May week 3 TOO hot

last year

Ok, I'll take a turn.
I haven't got much garden related to talk about. Got my sweet potato slips from George, but work to be done getting their home ready.
Ron dug a bunch of stuff out of my native garden. I hope the milk weed survives. I have 3 rudbeckia in there, anyway. I think my liatris died. He planted a basil and a rosemary in that bed. I should make him dig up the basil and put it out front.
Did I tell you the witch hazel made it through the winter?
Have a good week.

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Kim Reiss

last year

Seed to baby oak

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HU-422368488
last year
Is that a greenhouse I see at the back in that 1st pic ?

Rick
hazelinok
last year
HI Friends. Just checking in. Amy, thanks for starting the thread.

I made it through my very busy Sunday. And this week should be the last busy work week for awhile.

We did gardening tonight. See my facebook.

Jen and Lynn, I have cuke sprouts coming up way too close to each other. Need to deal with that, but not today.

Aphids are a pain. Just have to say that. Hate those suckers.

Enjoyed the temps today and am hoping for rain tonight.

That is all.
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Carol, I knew that if you were home, you'd be watching it. I watched it too. Early on, I thought it would pass to our southwest, but then it became apparent it wouldn't. So, I ran outside and dragged about 15 containers with plants (mostly peppers and tomatoes but also a few flowers and herbs) up underneath the patio cover. There were some I couldn't move because they were too heavy. Then I just made sure the pets all were inside and that the windows on the sunporch were closed. After that, all we could do was wait it out. The brunt of the storm hit about 2 minutes after I went inside. I was watching the radar like a possessed woman. One cell, which at one point had a tornado in it, was moving towards Granbury, and my cousin's family is south of Granbury, so I was watching it. Another severe thunderstorm was moving right straight at my mom's and brother's homes in Tarrant County, so I was watching it. Tim was on the way to work, so I was watching for storm development along his route, and then I was watching the storm that was headed for us. We got 6/10ths of an inch in the gauge, but a lot of the time the wind was blowing the rain sideways, so we may have had more than what made it into the rain gauge. Based on the large puddles, we might have had up to an inch. A storm spotter reported a tornado in the air near Thackerville, but no one else saw it and no one could see it on radar, etc. so most of us discounted the report as erroneous. There were tons of trees, tree limbs and power lines down in and around Thackerville so that community did take a real beating. Some power poles snapped in half. I'm inclined to think it was straight-line wind damage, and not the supposed tornado. After the main storm had passed, and all the cops and firefighters were out dealing with the damage, and the electric co-op guys were working to restore power, we started getting very, very strong outflow boundary type winds blowing back at us. Those winds did additional damage, especially in Marietta, which wasn't hit as hard by the earlier winds as the Thackerville area was. I think we sustained less damage than either of them since we're right in the middle. We only lost power because of trees in the Thackerville area that came down on poles/power lines. In our neighborhood, overall there was little damage. Even the pecan tree limbs that came down were dead wood with no foliage. The garden looks lovely after the rain storm. I think the moisture helped a lot since we'd gotten so very dry. I bet we have killer humidity today though. It seems like a good day to stay inside during the heat of the day. I am really concerned about how hot it will get, in terms of what the heat will do to the cool-season plants. Oh, and you know how sugar snap peas are in their growth habit--more leaners than twiners, so a lot of them were lying flat on the ground this morning when I went out to check the garden at daybreak. I picked up the vines off the ground and loosely zip-tied them to the trellis. For as strong as the winds were, I expected the corn to lodge and for at least some tomato plants/cages to be on the ground, but neither thing happened, so we were really lucky.
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Week 3, May 2017 General Garden Talk,
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Comments (90)
