We got a late start on the garden this weekend. Absolutely had to mow and trim on Saturday and it was still too wet in spots. But if I had let it go, there would have been a jungle waiting on me next w/e.

We ended up tying all the plant cages up to get that out of the way. Noticed almost all the tomato plants had ant hills at the base. You know what that means...aphids. We always have a massive aphid infestation, but it's usually mid-late May. Will probably have to start spraying very soon.

Hwy20, your garden really looks nice, it looks like you have very nice soil also. The soil Is a very weak spot for me, I have to really have to amend my soil a lot to grow anything.

Thanks slow! This soil seems to do pretty decent, but it is amended a bit also. I started by working in about 6 yards of compost on years 1 and 2. Now I just lay a yard here and there every year.

Last year I went with a cover crop of crimson clover and worked that in. Just seeded it all over with veggie plants still going in early Sep. I'm interested to see how that works out. I really liked it for erosion purposes, if nothing else. It kept any light compost on top from heading to the gulf of mexico.

We didn't get a chance to thin the carrots before the rain. We need to get that done next for sure, they are putting on good growth now. I really didn't even want to be stepping in the garden as it was, but needed to get it done.

Jennifer, I started to work for a company in 1970 that required me to wear safety glasses and safety shoes. I can relate to having to find something that looks a little stylish also, because in 1977 I was promoted and had to wear a tie also. In those days safety shoes and style did not fit in the same sentence.

I have to try to finish mowing the bad spots today, I so many muddy areas that are hard to mow, the worse is the bank along the hwy.. We have a zero turn mower, and banks are a challenge.

I have a busy day ahead of me, so I need to get started, I don't breath well and have to rest often.

I walked around the garden a while ago. Showed Ron what to pull. I still have milkweed. The purple leaved plant Nancy gave whose name I can't remember. Oh, penstemen. At least one rudbeckia. The little purple fall daisies.

I need to take my picture with the map on it out and look for other plants.

Oh Jennifer, I am so there with you. I think "I'll wear a dress", then I think what shoes would I wear? I broke a heal on the black 20 year old pumps I wore to mother's funeral. I have a pair of clarks if my feet don't swell. The shoes I wore to my daughter's wedding were a size larger than I usually wear. I figured I would be in the wheelchair 99% of the time. I have inserts, you almost have to wear them daily, and I'm barefoot unless I go out. When I wear inserts, it makes my hips and knees hurt because they're not used to the way the inserts effect my legs.

We're going to have family mother's day dinner tomorrow. I hate fighting crowds to eat. We got take out Mexican last night.

Everyone, have a good week.

I mowed the lawn this morning. It felt like summertime. Put the clippings midrow in the garden, completed one entire row.

For several months now I've been doing at least 50 miles a week on my bicycle. Couple weeks ago I did a 30 mile ride. Just last Friday I rode 21 miles. But I've already got sore leg muscles from mowing, will be worse tomorrow. And I had to stop a couple times to rest this morning, when my heart rate had gotten up pretty high. I just thought I was in good condition.

Lynn, it sounds to like you are in good shape. I cant remember the last time I rode a bicycle. I bought a new motorcycle in 1971, kept it till 1977, and that was the last time I was on a motorcycle.

I planted 32 sweet potatoes, hauled 6 loads of compost to the wildlife garden and planted 40 hills of Charleston Gray watermelons. If I can find my Crimson Sweet watermelon seeds I will put in at least 30 hills of them. This wet spring has really put us behind, we should have already had this stuff in, and we still don't have all the ground ready.

I cant believe our forefathers made a living on this sorry land, it wont even grow good rocks.

The veggies are planted! The only remaining things are okra and southern peas...and Rick is coming out to do that tomorrow in the SG. I have to work really late tomorrow night, so won't be around for that.

There's still a lot to do. Figuring how HOW to do a large pollinator/butterfly type of garden isn't easy. I've decided to pull up all the grass and put down cardboard and woodchips. Have done that in the pathways of the kitchen garden. BUT, how do you let the wildflowers go to seed in that situation? Maybe I should mostly do perennials?

