week. Not sure if my husband should build a bin or a tumbler for me.

We just throw stuff on the compost pile. Well, we have a compost "raised bed." One end of it is finished compost now, the middle is my active dump area--no official boundaries or dividers. In a sunny spot. At first I rarely had enough green stuff for it, so could hardly do the "recommended" portions of "greens to browns." And I rarely turn it, but occasionally attempt to move it around a bit. Occasionally if I have put a lot of green stuff on the active pile and don't have any brown stuff handy, I'll shred a bunch of newspaper to throw in the mix, or some cardboard. Lots and lots of leaves. This is the third year for ours, and we finally have good compost. Where I lived previously, I just had a chicken wire fence in a circle around 4' tall T-posts. and sort of closed with a zip tie. That worked fine, too. And having the air-free enclosure made for fast breaking down of it (but had to remember to wet it down regularly when it was extra dry weather.)

Thanks, HJ. The yard's looking pretty nice this year. Garry's rock borders make it look legitimate. . . heh heh. I had no idea how much better it'd look with those. However, it doesn't look like all those beautiful cottage gardens we see in the magazines; too shady for tons of beautiful big flowers; plus, I have NO sense of design in terms of putting stuff that looks good together. Like many who post here, I just put stuff in where it'll fit, with some dim idea of the light requirements. Most of the stuff has to live with less than enough sun.

The feral pig situation boggles my mind. It feels like every time you all begin talking about one of the dreaded problems, it shows up here. Keeping my fingers crossed. Speaking of dreaded problems, one of my SILs was here Friday, and he always likes to go exploring around the property. He was off investigating, and reported back that he saw some very strange looking scat in the back, wondered what animal it could have come from. Come to find out, Garry had seen it too, and both of them wondered if it could have been a bear. So the SIL was googling black bear scat and he and GDW agreed that's what it sure could have been. Great. Just great.

Eileen, we lucked out and was given a tumbler... well, I guess it was lucky. I only holds 70 gallons... that may be enough for some, but not for us. So still have a pile in back of the shop (better known as "man cave") building. He puts wood shavings on walkways to age out. The compost get lightly stirred into the garden beds by hand, then the aged wood shavings are raked up onto them for mulch after the plants are up or in. No sides on the beds, just laid out with stakes marking the corners. The stakes not only mark the boundaries, but prevent a garden hose from being dragged over the plants. The beds are 2-3 inches higher than ground level now. Kind of our version of French Intensive, but without the double digging. Right now they are being tilled as he works mustard into them to reclaim them from herbicide carry over. Once they recover, we will go back to no till.

After all that rambling on, guess I could have just said.. "both" and said it all.

Not sure I am in the right place. Can someone tell me what type of insect web this might be and if I should leave it alone (pardon the pun). It looks like a cross between spider web and cocoon. It looks like there are little things in it, but not sure if eggs but they seem same size and shape. Thanks

Here is another photo

Photo

Sunnydrew, my guess would be spider mites, but some how the webs don't look right to me. Where are you located and what kind of plant is in the pictures?

I feel so guilty saying this, but we had more rain this morning. (Have to put the stupid gauge back up!) Mesonet says .83. Skiatook had 1.08, I think we could be closer to an inch. Lost power long enough to screw up clocks, lots of rumbling thunder.

We were to have a family dinner yesterday. Well, we did have a family dinner, but half the family couldn't make it. My mom's artificial hip dislocated and she fell. She's 85. She went to the hospital, where they put her hip back. They said nothing was broken and sent her home with a brace so she won't move in a way to dislocate it again. I will go up this evening and take leftovers from yesterdays dinner.

It's funny, I looked at Nancy's pile of flowers and thought compost, too. Though, after laying comfrey down for mulch, I put the bolted carrot tops down for mulch in the parsnips. I'm pulling bush beans soon, I think I'll cut them at soil level and use the tops for mulch some where.

I have more to say, but no time now. Have a great Father's Day.

