Posted New Panoramic View of Garden from last week. Long beans, cucumbers, & zucchini growing exponentially.

Pat, Not all of my tomato plants are that big, but most of the cherries make big plants and Tess's Land Race which is a currant size is normally a huge plant. My largest plant this year is a greek tomato called Santorini, (thanks Lynn for the seed) but makes a small tomato. I am 5'6", and it is way over my head already. It seems to me that when I lived in southern Oklahoma the prevailing wind was normally from the SW and when we saw a storm brewing in Texas in Montague County we prepared for the worst because it always seemed to come straight for us. The big tornado they had there seemed to follow that same logic. In my area now, the wind seems to come from the south, although Kansas does share a few storms with us, but high wind is not the norm for us here, . I also live in a rather congested lake community and have a lot of buildings near my garden, both mine and neighbors. Since I live on a slight curve, I pretty well have a building providing protection from all directions, plus tall trees everywhere. So when I mounted my arch, my thought process went to sunshine availability rather than protection from the wind. At the time, it was the gateway to my garden so I just angled it so both sides got sunshine. After extending my garden and putting in a walkway, I decided to move it. Since nothing could be planted under it because of dense foliage, it just made sense to me to put it over the walkway. This does limit the sunshine a little, but shade doesn't seem to be a bad thing this year. It is hard to know what to plan for since my Spring weather is normally very wet. I have a few raised beds which I had planned to use for spring crops because of the excessive Spring rain keeping my garden too wet to plant, but changed my mine and planted asparagus in one and strawberries in another. The third will probably be used for onions next year, since mine had to tread water for a few weeks this Spring. However, when the rain stops and the heat is excessive those raised bed dry out too fast and require more water. I can't win. If I had a tomato henge like Diane and Steve have built, I would probably have welded a ring to the top of each post and run cable from one pole to the other across the length of the row and have those rings with a clip on them on the cables. When conditions were normal I would have nothing on the clips, but for hail threats, I would clip on a big tarp (probably many sewn together), and for excessive heat I would have fabric ready to go on. I wouldn't worry about it being shade cloth since sheets sown together from the thrift shop would serve the same purpose. I would probably hit the thrift shops all winter so I could find all white ones. Of course I don't know how I can fix mine. Maybe I need to hire Steve to weld me four posts like his for my outside rows and I can use my cages in between. LOL Diane tried to pass it off as someone elses idea, but I have compared the two and I would easily choose Diane's. I am laughing as I type this because I am trying to improve on an already great system which is always what I accuse my husband of doing. He always waits until I have finished something then tells me how I could have done it better. Even his friends ask for his advice after they finish something, then sometimes make the changes. I tell him that he is one of the best managers that I have ever known but that he never had an original idea in his life. (grin) At our house the garden is mine, but Al does seem to enjoy playing with it a little in the Spring when the weather is still cool. He will till, move trellis, pick up compost, shovel it all out of the truck and put it where I want it, all those things to get the garden ready, but each year he SUGGESTS that I put things like trellis and such in a permanent place and run irrigation to it. Maybe...some year. With old age creeping up on me (not here yet of course), I know that would be a good idea.

Relax. Folks have gone overboard about mold and mildew the past several years. Can you tell it apart from mildew...they appear the same visually to many folks? There are many different types of mold and most types don't cause any health issues at all. You don't even know what you have and chanced are very, very likely that is is harmless. Also what brickeye says above is correct. The poster that says run away is simply fueling the fire with this fear of anything in the mold/mildew area. If you are really fearful, get it tested to see what it is(is it the bad mold, and how to remedy). ServePro is a nationwide franchise that does cleanup for mold and also fire clean up, and all kinds of clean-up. They can test it and even suggest ways to clean it, remove it,prevent it if it is indeed problematic. Again, what brickeye says is real important. Don't stress over this.

Oh KSWL- my guys run 5-15 miles on the open prairie at least three times a week. They swim nearly daily in the summer. Long swims while retrieving duck dummies that are shot from a .22-type launcher. DH is a rabid hunter; the dogs point, track, retrieve everything from doves, grouse, pheasants, ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels, coyotes, fox, muskrats, raccoons, etc. In the winter they pull DH on the sled just like the Iditarod dogs. He has harnesses for them to pull the bike in the summer. I will guarantee there are no dogs in the state that get harder workouts than mine. They have an extremely high prey drive; and being a versatile hunting breed, everything is prey. They know all the hunting commands; they follow verbal, whistle, and hand signals. But when a squirrel, turkey, coyote, or cat crosses the yard they go berserker! They are so well behaved in the house. They love everyone and don't know what "stranger" means. Babies, little children, kids, and puppies are fawned over and slurped endlessly...until a squirrel goes past the window. I do trap the nasty things...but more keep coming. DH burst out laughing when he read 'more exercise.' Sam water retrieved ducks from 5:30 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. today. He was the only dog for five hunters; they each got their limit. Yesterday Harry hunted grouse all day. They stay outside, weather permitting, (this is North Dakota) as much as they wish. I am always here to open the door. It's constant "in and out", especially with younger Sam; he spends hours in the huge back yard - chasing the squirrels, trying to climb the trees to get to them, jumping on the fence to get leverage and running/barking his fool brains out! Our yard is three deep lots. The entire back yard is fenced. These 75-lb. hunks will never not go after game; it would require alteration of their DNA! They are my DH's dream team. He spent 22 years in the AF in some of the worst parts of the world. He was always looking forward to and planning when he could be home year round and finally have, enjoy, train, and work these amazing hunters. I figure - so what if I don't get floor-length drapes; I'll come up with a nice Plan B. I do get the joy of these two fur kids that love me to pieces. My hubby, after going all around the world and getting shot at in every sand box the US has been involved in; is now living his dream. And he is still a USAF cop; he's just on the "civilian" side now. That leaves plenty of dog-working time, no more foreign trips, and he's not been shot at for 9-10 years now! Life is good on the Prairie. For me, the dogs, and the Ole Mountain Man! This post was edited by caroline on Mon, Oct 13, 14 at 0:51