I am literally dreaming (nightmare) of planting plants that have been in their little pots, cups and milk cartons too long. The pressure is on to get things planted or put in bigger pots or given away. I gave some tomato plants to my friend's neighbors and the insurance man who came today to measure and get a photo of my house. Again my labels have not worked. All the Orange Minsk tomatoes were in cups in a tub with one label. Things dry out in the sun and wind and I put them somewhere else to get watered then I forget where I got them. I do not give people who only plant three or four plants things like green zebra or things I have not experienced myself. So I have some unknowns and lots not in so good shape that I am trying to stick in the ground here somewhere because it is hard for me to throw away plants. .

I am still trying to clean out flower beds....an endless job.

I finally planted sweet corn and pole beans and today, at last, will plant tomatoes and pepper plants.

I have three rhubarb plants that need a permanent home.

My garden was so dry I watered yesterday hoping to push the seeds up.

I need to pick snap peas today. I kept waiting for the pods to develop and a friend told me she doesn't think they do on the kind I planted.Drat! They are not very sweet either.

I need help!!!

I can't throw away plants either. I have a forest of double feverfew that reseeded under an oak tree and I can't bring myself to dig it out and toss it. It's really a nice plant. It blooms a long time and it's perennial. The flowers remind me of little miniature mums.
I know this was dumb but I cut into a Fuji apple and the seeds were starting to sprout and I couldn't resist. I have six little apple trees even though I know they won't be worth keeping.

Are they edible pod type peas Glenda? I like those in stir-fry if they're tender, but I've never grown any myself. I just buy a bag of frozen mixed veggies that has them in it. At least you won't have to shell yours. I assume they would freeze well.

I finally got out the Round-up yesterday. I've been just pulling weeds by hand and it's hard to keep up. I still need to tackle some wild honeysuckle and a couple big mulberry trees that have snuck into my shrub row. One of the mulberry trees had grown big enough to have fruit on it this spring but it had been hiding so I didn't know it was there. I have a feeling it will resprout no matter what I do. They're hard to kill.

I wonder if we need to free Sandy. She may be working long hours at the nursery to pay her debt. : ) It's been awhile since she posted.

Christie, I have good luck brushing liberally diesel fuel over stumps and nothing ever comes back. I even killed out some elm saplings after cutting them down...never came back. Just don't let it run all over the ground.

I am at a new place. There's not enough sun, as my plants are leaning to the light. So the question is: spend the money and cut down the tree that blocks the extra bit of sun that I need, or forget veggies? It's not really an option. I HAVE to grow my veggies!

I'm also container gardening for the first time. I don't care for it. Enriching the soil with compost, worm castings and other things is almost more fun for me than growing and eating the plants. So I am going to have to solve that problem.

I'm thinking a raised bed (built slowly, as we're older, Farmer Bob has cancer (but is doing well), and neither of us feels able to haul a bunch of stone to make it right now. But I'd like it permanent, in the area where the tree shade will be GONE, and at least 3 feet high, as I can't bend much. And I want to build soil, not force feed containers. My soil at home was rich and fertile as could be, but it was slowly overtaken the past few years by ?witch grass? Something that thrived on my great dirt, and spread by roots. Every time I dug some out, it would just multiply. I used poison for the first time, and it failed. I have no idea how I could have solved it. Boiling water? But--we moved, for other reasons.

And now I'm here! I hope to read more from other Ozarks folks. I wish this thread were more active! This post by Christie was a great one to get it started. :D

Well, dang! That's quite a wish list. But it's what I think about all the time when I'm not teaching my kids who can't read, online, now that I'm too injured to go to school anymore.

What are your dreams for your ideal garden?

Paula

Paula, this Ozarks forum will be just buzzing about the first of January -- what we're going to plant, our plans for season coming up, what thrived/failed last season. We're usually all stuck inside, anyway.

You might check out the soil/compost forum -- one of my favorites. Welcome to ours!

My dream is to have my soil so rich and black that I just throw seeds at it and run --
Sunny

Ha! Guess I need to chime in! Actually spring was over at the nursery for me, I've been spending most of my time maintaining my own garden, adding to it,(as ever) and cleaning back and deadheading spring stuff. We've had no rain for a long time now and I've had to start watering already. Not normal, this is still only May! What is the summer going to bring for weather?

Everything is blooming so early, we've already gone thru May flowers and into June. Daylilies, lilies are blooming, and I have chrysanthemums and asters in bloom (that's fall!) but it's been so cool that the elephant ears are waaaay behind!