Eileen,

Are your heirloom tomatoes blooming and setting fruit at all yet? What usually happens in June is that we have some days where it is too hot and the blossoms drop without setting fruit but then we'll have rain bring some slightly cooler days where the blossoms do have a chance to set fruit. So, I wouldn't say your heirloom tomatoes won't make fruit because they still could. Whenever you have high temperatures above 90 during the day and 70 at night, many (not all) tomatoes, whether heirloom or hybrid, stop setting fruit, but when the temperatures drop below those levels, even if just for a day or two, you can get fruit set again.

I'm harvesting tons of heirloom tomatoes (I don't grow many hybrids), but I am much further south and plant as early as humanly possible to beat the heat. If it helps to know how long my heirloom plants have been in the ground, the first row and about a quarter of the second row were planted around March 17-18. Then, I think I came back and finished the second row and planted the third row about a week after that, and then the final row about another week later, and I think they all were in the grond before the end of March, but just barely. My tomato plants, whether heirloom or hybrid, won't set much more fruit because we're not cooling down nearly as much as the rest of you will, but the plants currently in bloom might have a chance to pollinate/fertilize/set fruit today and tomorrow at least. That's not much hope, but it is better than nothing.

Plants that produce paste tomatoes and all bite sized tomatoes, whether they are classified as cherry, grape, pear, currant, mini-Roma or whatever, usually will set fruit until the highs begin exceeding 100-105 degrees, and then they'll slow down but usually not stop. I always plant a wide variety of types so that even when the large-fruited tomatoes slow down, the smaller-fruited ones keep producing. There's also a limited handful of heirloom types that set well in the heat and I always include at least a couple of those in my garden each year as well.

Nancy, I'd gladly trade your our feral pigs for your bear. lol. Okay, not really. Rare visitors to our neighborhood include an occasional alligator in a farm pond (presumably it has migrated from the river) or cougar. One thing we don't have here, so far, is bears, but one was seen near Ada recently, and that's closer than I ever expected to have bears. When we first moved here, we learned bears might be found in the eastern OK counties near the Arkansas border, but it seems the bears are moving westward bit by bit. I enjoy the wildlife for the most part, except for the scary ones, but I don't want to enjoy the company of a bear.

Sunnydew, Do you have any trees that have had tent caterpillars/webworms in them? This spider web looking thing on your plants looks sort of similar to those....but I only see the tent caterpillars/webworms from the ground looking upward at them in the trees, so I'm not sure yours is exactly the same. I don;t ever get a real close-up view of them. I did notice two different tent caterpillar webs suddenly appeared in our pecan tree about 4 or 5 days ago so the timing would be right.

Here's a page with an image of a spider mite web. While I have tons of spider mites some years, they rarely if ever make it to the web stage because our lady bugs start gobbling them up before they can get quite that bad. You might compare its appearance to your webs. Spider mites will attack almost any plant you grow.

Page with Image of Spider MIte Web

One way to determine if you have spider mites inside that webbing is to hold a sheet of white paper, posterboard or cardboard beneath a webbed area. Thump the plant vigorously over the white object. If tiny dots about the size of the dot over the letter "i" fall to the white surface and begin moving around, those are your spider mites.

Normally, webbing is not a bad sign---it is a good sign that you have spiders in your garden and spiders are beneficial because they kill many garden pests. But, there are times when webs do indicate a pest---like tent caterpillars or spider mites---are present.

Amy, Please don't feel guilty about having rain. Enjoy it, revel in it and appreciate it. I am never going to begrudge anyone else getting rain just because we aren't getting it. I might turn slightly green with envy, but not in a bad way----just because those of us not getting rain are envious of those of you getting rain does not mean we resent that you're getting rain.

We are supposed to get rain tonight. Blah,blah, blah. So often it is in the forecast and doesn't come so that now I refuse to get my hopes up. Once drought sets in, rain sure does become scarce. It is overcast and very cloudy so I hope that means something, and the killer wind has dropped off a lot today.

I am glad your mom's injury wasn't any worse than it was. Hip injuries are so scary

Happy Father's Dad to all you dads.

