Dorothy,

I've been pulling tomato plants, and it is the hardest thing in the world to do. I look at the young fruit on them and try to talk myself into leaving them in the ground, then I yank them anyway.

I watered the peppers, okra, cukes, melons, squash, bush beans and late corn early this morning. I don't know how much longer I'll water them. I'd like to at least be able to can some jalapeno peppers. I already have put about 20 dozen total jalapeno peppers in the freezer. Most of them I roasted and deseeded so we can stuff them, wrap them in bacon and grill them as poppers. The late corn should be done next week and it may not need water again until maybe Monday. We'll see. These high temps are so hard on everything. The beans, cukes and squash get watered merely by their proximity to the okra, which I want to keep going all summer. Okra, of course, doesn't need a whole lot of water, but it is so dry that is surely does need some irrigation.

Grasshoppers are one reason I'm so slow to do anything for fall. I feel like anything I plant, they will devour. I'll use floating row covers, of course, but the grasshoppers can chew right through them if they choose so their effectiveness with hoppers is not as good as it is with some other insect pests.

It sure seems harder and harder to get much from the garden in mid- and late-summer any more. Every year I think that maybe next year will be better, and then it isn't.

Winter gardening in the greenhouse gives us something to look forward to, at least.

Dawn

I have stopped watering container tomatoes, but still have a couple of eggplant, some beans, and purple peas that are in containers. The peas have pods about 5-6 inches long but still green. My tomatoes both in the garden and in containers are awful. I am still picking a few, but the vines are too sorry to try to save and I didn't plant any for fall. One part of my garden has peppers, melons, and winter squash and I plan to keep it going for awhile longer.

The south side of my garden is mostly empty except for three cattle panels. One is southern peas, one is pole beans, and the other is pickling cucumbers. The peas are still too young to produce, the beans stopped when the high temps hit, and the cucumbers look as good as they did when I picked the first one. So I am still watering, but have already made a lot of pickles so letting them go would be OK. Each panel has a shallow ditch on the grounds highest side and I just fill the ditch, so I am not wasting water on un-planted spaces.

My zuccheta squash, the winter squash, and most of the melons were planted late after another crop had finished. Since it was already hot and dry, I stretched a soaker hose and just planted the seeds next to the soaker hose. It doesn't get the ground wet where the vines are but I leave it on long enough to give the roots a drink. So far so good. The same two soaker hoses cover the squash, melons, and the largest pepper bed.

I have only picked peppers when I needed peppers and have left the rest to change color, but yesterday I found two on the ground. There was nothing wrong with them, but they had fallen off the vine. I have never seen that happen before. I know that I had a possum in the garden the night before, but they didn't look damaged in any way. Since I had hoped to chop and freeze enough peppers for the winter, I hope to keep them going for awhile. I will see what next weeks weather is like before I decide if I will let them go. I could probably strip the bell pepper vines and get enough of those to freeze, but the poblanos need more time. I am keeping the jalapeno peppers pretty well stripped down with my salsa making, and I have used a lot of home grown onions for that as well. I have a batch of salsa cooking now and less than a full batch of prepared tomato pulp left over. I could make a half batch but will probably just freeze it. I am thinking that I may take most of the bell peppers off the vine so there is less stress to the plant because I know if I can keep the plants alive they will continue to produce in the Fall temps.

Yesterday we went a couple of degrees over the forecast, and today our forecast is 105 for today, but one place is showing our current temp at 100 and the other at 102, so I'm sure we will make 105. They forecast for tonight is 69 so those plants are going through a lot, but at least they are getting a little relief at night.

In the 10 day forecast we have one day at 99 and the rest is 3 digits (100-106), but the nights are in the 70s. I am selectively watering, but the selection could begin to decrease next week.

We still haven't had any ripe melons, but we are only a couple of days from one, if the possum doesn't beat us to it. My melons have not set fruit well this year but have a lot of blooms now. One patch may not get any more water.

I am sure the commercial growers are pulling their hair out trying to decide what to save, and I keep hearing the ka-ching of the cash register each time I think about it.