Lots of problems with cutworms and pillbugs in the hostas this year, but I guess everybody has them. Ticks and chiggers already, but the fireflies are also out, and that is a wonderful thing!

So I've been tweaking garden beds, filling in empty spots, transplanting stuff, planted a couple new Japanee maples and mostly just trying to keep up with the weeds that grow no matter if we get rain or not!

Oh yeah we've been to two Airstream rallies this month so we've been pretty busy also!

Here's hoping for a great summer--with rain!

Sandy

I guess we can just continue this thread as a May gardening calendar.....

I started cleaning (again) the berry patch. Poke and wild carrot was tall as my head. I have about 2/3 of it done and then will need to do some mowing or string trimming along the edges.

The raspberries are ripening but are very small. I haven't watered the patch but will as soon as I get the weeds under control.

The blackberries are in the red and green stage and should be watered deeply too.

I can't seem to stay ahead of the saplings and weeds. Why do they seem to thrive in any kind of weather?

I got the HB Bed and around the front door that is never ever used weeded yesterday too.

We need rain badly. They are beginning to cut our hay today so maybe that will bring it on.......

We got almost a half inch of rain Sunday evening. The forecast looks hot and dry though so that won't last long. I always wish for rain but then it makes the weeds grow faster and the lawn. : ( My saplings are thriving too Glenda. I swear someone is sneaking into my gardens and planting six foot trees when I'm not looking.
I've eaten a few raspberries but my patch is much smaller than last year. I mowed it because the weeds were taking over. I'd like to just start over with a new patch but I haven't decided where to put it.
I picked the last of the berries off of my Sweet Scarlet Goumi about a week ago. They were small but tasted good. I picked the first ones too early and those were sour and very bitter. I need to remember next year to wait a week or two after they turn red before I eat any.
There are about two dozen cherries on my Balaton Cherry that have turned red and I don't know how long to wait on those. They're edible but sour. I'm hoping they'll get sweeter if I wait. This is the first year I've gotten to try both of those.

Dowbright - I'm glad you're joining in. Did you use Roundup or something similar? I've read to spray on sunny days after it warms up around late morning or noon. It's supposed to work better that way, I guess to help the leaves absorb the chemicals. Moving was a good solution though. I have Bermuda Grass here that spreads by roots and I'm sure I would have to move to be rid of it.

Glad to see you back Sandy. I had to look up what an Airstream Rally was. Looks like fun.

Hi all, I haven't posted in a long time. But, I have been very busy in the greenhouse and the gardens. I'm still planting all sorts of things, but it's going to be so hot today that I think I'll have to wait before forcing any new plants or babies out into the cruel 90-some degree weather.

We have also been watering for awhile now ... it's so dry. I live in Christian County between Nixa and Clever. My husband goes out early in the morning to work in the yard because of the heat, you would think it is August!

Hope to be on here more often now.
Mel

I just walked across the street at my friend's house in Joplin and put a bucket of water on a strangers little dogwood. Organizations gave out free dogwood trees in the tornado area and some are not getting watered. My friend said not to water the neighbor's tree in the front yard. I really don't think some people even see when a plant needs water. I see it and it depresses me because I have too many tomato plants at home for my water supply. The organization that gave out the trees picked a very vunerable tree to give away. Redbuds are messy but I think they would have had a better chance.

I still check in here sometimes, though I'm over the line in Oklahoma. Like many of you, I'm wishing it would rain. Mid March was the last good rain for us. No rain in May. If it doesn't rain within the next couple weeks, I'm going to pick my favorite 8 of the 35 tomatoes I put out to water and let all the rest go. Same with peppers and okra. Will water maybe a 1/3 of what I planted just for a while to get some and then forget it. The corn is tasseling so we are watering it. Have lots of perrenial stuff, (strawberries, blueberries, young fruit trees, grapes, figs) that we will have to water all summer just to keep them alive and hope for a crop next year and following. I hate this weather.

Did you get any rain? I see spots on the radar coming this way and see lightning in the sky to the west. Hopefully I'll get a sprinkle. The front or whatever it is looks narrow.

We got two inches of rain last night! Hope the rest of you did as well. Guess I can roll up the hoses for a day ot two.

Sandy

Only a half inch for me but I'm hopeful that we'll get some more this week. We got quite a bit of thunder and lightning so if it's true that it makes the rain water have more nitrogen, it should give all the seedlings I planted a nice boost. Right now, most of them don't look big enough to make it through the summer.

I saw a Zebra Swallowtail in my yard for the first time ever and posted photos in the butterfly forum if anyone wants to see them.

Mulberryknob - It's nice to see you check in. Sorry you're having to cut down on your garden because of the drought. Hope you get some rain this week too.

