I went out and tilled the sections between the pumpkin rows and where the corn had not come up from the second planting. (Hey, we’re in drought and it’s pretty heavy clay out there!), then did the outside path, all around the North Garden.
Today, I went out and mowed the pigweed in the Wolf Garden, between the onion and potato rows plus between the beans, where I could get down the rows. I also went in between the rows of tomatoes where Will hadn’t gotten mulch on the soil yet. There’s a huge difference in the weeds. No weeds where there is mulch and heavy weeds where there is no mulch. Yea! Mulch wins!
Yesterday, Will went in the Sand Garden and first mowed between the corn rows then tilled. Then, around the Porcupine and Costata Romanesco squash, he put heavy hay mulch as the squash is starting to vine heavily. He also spread manure around the pepper plants, muskmelon, and watermelon out there. Yep, his shirt was dripping with sweat. I sure hope this heat lets up soon. Today there’s quite a wind, which is not good for the poor firefighters, fighting six wildfires in the general area, but not near us, thank God.
Today Will’s out cutting hay as, yep, it’s hot and windy. Good for drying hay. We did get a couple of very light rains in the past two days. But they didn’t even total ¼ inch. It did help the plants in the gardens though. I got a text from my son, Bill, saying he had cut a 6-acre hayfield and hadn’t broken down. I wish Will had that luck. He blew a bearing on the sickle bar of our haybine and came home to get our backup. Hopefully, the rest of the day will go better!
— Jackie
Oh,I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with break downs on hay equipment anymore!! It seemed like every time I cut hay or baled it something broke! I hope things go better for you.
I hope you keep the blog going.
Yeah, Jackie that apple cider vinegar is a little tough even with water.
Lemon water is good but I really think plain old ice water is the best.
It’s really nice and cool this morning 🌄🌻
Today, tomorrow and Friday – cool
Then it’s back to the tropical weather hot and humid 🥵
Take care ❤️
P.S. Still mowing – the never ending saga :)
Yep, I drink plenty of ice water! It was actually cool yesterday and I had to put a sweatshirt on! Amazing. Back to hotter weather soon, though. Ugh!
We received an inch and a half of rain night before last and had straight line winds that took down 14 light poles about 12 miles south of us. They were without power until late yesterday afternoon. The heat wasn’t quite as bad as it had been and this morning it is 60 with highs expected in the upper 70s for the next couple of days. Sunday is forecast to be 98, so it will be a short break. Will has the worst luck with haying! Hopefully, all will go better the rest of hay season. I have been canning cucumber relish. I have 18 pints so far. I love when my kitchen smells like pickle spices. It reminds me of my grandmothers home. Your flowers sure look beautiful and the gardens look healthy and green. A master Gardner at work!! Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Wow, I hope you didn’t have any bad damage with those straight line winds! It takes a lot to knock down power poles. We’re like you, with cool weather yesterday and warming to the 90’s by the weekend. Ugh!
I love the smells of canning relish and pickles too. So homey. I wish they made air fresheners that smell like home instead of weird, overwhelming flowery smells that don’t smell like flowers.
Thanks again for your continued prayers. They sure do help!
Here in southern Vermont the weather has been unusually cool so far. We got three days that reached 90º a few weeks back, but it’s been mostly in the upper 70’s to mid-80’s since then and we’ve been getting some rain at respectable intervals.
According to the weather people we shouldn’t be getting much warmer than the upper 70’s around here for the rest of July. Fine with me!
Temperatures in the 70’s F are fine with me. After 80, I’m toast. It sounds like you’re getting a very nice summer. Keep it up!
Beautiful lilies! Wow Will is TOUGH the plowing looks great Hope some moisture comes your way for the winds suck the life outa the corn. mine looked alot like-till i dumped manure water tea and alfalfa mulch. What a difference after only a week. Heat is nation wide it seems.Overcast yesterday 80 high Today smoke from the numerous wildfires in Oregon and 90’s an only midday. hope rains come soon for all. take care in the heat everyone
We got two nice half inch rains, one last night and the other, the night before. Not so hot for poor Will’s hay that’s down, but we’re still glad as it sure helps the gardens. Yep, Will is tough and keeps working long after I’ve folded.
Dear Jackie, Here in Southern middle Tennessee on Thursday the “feels like” temp was 103 and humidity was 100% but not raining? Weird weather for sure. Everyone stay cool, and patience helps too. Do what you can, when you can and that is the best, anyone can do.