My dad passed away 13 years ago on Father's Day, so it is a hard holiday for me. Having said that, he had suffered a very long time with Alzheimer's Disease so I consider the day of his death also to be the day that God set him free from the Alzheimer's Disease, and I am grateful for that.

I wasn't going to do much in the garden today, but had tons of tomatoes at or beyond the breaker stage and didn't want for any rain we possibly might get to cause any cracking or splitting, so I just harvested a laundry basket full of them. I haven't picked the SunGolds yet because the humidity was getting to me, so I need to go back outside in a while and pick all those since they're particularly bad about splitting and crackin

I'll be canning all week, but I'm not going to do any of that today.

Dawn

Dawn, it sounds like you had an excellent shopping trip yesterday. I'm sure it's a pain to run out of something when you have to drive that far for supplies! Goodness, DH would have to have a second house to keep supplies in. ;)

I can't imagine digging 100 pounds of potatoes. DH was a little disappointed. He still believes he can grow 100 pounds of potatoes in a wooden box. But growing in bags was just dump the bag in a wheel barrow, sort out the potatoes, move the dirt to the tubs where the tomatoes got planted. I expect volunteer potatoes. Maybe, if the tomatoes aren't doing well I will turn it into a fall potato crop.

I brought in a ripe Early girl yesterday, and 3 or 4 more that broke color. They're coming.

Millie, I've tried to grow rhubarb, too. I started mine from seed. It made it 2 years, and never made big stems.

Feral pigs in the city is scary! So is bear scat on your property. Maybe it's Big Foot. There was a bear in a tree in Checotah the end of May, in town. That's south of Muskogee, so not too far from you. It's all the lakes and woodsy areas I guess.

Eileen, DH made a tumbler from one of those big blue barrels. (55 gallon size). He does chicken waste in it. I usually have someplace where I toss plant waste. Welded wire fencing in a 4 foot circle has worked for us. DH has plans to build something fancier. One year I designated one of the beds the winter compost pile. I dumped my coffee grounds and food scraps and old mulch there. It certainly improved the soil in that bed, though it took a long time to stop seeing egg shells. They don't decompose nearly as quickly as people think.

Dawn, I'm sorry Father's Day holds sad memories for you. I hope you do get rain!

Bears were reintroduced into Northern Arkansas about two Counties in from the border with OK. We were closer and more heavily wooded and began to see them by the end of the Century. Good grief, we already had mountain lion that the Conservation Dept. would not admit to until around 2010. After that they published a "how to" on what to do if you encountered one, or the other, in the wild. One of my neighbors had to stop to let a mama with two cubs cross the road one night. Then a friend of mine had a bear kill and drag off one of her penned goat does. The Sheriff practically called her nuts or hysterical, but she challenged him to follow the blood trail... the bear was still with his kill. That gal had raised orphaned wildlife in Colorado and knew what she was talking about. In the bears defense, one of her neighbors thought it was cute to feed him when he was little.. then moved away, so he was looking to humans to provide food. In the end it caused him to be killed. It could have ended much worse, though, because her 9 year old son walked into the barn one night and was between the door and the bear. I would be pretty suspicious of a bear who is comfortable enough with people to come into town.

They said it was a juvenile bear. Here's the news report. Humans really do make things worse. My friend, who lives in a semi rural area between Owasso and Claremore has a neighbor feeding coyotes.

Millie, I"m not sure if I have red rhubarb or another kind. Its stalks are both red and green. It's living in a very large pot. I've yet to make anything with it, because I'm not sure what to do with it. My strawberries are kicking up production again...maybe I can make a rhubarb and strawberry pie?

Eek. Feral hogs...I have yet to see any at our place.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers on the forum! Hope you have a nice day (and are enjoying the cooler temps).