Helen - I agree - Dogwoods can be a little tricky to get established in the beginning. They're great trees though. It's nice to know that someone is donating freebies. I can't imagine how many trees must've been lost in the tornado.

I got 2.2 inches just in time. Now I have stock tanks full also. I went out at 3:30 am just to check the rain gauge; that is how desperate I was. I was up anyway because Annie and Honey came in for the storm; I kicked them out when it was over. Honey hasn't chewed any shoes in a long while but I don't trust the little darling.

We got about an inch and three quarters of rain last night. Must have been a pretty hard rain (I slept through it) because it laid the plants down pretty well nut the sun is out today so maybe they will stand up again soon. Hoping for more rain in the next few days, we still badly need it as there is no subsurface moisture at all.

Went plant shopping at Hilltop yesterday and came home with three ferns, a hardy orchid (bletilla) that is different from the ones I have, a hardy begonia and a Lakeside Old Smokey hosta. Had a great time! We also (hosta society members) got to visit a century farm down the road and over the ridge from Hilltop with wonderful, extensive gardens and an enviable hosta collection-hah, imagine that, living next door to Hilltop!-hated to leave!

Sandy

Thanks, Christie, We got 1.2 inches of rain total in three separate overnight storms. (Tues, Wed Thurs.) We need a lot more but it perked everything up for now anyway.

We've had a lot of butterflies this year. There were dozens of them on just the cherry tree a couple months ago. Some kind of Swallowtail, both the black females and yellow males. And yesterday saw the first Monarch.

Hope everybody who needed rain got it.

I think Tiger Swallowtails will use cherry trees as a host. Those are beautiful and huge.

Looks like we are getting some badly needed rain today. The storms look a little daunting so I hope everone and their gardens are safe.
Keith

Christie, yes, it rained 5 nights in a row giving us a total of 5 inches, so all the garden is still out there. Now though we need some more.

That's a lot of rain Mulberryknob. I bet it's been warmer there than here and windy this time of year so it can dry up pretty fast.
We got 1.2 inches yesterday morning. I checked the radar around 8:15 and it looked like the rain was going to go way north of us, so I went out and watered my baby zinnias and planted a couple things, looked up after awhile and the sky was just black. It really snuck up on me. Nice surprise though. We were needing it.

I got a sprinkle not enough to register on the gauge. At least it is raining in the area and not a drought.

We got an inch and lots of bad wind. Corn is laying flat and several limbs were broken off the peach trees.

The corn will be OK, not sure about the peach trees.

We were really happy to get the rain though.

Trying to keep everything we purchased, planted, potted from dying in this 95+ degree heat!! Water and Shade, a good combo for the potted, irregardless of what the "tag" on the plant says.

I keep mine in the shade when it gets hot too Bill. It's hard to keep them watered otherwise. I have some containers in shade now and some in morning only sun and have been watering every day. Your member page says you just joined today so Welcome!

WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED "rain" you speak of?? Sorry, caps stuck!

Been awhile since I've been on, Hubby lost his 12 year fight with brain cancer in March.
I have a extensive garden, mostly on my deck, with a wonderful self watering system.
With the heat, I'd going out to feed animals at daylight, and watering the other gardens then.
Everyone, take care in this heat.

I've been wondering and worrying about you and your hubby Ceresone. I'm sorry to hear he passed. Such a long battle for both of you. I'm glad you decided to join us again though. We missed you. The self watering system you have must be very helpful. So you can go a few days without watering? I'm afraid if I forget for one day with some of my small containers that would be enough to do them in when it's so hot. I still have some seedlings that didn't get planted and those need water daily.

Ceresone, I'm so sorry about your husband. It was good to hear from you, and I hope you'll be a regular poster here from now on.

I do learn much from you! For instance, tell us about your self-watering system for your pots. Is it with pots with recessed wells, or what? Weren't you the lady who got me on to Fortex beans? I think so, and they are delicious. Have some planted now, in fact.
Sunny

Ceresone, I'm glad you are back. I am sorry about your husband and all that you have suffered because of his illness. William it is good to hear from you too although it sounds like the insects are taking over. Gardening is a good hobby even though there are challenges. There is always something to look forward to and unfortunately I am waiting for a hurricane or a miracle. I think you have the right idea Ceresone with the self watering containers on your deck. This heat could kill a person and it is best not to be out in it.

Thanks, everyone. It has been a rough 12 years, but nothing compared to the last year. I was lucky, that I was able to care for him by myself.
Theres a very un-technical report on my watering system above. For small containers, you just run the hose and a waterer to it!