Jennifer, be thankful for your younger friends. My neighbor is about the same age as my oldest son, and we have a great relationship, most of my friends that are my age are not able to get out and do anything, and if they could I am not sure it would be gardening, they have instead moved in with, or, close to their children.

Madge and I went over to the greenhouse this afternoon and picked out some plants for her daughter. Daughter says she cant get the seeds to come up, I think the greatest reason she has no plants is that she now has 4 grand kids under 4 years old and does not have the time to fool with starting seeds, but anyway we have many plants that still need planting, and will love a visit from daughter, she lives about 100 miles away.

I got one row cleaned out today, that will give me room for 7 or 8 tomato plants. I have 4 trellised rows in the south garden. I will try to clean out under 2 more trellised rows tomorrow. We plan on planting more seeds and plants this week, most of the week looks good for gardening.

Great weather this week.

I need to make four tomato cages. I made mine years ago from concrete reinforcement wire. I made a mistake making the 9 " squares " round and they're just not large enough. I need a larger diameter.

I've cannabalized a few cages to increase the size of a few of them from 9 squares to 10 squares or even 11 squares. But I've still got 15 that are 9 square. I need to make four new cages that will allow me to cannabalize four of my current cages.

I don't want an entire new roll of wire, too expensive and its far more than I need. To make four new cages I need 20 foot of wire.

What is a good matierial ? I've looked at cutting up cattle panels, but I could onlky make one cage the size I want, from one 8 foot cattle panel .

This fella makes them from cattle panels, I think this is what I'll probably do. They're $18 each at Tractor Supply. And I've got one now that I'm not using .

Cattle panel tomato cage

I won't have to cut the " spikes " at the bottom, since I anchor with T-Posts. I'm gonna make one this afternoon and see how it goes. It will have four sides, each side 18" wide.

And Tractor Supply in Moore does not have cattle panels in stock, neither does the Mustang store. I ain't drivin to Edmond.

I just went to Tractor to get a couple of 16 foot panels and cut them to get them in my truck. But when I get there, I find they have 8 footers. Their inventory is screwed up, imagine that in this day and age of computer wizardry. But they can join the club, I think most others are screwed up also.

So now I go to work building cages. Here's the guy who wrote that article on YT, but he's working with 16 footers. I have to adapt.

Cattle Panel tomato cage

This fella is doing with 16 footers what I plan to do with 8 footers .

I posted this earlier but lost it somehow.

This was my spring fling over the weekend:

Cabbage ,cauliflower , brocolli ,onions

Cool season greens , onions , collards , kale:

Some of the tomatoes:

The bean patch , shell , green and black beans:

Corn , Dixondale onions , potatoes, overwintered onions and spinach:

Green onions ,cabbage , kale , collards:

Green peas merged into overwintered spinach and fall onions,potatoes ,Dixondale onions.corn , beans:

Another angle of the same:

Onions , corn , beans:

The bean patch again:

Rick

Rick, I am very impressed, and you have a lot of work ahead of you. I don't see how you have the time to do all the stuff you do.

Dang Rick, that's a lot of produce

It runs me ragged for sure.

Next up is putting in the peppers , planting okra , cowpeas , cantalope., sweet potatoes...

I try to do a full complete vegetable garden , it takes a while to get it all planted out.

Even longer when it's gets too wet and then all the little weeds start sprouting up'

That's how I wear out the Mantis.

Rick

This is my 4th try at posting. I finally got the picture up. It is from Howard Garrett on Facebook. I think it isn't tall enough, but 2 4' sections might be. Now I will try a picture of our system.

1x2 poles are screwed to Heavy duty T posts and cattle panel is hung on hooks making to abou 8' high. Zip ties secure everything. Tomatoes are planted in cheap cages with a 1x2 leading up to the cattle panel. We tie the plants to support with twine.

Later in the season.

Rick, that is your east garden? Definitely impressive. How wet is it?

Houzz still doesn't like me posting 😕 4 tries for first pic, 4 or 5 for 2nd and skipped letters in text are frustrating.

Supposed to be more rain coming.

Just over at my brothers tending to his dogs and noticed he'd planted a couple tomato plants in containers. One of them had set fruit, had three tomatoes on it. I got 24 plants out that are larger than these, and no fruit set.

How do the commercial growers get those plants to set fruit so early , all the while, keeping the size of the plant down ? Those with tomatos have to sell well in the garden centers . And there has to be a trick .

Yes Amy , that's the okmulgee garden over east.