Amy, It is a PITA to find places to stash things when you buy in bulk, but the upside is that when you buy in bulk, you tend to not run out of things so quickly. CostCo is so far away that I'd like to only make that drive down there once a month, but most of the time we make it twice a month. I'm trying to always remember to keep a list running and to not forget to take it with me. Really, though, just the act of making a list, even if I forget to take it, usually means I do remember everything that was on it. I get tunnel vision during canning season and don't even want to leave the house to go get canning supplies, so I try to stock up ahead of the start of canning season and then I never have to drop everything to go get lids, pectin, canning salt or just whatever. It is funny---on our way down to CostCo I'll be thinking that I want to stop at a Barnes & Noble, and then pop into Hobby Lobby or Michael's for this or that or whatever, and by the time we're through in CostCo, all I want to do is get home. I'm not much of a shopper any more unless I need to get something specific. Most of the time now, if I 'need' something and cannot find it at CostCo, Sam's Club, WinCo or Walmart, I figure we don't need it. Well, except for gardening stuff, but that's a whole category unto itself. About once every month or two we'll make a short side trip to Central Market to get something special but their produce section just kills me and you almost cannot avoid walking through it because the main entrance brings you in there. They have the biggest, most diverse produce section you'll ever see, and tons of organic stuff, and it isn't so much that I am buying much there.....but, rather, I'm looking at things and whispering to Tim...."Look, organic Habanero peppers are $6.98 a pound...." or whatever, just in awe of the fact that people will pay that price when they could be growing their own. It is like a trip to Disney World for me, and then when we get to the meat and seafood area, it is the same thing there for Tim. I get my Dr. Bronner's Lavender soap there, and a few food items, but we could live without it if it wasn't there. They do have the biggest selection of cheeses you'll ever see. I could kill an hour in there just looking at stuff, but there's always that nagging feeling that I ought to be at home working on something. They are one of the few stores that have pickling cucumbers, and they tend to have them all summer long. It isn't the same as homegrown pickling cukes pickled the same day, but if a person has a crop failure and absolutely, positively needs to buy pickling cukes, at least you know a place to find them.

I'll try to weigh the potatoes tomorrow to see what we actually got. It won't include, of course, the ones we already ate. The year I planted too many and had to dig over 300 lbs. of them myself from pretty dense clay (it was amended, but it was a drought year and the sun/heat had baked the clay into concrete anyway) in immensely hot weather surely did break me of planting too many potatoes. I said 'never again' and I meant it. I still plant too many, so will try next year to reduce again and plant only about 50-60% as many seed potatoes as I did this year.

I also need to plant fewer tomatoes. The good news is that Tim's new work group means I only need to can about 60 jars of salsa for him to give away at work, and that is so much less than I usually can for Christmas that I am almost giddy with joy. Except.... Well, what about the what if's? What if I can enough giveaway salsa for Christmas gifts to cover those 60 people and then his boss rotates the Asst Chiefs around to new areas (this job rotation is very common in his department) and suddently he has an area with 150 people and maybe tomato season already has ended? So, even though I am going to can less, I'll have that nagging worry in the back of my mind.

Next year, I'd love to cut back the number of tomato plants I grow by 50% but I don't know if I have the self discipline to do it. No matter how hard I try to cut back, there's always more plants in the ground than I ever intended. That results in tomatoes piling up everywhere and me feeling stressed by the need to hurry up and process them all. Tomorrow will be a long day in the kitchen with tomatoes, but then I'll be able to breathe much easier after it is done. Still, silently and under my breath, I am starting to chant "die,die, die!" to the tomato plants every day when I am picking tomatoes. I know that is wrong. I know it is a sign of tomato overload and tomato burnout, but still, I can't help doing it. I dream of only having 10 or 12 tomato plants and not even doing any canning at all, just one summer, to see what it is like to not wake up every day in June and July with harvesting/canning/food preservation goals first and foremost in my mind. If it doesn't rain soon, I'll likely get my wish for plants to start dying, but with Murphy's Law being what it is, the wrong plants will die and the tomato plants won't die. That would be so funny, and so sad.

So, after having believed for many years that it is impossible to have too many tomatoes, I've noticed increasingly that we have too many and I'm tired of having too many and I'm more and more ready to cut back. Of course, in June I see that, recognize it, understand it and acknowledge it, but in the hard winter months of December through February, all logic and rational thought flies out the window and I want to grow everything, and lots of it.