I'm so far behind I'll never catch up but I did read everything and I'm keeping my response minimal since it is time to start this week's new thread. Amy, Time off from a garden can be good. We all work too hard at this time of the year. Hazel, The best way to dig is with a special potato fork that has rounded edges on the prongs so they don't stab the potatoes, but I'm too cheap to spend money on a tool I'd only use a handful of days per year, so I used a transplanting spade with a rounded edge. Start further out than you have been and proceed slowly and with patience in order to avoid cutting into potatoes. Just use the cut ones first as sometimes they do not scar over and heal (though sometimes they do) and the ones that don't scar over will not store for long. A tomato knife is essential for someone who grows and processes as many as I do, and I did find one yesterday. I had to buy an entire cutlery set to get it, but it was an inexpensive set so I didn't mind. I wanted that tomato knife. I am going to go online one day and order a couple more. It is just I have tomatoes piling up everywhere now and need to be able to quickly cut them and use them and the tomato knife makes it easier. Melissa, Don't worry about being behind. Some years are just that way. We all have to work with whatever weather conditions we get. I am so sorry about your niece's injuries and will keep her in my thoughts and prayers. What a horrible way for her summer to start. I saw the story on the news and was horrified at the thought of those kids being in that bounce house when that happened. Jerry, That is an amazing corn story. Sometimes plants can be so resilient and I think often that many gardeners are too quick to write them off and either yank them out or plow them under instead of letting them recover on their own. Nancy, In your case, because of all the rain you have received, it is a good thing that the tomatoes are not closer to harvest. If they were, the excess moisture likely would ruin the flavor. Flavor is best if they are kept pretty dry as they approach harvest. So, for me, as much as I lament the lack of rainfall down here, it isn't really a bad thing for the tomatoes as it means their flavor compounds won't be watered down and they won't be suffering from cracking and splitting either. The first time I grew Mexican sunflowers, I wasn't prepared for how big they'd get. I space them much better nowadays so they don't crowd out everything else. Our dear, sweet Mary normally grows a ton of veggies and cans all summer long, both of which are a huge amount of work, of course. She is trying to take off this season in order to recover from what I'd describe as a major cardiac event so hasn't been posting here much. I was so happy to hear from her the other day and to know she is going to have a few plants. I think plants can be great therapy as someone recovers from a medical issue, as long as you have the self-discipline not to overwork yourself while tending those plants. Mary, if you read this, I keep you in my thoughts and prayers and hope you make a full recovery so that next summer you can be back to your usual growing and canning. Amy, It is odd that cabbage refuses to cooperate with you. It is about the easiest thing I grow. I just plant them and forget about them, which is easy to do if you grow your brassicas under netting to exclude the cabbage worms and such, which I do. When they're ready, I harvest. I do plant cabbages with short DTMS in the 60s-low 70s so that they finish up fairly early here. That's more because I want to put a sucession crop in their place before the weather gets too hot than anything else. When I've grown varieties with longer DTMs, they've done fine too and I've almost never had a head of cabbage try to bolt. Rebecca, I'd just cut off all the damaged leaves and let the Brandy Boy put out new growth. It likely would be fine. Nancy, Cucumbers planted late will do fine. I planted my pickling cukes late on purpose (just last week I think, or at the end of the week before), except for 2 early plants I planted in late March, so that I could spread out the canning load. The cucumber plants from the seeds I just sowed will not be producing a harvest until I'm through canning tomatoes, which was my goal. Having too many things that need to be canned all at once can be a real problem, so I try to control the canning workload by using planting dates to spread out the harvest. You even can get a good cucumber harvest from cucumbers planted in July down here, and I expect it is the same up there. My honest opinion is that if you want more sun, get your sweet husband to cut down that tree now. As time goes on, the shade situation just worsens. I speak from experience. Now that you two both are enjoying gardening so much, it will be important to maintain sunny areas for your veggies, fruits and sun-loving flowers. There is a place in each landscape for both sun and shade, and too much shade (though shade is highly desirable in our hot summers) is not a good thing. Okay, it is Monday moring and I'm headed off to start this workweek's new weekly garden talk thread. Dawn
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May 2018, Week 3, The Heat Is On
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Comments (95)