I already felt 'defeated' by today's heat when our forecast high was for 106, but now they've raised it to 109. We lost chickens last year on the first day it reached 109, so I'm keeping a close eye on mine this afternon. I've got a fan running in the big chicken coop, a sprinkler going in a separate area just outside their fenced run. I've let them out to free range, have put ice cubes in their waterers, and I'm about to put out some large Armenian Cucumbers sliced in half for them to eat. They just love those. I pick the Armenian Cukes small for us, but let some get big for the chickens. They've been eating them just about every day.

I wanted to make Habanero Gold today, but think it is too hot. I might make some early tomorrow morning.

The nights are still cool, and the mornings are nice if you get out there right at sunrise. I can get a lot done between about 6:30 and 8:00 a.m. although the higher humidity isn't pleasant.

Carol, Possums don't bother my garden much although they do like to drain the hummingbird feeders. I've only seen one this year. We tolerate them because they're one of the few animals here (along with hawks) that prey on venomous snakes.

This morning I could tell by the smell that a skunk had been around. I looked all over the yard and garden to make sure it wasn't lurking nearby before I let the cats and dogs outside.

If it cools off enough near sunset, I'll venture out to the garden to pick cukes, squash, beans and peppers.

What I really want to do is to open the freezer door and just stand there in front of it, but in the interest of keeping the frozen food frozen, I won't do that.

Dawn

Dawn, that's funny about the freezer because I just told Al that I was going to get some meat out of the freezer and if there was room I would crawl in.

I just went out and picked a Walmart bag of bell peppers and although I was under 'the covered wagon' it was still hot. I could tell the difference vs being in the sun though. Maybe picking the peppers will take some stress off of the plants. I left the small ones, but removed all the large ones and any size if it was changing color.

I had something eat part of a melon one year, but it was growing outside the garden fence so it could have been anything. Most animals can't get into my garden easily unless they can climb. I know I have a visiting fox sometimes because I could see his tracks in the snow in winter, and we have a lot of them around. They can squeeze through some really tight places. One of the houses across the street from me once had chain link fence and the end post was just inches away from the house, and I have seen the fox go through that tight little opening. I have at least that much space where the fence has tilted away from one of the gates. One gate is pretty well secure since Rico showed me how he could get out. Of course, he is so little, not many animals are going to be as small as he is. If the deer come into the yard, I have never seen them, but they would have to overcome a lot of obstacles to jump the fence to the garden and they haven't been that hungry yet. In most places they would have to jump a neighbors fence first, then mine. Because we have so many fox, I never see rabbits anymore and we have far fewer squirrels than we did when we moved here, but we still have plenty.

I think I am winding down on the canning also, but I still have pepper jelly between now and the apples. My freezer is full, but since I remove something almost everyday, I have still been able to stuff a few things in it. If I could find another good buy on blueberries, I would probably freeze some more. I have a fall back freezer because I have a single neighbor that keeps his freezer running full time and has very little in it. We have a few things over there now, and he tells us to use it any time. He cooks, but not that much, so it will never be full. It's pretty bad when your food overflows to the neighbors. LOL

Carol, You and I think alike so often that it really is like we are sisters separated at birth.

After they raised our forecast high from 106 to 109 this afternoon, the sky went crazy and sent us clouds. So, for a couple of hours our temperature fluctuated between about 100-104 and it didn't feel too bad out there at all. I went out for a few minutes and picked cucumbers, zucchini and the first cantaloupe. Well, I didn't pick it. It slipped off the vine sometimes between early this morning and about 2 or 3 o'clock and all I did was pick it up and bring it inside. I haven't cut into it yet, but it smells heavenly. Now we are up to 107 and I am not inclined to go back outside except to check on the chickens periodically. Right now they are pecking at ice cubes I put in the hollowed-out rind of the Armenian cukes I gave them a few hours ago.

I've always heard deer won't jump over a fence into an area unless they are sure they can get out of it, so maybe they're afraid--because of your cattle panel trellises and such that they might get in there and not be able to easily get back out again. They don't usually bother the Peter Rabbit Garden or the Three Sisters Garden, which both are narrow in width. I've wondered if they think they cannot safely jump into such a narrow space. I watch the deer jump the 5' tall barbed wire pasture fence with ease from a standing position. A lot of the time they don't even jump, but just go between two wires.