If Bigfoot shows up here, I'll just throw tomatoes at him and scare him away. Or, I'll sic our big, bad, mean black rooster on him. Whatever it takes.

Millie, Bears would be too scary. My first face-to-face encounter with a feral hog while at a wildfire near Thackerville one night was horrifying. It was huge and my mind couldn't even process what I was seeing. I'd seen them before in state parks while out camping and such, but the first time you see one up close and personal still is a shock. I remember my first thought was "what? Is this a hippo? a rhino?" I laugh at myself now, but I was so flabbergasted when I saw it that I couldn't even process what I was thinking. After about 30 seconds and when I'd had time to calm down a little, I realized it was a feral hog.

A couple of years later we were driving from Marietta to Durant to have lunch with our son when he was a student there, and we saw this big dead animal on the side of the road near Lake Texoma. It looked like a small bear or a very large bear cub. We were flabbergasted, so we turned around and went back to look at it. So did everyone else. As each vehicle pulled up and people got out to look at it, someone would say "feral hog" and the new arrivees would say "oh, we thought it looked like a bear" and we all would laugh because we all thought the same thing. Now we see them so often that no one even bats an eye at them, and that's not a good thing. There's too many of them now and they don't stay down in the river bottom lands like they used to---they are right here in our rural neighborhood. We have them a lot at the back end of our property, which is about 1000' west of our house so we rarely even go back there any more.

Sunnydew, I grow a lot of hollies but don't have any inkberries. I do know that spider mites like them though, so watch for those. Maybe your web is just some sort of spider. We live on rural acreage and it seems like we have about a million spiders per acre, and each and every different kind has different forms of webs and put their webs all over plants, more so further out....not right up around the house where humans, dogs, cats and chickens will walk right through their webs and bust them up. Spiders can do some odd things some times.

Dawn

Dawn, feral hogs are dangerous. When they were being trapped near where I lived, a neighbor called and wanted to know if we would like to see what the "powers that be" were going to do with his catch. He had 12 in his trap... one bore was so determined to get at us that he ran full speed into that chain link fence over and over until his whole face was covered in blood. By the way, our road out of the woods crossed a county line and the sheriff of Barry county lived along it. He trapped over 100 feral hogs that year. If that wasn't bad enough, we had an old (or partially crippled) mountain lion that started bringing down penned up livestock... guess he/she could no longer chase down a deer. That kind of wildlife does not make good neighbors.

Millie, I know they're dangerous. They scare the fool out of me. When I see or even hear one, I immediately head indoors if I am close enough to a building to get indoors safely. I used to walk all 8 of our dogs daily (two at a time) on leashes and if the weather was nice we'd make it a long walk along our lightly-traveled rural roadway. After a few close encounters with feral hogs, we simply had to stop taking those walks. I knew if we didn't, someone was going to end up hurt or dead, and likely it wouldn't be the hog. They are evil incarnate. They tear up the land something fierce. My experiences with them date back to at least the early 1990s in Texas. At that time they were further south in Texas than where we lived, and I never would have thought they'd make it this far north.

One of our local ranchers had to run to get away from them one day when he was out checking his herd in one of his pastures, and he was an older gentleman so just couldn't move as quickly as he once did. He barely made it back to his ATV and got on it in time to get away from them. I shudder to think what would have happened if they had knocked him down before he got to the ATV.

The feral hogs are everywhere here, but are seen in especially large numbers on the river bottom lands. We aren't on river bottom land. We are at a slightly higher elevation above the river bottom lands nearest us, with one farm between us and the river. That farm also is at the slightly higher elevation but is directly adjacent to it, so it is basically a downhill walk from their house to the river. You cannot go anywhere along the river here, whether you are on WMA land, farm or ranch land or whatever, without seeing signs of them everywhere. They have driven some folks right out of agriculture. Everyone here has their own story about their feral hog encounters or troubles. We've only had them on our place a few times and I'm glad. If they were regular visitors, we'd be out hog hunting on our own property every weekend.