Kim, The tomato plants are declining already? I'm not horribly surprised because your location is so much like mine, but probably hotter and drier, neither of which is good. And then I kept reading and saw your next post. When one door (or garden gate) closes, God opens another one. I know you will end up where you're meant to be at this stage in your life's journey, but I still am sorry you're going through this. Megan, You've certainly got a lot going on, but I know you can handle it all. I will keep your friend in my thoughts and prayers. Unexpected deaths can rock a family's world, and I do not think you were being insensitive---your family is affected by this loss as well. It is hard when established routines fall apart and you must instantly regroup and form a new routine. I am LOLing at your crazy voice. I have one as well and use it so seldom that it freaks out my family. That crazy voice is power, woman, pure power. If it is any consolation, Tim had iliotibial band issues when he was running marathons, and after he cut back drastically on his mileage and rested his knee quite a bit the IT band issues went away. Your Indian blanket might be stretching to get more light, but I've noticed the ones in our front pasture (from a seed mix from Wildseed Farms that I used to overseed the pasture a few years back) are stretching and getting tall too and they do not have a shade issue. I suspect it is the heat making them act that way, but that is based only on intuition...and, also, I guess, on observation and comparing those observations in any given year to plant behavior that occurred that year. Hailey, I'm sorry about the tomato plant. Are the ants actually doing anything? Or, are they just around? Usually ants (except for fire ants) are beneficial in a garden, and even serve as pollinators in some cases, so I leave the ants alone. Of course, sometimes they farm aphids, but I've found that knocking the aphids off the plants with a sharp stream of water every day for a few days takes care of the aphid problem and then the ants that were farming them go find something or someone else. Jennifer, Your wish is my command..... Nancy, Keep whatever plants give you the most joy and move the others. This year I'm mostly growing for joy, not high yield. When there is in internal struggle within me over/between planting what I want to plant (mostly flowers) and worrying about where to put the veggies I should grow if I plant all those flowers, I tell myself to "choose joy" and I plant the flowers. I'm not really sorry about that either. For so many years, I've grown for yield so I'd have tons of food to put up. This year is not one of those years. I'm trying to make it be exactly the opposite, in fact. Choose joy. For years I mostly avoided the perennial/annual issue by promising myself I'd plant the perennials when the soil finally got to the right point. Well, the soil is there now, but I am finding it hard to give up the masses of annual flowers that bloom over a prolonged period in exchange for perennials that bloom for a shorter period. I think it is possible to have both of them together but it makes more sense to go heavier with perennials. I just cannot give up my favorite annuals., though I do add a few more perennials each year. Having said that I cannot give up all the annuals, I am always so stunned by how quickly perennials grow and start blooming and start looking gorgeous that I know I ought to plant a lot fewer annuals and a lot more perennials. I guess if I just keep planting a handful of perennials each year, then sooner or later, there's going to be a lot less available space for annuals. Bruce, It already is too hot, but maybe you'll catch a break and have some cooler weather next week. Amy, I'm waving back at your and hope the Sisterhood of the Traveling Plants had a great lunch. I spent about 10 minutes in my garden today, mostly just checking on things and watering plants in flats. Everything looks so pitifully hot and dry, but certainly the cool season plants. We are too hot, too dry and too windy for mid-May. Too many spider mites. Too many grasshoppers. Too much of it all. I think it is going to be a rough summer. We spent the day with the granddaughters. I'll spare you a long recitation of what we did, but here are the key words: Fort Worth Zoo, the African Savannah, flamingos, lions, tigers, literally thousands of people, and eating at lunch The Crocodile Cafe where you can watch the crocs underwater/floating on the surface of the water outside your window while you eat. I confess that as we ate, the crocs also were watching us and I was wondering if they'd think we'd be a good lunch....for them. And, my favorite part of the day, hearing the three year old say "Thank you PaPa". It was worth every minute I did not spend in the garden. Oh, and I did take great joy is looking at the zoo landscaping and playing 'name that plant' with myself. A cougar attacked two bicyclists in Washington state and killed one, while injuring the other. No words. For those of you who don't know, I had two cougar encounters near my garden in a drought summer about a decade ago. I'll never get over it, but I try not to overthink it or to worry endlessly about it happening again. Reading this news story brought it all back to me. If I could block this memory from my brain, I would. Hard garden decisions await tomorrow. That's a topic for another day. Dawn
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slowpoke_gardener
last year
Rick, that first picture is on my neighbor's place, and yes that is a greenhouse. He had planned to grow veggies in the winter, I told him that we would have to sit it up a lot differently, and be very picky about what we grew. He found that it gets very, very hot in the summer. I think he may be ready to try a high tunnel now. The greenhouse is nice, but this part of the country is not greenhouse friendly. We will do very well starting and growing plants in spring and fall.