Anyway...I'll figure it out. This year, it's once again an overflow for the tomatoes. Also, there's a lot of melon volunteers coming up. It looks like the red poppies are coming up too. IF that's what it is. I scattered seed in a specific area. Stella thought they were pretty and the container they came in was pretty, so she bought them for me. She was unaware of their significance.

It is slowly getting there. It's been a goal for about 5 years now. Rick has tilled it a few times, and it's mostly just crabgrass that I'm pulling. It is amazing how the years of chicken poo and compost being dumped there has changed that soil. We had a load of dirt brought in when we built the shop 7 years ago. It was mostly red clay. This is the area behind the shop, which is 40 ft. long. I worked on it last night and tonight and have a few pieces of cardboard down--around the tomatoes and melon volunteers. Now I just need to figure out how to get all the native plants in. I do believe I mostly bought perennials.

I'm rambling.

Everything mostly looks good which is amazing considering the wind and weather.

For the first time in my life I am weary of eggs. Not eating eggs, but dealing with eggs. I have so many I need to clean and put in the refrigerator. Everyone stocked up last week, so I have a weeks worth that no one wants. I'll just stick them in the shop fridge and we'll use them when production slows down, I guess. I have two people who want them at the end of the week....and I'll take some to my daughter when I see her on Saturday.

Amy, we're doing the Mother's Day thing with my daughter this Saturday. It will be nice not to deal with the restaurants. Although we did yesterday with my Mom and sister. lol

Daughter and son-in-law got back at 1 am Saturday from Costa Rica and I suspect that they went to his parents on Sunday. I try not to stress them out about things like that. I don't care what day, I just want a day--it doesn't have to be ON the exact day. Is the exact day is important to his family and mom, then that is totally fine with me.

Ethan is working 7 days a week now, so I don't get to do much with him. He was sweet and got me a houseplant, elderberry tea, bath salts, and a cute wooden owl pencil holder. He knows me well.

The shoe thing is SO frustrating. But, being in pain and not being able to walk properly would be much worse. IS worse.

Those inserts DO take some getting use to. Wearing them for half an hour morning/night and building up.

Same with some of the shoes that I buy --like vionic and oofos.

Lynn, where do you ride your bike? I need to find something that won't stress my feet.

I'll share a recipe here that a made tonight. It is a good one to use up garden produce.

I used our diced tomatoes, brown beans (instead of black beans because we're out of our black beans), canned jalapenos (don't have fresh ones yet), corn (canned in 2020) and cilantro. I don't have any garlic ready yet.

It's vegetarian, but I made a side of ground beef for T and E to mix in. You could also use chicken, pork, or even shrimp if you want meat.

It's also nice because you don't have to heat up the oven. Bonus in the summertime.

Recipe

Jennifer, I am too tight to spend big money on my shoes, although I spend a lot more than I use to. Nearly all my inserts are supplied by the Indian clinic, ( I go in from time to time to be fitted ) and so far one pair of shoes. Madge and I went to town a few years ago to try to find an "off the shelf" shoe I could use. We found a certain style of Clark lace up slipper would work fine by buying one size larger than I normally wear. My boots, I just get a loose fitting insulated boot, one size larger than I should get. The insulation serves as padding because my feet are always sore, with out insulation my feet are easier to hurt, but I really don't like the fact that the boots are very hot in the summer. If I were able to walk a lot I might have to buy better shoes, but the rest of my body wont tolerate a lot of walking or standing.

I am very thankful for the walking and standing that I can do. Yesterday when I was planting 40 hills of watermelons I crawler the whole time, it took me a long time, and the rock were really rough on my knees, but I am ready to do it again today.

My middle brother says your shoes are one place you don't want to skimp on. He was in the army & those boots messed his feet up, so he insists on buying quality footwear. I usually buy whatever I find at the thrift store that looks practically new. I really need to get some inserts though, I messed up my ankle a while back & lots of standing or walking is starting to hurt.

Looks like I have milkweed along with the Indian paintbrush. Cliff's bugging me about wanting to mow but I'm hoping to get the wildflowers to spread. At the least, get a few seeds & try growing them in specific locations.

