Christie, welcome to the dropped cat or stray cat club!

After our cat of last year (who we lost to a predator) and her six babies, another stray came here and had three babies out in the barn! Now we have another 4 to have neutered.
It has to end......

Japanese beetles still haven't found my black berries; I can barely find them. They are surrounded by peach tree, the downed elm that is still alive and other garden tall stuff. I keep spraying with Sevin each day and then we get just enough rain to wash it off; nothing measurable.

I am harvesting new potatoes and have some Early Jersey Wakefield cabbages ready. I think I will try one today.

We are dry here so I am watering some each day. My yard mowing has certainly slowed down.

The little plum tree is ripening. I have made one jar of plum butter/jam. Just deseeded after cooking then run it through the food mill and cooked down with sugar. It was really very good.

I still wanting to pick some of the very ripe cherries that we left. They are so much darker and sweeter than the first picking. If we keep dallying around, they will fall off the tree. There is just so darned much to do.

At least the apricot tree is finished. I was just thrilled to freeze 25 quarts. A first and probably a last for apricots. They are the very first tree to bloom so frost takes them most years.

I still haven't mulched the new garden yet. First things first, we will hit Race Brothers early Monday with the trailer to buy a lot of cattle panels for staking the tomatoes and to fence the new garden. We figure we can do the fencing with the panels whereas, if we hire the fence done traditionally,
it will probably cost more. Panels will be much faster too. It was DH's idea. I jumped on it!

Have a super Sunday.

Christie, welcome to the dropped cat or stray cat club!

After our cat of last year (who we lost to a predator) and her six babies, another stray came here and had three babies out in the barn! Now we have another 4 to have neutered.
It has to end......

Japanese beetles still haven't found my black berries; I can barely find them. They are surrounded by peach tree, the downed elm that is still alive and other garden tall stuff. I keep spraying with Sevin each day and then we get just enough rain to wash it off; nothing measurable.

I am harvesting new potatoes and have some Early Jersey Wakefield cabbages ready. I think I will try one today.

We are dry here so I am watering some each day. My yard mowing has certainly slowed down.

The little plum tree is ripening. I have made one jar of plum butter/jam. Just deseeded after cooking then run it through the food mill and cooked down with sugar. It was really very good.

I still wanting to pick some of the very ripe cherries that we left. They are so much darker and sweeter than the first picking. If we keep dallying around, they will fall off the tree. There is just so darned much to do.

At least the apricot tree is finished. I was just thrilled to freeze 25 quarts. A first and probably a last for apricots. They are the very first tree to bloom so frost takes them most years.

I still haven't mulched the new garden yet. First things first, we will hit Race Brothers early Monday with the trailer to buy a lot of cattle panels for staking the tomatoes and to fence the new garden. We figure we can do the fencing with the panels whereas, if we hire the fence done traditionally,
it will probably cost more. Panels will be much faster too. It was DH's idea. I jumped on it!

Have a super Sunday.

Glenda, We learned that years ago--LOL, decided as often as we wanted to change fence rows, they needed to be removeable-and now that We dont have a fence-stomping horse, they work better. I wanted hog panels last time, but MFA said they couldnt get them. They have smaller spaces at the bottom, but not quite as tall. If I win the lottery, I'll use horse panels--they have tiny squares, like welded wire does.
Very dry here, I cant even remember the last rain. Every storm that comes this way, splits and goes each side of us. Ours is the rectangular county that touches Arkansas--watch on weather map, guess its our elevation. Now, I remember why I hated planting in pots, must water daily, or twice a day.
Suppose it will help with the mowing , If I can figure out why 2 of the 3 blades arent working right.
BUT--I have a ripe tomato, earliest I've ever had one. Picking strawberries, blueberries and raspberries daily. Fruit trees are too loaded, even after I picked some off, I noticed yesterday, a peach had a broken limb. Wish the pluots would get ripe, before the brown rot devestates.
Today is Fathers Day, I made 12 quarts of ice cream--6 of each fresh strawberry--and fresh peach.
Everyone, try to manage the heat--94 here right now.

Ceresone that ice cream sounds so good. I'll take some strawberry please. I am so behind in the garden that I am just not going to worry about it. I haven't been around here much for a month. My day lilies are at their peak and I can enjoy them among the weeds. I could use some rain.

Well Father's Day is over and I cheated and we celebrated MIL's birthday which is next Sunday too! I fixed meatballs, new potatoes and green beans (not this year's), cole slaw (this year's cabbage and onion), rolls and made an oatmeal cake with coconut frosting. The cake was a big hit. I got the recipe from a blog by FlowerLady.

No gardening yesterday except I did finish cutting back the leggy daisies and gaillardia and DH picked the debris up for me.

He also picked the last bowl of cherries. He said we had waited too late and the insects were thick because of the juices beginning to ooze. We left lots on the tree. I now know of a neighbor who will be happy to take some.

Helen, I am happy that you are able now to go when you want. Don't worry about the growing things.

Ceresone, I thought maybe you all were getting rain down there. We aren't up here either. Springfield got heavy rains day before yesterday; we got our normal little drizzle.

We have made ice cream twice already but my family insists on plain vanilla. I love fresh peach. No peaches ripe here yet. We make ours the old-fashioned way with raw eggs and I don't scald them in the milk.

I guess today will be another scorcher.

Oh my, the last half of June! Where did June go?

We finally got some rain Sat eve. Figures, we were going to the demolition derby at the fair but I'm glad to have it. All the other storms have gone around us too. I had done some heavy watering but rain is the best!

Have some cucks and squash that are about ready. Yea, I built the square garden thing and haven't had to pull one weed. Came home yesterday and had neighbors dogs in the flower bed. Chased them off but of course the neighbors weren't within hearing distance. Next time I will knock on their door.

Went slug hunting again. Love spraying those slimy things and watching them slim up!!

Spent most of the last few days inside until eve and then it was too hot but my plants need water. Did get a little break early yesterday and went to Silver Dollar City for a couple hours before it got too hot.

Good luck with the rest of the kittens. The last of the last batch we had has disappeared. Something probably got it. No fear sure there will be more.

Kathy

Glad to see the temps are going to be back down in the 80s for a few days. It's been too hot to work outside much even in the morning and evening. I can't handle the heat as easily as I did when I was younger. We're getting so close to July, I was afraid the next cooldown wouldn't be until September.

We have found homes for all but one of the kittens. It's difficult when you have kids and they get attached. I get attached too.

We saw something black and white back in the field after the rain Sunday evening and my daughter wanted to drive back to see what it was. I thought it was a black and white cat I'd seen before. Glad we didn't walk. It was a skunk. lol We saw another one close-by both digging for grubs. It's unusual to see them out in the daytime but I think they were out because of the rain. My daughter was excited to see a live skunk.

I still had three kohlrabi plants that I didn't harvest because they didn't make bulbs. They are now, but I expected them to be bitter from the heat so I was just ignoring them. I picked one yesterday and there was no bitterness at all. Nice surprise! I hadn't even been watering them. I need to look back and see what variety it was.

Ace Hardware had all their plants marked 60% off so I bought some pentas and lantana for the butterflies and a heuchera 'Regina' that was cheap.

We're getting a few bug bites and ticks this summer. They seem worse than normal here. I got into poison ivy too darnit. Ah summer