It was a little wet when I was there over the weekend but dried pretty quick as soon as the sun came out and I was able to till it all out. I try to keep it tilled up as I plant to keep the weeds from getting a start as long as possible , morning glories and lamb quarter ,rag weed , grass...are awfully bad there if I don't stay on top of it.

Yeah there's more rain coming or worst...Hail ,high winds , tornados.

Rick

I'm sticking with cages for the same reason, already committed to cages. I just made four of these cattle panel cages. Now I have four of the old ones that I can cut and splice into 15 other wire cages, and correct a mistake I made many years ago, and that I've just been living with.

These new ones are 50" tall. My old concrete wire cages were 54" , not a lot of diff.

To store these, I just cut the zip ties and stack them, they won't take up near as much room.

This one is a bit rectangular , I did not get it bent exactly in the center, but that works for me better on my raised rows.

Y'all have been busy. And busy posting. Thanks for sharing all the pictures.

Lynn, that is how I had planned to make cages a few years ago, but never did. Many years ago I tried the round cages, but storage was a problem, I lived in town then. When I moved out in the country I tried round cages again ( I had plenty of places to hide my cages) but if I did not plant the same number of tomatoes each year the bernuda would over take my hidden cages. I just went back to the trellises because I can disassemble then and place the parts in storage racks in the shop, except the T-post, they are too heavy ( but I use this material on other projects also ). I now just leave the trellises and till as close as I can with the rear tine tiller or the tractor.

I have 20 tomatoes planted, and Madge brought out a bunch more plants yesterday. I would just as soon not plant all the plants she starts, she will just order seeds that "sound Wonderful", most I have never heard of. I really should not complain, I love seeing her have an interest in the garden, but some of those plants just don't like Arkansas weather, but a few years ago she started some plants that produced the best tomatoes we have ever had, but I think she forgot to tag them, and we have no idea what they were. I have one tray of plants that just say "Madge" on them. I will make a place in the north garden for my "Madge" tomatoes when it quits raining.

After I checked the greenhouse this morning I carried half a round bale of hay to the south garden to use for mulch, but the rain shut me down, and I came in and flopped down in my recliner to solve the world problems, and went to sleep, just like our leader does. This rain may be the smartest thing that happens today.

Larry, the hardest part of making them is bending them. I put a 2X6 on the bending point, stood on it and pulled up. It was not easy but would be with 2 people.

And as tomato cages go, they're expensive, about $20 each as one 8 foot cattle panel = one cage. I think I'll try to make a few every year to slowly replace my old cages.

Making them like I did, they're 21" across. My 9 square concrete reinforcment wire were 20" across. But there's a big diff between square and round. These have more room for the plant.

This is the time of the season when I've spent a lot of time keeping the plants from growing out of the cages. These larger cages will make that easier and it will be better on the plants. More air flow through the plants.

I also have a storage problem with the old cages. Im moving them around all the time.

Lynn, I can relate to bending the cattle panels, but I cheat, I have channel iron, an 8' piece of train track, and a John Deer tractor with a 6' bucket on it. I use the train track or the channel iron like the bottom of a die, and the cutting edge of the John Deere bucket as the top half of the die. The weight of the tractor makes a very neat, and straight bend in the cattle panel. I buy 16' cattle panels, they are a little cheaper per foot, but harder to haul.

When my better half wants an arched panel, I still use the John Deer, but I leave the cutting edge off the ground about an inch or two and just lift the cattle panel like I am trying to wrap it around the bucket, moving the panel as needed. I have to measure the panel, depending on what radius Madge wants on the top of the arch.

We got about a half an inch of rain at our house. It was just the right amount for us right now.

Work has been busy, so I've been coming home as soon as I can, quickly cooking dinner so it's ready for when the guys want to eat, then feeding all the pets. THEN my nights were free to plant, plant, plant!

The peppers are in. And the cucumber, kajari melon, and pumpkin seeds are in. There's a new pumpkin variety I'm trying along with the Seminole. It's called Thai Kang Kob. It's a C. moschata. Has anyone here tried it?

Thai pumpkin

I was also able to finally plant the way overgrown zinnias and cosmos. Also, some basil plants and other herbs. And a few sunflower seeds of various kinds and seed of a couple of marigolds. One is a creamy white marigold and the other is hard to explain. Each flower on the plant is unique (in the pictures and descriptions).

I ordered a Greenstalk because R & R had a great coupon code. It's doubtful I'll plant it until the fall. But, I'm trying to collect things while they're on sale. I do want to make my backyard a true kitchen garden.