Jen, I think your brother is right. When I was growing up we wore just what ever we could find. A lot of stuff was given to us. After dad died we got a steady check, it was not much, but it came every month, mom, not having to stay home and care for dad, was able to get a job while we were in school. There again, it was not much but every little bit helped. I don,t know that my feet were messed up by wearing anything I could get my foot into caused my problem, but I know that it did not help.

I know dad would have liked for things to have been different, but we have to play the hand that is dealt. Dad worked so hard on this place, but died long before his dream was complete, he died of cancer at the age of 35. I am so happy to continue on a project that he had worked on, and I am trying to set things up to where my daughter and her children can follow in my foot steps, at this point they seem to be happy to follow the same path.

I found my Crimson Sweet melon seeds, it looks like I will be working in the wildlife garden again today. I need to plant melons, flowers, brush hog and put up an electric fence.

HJ, I mostly wind around on neighborhood side streets and occasionally ride the OKC trails, primary the West River trail. I won't get on the busy streets, that takes a death wish. Too many distracted drivers doing everything behind the wheel except driving the car.

I can jump from addition to addition and go from 89th across 104th and down to 119th. Then take sidewalks over to Earlywine and go south on May ave sidewalks all the way past 134th to an elementary school.

The trail is more relaxing ride, not have to worry about traffic, although, there's very little daytime traffic in these additions. I'm also faster on the trails. I don't near as much slowing to turn and stopping.

But factoring in the time it takes to load the bike and drive to the trail, I can have half of my ride done in the neighborhood in that time.

I have ridden at the Draper Lake trail. Its only 14 miles , goes all the way around the lake, but the east side has some killer hills. They're for the younger bucks. I could probably go around it now, but I enjoy the River more.

Its summer time in May out there. This will be very interesting to see what my tomatoes will do with this June/July weather. I can't recall a May with a heat wave. I've seen plenty of cooler Mays, and my impression is that the fruits don't develop or ripen as fast if its cool. I'm wondering if this heat will speed up their ripening ?

Jen, I agree with your brother. And wish I had known that earlier in life. I'm sure that's a big reason I have issues now. Cheap shoes and wearing shoes for too long. Often they look good on the outside, but inside are all broken down. In fact, I'm doing it right now and I know better.

Once you get your milkweed established, can I have a plant, Jen? If you have enough to spare.

Tom wants to mow our field at times, but in the spring, I ask him to leave it alone. I like the wild meadow look. (I do prefer the area around the house to be mowed.)

Also, Jen, the soapwort you gave to me last year is looking so good this year. Do you think I can move it? It's planted in the ground. Maybe wait until fall? I would like to put in in the future herb spiral I want to make this summer. OR to the spot behind the shop.

Maybe you've told us, Larry, but what type of cancer did your dad have? He was so young.

Lynn, we lived across from Earlywine before we moved to our current home in 2014. I know that area well. Our son went to Earlywine elementary. I walked at Earlywine park almost every day. Daughter worked at the pool there--was a lifeguard.

People who ride on busy streets scare me! I think of all the distracted drivers but also the 16 y/o new drivers out and about.

Our tomatoes are still very small. Hope we have time to get some blooms and fruit set.

So far, only the Sungold have fruit.

Nancy, I went over to what we called " the meadow " this morning and sprayed all the thistle I could fine, should have brought it to the house and placed it in a plastic bag.

Jennifer, I dont know what type of cancer killed dad or my grand dad, my brother died from from multi myeloma from agent orange.

I go tomorrow for another PSA test. I had surgery over 12 years ago and cancer returned. The Dr just keeps an eye on it. Because of other health conditions surgery is not advised at this time, maybe some other treatment is in my future, maybe not. I just take it a day at a time, and do what I can. I still feel pretty good, but cant do much.

I've been fortunate to survive to the age of 70 and I did not do that by taking a lot of un-necessary risks. And I didn't get this far to be taken out now by a teenager texting and driving.

I rejected buying cycling " jerseys " . I did not see myself a cyclist, I was just an old guy burning calories and would just wear a T-Shirt. But I started looking for clothing that was bright colored so I would be better seen, like yellow chartreuse, and there were plenty of cycling jerseys in that color. They also have some handy pockets and don't flap in the wind creating drag. And I put a bright " blinkie " light on the back of my bike. Its a powerful light, just a small version of what's on police cars. I also put a rear view mirror on my bike helmet, so I can monitor what's happening behind me.