We worked a lot on the fence to keep varmints from going between the wires or between the bottom of the fence and the ground (not easy on a sloping site), but foxes and bunnies sometimes find a way. However, as long as I close the gate, the bobcats seem to be staying out of it, which pleases me greatly since the house cats are in it so often. A fox has tried to come in a time or two when I was in the garden, but as soon as they see me, they turn and run. I like seeing them, but they are not out often in the daylight when I am.

Oddly, squirrels are rarely an issue here. For a long time, our Australian Shepherd, Sheila, kept them away. She could either hear, sense or smell a squirrel from 100' away and she'd chase them endlessly. In the years since we lost her at the age of 18, the squirrels have slowly moved closer and closer every year. Usually there's only 1 or 2 around. I guess most of the others just stay in the woods.

The chickens have been hysterical on and off all day long for two or three weeks now. I go out and check and cannot find anything bothering them. Usually when they act this way there's either a bobcat lurking on the edge of the woods or a snake in the coop. I can't find either. However, two days ago when the chickens were having a hysterical fit, I found a squirrel in their fenced run. He was standing there calmly eating from the chicken feeder, ignoring the roosters and hens stomping about all around him. I had to go into the chicken run to get him to leave. When he left, I found the hole in the bird-netting top of the fenced chicken run that was letting him in. I haven't patched the hole yet because I want for him to be able to "sneak" into the run at night to get food and water while the heat is so brutal. I'll patch it later in the fall. The poultry is closed up in the coop securely at night, so nothing is going to come through that netting and hurt them unless that something can somehow open a sliding door that is latched shut on the inside of the coop. Poor little squirrel is just trying to survive. (I wouldn't be so charitable towards it if it was eating tomatoes, I am sure.)

Y'all sound like you have a lot more foxes than we do. We mostly have coyotes and bobcats and an occasional ringtail.

Every time I think I'm winding down on canning, I pick more tomatoes, I have three bowls on the breakfast room table and need to decide today or tomorrow whether to can them or what. Maybe I'll just freeze them for later.

My fallback freezer in the garage is half-full of onions from last year. I froze a lot of them in salsa-making quantities, so have used up a lot of them. If I ever get the onions there used up, I still have plenty of fresh ones from this year's crop. I've been saving the fresh red ones for Habanero Gold, and using the fresh white and yellow for cooking and the frozen 2011 ones for canning. As soon as I take something out of the freezer to use it, I just harvest something else and put it in the freezer. Once all three freezers are full, I guess I'll have to dehydrate stuff or give it away. On any given day I harvest more than we can eat fresh....which is a nice 'problem' to have. Luckily the chickens like Armenian cukes and zucchini, so I don't have to fret over the way those two things overproduce.

While using the string-trimmer to trim back grass and weeds outside the garden fence yesterday I found a squash or gourd I don't recognize and don't remember planting. I think it must be a volunteer. I'll let it keep growing and see what it becomes. Maybe it is something I did plant and I just don't remember planting it. I've had lots of volunteers, mostly flowers, popping up right and left this year, so the garden unexpectedly has a lot of white-flowered nicotiana sylvestris, pink cleome in a spot where I haven't had any for about 5 years, common white daturas, Laura Bush petunias (in every square inch of soil not heavily mulched or covered by something else) and devil's claw. There's also some volunteer tomatoes in the middle of the Seminole pumpkin and the butternut squash vines, but I don't think they've produced fruit yet. Those volunteers popped up around very late May or early June. Maybe they'll be my fall tomatoes.

I know I'll make a whole lot of Habanero Gold in the next few weeks, maybe can some jalapenos, and then will rest until it is time for Apple Pie Jam.....unless something pops up between now and then that needs to be canned. You know how that is. Sometimes you walk into a store or a farmer's market and something is just calling your name and begging to be canned.

Dawn

My daughter would take home Apple Pie Jam by the case if I would make it for her. LOL Last time I made her one batch and told her she had to save the jars....well you know how that goes. I think she needs to learn to make jam.