A couple of years ago, in the early Spring, some people were caught transporting 120 feral hogs from TX to OK to turn them loose somewhere for feral hog hunting. I remember thinking at the time that no matter what they were convicted of, the punishment would not be as severe as it ought to be for someone doing such a heinous thing.

I went out into the garden a little while ago, y'all, just to check on everything, make sure the gate was closed and latched, and to make sure the rain gauge wasn't full of dust, mulch, dead bugs or whatever, just in case rain finds us. Hey, we have a 50% chance of rain tonight, so it could happen.

Well, I didn't have to wait until tonight. Rain fell on me while I was in the garden. Yes, it did. Three raindrops. I excitedly called Tim and told him rain was falling on me in the garden. He came out to see it. Of course, not another drop fell. I'm pretty sure he thinks I was imagining things. He already believes I am an alien from another planet.

I hope those three rain drops are not all the rain we're going to get.

Dawn

Oh, Dawn, you know you wouldn't have any idea what to do with yourself if you weren't busy preserving tomatoes all summer!

So, I made my Squirrel Scram Cocktail last night, and today loaded up my spray bottle with it and headed out...and my spray bottle didn't work. Crap. Ended up grabbing a paintbrush and painting it on the tomatoes that are left. I estimate I've lost a minimum of 2 dozen green tomatoes to these bushy tailed tree monsters in the past 2 weeks, so it didn't take that long, and I didn't do the cherries. So, fingers crossed and we wait.

I took advantage of the cooler weather, clouds, and wet ground to finally get the last of the flowers in the front bed - another tithonia, more zinnias, coneflowers, marigolds, and dwarf sunflowers. When I saw the clearing line coming, I just threw things in randomly dug holes and I'll figure out if I like it later, lol. Also had to add some additional support to some of the tomato supports...and in some cases, additional support to the additional support to the support. Always seems like no matter how deeply I plant them, they end up falling over despite support. I did check the stump of the Black Cherry when I dug it out, and I dunno, that main stem sure looks like it has a wide brown streak in it. Maybe it is wilt of some kind. I stuck a couple summer squash seeds in there to see what they might do. And planted a Jersey Boy in another part of the yard in place of something I lost earlier this summer. Figured under the circumstances I'd better go with a hybrid. I started myself a Sun Gold as well.

I've lost a couple large branches off a couple tomatoes this week, too. They just bend double, in a random place, and of course that part of the branch dies. I have a hunch that the tree monsters have something to do with that, too.

Amy, I only had about 1/3" in my rain gauge, but judging by the yard and ground it was more. Everyone said it was blowing rain again. Can you see any difference in your plants after the lightning? I swear, mine grew visibly since last night. I guess there is something to that.

Had a BST tonight with the corn from Cherry Street. Officially feels like summer now.

Dawn, there is still hope. We had enough that it ran off the roof this morning... but then it is a metal roof. LOL My son says 1/10.. guess we'll take it. Lawton had water standing in fields as we drove in yesterday... only 35 miles away, but might as well be a 100 at times like this.

Once again, so grateful for this forum. . . . how very much wonderful information I miss. . . but sure have appreciated the good stuff I've found. Thanks to each and all of you for helping me learn!! (Was just deciding to take a bunch of cuttings from tomatoes. And trying to decide on the 6 or so I'll start next January.)

Ordered my Ball canning book--it is AMAZING. The recipe for Worchestershire sauce CRACKED me up. GOTTA try it--what, 30 or so ingredients? LOL. Looking for a great catsup recipe. Any of you have a good canning one?

The tomatoes are happening! Like you described yours, Dawn, with some fungus but producing (I was freaked by your possible fusarium/verticillium wilt, Rebecca, I feared that may have been the situation with mine), realized it is more like a fungal thing, which you described well. So have left them, because as I said, they were so loaded with tomatoes. Yes. I think the real issue with them is that they have been so heavily producing fruits, the leaves and stems haven't been developing as much. Truly, I cannot believe how MANY tomatoes are on them--it just boggles my mind--and it's a good darned thing, because I haven't yet seen any big-uns! Have some good medium-sized ones. AND I finally tasted one of the medium-sized ones last night that had an exquisite flavor. It had to be the Illini, as the other medium-sized ones are on determinates. Now THAT's what a good tomato should taste like. Wasn't not overly impressed by the taste of any of the others. So I'm paying a great deal of attention to what you've all written about the best ones. Thank you all.