Even on quiet residential streets, I still don't take many chances.

And I also wear a helmet. My 14 yo self would die laughing at the 70 yo version for wearing a helmet on a bicycle. But I'm not as agile and nimble as that 14 yo version. I'm also more brittle. And if I crash that bike I will need all the help I can get.

Houzz really messed up for me. It didn't show this week's thread. I figured there had to be one, but I couldn't get to it. I couldn't get to it at all on the Mac laptop. . . I kept getting error messages. I finally got to it here on the big PC. GRRR. But I've been busy anyway, so it was okay. Ladies, I have the solution for you on the shoes with dresses nonsense. Don't wear dresses. I have, maybe half a dozen times in the past 22 years. But not for 5-6 years now.

Jennifer, I have the no nails thing, too, and have always been very self conscious. Now, despite the fact that I had them "permanently removed," they have grown back--but deformed. So I don't wear open toed shoes and have gotten over caring about wearing them.

I've been keeping so busy weeding. . . Sunday organized leftover tomatoes and peppers and met people for delivering them on Monday. I'm working at my "typing job," so that helps keep me busy. Different neighbors have been over going through the yard to pick out plants I'm willing to share. . . and so I've dealt with more people in the past 3 days than I usually do in 3 months.

Madge wanted me to post a picture of this yellow peony and see if you knew the scientific name of it. People are asking her and she cant remember. Thank you, Larry

Beautiful peony Larry

Thanks, Kim. Madge loves her peonies.

I hauled more compost to the wildlife garden and planted another 35 or 40 hills of watermelons. We may not get anything to produce, but we are sure sticking a lot of plants in the dirt.

HJ, the milkweed are growing wild out in the field. I can try to get you some seeds, or if you'd like a plant I'll try digging one. How sturdy are they to moving? As for the soapwort, I think they're fairly easy to move. At least, the one I had at the other house survived my manhandling. You could try and if it doesn't make it I believe I have a bunch of seeds I can give you. The thing makes tons of seeds.

My biggest issue with shoes is I hate wearing them. My toes were twisted up when I was little & the doctor told my parents to make me go barefoot to straighten them. So now as an adult I have difficulty keeping them on.

Jen, is this it?! if so, we have some. Just noticed it this morning

Looks similar.

It was nice working outside tonight. It's hot but it wasn't horrible. It's already time to water some things again. Seems like we just had too much rain.

I planted a couple of the things I got at the fest on Saturday. A milkweed and an annual that is supposed to reseed. The thing about Lia's is they don't come with tags. I need to take a sharpie when I purchase from them. I also need to drop off my extra little seedling cups. I believe they gladly reuse people's putting cups, trays, etc.

I still have a lot more of that sort of thing to plant. Including herbs from you friends.

Nancy, I think you and I have the same issue. I had my toenails permanently removed as well. BUT, there's that weird growth stuff. I have some things I'm going to try because I really want to wear (with confidence) open toe shoes.

I still care.

There's so much goodness in May. Even if it's a hot May.

This has been the shortest day of the year. I got up at 7:00, by 8:30 it was dark enough for the outside lights to come on, almost an hour and half later they are still on. I must have slept through the day, I told Madge a few minutes ago that I was going back to bed.

I hope we get a light rain out of this to water our plants in. I have planted about 60 sweet potatoes, and about 80 hills of watermelon. Neighbor says he has planted over 200 hills of squash and pumpkins, we still have over 100 more sweet potatoes, then start on okra and peas.

I also still have some "clean-up" plants to plant or give away. While at the Dr. yesterday, he said he would take some plants, I will deliver to him this Saturday, it is so nice to have a Dr. for a friend, he really does take good care of me.

I have a funny story (funny to me). I went down to neighbors patch yesterday , (saw him out planting ) to see when more of his ground would be ready to bust up for peas and okra. I ask neighbor what kind of stuff he was going to plant, he told me the "GOOD" stuff he gets from me. The GOOD stuff he gets from me has come from George and Ron, I thought that they might like to know that some of their seeds are still going strong in south Sebastian county. I have to agree, the stuff from Ron and George is like a Timex watch, " It takes a lickin and keeps on tickin".