My gardening goals are to plant things--in the right amounts--to have plenty to eat in the way that we eat. AND to have pretty things....and some useful medicinal things too. Sure, it would be fun to have a way overabundance to share with everyone.....but, I've found that a lot of people won't come out to harvest even if it's free. They want you to pick it and clean it for them--make it look like the grocery store or farmer's market-- and then they'll take it. And, time. There's only so many hours in the day and there's not enough time in the day to take care of too much produce. I really shut down around 8:30 pm....and just want to sit.

Like now.

But, I feel like it's been a great week of planting!

I hope everyone has had a great week too.

Jennifer, I like your comment about how people wont come out and harvest. I feel the same way, I do give a lot away, but I try to give to people that are not able to grow things for them selves. I understand how younger people have better things to do, and may choose to do other things with their lives, but they also need to understand that you reap what you sow.

I may be a little down because my kids and grand kids don't come around and play in the dirt with me like I would like for them to do, but I REALLY do understand how life gets so busy that you just cant get around to do everything that others expect of you. I can remember going through the same thing.

I'm going to try to post.

Larry, when i grew pole beans on the trellis with tomatoes we had to use one of Ron's tools. It's a 3' tall scaffold. I made him pick.

Lynn, Dawn used to say that stress made tomatoes produce. She said reproduction gets a priority when a plant senses it might die. I think tomatoes grown in a pot are stressed. I'm sure commercial growers have some chemical to hurry them up. Is it potassium or phosphorus that promotes fruiting? I think the latter.

Y'all, my tomatoes are still in solo cups. I've lost most of my peppers.

that's all i can stand of this posting .

Jennifer, learned to cheat with pole beans and okra, what I cant reach I leave for seed. Okra gets pushed out of the row with the tractor. I drop the bucket low at the end of the okra row and push the complete row out to the edge of the garden, then sit on a low stool and cut the pods off to save for next years crop, I have many times the amount of seeds that I need for the next year, but I can always give my extra seed to neighbor. Neighbor plants okra ( and many other seeds ) the strangest way I have ever seen, by plant them so thick, many no more than an inch apart. Neighbor says he does this and lets only the strong survive, but I don't ever see him thinning okra, but he gets a good crop, but I get a good crop on about 5 to 10 percent of that many seeds, and still have to do a little thinning, or moving plant.

I am trying to cut down on high maintenance plants. I am trying to lean more toward sweet potatoes, pumpkins/winter squash, okra and peppers. I expect that I will always try growing tomatoes. I also like winter greens. Neighbor had some curly kale come up in his potato patch. The kale was planted last fall when it was very dry and never came up ( we were not allowed to water last summer and fall). I don't ever remember eating curly kale, but it was wonderful, and I plan on having seeds for next fall.

I need to inventory my seed supply and make sure I have stock for next fall and spring.

Between Mrs Dollar's family and her taking tomatoes to the office, we have no trouble moving what we can't eat or can and is going to spoil.

It also makes her a hit in the office. Her popularity rises in June / July.

I have had troubles growing more peppers than she can deal with. And I quit growing okra because of her aversion to fried foods.

NWS says next week above normal temps, high 80's , even a couple of 90+ . I hope this is not gonna be a repeat of last year.

NWS Seven Day

Amy, they have some kind of trick. They have to keep the plants small yet have fruit. I've got plants twice the size of my brothers and no fruit set yet, that I can see.

Glad you guys are making hay with the gardens. I've still got my work cut out with trying to overcome septic-gate and get the yard somewhat back to normal. Finally rained some, so I got to see some settling finally. Maybe I can finish it off now with another load of topsoil.

On top of that, we had the gravel drive to the shop replaced with concrete, so lots of activity around the house lately.

Anybody ever had plants get sucked into the ground below? I've had to replace a couple of tomatoes that just sunk into the ground. Moles might be tearing it up underneath. Those things tunnel all over around here.

Not sure how we've kept up, but we got a brocolli head harvested the other day. Several more heads and side shoots are getting ready. Interesting experiment.

Hwy20, I have watched a tomato plant sink into the ground. We have more than our fair share of gophers, and for some reason they seem to like tomato plants ( along with many other plants ). I was planting tomatoes a few days ago, using post hole diggers. I would dig my holes about 2.5 to 3 feet apart, then come back and drop the plant, still in the solo cup near the hole. I noticed something digging into the side of one of the holes, I knew it was a gopher, I battle them every year. I went into the house and got my .357, and six hollow point shells, I then parked myself on a low stool and waited for the gopher to return. It was only a few minutes till dirt was being pushed out into my planting hole again, when I saw the nose I shot. I don't know if I hit the gopher or not, I did not want to stick my hand down into what might have been a nasty mess, but I have not seen any gopher damage yet.