Amy, I have no idea what was happening outside while we were sleeping soundly in the wee hours last night. But when we got up (at 7:30), it was a repeat of yesterday--very dark out and raining heavily. WHAT??? Had another inch in the rain gauge--not only that, but LOTS of little oak branches strewn about the yard, and a good-sized branch down in the hugelkultur bed that smashed one of the cages. No real damage, but many of the rest of the remaining taller flowers were flopped over. We got up and I was busy with church stuff so didn't even get to go out and check stuff out; then had company all day (starting with one daughter from Claremore who showed up at church to surprise her Dad--I knew she was coming to meet us there but he didn't. I love my new church so much, I love having kids show up to go with us.) And as soon as we all got home, had another daughter and her partner and son show up. We all had a great time, but as we were out on the deck, and I was facing the yard, kept seeing all these plants out there that were flopped over and all the little branches lying about and thinking, "WHAT??? Was I totally unconscious last night? Or am I dreaming and is this the damage from yesterday's storm. And could not believe I could have slept right through such a thing. So yes, it was again very very wet here today, and comfortable temperatures all day.

I am quite confounded by it all, and yes, Dawn, I will scowl every day and say, I HATE this rain and the temperatures, just to try and put one over on Mother Nature. However, as you all well know, all this wetness creates a whole new set of problems, which I've quickly learned. So. But given the alternative (the dry dry dryness and even zinnias wilting), this is good.

Sweet potatoes and newly planted cucumber seeds are up and goin'! Yay.

Jerry. Funny that YOU were kidding about the County Fair. I grew up in 4-H and so had to enter all this food stuff in the fair. But GDW and I were just visiting a few nights ago and I told him that with this year's onions and tomatoes, I finally understood all the fresh produce garden entries and canned goods entries from the county fairs. . . . all these years later and I GET it! My onions and tomatoes would certainly have won no prizes at the Johnson County Wyoming County Fair (held in August). Your canned squash truly was beautiful.

Have to say that since I've been here, I've always wondered about black bears--and even asked GDW about them in the past. So I am most certainly not surprised to hear what you've said. And will be aware of that possibility. Must say, though I'm a Wyoming girl and have seen a lot of critters in my small town and out on the ranch, and then in MN where they have plenty of black bears, I've never seen one yet up close and personal and hope I don't. Mostly of course, I would worry about Daffy and Titan, as I am not sure Titan would have the sense to back off. On the other hand, he's tough and formidable. . . STILL. I have to say, I'd probably not be one little bit happy about finding one outside on our deck.

How's it going in your neighborhood, Kim? Got lots of good stuff? Hope stuff is not frying.

Nancy, Regarding the flavor of tomatoes---all that rainfall you're getting now is the enemy. Each tomato variety only has so many potential flavor compounds and excess moisture (whether rainfall or irrigation) waters them down. That's my least favorite thing about rainfall. So, when rainfall is heavy, tomato flavor tends to be bland to almost nonexistent. The best flavored tomatoes are those which are developing and ripening in very, very, very dry conditions. This is why I water my tomato plants as little as humanly possible....even when we are in drought. Unfortunately, when it is raining heavily, there's nothing you can do to stop the rain from negatively impacting tomato flavor.

We were producing an incredible tomato crop one year and then about 12" of rain fell in less than a month while the fruits were sizing up and ripening. What we ended up with was huge yields of huge tomatoes with absolutely no tomato flavor whatsoever. It went from being just about the best tomato year ever to the worst one because none of those tomatoes were worth eating. It took about two months for the tomato flavor to return to normal, and by then it was so late in summer that the stink bugs were taking a terrible toll on the tomatoes. Some years are just that way.

Dawn