This is ridiculous ............ only good thing from this, is tornados don't like hot weather

It has been a little crazy here also.

I did not know how crazy I was yesterday, until this morning. I must have come home from the Dr. and started to change into my work clothes, and just stretched out on the bed, just partly under the bed spread. My phone is set to ring at 7:30 AM and PM to remind me to take medication, it rang at 7:30 PM, and because I was in bed I thought it was morning. ( I never go to bed in the day time ). Because I had been working in 94 degree heat trying to get the wildlife garden going, and was exhausted, Madge was letting me rest. I must try to stay out of the heat, my body just cant take it anymore.

I cant say anything about my garden because I have not been out of the house today, but I need to go check to see if anything needs watering.

My bermuda lawn has kicked into gear like its June. Bermuda really likes these higher temps.

I had to vacuum a spill in the truck yesterday while out and about. It felt like full on summer. Was dressed for work and was sweatin' to the oldies out there. Wonder how our cool season stuff will do with this? It was already a late planting for that stuff this year.

My min/max shows 94 degrees, and I need to do a little outside work. There is just not enough time early and late for me to get the things done that I want to do, maybe I just work too slow.

I will go to wildlife garden to check things out. I will haul a couple of scoops of compost over there and may drive a few Tee post for an electric fence. I also need to brush hog and plant some flower seeds. I guess I need to do a lot more than that, if the ground is dry enough I need to run the field cultivator through it a few times and plant okra and peas.

Hwy20 my cool season stuff is tasting a little sharp.

You must have really needed the rest, Larry!

hwy20gardener, do you have a name that we can use other than your screen name. If not, it's totally okay. I was just wondering. Maybe Hwy?

I pulled our spinach earlier in the week after looking at the forecast. I'll do the same with the lettuce pretty soon--maybe tomorrow. Maybe tonight. Some of the kale in some of the beds have been attacked by aphids. The hinged hoop for instance. The ladybug larvae is also there in large amounts. And dozens in the pupal stage. I accidentally brought one of those in this morning that was attached to my lettuce. I carried the leaf back outside and thoroughly washed my lettuce before making my lunch salad to bring to work.

Cabbage is starting to get heads. Waiting on the broccoli....

Got radishes in late and carrots are being pokey but they're growing.

I am concerned about fruit set and tomatoes. I mean....maybe it will stay in the upper 80's to mid 90's for awhile before leaping to the triple digits. Who knows.

Although, after reading George's FB post on the Heidi, it seems we'll at least have those if it gets really, really hot. Twenty-six of them.

After work, I will work more on the area behind the shop. If all goes as planned. Tom wants to mow, so I'll need to keep a close eye on the things I don't want him to mow. Really, I don't want any of the areas away from the house mowed, but I don't think I can hold him off much longer. I do hope he'll watch out for the Indian Paintbrush and a couple of other things including a pecan tree that's coming up in a convenient location that I would like to keep.

Of course with the turnpike....

Everyone stay hydrated! Drink that water!

Jennifer, I try to keep stakes made from 1 x 6 treated fence boards, ripped to 1" x 24" for Madge and me to use to mark things not to be cut or to place at the end of rows in the garden, or areas at the flower beds that we don't want the water hose rub as we pull it around. I also use 1/2" rebar for that also, but I cut it to 30" lgth. because that is the length i use to extent my tee post.

Hey Hazel, the name is Josh. I went out a while ago to plant the last of the eggplant and a sungold tom. Yep, its still hot and windy. The wind over the last week took out a couple young squash plants and several cucumber plants. The top layer of soil is already dried after the rains, but still moist around a half inch or so.

Slow, I need to cut some buttercrunch heads, but i'm expecting a little bitterness like you've found.

Y’all are busy I can’t keep up. I planted seeds for okra cucumbers squash beets lettuce carrots radish beans and most everything was up in 3 days!!! I have never had okra sprout in less than a week to ten days. Even when I soak them.

Kim, gotta be careful with those okra seeds, they will almost sprout in your hand as hot as it is.

I did not get much done today. I hauled a couple of loads of compost to the wildlife garden, and brush hogged around all the smaller patches over there. I also watered the south garden.

