Sheila, my plants have not done well either. I think the heat has been rough on them. They would do well on the porch till the evening sun would hit them and then they would dry out and wilt in a short time, that, plus the grasshopper have been eating them even on the porch.

I have not planted anything and have pretty well shut everything down. The heat and insects have about killed all my pumpkins and squash because I have not had time to care for them. I have been trying to get other projects finished.

I will be leaving to go get my shoulder replaced in a couple of hours. My aging joints have really started slowing me down.

Sheila, We have had very small amounts of rainfall here the last thirty days and even though I have watered the veggies a lot, they are just burning up in the heat. I'm about done with it all. Of course, I have to keep the perennial flowers, fruit trees and asparagus watered, so the handful of tomato plants and pepper plants near them will continue to get watered. Other than that, it seems like I can water enough to keep plants alive, but not enough to keep them producing. We are in our 15th consecutive month of drought here and even the trees are really suffering, even though our May-June rainfall was so heavy that it makes our year-to-date rainfall look more than adequate on paper. However, a couple of months of good rainfall wasn't enough to halt the drought, and it shows. It looks like an early autumn here because so many trees are prematurely dropping scorched leaves. There are cracks in the ground in the 1" to 1.5" range, so you know that we're at the point where watering doesn't even help.

I have a great fall garden most years, but this year I decided in July that I wouldn't bother planting a full fall garden. I do have fall tomato plants in pots that I'll continue to water, and I have some of George's Cooper Running Beans in pots that I am watering in the hope that I can keep them alive long enough to produce viable seed to help replenish his seed stock. Between the continuing heat and drought, as well as the onslaught of grasshoppers that just keeps getting worse and worse every day, I am not even sure if I can keep the container-grown tomatoes and beans happy and productive. I'll certainly give it my best shot though.

Larry, I hope your surgery goes well!

Until last week, my Seminole pumpkins still looked good and were continuing to set lots of fruit. Because I have just about run out of Armenian cucumbers to feed the deer and rabbits, I've been harvesting the Seminoles while small and green and cutting them in wedges and putting them out for the wildlife. The drought and the lack of drinking water has been hard on the wildlife here, so I've been trying to help them out. Last week and this week, the Seminole plants haven't bloomed as much as they were before. It might be that they are running out of steam because we've had so many insanely hot days. Most years they continue to bloom and set fruit up until the frost gets them, but I don't think that is going to happen this year.

With the drought continuing and fire danger increasing, I need to start focusing on other projects too, and I just need to stop watering the Armenian cukes and Seminole pumpkins and let them die. We certainly aren't getting enough rain to keep them going without irrigation.

Last year we had such a beautiful fall garden filled with plants. It was highly productive deeply into winter. This year? It isn't even worth trying. I haven't even sown lettuce seed for lettuce to grow in containers. I think the drought and heat have destroyed my gardening ambitions for fall and winter.

Dawn

I think the grasshoppers have slowed up a bit here. I know its late but am thinking of trying green beans again. Want to do some lettuce and spinach. But we haven't had rain in a while either. It went all around us. So my want to may be broke. Praying your surgery goes well Larry.

Getting pretty dry here too.

Yikes! Larry apparently had his surgery yesterday! I had forgotten what day. But I'll get praying for him and look forward to any updates!

George

larry;
Wishing a speedy, smooth, successful and not-so-painful recovery. *hugs*

bon

Sheila, Unless you have a really late first frost this year, getting a harvest from fall beans planted this late is unlikely.

Simply from looking at the calendar, it would seem like bush beans would have enough time to produce if planted now, but realistically speaking, every day that passes we have less sunlight than the day before and (theoretically) cooler temperatures. That means the beans slow down a lot by the end of September, even if they were planted in late July or early August. I planted beans at the right time for fall, but we are in moderate drought here, with Keetch Byram Drought Index numbers in the 600s and even with a lot of watering, the bean plants that did sprout and grow are very stunted and also are being devoured by grasshoppers and blister beetles. Our grasshopper numbers are worse and worse every day. We still have been hitting the 100s. At our house it was 102 yesterday and 103 the day before, and the grasshoppers simply love those hot temperatures. As the fields have dried out around us, all the hoppers have moved to our garden, which still is green. I expect that within the next couple of weeks the beans will be eaten down to the ground.

Usually, by the time the Keetch Byram Drought Index hits 600 (which, in normal weather wouldn't happen until after the first frost), I cannot even water the garden enough to keep it producing. I can pour lots of water into it and keep it green and barely hanging on, but not really productive. We hit the 600s this week and are at 619 now. Every time I tell my husband that I should just stop watering and let the garden die, he tells me to keep on watering. So far, I have done that, but after watering Monday (the day we hit a KBDI of 600), I told myself that was it and that I was done.

I have to keep watering the asparagus and will keep watering the tomato and bean plants in containers, but otherwise, I think my garden year is about done.

Everything I have watered still has some green, but the areas that aren't irrigated are all brown crispy grass and autumn wildflowers that are dying without even making it to the blooming stage. The liatris and goldenrod should be blooming now, but here where we live they started browning out about 2 weeks ago and most of them aren't making any effort to bloom. I'm about ready to close the book on 2013's garden and start looking ahead to 2014.

In a "normal" year (not that we seem to have many normal years here), I get a great bean harvest in the fall, but it can take the plants about a month longer to produce in fall's increasingly cooler and shorter-daylength weather than it does in summer when it is warmer and the number of hours of sunlight per day is higher. If I plant bush beans at the beginning of August in a normal year without excessive dryness, grasshoppers and heat, I usually am not harvesting until sometime in October. That's why I think that September is too late to plant beans and reasonably expect a harvest.

Larry, If you see this, I hope the surgery was a success and that you heal quickly.

Dawn

New to this forum. I'm in SE Oklahoma. We've only had about a quarter inch of rain since the 3rd week in July. I got my soil ready Friday and Today. I'm still getting a couple tomatoes, banana peppers and jalapenos.I'm putting my seeds in tomorrow, I'm gonna do green beans, carrots, squash and zucs. Of course my wife and I are making a list for spring 2014.