That is a picnic area that you see next to the greenhouse, a good place to pot-up plants when it is too hot in the greenhouse. To the left is his produce store (can't see it in the picture ). He told me this afternoon that he already had a orders for a 100 bushels of purple hulls, and we are just now getting them in the ground. I have to get more ground ready, but we are still having water problems.

I feel so lucky to have the friends that I have, we find ways to help each other. I can't do the work that he does, but I am able to work the land as good as a young man, and I enjoy it.

Lynn, your plants are so big and healthy. Your tomato plants are at least 4 times the size of my plants.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Well the rain ran into the house. We need the rain because most of our soil is a little dry, but we live at the foot of Diffy mountain and parts of our property seems to bleed water. That sounds great, but it is not really very nice if you are trying to work the land. The land is mostly clay, and it is slick and gummy, then when it drys it is as hard as a rock. I think we would be better off if we would amend spots and plant something like blackberries and just weed eat or mow in between them.
HU-422368488
last year
last modified: last year
Larry , What purple hull peas are you growing? Pinkeye purple Hull , Knuckle...?

Rick
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Rick, we have not had a lot of luck finding Knuckle purple hulls, I am out, I do have a few pounds of PEPH. I think neighbor said that he found some Knuckle, if so I will have to grow some seeds for next year.

I just checked my stock and was surprised at the amount of zipper cream I had, wife like them, an I have at least 10 pounds of them. I picked them to eat or save for seed, wife is afraid to eat them, they were placed in the freezer for a month or two, then just stored dry in a zip lock bags.
HU-422368488
last year
I get Knuckle on line :

https://www.rhshumway.com/product/S02088/223

Shumways also got Pinkeye , Zipper Cream , Mississipi Silver , Black Eye.

and they're all in stock in 1/4 pound amounts.

That's where I get all my cowpeas from, if you don't mind ordering online with a credit card.

Rick
Kim Reiss
last year
I never heard of knuckle peas
Kim Reiss
last year
Wow looked them up and there’s a whole bunch more I never heard of. I need to get out more.
hazelinok
last year
Larry, I forgot to comment on the beauty of your property.

Not much time for gardening today. Just watered a few things.

I do have a question about Oakleaf hydrangeas. Can they be planted in shade--all shade.?

Mine is not thriving at all. I think I planted it in 2019. Maybe it's getting too much sun? Maybe it's too dry? Maybe there's something about the soil there. I just don't know.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Rick, thanks, I may have my grand daughter order some Knuckles. All peas have gone up at the Farmers co-op. I have been paying $2.50 a pound, a few weeks ago I noticed that they were priced at $3.99 a pound. Fertilizer and feed have gone up also. And I don't want to even talk about diesel or motor oil.

Most of my watermelons, and some of my flowers have come up, plus 100's of morning glories. I normally burn my trellises, and the ground under them with a weed burned, but didn't last fall, I sure regret it now, I will never get rid of all those morning glories, looks like I will be fine tuning my hoe.

I got an electric fence around the wildlife garden today, neighbor did most of the work.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Jennifer, thanks for the comment, its a work in progress, very few people would understand the work and money I put into my wildlife garden, the land does not even belong to me. That land, and the land that my son has belonged to me at one time. It was passed on to my kids, but they dont take care of it like did. The cedar house you see in some of the pictures belongs to my son and his wife, they have lived there for 25 years, and my son almost never works around the house, but his wife is a hard worker. I use to work on their place, but now I am not allowed on their property.

The wildlife garden belongs to my daughter. I work on the property, hoping to build a nice building site for her girls if they want it. I had some of the land cleared and started planting grass and small grain for the wildlife. When covid hit I started growing people food, thinking that if things got bad I would have food to give away. My neighbor wanted to use the property also, so I give away to any needy people, and he sells to anyone he can, I think he also gives some food away, but with the cost of diesel, fertilizer, water and tractor repair you cant give away a lot or you will be going hungry yourself.

I dont take any money for my input, I am just happy I have help working the land.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
I have come in to rest, so I will bore you with what I have been doing.

I tied up a few tomatoes in the south garden, and been over in the wildlife garden trying to clean the watermelons. It looks like I have 82 hills of melons, 40 Crimson Sweet and, 42 Charleston Gray. My grand daughter should be happy, she mad sure that she got her order in for watermelons early.

It looks like the sun is coming out now, so I will cut my day short. I will go do a little tilling, that is a sit-down job, my kind of work.
HU-422368488
last year
last modified: last year
Well , shame on us. Nobody's talking about their gardening, except Larry.