The brush hogging was sure sloppy. I used one of the larger tractors, its a gear drive and harder to use, 3 of my 4 tractors are gear drive. My little Kubota is a hydrostatic, it is much easier to use, its about 1/3 the weight and 1/3 the horse power as my 2 larger tractors, but it the one I go to most of the time because of ease of operation, and easier to get on and off of.

Tomorrow I hope to plant more sweet potatoes, okra, and maybe some peas and beans. I may help the neighbor plant cucumbers, he is still working on squash and pumpkins. He said that he had enough plants for 50 hills each of 4 or 5 different kinds. I dont know where we are going to put all this stuff he is coming up with.

I am just going to let him go and plant what ever he wants, I cant keep up with him. The Dr. office called again today warning about my test, and sending out more medication. Getting old is not as much fun as I thought it would be, but it sure comes on fast.

Larry, and everyone really, there are products for replacing electrolytes after working in the heat. Gatorade is best known. I like Body Armor which doesn't have as much sugar. There are also "wicking" shirts. They help the sweat evaporate so you stay cooler. I noticed Ron's been wearing his for yard work. Wear a hat to shade your head. I have umbrellas I like to work under, but not in this wind.

Welcome, Josh.

The sunny days I've been inside, because Ron's been mowing. I'm allergic to grass, so I don't like to be outside when he stirs it all up.

My Facebook memory for today was eating the first ripe tomato of 2016! My plants aren't in the ground yet. I'm not gonna see tomatoes till September. 😩

You all have a good weekend.

I have two tomatoes in the ground. I am going to have to sow Porters for a fall crop. I never even got close to those seeds. I use trace minerals for my electrolytes.

https://www.almanac.com/what-plant-victory-garden

Thou shalt.

Rick

Amy, my daughter and grand daughter often buys me hats, wicking shirts sun screen, and gives a ton of advice, I guess I know where the get their hardheadness.

I fixed a nice place to plant flower seeds today, also busted up new ground for more crops. We also worked laying out garden hosed and setting up sprinklers, still alot to do.

Neighbor's tractor and mow are broken, so I may get a little behind. I will take one of my tractors and hook to his disc, then use another tractor that has a brush hog hooked to it to try to keep up with his mowing. This time of the year you never know how soon you can something repaired.

I took a couple of cups of flower seed with me this afternoon to plant in the wildlife garden, but the time I spent trying to help neighbor pushed the flower seeds back til tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon Madge and I are going to my Dr's house and take some gardening plants.

Rick worried about the rain.

I am worried about NOT getting rain.

It's always about the rain. I'm definitely a person who worries more about drought. Not that I love flooding rain.

I do wish we had got some today/tonight.

Amy, we have somewhere between 60 and 70 tomatoes planted out here, but only the Sungold have fruit. We'll see how this plays out.

I had to put the overflow of tomatoes into the "behind-the-shop garden". Got some of them caged and mulched tonight. I really want for this to be wildflowers and such. Planted some of that as well. Milkweed and other things.

I've just decided that even if we're on the list for eminent domain, it will be awhile before that happens and the pollinators need these things NOW too.

There's sketchy things involving commercial developers, politics and the OTA right now.

Note to self (again), don't start so many tomatoes next year.

Even those sickly ones are doing great now that they're in the ground.

It's funny, because the ones that were NOT sickly are struggling the most. Probably because they were so big and more easily damaged by the wind. And we have had wind. Lots of wind. They're mostly doing okay, though.

The tomatillos are hurting a bit more.

Really, though, everything looks pretty good.

The Survivalist Garden is beautiful right now. Rick has done a good job keeping it hoed and taken care of.

Maybe the critters will leave it alone enough for it to produce well.

My gardens are not so easy. They're not straight rows. They're more complicated. I like that, though. It's interesting, but always a work in progress. But everything in those gardens look pretty good too. Onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, cukes, turnips, tomatoes, herbs, kale, eggplant, peppers, and other things too.

Rambling.

We got a small rain last night, just about perfect for what we needed. We needed the seeds watered in that we had planted, but not too wet to get in the garden.

Most of the Charleston Gray watermelon seeds I planted on the 9th are already up, I did not see and of the Crimson sweet I planted on the 10th.