My DIL who owns the apple tree, dehydrated a lot of apples year before last. She also mass produced apple pies, got them ready for the oven and froze them. After they were frozen she slid them out of the pie plate and wrapped them in foil, and stacked them. When she wanted a pie, she took one out of the freezer, found the container that fit it, removed the foil and slid the pie back into the pie plate. Ready to bake. I think she also made applesauce.

I made everything apple that I could think of. One of the places I occasionally get to visit in Missouri sells ClearJel which is the only thing I know of that is recommended for thickening BEFORE you can. I bought what I thought I would use, but before I knew I was getting apples. As it turned out, I really did like making the pie filling and having it ready to dump into a crust but I ran out of ClearJel. Next trip I stocked up, so I am ready for this year. I don't think they are quiet as good as one made with fresh apples and a different kind of thickener, but sometimes convenience wins over taste when I am busy.

All I had to process today was 8 jars of salsa, but now I have peppers to get ready for the freezer. I usually make a gallon bag of strips to use for fajitas and such, so that is probably what I will do with these. I know I still have some chopped ones from last year, but I used all of the strips during the winter.

I haven't used all of my frozen onions either, but I don't have NEARLY as many as you do. I have used a lot of my fresh onions for salsa, and the ones I have left fit into two mesh planting flats, but they are stacked so high that if you breath, one will fall off. I usually store them in flats, but the bigger square ones, not the normal size. I need to go find those. I turn one upside then set the others on top of that one so there is air under them.

Guess I better stop and finish my chores. At least they are inside chores except for the chickens.

I sit here at my window and look out at my beautiful garden that has no harmful insects or brown leaves. it does not have to be watered, and for some strange reason there is a naked man and woman running around it.

I dont remember if I told you guy, but I Snapped from the heat and frustration and DW had me committed to the funny farm. All I do now is sit in front of my window and draw pictures of my garden. The nurse comes by every day and brings me three new crayons, I only need green, red and yellow. It is very nice here and if any one of you would like to live here you need to make your reservations because it is filling up very fast with frustrated gardeners.

Larry

Larry, We may not argue with the fact that you are crazy, but I don't think it's the kind of crazy that requires that you be committed. At least I didn't think so until you told us your crayon colors. Shape up man, this is summer and triple digit heat, so you have got to have a brown crayon in your garden because a lot of us are seeing 'dead and brown'. LOL

Just before dark tonight, I ate the last end of an ice cold watermelon and took the remained out to the chicken coop. They were already on the roost, but they jumped down to get that ice cold melon in their belly. Maybe it will cool them down until the temp drops. We went to 105, but have dropped to 91 now. They are saying it will drop to 69 later tonight, so there might be a naked man and woman in my garden tonight. Not a pretty picture.

Be nice to those nurses because they can really make you miserable.

Well, now you've gone and done it, Dawn and Carol. I got to looking at the banana and bell peppers and think that I too need to pick the most mature ones, let DH blister them on the grill and peel and seed for the freezer. THEN I AM GOING TO QUIT. Sounds like a nice place, Larry. IT was 106 here today. It it stays like this too long, I'll be checking in.

Carol, ClearGel is the only thing I know of too that is approved for safe thickening of apple pie filling before you can. Back in the olden days....well, there were other ways that no longer are considered safe.

I'd love to do what she did with her apple pies, but even in autumn my freezers are space-challenged. I probably could do it in deep winter after we've eaten a lot from the freezer, but apples aren't in-season and at their prime then. Sometimes in winter when I want to can, I buy oranges or kiwis or something exotic and can them.

My nephew, who is a grown man and father of 3, begs like a child for Apple Pie Jam so I make him a case at Christmas. He always promises me he'll ration it out and make it last all year, but you know how that goes. It is a pleasure to make it for him because he genuinely appreciates it.

I need to plant 12 or 15 more fruit trees so I can have fruit to eat and can in every season, but most fruit trees need well-drained soil and I have so very little soil that matches that description. I'd also have to select varieties very carefully by ripening date or we'd be overrun with way too much fruit all at once.

Larry, It sounds like a beautiful place, and I'm sure we'll all be joining you there soon.