Larry that's a lot of watermelon , 82 hills . Your neighbor gonna grow them to sell I guess.

I'm still trying to finish out the spring plantings. The SG at Jennifers is pretty much planted out. The east garden at okmulgee isn't finished out yet on account of the spring flooding rains. Happens that way nearly every year . I'm trying to get some okra and cowpeas planted out , and finish putting out some peppers and more tomatoes. Then plant out some winter squash. Well , guess what , more rain over east this weekend to hang me up again

It's going to start getting a little late for things before too long. Then it'll turn off hot and dry all of a sudden like a light switch. Yep , that's the way it usually goes. Long distance gardening is a pain in the butt.

Rick
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Rick, I did plant a lot of watermelon, neighbor said he could sell them, and I had plenty of seeds, but the main reason I planted them is because my grand daughter ask me to.

We have pumpkin, peas, peppers, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes butternut, Arabat, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, roselle and a few other things, but we are a long ways behind

The weather has been crazy, we have some places too wet, some too dry.

Madge had to go to town for meds today, I ask her to check of knuckle peas, and to get me at least a pound, she called Greenwood Farmers Co-op and they had 7 8oz bags, Madge bought 2, and neighbor got 5, but there is more on the way. They are old stock because the price was something like $2.29 a bag.

I have had a very good day. I tilled a large amount of the wildlife garden and a large amount of neighbors garden, neighbor will plant peas tomorrow while I go get a root canal.
HU-422368488
last year
last modified: last year
I got all things cool season out for what it's worth ,but it's getting hot already.

Potatoes and onions are looking pretty fair. spring spinach turned yellow from being too wet. it's lost. The overwintered Swiss Chard is growing up 3 ft tall or more. Got some spring planted chard as well.. Got some carrots , beets and a little purple kolrabi . Got lots of kale and collards .Field corn(yellow dent) and beans are up and coming on. Got some pole beans ( Kenkucky Wonder) planted in one of the corn rows. Onions still look pretty good but need to be weeded out. Got a little cantalope put out in the back corner., waiting on the the ground to get warm and dry enough to put in the okra and some pinkeye peas. and need to put out some winter squash , both in the corn for a 3 sisters and along by itself. I got 100 some tomatoes out and 60 some summer squash, straight neck , crooked neck , a little Zuchanni and planted a few hills of Patty Pan.

Rick
hazelinok
last year
Rick, that is the difference in the O garden and the SG. The okra HERE needs some moisture. It's so very dry. I think they'll pop up once they get some water on them.

I worked on the area behind the shop. Got the last tomato mulched, but need to put a cage on it. I lost daylight before I could finish. The plants back there needed water, so I had to take precious time to water.

I had 2 German Johnsons and a True Black Brandywine left in the hoop house. Got those planted in the second strawberry bed, where all but one of our new strawberry plants died. (The other strawberry bed looks good for first year strawberries.)

It is a weird year for sure. I guess they're all weird years really. What's weird about this year, is the amount of watering I've had to do in the spring. Normally that doesn't happen until June.

It is what it is.
HU-422368488
last year
Too dry over west/central , too wet over east. Welcome to oklahoma. It's an A-hole.

Rick
OklaMoni
last year
Rick said: It's going to start getting a little late for things before too long. Then it'll turn off hot and dry all of a sudden like a light switch. Yep , that's the way it usually goes. Long distance gardening is a pain in the butt.

Rick it's way to dry here to plant much of anything. I will also plant some okra, but need to water the area first. Meanwhile my sweet potatoes are in rhe ground. I am not happy about the drought here.
HU-422368488
last year
last modified: last year
Don't want to plant in the mud either. Then the ground crusts over when it does dry and the seed has a hard time getting up and then rots.

I'd rather plant when its dry and then let a nice 1/2 in rain wet it down . But not a heavy hard pounding 3-6 in to pack the ground down.

Rick
slowpoke_gardener
last year
This has been a "do nothing" day. About the time we got to town the Dr. office called and canceled my appointment, so Madge and I went for breakfast. I am so tired from yesterday, all I have done is water the south garden enough for it to make it through the day.

It looks like I may be having a few okra sprouting, and some of the onions are bolting.