That’s for sure Jan! It’s what we try to do. And not feel guilty, thinking about the weeds, etc. How can it be 100% humidity and not be raining? I don’t understand that either.
Here in Copper Basin Alaska we are having a generally cool summer. In the last week we hit 80 once and had one day that did not get above 60. “. The green house and hoop houses are doing fine!
Boy, I’d sure trade you temperatures!! Today, it’s in the 60’s and cloudy but tomorrow, back up to the high 70’s and on to the 80’s. Ugh! I’m so glad your greenhouse and hoop houses are doing great!
Oh yes we have that heat in WI too and the smoke. Today is kind of a lull with clouds.
Your flowers are gorgeous!! And those pumpkin plants are out of this world.
Yesterday there was rain in WI but only up north!! Boo hoo.
Hopefully, you’ll get the rain too. We were sure grateful, especially with all the wildfires going out of control. Today it’s cloudy and cool. What a blessing that is!!~
I received a nice card with a picture of you, Will and the new owners of your seed company. We did receive 4/10 inch of much needed rain. Any work causes a drenching sweat. The general rule of thumb is “if you cut hay it rains”. That hasn’t happened this year. Farming requires patience, persistence and the ability to fix the inevitable breakdowns. I hope we all get more rain.
Yep, we figured that if Will cut hay, it would finally rain, no matter what the forecast said. And it did! We got nearly an inch out of two nights’ rain. Happy campers, despite the wet hay.
Yes, Lynn and Jesse said they’d sent out postcards to our customers, reminding them of the business turning over on August 1st. I thought that was a nice idea.
Very hot in central MO but enough pop up showers to avoid watering. Cooler the next few days before more heat. We are grateful to have no smoke or wildfires. It’s good to share our love of the garden with all of you–as well as the sweat.
I’m happy you’ve been getting some showers. What a blessing, especially when it’s been so hot! Much of our wildfire smoke is drifting east and southeast, so we haven’t been affected in the last two days. Really appreciate the blue sky!
Selena, you got that right. One summer I went to town, it’s about 5 miles and I decided to put a thermometer in the front seat – covered up – had windows down by the time I got to Rural King it said 114°!
Everybody have a great day! Be careful in this heat!
Today is it until the 26 and then more coming in!
Take care
Old fashion car A/C known as 4 X 60 – four windows down going 60 mph!
Yep, our truck, a 1985 Chevvy, didn’t have AC and we didn’t even have 4 windows, only two! They did away with the no-draft window years ago, I guess. Couldn’t go 60 as we lived in the mountains. Umhum, it was hot. We went swimming a lot in the Missouri river.
Keep the A/C going.
It will cool off the room. It might not be 56° degrees but 70° would be good. It will take time.
Had to go to town again today and pay bills.
Little black car with no air conditioning, I mean real air conditioning:). The old fashioned air conditioning is windows rolled down!
Tomorrow 94° heat index 110-116° but Wednesday 80° for the high for 3 days!
I can’t wait.
Everything is suffering. I really feel sorry for people who use the air conditioning all the time and then get out in the kind of weather. But we have to do with what we have.
Everything in your garden looks really good – in fact I am jealous – not really just amazed.
But I don’t have a tiller either.
Your flowers are really pretty!
How is Gypsy doing?
How many dehydrators do you have? I got 20 lbs of onions 🧅 from Walmart and one dehydrator just isn’t going to get it, so I am freezing them.
My stove broke down – so much for pressure canning.
Take care and drink water and that pickle juice – it really works
For
Our little window AC unit folded during the heat. It was 20 years old and was Mom and Dad’s from way back when. We didn’t use it at all last year but usually only use it for a day or two each year. This year, it was on every day. We’d have been glad for 70, as the best it could do was to cool the living room down to 83 degrees F. But, when it’s 95 or higher outside, 83 doesn’t feel all that bad!
We did go buy another little unit at Walmart for $159 and there were only two left. We weren’t the only ones that were hot, I guess.
Yes, a tiller sure helps in gardening. I spent quite a few years spading up gardens and the tiller sure makes things easier by far.
Gypsy is doing great, learning new things every day. She will now come up to Will to be pet without treats. I run her several miles next to the golf cart (different times of the day and when it’s not so hot) and she’s learning to heel next to it.
We have three cheap dehydrators that I bought, one at a time, on various sales. Dehydrate what you can and freeze the rest.
Oh, I’m so sorry about your stove. Can you find a good used one on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist? It seems we get a lot of good buys there.
Will’s drinking apple cider vinegar in water to help with the hydration. Me, not so much. But then he’s tougher.