I have the same perfect garden you have, with no insects and no pests. Of course, it only exists in my mind, especially in December and January when there is not a real garden out there to interfere with my dream garden. In my perfect dream garden the temperature never hits 110 degrees either. Never.

If you think all of us are frustrated, and you know that we are....well, imagine what it is like for the farmers who are seeing this year's income dry up in the heat and blow away. I cannot imagine what it is like to have your entire livelihood depend upon making a good crop. The stress and frustration they're experiencing this year must be incredible. The crop reports sound worse every week. Too bad there's not a big market for dry cornstalks and grasshoppers. Everyone has plenty of those.

Dawn

Larry, don't fret. I'll bring lunch tomorrow. I've packed three suitcases.

bon

Bon, Three suitcases? You must be planning to stay a while.

Dawn

I will be waiting on all my friends. The place is called Eden and the nice naked couple are rounding up the snakes to send to Oklahoma, that the only place they know of that is hotter than Hell.

Larry

It was 109 here yesterday. I think that was at 9:00 a.m., about the same time I saw the pond of water on the street. Shew - it was hot! Cherokee Purple went today - she got a bend in her main stem and it was enough to choke off any growth. I know I have had several "bends" in my arthritic stems and this heat makes my legs feel like rubber.

Larry, your place sounds idyllic.

I think I will try to keep Juliet, Black Cherry, and SunGold going, and let the rest of the maters go to see Jesus. One cuke plant in a bag has bit the dust now, too. The squash is not looking too good either. The Okra just gets a bigger grin every day, tho.

My Formosa Lily I planted about 6 years ago and died after 2 years, decided to show up again in the garden this year. I keep ignoring her because I'm afraid if I do a double take she won't be there - like that sheet of water in the street. Formosas love heat, and this is a good year to this lily to make a comeback.

Not liking the heat besides me and the tomatos? Fennel, showy milkweed, but most of the annuals and tropicals are thriving as long as they get some water.

I was almost in tears yesterday when I saw an ag report on the news about the cattle being sold at market in Coffeyville. They interviewed one rancher - an older fellow - who, almost in tears himself, said that it was hard to sell his cows because he knew their names and they were like his pets. With the price of feed and the drought, he said he just didn't have a choice. Aw, geez. I'm such an animal lover that I wanted to start saving $ to feed the cows. I have to say I don't really like to hear stories like this. I'm much better off in my cloud of denial. I'll think about this fellow for a long time now. I don't even know why I watch the ag reports, because it's not like I'm a farmer or even close to being one. The report added that this drought is worse than the ones in the 50s and 80s, and closer to the one that occurred in the 30s - the Dust Bowl era. Will we all be hitching a ride on a wagon to work as migrants in California? Assuming California's not swallowed up in an earthquake.....

And that 109 was a record for that date in OKC.

It was 110 here. I think today will be worse. Look at how fast the temperature has risen on the thermometer at our house:

12:23 pm 104 degrees

12:49 105

1:02 106

1:30 107.

When I went out to work in the garden this morning, our forecast high for today was 105. I don't know if they've revised that upward since then, but would think they most likely have.

I am trying to keep everything but the tomatoes going, but if these temps continue, I won't be able to.

Susan, We've been through that cattle-selling thing so many times in recent years that it blows my mind. My heart breaks every time for the ranching families who've spent decades building their breed only to have to sell them off. When times turn around, they can buy new cows and start over, but it won't be with the bloodlines developed on their own ranch over many years.

You watch the ag reports because they matter. They matter to all of us, not just to the folks who are agricultural producers. We all eat. We're all gonna watch meat prices soar as the grain crops fail and cattle feed becomes prohibitively expensive. Lots more than meat will go up too. So will dairy products, and the many things made from corn products. If people think the drought doesn't affect them (and I've heard people say that), they need to realize it will affect them over the coming months every time they buy something to eat.

This drought is looking more and more like the Dust Bowl days in terms of dryness and crop failure. That's a frightening thought.

I always put up all the extra produce I can, as y'all well know, but I will be putting up even more from the fall garden (if there's enough rain to have one) and from next year's garden, if we can grow one. I think this drought is another nail in the coffin of our shaky economy.