I have 3 Arabat plants and have already killed 2 squash bugs on them and there not even planted yet.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
I bet I am not the only tired person on this forum, had a productive afternoon, The wildlife garden is full ( until I can get more ground ready). The wildlife garden has two very large flower beds, 114 sweet potatoes, about 750' of peas, 60 hills of zucchini, 82 hills of watermelon, about 60 or 70 tomato plants, about 300' of Irish potatoes, and a bunch of other stuff that neighbor planted while I was in the hosp. I have worked so hard on the wildlife garden, and let my home. gardens suffer, but the market stuff is in, so I can focus in may home gardens now.
hazelinok
last year
Rick planted super-hot peppers into buckets tonight.

I continued to pull grass out of the garden behind the shop. It's almost half done. The tomatoes are all caged and trellised back there now. In the future, there won't be tomatoes there. It had to be used for overflow.

There's milkweed and other pollinator plants planted there as well. It's a large area. Cardboard is down and woodchip mulch (in the half that is completed), which is why perennials would be better, right?

Interesting thing is a squash plant that has popped up amongst the onions. It has to be a winter squash with the way it is growing. So far I don't see squash pests on it. We are sure hoping it's a Seminole. Maybe I threw some rotten Seminoles into the compost and a seed germinated?! That would so amazing! But if it's butternut, that would be okay too.

I'm so tired. One more crazy day, then maybe I can get my life together.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Jennifer, have you tried the Arabat squash/pumpkin? I tried them last year and was impresses. I saved seed, but I don't if they have crossed with one of the other pumpkins. They sure are space hogs, I think they spread more than the Seminole, and they have a lot of meat and keep well.
hwy20gardener
last year
I've figured out that my veggie garden is also a wildflower garden. I've felt bad picking out flowers that were in the way, but a week later more flowers pop up. Sometimes where I want them, sometimes where I don't. I try and transplant where I can, but it's been fun identifying things.

Salvia is everywhere, bee balm even more so. I don't remember any acorns in the garden, but i've got oak trying to grow all over (usually it is maple). I'm almost convinced that I don't need to plant anything else, just manage.

Picked some root veggies today and a few bolting onions. Time has flown and I still need to squeeze in some things. Still have cold season stuff out that are doing well, not sure how. Are the green peas going to be okay? They just now started making pods. Cool down coming, they say. Bring it on!
slowpoke_gardener
last year
I dont normally grow green peas, but I tried them this spring, planted much too late. I doubt that they are over a foot tall and not looking well. I am thinking that I might feed the garden a little and see what happens.

I have a few onions bolting also. My onions did not look so great when I planted them and I expected to lose a lot of them, so I planted them pretty thick expecting the loses, which seems to effect the size also.
Marleigh 7a/Okmulgee Co.
last year
Hi all, long time!

I have been checking up here periodically, but my garden is pathetic right now so not much to report. I got everything in the ground just in time for a foot of water to fall on us, so nothing has grown an inch in a month. I have barely managed to get radishes to grow this year, and the peas I planted in March are finally over a foot tall. Greens are all bolting less than an inch high. All of my local gardeners are in the same boat, so who knows what is going on?

Jen—hydrangeas need some sun, just not too much. I tried growing them in full shade to keep them cool, but they just don’t flourish. My mom’s is beautiful and faces north, and at my house they prefer southeast next to the house. 🤷🏻‍♀️

—Marleigh
HU-422368488
last year
last modified: last year
Hi Marleigh'

This was my garden over east there after all the flooding rains:

I got 9 inches of rain that week , 6 inches all in one night.

That's 6 inches of mud there clear to the back corner.( That's after all the standing water drained off).

I was just lucky that the beans there made it up first.

The corn over to the left is looking a little yellowish.

My spring spinach all turned yellow , it's lost.

I finally got it all aired out with a tiller after it dried but the ground was packed down so tight I had a hard time tilling it.

Trying to plant okra and cowpeas in what empty space I got left but the ground is still a little gummy to plant seed in. Hopefully this weekend I can get it in but now they're predicting more rain again. Still got some more tomatoes and peppers to set out too.

Over west/central we're crying for rain. Over east I'm crying for it to hold off till I can finish planting and then not much rain all at once.

Rick
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Marleigh, Rick, I am sorry for the bad luck y'all are having. I have got to count my blessing, I have had more rain than I needed, and am way behind in planting, but it seems as though I have had better weather than y'all, we are watering now, but expecting rain in a few days.

