Growing Things

It's Hit Or Miss With Oklahoma Summer Weather...

As I mentioned here earlier, I had good intentions to grow a whole bunch of stuff here in my back yard garden this summer.

I got the ground all plowed up in March and everything looked good until we kept having frost into the second week in May, and by waiting I managed to let the grass and weeds I didn't kill before plowing come roaring back and it's been a battle trying to tame the areas where the corn, tomatoes, potatoes and melons were planted.

The corn has been pretty much a bust after coming up strong...with the wind in a thunderstorm virtually leveling a nearly 8 foot tall row of colored corn and the raccoons and deer knocking the rest of the rows over and eating what the bugs and worms didn't get.

The water melons have prospered and the cantaloupes grew well but something has been getting the ripe ones and eating them leaving nothing but piles of rind and seeds in their wake.

The potatoes were and are a success...we haven't had to buy any in over a month.

The tomatoes were planted late so they are just now starting to produce ripe fruit and I have to get out there and get some stakes and twine around a bunch of them that have laid over on the ground.

Meanwhile, I also planted a few things in a large vacant flower bed upstairs next to the kitchen.
 

 

 

There is a single Giant Squash plant in the center there surrounded by three kinds of sweet potatoes and a single cucumber vine.  I made the mistake of only planting one cucumber and I think you have to have at least two in order for them to cross pollenate and produce fruit.

 

Here's the squash plant:

 

   

It's a monster about three feet high...and it's constantly produced a large number of squash for the past three weeks or so.

Then those two whisky barrels have an assortment of herbs and one has a couple of "Better Boy" tomatoes which have been a disappointment.  I bought them in big pots from Home Depot for over $10.00 each and they were giant and healthy and already bearing fruit when I got them and they've just proceeded to shrivel and wilt no matter what I do.

I have tons of dusts and poisons and fertilizers but nothing visible seems to be eating them unless I have Nematodes or something working on them under ground.

In other news...we had VIP tickets to see comedian Ron White Friday night at the Hard Rock Casino.

The package included getting to spend about a half hour up on stage with Ron after the show and to ask him questions.

Some people as usual were shy and/or stupid--one idiot ask him his political views on the US bombing of Japan in WWII--but I got to ask him several things.

I asked if there were any plans to do another Blue Collar comedy tour with Jeff Foxworthy and the gang and he said not at this time and probably only as a charity event if it did happen.

I also asked what his longer term plans were...to keep touring at the present pace or pack up shop at some point and retire.

He replied that he was never going to quit unless his health stopped him or he died.

Any way...here's what things looked like from row two center stage...




I'll put the VIP website here and identify the specific photo of Pat and I when it is posted later.

Until then...Regards Y'all...

UPDATE: (8:37 CST)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5534/9498943498_0a4d4ca58b_o.jpg

here's the comedian and a good looking lady with some guy that wandered into the scene...