We aren't just seeing crop failures in the USA but in other parts of the world as well. That's the really bad news.

Dawn

I can't imagine that people would think that the drought doesn't affect them. I thought I wanted to ignore reality, but that is extreme denial. Yes, it does matter - ag news, that is. I guess having roots in small farm communities in my early years led me to continue to follow the things that affect that community still.

This drought really has been putting the fear into me lately as I see the news over and over again - on the national level, and the extent of it - virtually coast to coast, and what we may be facing in the very near future in terms of rising costs at the consumer level. As a person dependent on social security now, it really strikes fear in my heart. I want to grow a few things, but will I have the ability, financially, to do so? Time will tell. We're all going to be stretching the almighty dollar pretty thin.

My heart goes out to the farmers and ranchers. I can only pray the outlook will improve over time. What happens if we can't afford to grow it or buy it?

I don't know what the temp forecast today was, but it didn't seem near as hot as yesterday during the time I was outside today taking care of the garden. Maybe the RH was lower? It must have gotten up there later on, tho, because when I stepped out on the porch this afternoon, even the butterflies were gone - hiding in the trees and brush to beat the heat. I found overripe bananas on sale at Buy for Less today, so the possum and/or raccoon gets to eat tonight, heehee! I hope the old tomcat at my daughter's house - a friendly stray - does okay without me there this weekend. At leaat I set out a fresh bowl of water daily for him when I'm there during the week.

I guess we're all doing the best we can for the time being.

Susan

This evening parts of the garden look like they were hit by a blow torch today.

The temp topped out at 109.4 and then clouds started popping up and the temp dropped. At one point I think it went down to 104 before coming back up to the 106-108 range, where it stayed until the sun began sinking low in the western sky. The clouds didn't bring us any rain, but they did seem to help us cool off for a little while and kept us from seeing the mercury climb even higher.

Larry, If all of us can make it through one more day of this heat wave, then maybe we'll survive July. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but for us it is supposed to be only 99 on Monday. Woo hoo! If the NWS has raised our forecast high for Monday back to the 100s, I don't want to hear about and will keep pretending that Monday will be cool and pleasant.

The Garden of Eden at Larry's Funny Farm still sounds very attractive compared to our rapidly-turning-brown landscape here. If I had a box of 64 crayons and was drawing a portrait of my yard and garden, I'm afraid I'd run out of the various shades of brown long before I ran out of the greens.

Have y'all noticed that when you turn on the cold water tap indoors, the water isn't really cold? It's kinda warm. Outside? It's even warmer.

Dawn

I think I should quit complaining, we went into northwest Arkansas today, some of the areas we drove through looked much worse than it does around here, thanks to the rain we got in the first half of July.

Larry

I wanted to type "It only got to 105 degrees today.", but it's not something I would ever imagine saying. "only 105"? Wow.

It's 88 outside now at 10pm. I take that as a good sign of it cooling off a bit. I know for a fact the high temp didn't last horribly long today. Maybe we will get a break soon.

bon

Bon,

I was canning in the kitchen all afternoon and, for once, the hot, steamy kitchen felt better than the outdoors. Sometimes it doesn't. As soon as I'd get something going in the canner and had the timer set, I'd go stand directly under the AC vent at the other end of the kitchen. It felt so good to feel that cool air.

I do think 105 will feel pretty good after hotter temps earlier in the day. Several days this week, I waited for the temperature to fall back down to 105 before I went out to the garden to harvest. I think 105 can feel great compared to 108 or 110 or higher.

The nice thing about yesterday, if there is anything nice about a roasting hot day like that, is that as the temperature rose the relative humidity fell so our heat index wasn't too awful.

Today is supposed to be a touch better. Let's hope it is. I know that OKC set a record on Friday, and Wichita Falls and Dallas both set records yesterday. You'd think it was hotter than this last yar, but I guess on 7/21/2011 it was not.

It is 75 here right now so we did cool off quite a bit, but the minute the sun is up, the temps will skyrocket.

We need rain as much for the way it temporarily cools the air as for the moisture itself.

Dawn