I have been out watering the south garden by hand, we have been watering the wildlife garden and market garden with sprinklers. I am going to load up my water barrel to water some plants that the sprinklers wont reach, I dont walk well enough to be dragging a water hose around, plus, it is hard on the plants that you have to drag the hose over.

I tried planting clover as a living mulch between a row of beets and tomatoes. I dont know what the outcome will be, but so far I am impress enough that I am going go plant a row of Zipper peas and plant clover along the peas. My neighbor says that the clover will suck up all of the water. I have some clover in the pasture and it only does well in the wetter areas. I have always in the past dug the clover out of the garden, so I may be making a big Boo Boo.
Kim Reiss
last year
Rick I am jealous of y’all’s garden spaces. I know someday I will have acres to plant. I just want it now. Mine is looking great right now. I need to get insect netting. Any recommendations. ??
HU-422368488
last year
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08911CNV4/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B08911CNV4&pd_rd_w=qosHN&pf_rd_p=33c4e3fc-b90b-44ce-8b60-9caf530f918e&pd_rd_wg=chhQT&pf_rd_r=9D0FWHSMDCY3F5FTPXND&pd_rd_r=07fe4a47-c1fb-4212-ac5b-46be2f9df721&s=lawn-garden&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNFNXQldWUEoyV0RQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDg0Nzc2M0JVMkJHSTBNREhINSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzYxNDE0SEoyVU1PUURJRVQ4JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsX3RoZW1hdGljJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1
Lynn Dollar
last year
Im pretty happy with my garden .............at the moment
HU-422368488
last year
Your tomatoes are way ahead of mine.

Rick
hwy20gardener
last year
Same here, Rick. My tomatoes are probably half that size at most. Those things are beasts, considering we aren't even to June yet. Nice job, Lynn!
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Lynn, I would be happy with that garden also. My garden is way behind yours, but it is starting to shape up. I have not even started on the north garden yet.

I think we are supposed to get some rain tomorrow so I went out and planted about a 25 foot row of peas. I want to plant another row of sweet potatoes and a row of pepper and tomato mix, that should use up all the space in the south garden.
jlhart76
last year
Ok, inspired by all of Larry's pics, so here's my plot.

At the far end is snap peas, which did lousy, and cucumber just starting to grow. On the left I also put in some luffa. Hoping it'llfill in the arched trellis. The lettuce did pretty well, but it's starting to get bitter. May let it grow just as a mulch or to make more seed. Onions are doing great. Not sure what the white flowers are, but I think it's someform of radish. By that point I was just tossing out seeds, mixed a bunch of radish & leafy greens together & scattered it. Also some carrots mixed in I think. The blue buckets have tomatoes, potatoes, herbs & a tree my sister in law grew at the old place & we brought it along on a whim. Need to figure out what it is so I can pick a spot for it.

Part of the future herb bed but for now it's got zinnia, some herbs, & more tomatoes.

The other herb bed, the tire is filled with zinnia, then surrounded with coneflower (I think). More tomatoes, some yarrow & dill, & other flowers.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Jen, thanks for sharing. You really have a lot of plants. I don't see how you have the time for all the gardening and setting up a new home also. Please keep sharing.
Kim Reiss
last year
Jen it’s really looking good over there
OklaMoni
last year
last modified: last year
I got rain overnight. Figures. Tried to set up my rain barrels, two are leaking, one aced the test, but isn't hooked to the down spout yet. But it rained last night. Not enough to make a difference however.
hazelinok
last year
We got nothing, Moni!

It is chilly, though. Maybe too chilly to water today. Might have to do it, though. Things are going to dry up and blow away otherwise.
Kim Reiss
last year
Thanks Rick. That seems like the best deal for insect netting.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Jennifer, send some of that "chilly " to me. Although it is 85 degrees here, about 9 or 10 degrees lower than it has been, it's still not close to chilly.

I have been working in the south garden. I did nor realize how much I have neglected the south garden, I have been so obsessed with the wildlife garden and neighbor's market garden, I let everything else go to pot. I thought that I had been watering plenty, but some of the ground was very dry and packed. I have everything filled in in the south garden except the row of Covington sweet potatoes I plan on planting, I really dont want to lose my seed stock on them.

I have been trying to clean out the onions, I have almost let the weeds get ahead of me.
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
We got .75" at our house. Dumb dog woke me up at 4:30 and I really didn't get back to sleep. Babysitting the 4 year old today.