I have some pretty good box traps for gophers, the traps are made in Henryetta OK. It is a lot of work trapping gophers, but I don't like using poison.

Amy, Jennifer, I am sorry I answered Amy's post, addressing it to Jennifer. I have to blow the print up to see it, plus I don't have my glasses on.

My plant starting is not working out too well this year, first I had to move all my plant starting material out of our center bedroom to make room for company for a week, then Madge takes over my light shelves, now Madge, my neighbor, and I are giving away plants, and I have no idea what we have left. At the beauty shop this morning 2 ladies wanted 4 sweet potato plants each. Yesterday neighbor said that another neighbor had ask for 30+ sweet potatoes, and a bunch of tomatoes. This old man is going in the hole fast, but he is having a lot of fun.

The first of May I started planting our tomatoes. We say each year that 12 plants will be plenty of tomatoes. I hate to not plant some plants that Madge started, all though she does not know what they are. I came in a couple of days ago and told Madge that I have 20 tomatoes plants planted, Madge tells me that she has placed more plants out on the deck, I go around counting plants, would you believe that I still have 30 tomato plants to find a home for? Madge tells me that we are getting too old to do this anymore, and she is starting more plants than ever.

Madge was not happy when I built that old junky light shelf and placed it in the house, now we fight over it.

Wow. It got hot really quickly. It's not my favorite. My favorite it somewhere between 65 and 75 depending on wind and sun/shade.

But, after the rain and now, the sun, the beans are really popping up in the SG. I think the first cuke might have popped up too. Things are good. Some things are bad, but most are good.

Lynn, yes, tomatoes are easier to share for sure. Especially if you pick and deliver them. Honestly, I can get rid of a lot of things if I harvest, clean, and deliver....for free! But, this isn't the year for me to do that for folks. I do enjoy sharing, but no time right now.

I am keeping up with eggs, but even then, I'm not leaping through hoops for people. If it's not easy to get eggs to someone, I'll just put them in our shop refrigerator, and we'll eat them. I only charge $3 for a dozen, which is pretty cheap.

They'll be other years for benevolence.

Tom works tomorrow so I'm going to pick something up from Moni in the morning and deliver a valerian to my young gardening friend. I found an extra one in the hoop house. She is the one who is similar to me that I mentioned last week.

Larry, there's nothing wrong with younger friends at all. In my situation (and hers) she doesn't have time to do gardening work for and with me. She has little kids and her own garden to care for. And a job. Although, I'm very excited for her because she just resigned from her job. She is a teacher. She's going to be able to stay home--homeschool and care for home things.

Sometimes it would be nice to have someone in a similar life stage, who also likes the things that I enjoy, to talk to. More relatable.

But...it's all good.

Tomorrow will be a day to work on flowerpots. I'll pick up a few annuals at the nursery to pop into some pots. Most of the front porch ones are done, but the half whiskey barrels on the shop porch need help. And about a dozen more pots. I have a few vincas that I started from seed and the sweet potato vines from Rick. But it's not enough to fill in all of those.

Next week, at the OKC Flower and Garden Fest, I'll get more natives and herbs for those beds, but I like things like vincas for the pots.

My neighbor (and Jen's) dug up 6 wild violets for me. I planted them in some shadier areas a couple of days ago and they made it through the hot day. The relocated coneflowers looked a little sad, though. They should pull through.

I'm at that rambling stage of a long post, so I'll shut it down now.

I got a long day lined up for tomorrow,.

Putting in peppers and planting out okra and cowpeas.

And some pole beans in the corn rows.

And some cantalope , winter squash .... maybe some more summer squash.

And the last of the tomatoes...

Trying to finish the spring planting....before it gets too wet again.

And it's hot enough to fire up storms.

Oh my.

Rick

I love reading all you guys post, and Rick, I love your to-do list. I enjoyed staying busy when I was young, but now, it does not take much to keep me busy, I will work very lightly for a while, and then head for the recliner, and read on the computer while I rest.

Today I want to go to neighbor's house and haul my tiller home so I can get a little work done. I want to start planting some plants in the north garden, it is a lot wetter than the south garden, so it is the last one planted, and I still have some clean-up work to do in the south garden, I will also need to look after the greenhouse this weekend while neighbor is gone.

We have big Mothers Day plans for tomorrow, so I need to get everything done today.