I planted about a cup of zinnia seeds, and a cup of sunflower seeds. I wish I had taken more sunflower seeds with me. I had pulled the cultivator over the beds to create grooves to plant in a day of two ago. Today I just tossed the seeds and came back over them with the tiller running about 3/4" deep. The area I planted the flowers was very muddy, so the seeds are covered with mud balls, but I slanted enough seeds that I should have a pretty bed even if I only get 50% germination.

I hope my north garden drys enough today, and I can get enough time to plant peas and okra, but I have got to plant more sweet potatoes before the okra and peas, the sweet potatoes are getting root bound.

The black gold garden soil I won in that contest : ( is terrible. I planted over a month ago and nothing has grown.

I am going to pull everything since they are mostly brassicas and probably don’t stand a chance now. I will amend with new soil and plant pinkeye peas and flowers.

Kim, I am sorry about the Black Gold. I dont remember ever using it, and your remarks don't. make me want to try it

My spinach that I was going let go to seed looked terrible, so chopped it down with a hoe, something had eaten all the roots off of it. I have a lot of problems with underground critters, as well as above the ground critters. I am about to the point of using something that I really dont want to use.

I am a wimp, it is only 90 degrees, but it feels like a 100. I came it to cool off and I might just cool for a long time.

I am going to take a shower and take some plants to my DR., then go plant more stuff in the wildlife garden.

Oh no, Kim! That is too bad! What is the deal with potting mixes this year?!

Honestly, many of my plants were "off". Y'all saw them at the SF, but they were at least growing. And they're doing great now that they're in the garden. I hope the ones that Andria took for the community garden are doing great too.

Our PEPH are popping up. Saw it this morning. I can't remember exactly the day Rick planted them, but it wasn't very long ago at all. They should pop up quickly for you, Kim. They are aphid magnets here, but we still manage to get a harvest. At some point I hope to have enough ladybugs and friends around to take care of the aphids. I do have lots and lots of ladybugs, but apparently not enough.

Saw them on the broccoli last night, sprayed them off and squished them. Didn't see any more this morning. The broccoli is almost done. The little heads are getting bigger.

Hi Josh. My name is really Jennifer (I wish it was Hazel) and some here call me HJ.

Larry, I so wish we had got a little rain. Looks like we have a couple of chances at the end of the 9 day.

lol @ Rick's snapchat pic.

Where is everyone? Gardening?

I got out early to do some watering in the hoop house and Charlotte's Garden. Also, worked on the area behind the shop. Got a bit more crabgrass and weeds dug out, cardboard put down and woodchips. A handy panel put up with Tom's help. It will trellis the 3 overflow Heidi tomatoes in that area. A cage on another tomato.

As I was working in that area (behind the shop), one of the roosters alerted, so I glanced behind me and a skunk ran along the chicken yard fence past me. I froze, not knowing what to do. The shop was opened at both ends. I was so scared it went in there. I walked around the opposite end of the shop and thought I saw its bushy tail, went to tell Tom. He came out a few minutes later and looked around in the shop, but it wasn't in there. Thank goodness.

It was moving pretty quickly as it ran past me.

Other than that, planted a couple of flowers in the pots on the front porch. Tom is working on the water softener. And just did little things around here. I haven't had a day off since last Saturday so things were piling up.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day.

I mowed I moved pots I mowed again. I caught 6 bags full of grass I use for mulch. I am trying to expand my area without taking over the neighbors lol. I am going to like this when it’s done.

Well, Kim, I bet I know who is sore today. I did not get much done yesterday, and may not today. I do plan on setting out a row of tomatoes in the wildlife garden, and tilling a good size spot on neighbors. The tilling and plowing is something I do pretty well at, planting, not so much, too much walk and squatting.

If everyone does not know where their water hose is, you better start looking, I expect that we are going to start using them often. I hope to get set up to haul water from my artesian well, not that I want to, but because I want to be ready if something happens that causes me to not have our normal water supply. I dont want to have a good food supply growing and then lose a water supply for it. I have talked it over with neighbor and have backup plans for his place and mine. If times get hard we will worry about our family's first. I hope that this is all unnecessary planning.

Larry I am a little sore today.