Ron got the sweet potatoes planted.

Daughter's dog died Monday. She had a necropsy done. He had a bacterial infection called leptospirosis that he got from drinking rain run off. It effected his lung tissue and caused it to swell with blood. So he suffocated on blood because he couldn' transfer oxygen. The vet said she couldn’t find any healthy lung tissue. This happens very quickly and there probably wouldn’t have been anything they could have done if she had taken him in. When I googled it, it said it comes from water contaminated with the urine of an infected animal. Any place where wildlife can access can be a risk. Just FYI.

Good to see you Marleigh. You and Rick took a beating in that storm.

Have a lovely weekend.
Kim Reiss
last year
This a forecast I would like to see.
hazelinok
last year
Feels like I missed a lot of posts, so going back.

Josh (right?) and Nancy, have both mentioned tiny trees coming up in abundance this year. I am experiencing the same thing! It's not unusual for the tree to the west of the garden to drop it's berries (or whatever they are) and for them to sprout all over the place, but this year it's so much more. I wonder what that is...

What's Mother Nature doing....

I love green peas so much but rarely get much of a harvest. I'll do the sugar or snow peas and I'll get enough to add to salads each day until the aphids over take the plants. The aphids usually kill mine before the heat does.

Hi Marleigh! Good to see your post. Sorry about your garden. That is frustrating. Rick is in Okmulgee today and I'm glad you're not getting rain. Wish we were getting rain here. It would be the perfect day for it. It's chilly and windy and not a great outdoors day.

This hydrangea is an Oakleaf and is supposed to be native and do better with more sun than others. My other hydrangea, an Endless Summer, is like your Moms and faces north. Gets a little sun. Does well as long as I keep it well watered.

Lynn, your garden looks good. Tomatoes are so big already!

Kim, I can't wait till you get your property to grow all the things!

Jen, thanks for the picture update. Looking good!

Larry, it's currently 61 and "feels like" 55 according to my weather app. 60 and sunny is one of my favorites, but this is 60 and cloudy and windy. I still prefer it to too hot.

70 and overcast is another favorite.

Congrats on the rain, Amy.

SO, so sorry about the dog. How tragic and awful. Poor thing. I wonder how common that is. Dogs will drink/eat anything it seems.

I came face-to-face with the skunk this morning. It was walking along the west side of the shop and I came out of the shop and there it was. It wasn't even scared of me. I ran back into the door of the shop and beat on the side of the building, waited a few minutes and went back out. It was gone. It seems to think it's a cat. Makes me nervous though.

We had a bag of sand sitting at the NW corner of the shop. It had sat there for a couple of years and one day there was no bag, just a pile of sand. Thought maybe the bag had broken down and the wind ripped it away. Then, it looked like something tried to dig under the shop at that corner. Tom filled it in, but this morning the digging was obvious again. I wonder if the skunk is trying to dig under the shop.

The loopers have found my broccoli in the hoop house. It's almost finished, though. Just need the looper and aphids to chill out for a few more days.

Trying to decide what I should do today. Water, even though it's cold, and plant a few things.? Maybe take a nap (I also woke up early, Amy) and then go out.

Glad to have the shopping already done today.
Lynn Dollar
last year
last modified: last year
My garden on this day in 2016. I look to be right on schedule, cept I've changed things in 6 years. I'm now trimming the lower branches. And I've got fewer plants per row, I think that's 6 plants per row and now I do 5. I was growing onion and had space for okra back then
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Lynn, it looks like you always have a beautiful garden. I am trying to trim the lower limbs on some of my plants to see if I can have less problems with blight. I was trying a greater spacing till covid, I have now gone back to growing as many plants as I can, hoping that I wont need them.

Jennifer, thanks for the "chili", I have been out watering, thinking a long sleeved shirt would feel good, but it is still 65 degrees.

I hoed around my 82 hills of melons this afternoon. I wish morning glories were good to eat, I have a ton of them.
slowpoke_gardener
last year
Kim, that is something I have always wanted to do. We had a good acorn crop last year and have baby oak coming up everywhere, and I cant name any of them.
Kim Reiss
last year
I only wish I had planted more. So fun to patiently wait wondering if I killed them or not. I will do many more this fall.

May week 3 TOO hot

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