HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. We had a lot of wind and rain during the night then it started getting quiet. I could still hear a few drops hitting the vent in the restroom (attached to my bedroom) off and on. I gt up and went to the kitchen maybe at 5 AM and I looked outside and could tell the rain had frozen and it was “S-ing” just a little but it was very fine.

It was a good thing I bought bird food yesterday and filled the feeders… I hadn’t seen many birds until this morning. Even a Tufted Titmouse made an appearance but she wouldn’t sit still long enough to get a photo.

You know I am not a big “S” fan, but I have to admit it looks pretty neat stuck to the ice on the branches.

Jade wanted outside, so I opened the front door so she could go on the porch. She poked her head out then changed her mind. Later on, she decided to go out for a spell but she didn’t get off of the porch…

I hope we all have a much better 2021. We have had our ups and downs during 2020 with COVID and the election ordeal, but hopefully, soon they will both be behind us so we can move forward with a brighter future…

Until next time be safe, stay well, stay positive, and always be thankful.

Stellaria media (Common Chickweed)

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. This was supposed to be a Six On Saturday post but it turned out to be an Eleven On Sunday. Here it is November 29 and another year is almost gone. Most of the perennials have gone dormant while a few are still not quite ready. A few Fall wildflowers are now growing as well. Saturday, when I took these photos, was nice and sunny at 54° F but I am afraid it isn’t going to stay that way. Sunday the high will be 48° with a low of 25 but Monday… A high of 39 with a low of 18° F. Hmmm… IN NOVEMBER! I have to put a sticky note on my computer to remind me to cover the Phlomis… OH, yeah, the Phlomis…

I walked around the house to see what I could find. As I mentioned, some of the wildflowers that come up in the fall are up and running…

The above photo is one I am not sure how many would call a wildflower. Chickweed (Stellaria media) is NORMALLY a pain in the neck but it is OK growing in the beds over the winter. But you know what? I must be getting senile because it normally comes up in the spring. I suppose it has always come up in the Fall and I just really never paid much attention to it. You have to admit it does look nice and green. 🙂

I walked around the house and didn’t see anything too interesting to photograph. The Celosia argentea (var. spicata) ‘Cramer’s Amazon’ went completely wild this summer and is now dead. I didn’t have time to thin the thousands of seedlings when they came up this spring so they just took over the south bed. If much of anything else survived I will be surprised.

Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum (Elephant Garlic).

Of course, the Elephant Garlic (Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum) survived and is growing nicely in several areas in the south bed. This is great stuff!

Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’.

The Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ (Jerusalem Sage) has been weird since I moved it from the southwest corner bed to the southeast corner bed. It has NOT been its robust self which I don’t quite understand. I am finding out it is more cold tolerant than I thought because I haven’t covered it all fall and we have had several “F’s”. Don’t make me say that word… It hasn’t flowered for several years but I like it anyway because of its HUGE, somewhat fuzzy leaves. Well, it hasn’t had HUGE, fuzzy leaves since I moved it either. Maybe if I don’t baby this winter it will get with the program in 2021. Well, that won’t happen because after I cover it on Monday with the big pot next to it I am likely to forget to remove it. OH, I guess the sticky note will remind me to uncover it as well. 🙂

Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s Ears).

I was kind of surprised to see the Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina) still growing. It died last summer then amazingly came up a couple of feet from where it was. Here is, all green and fuzzy and hanging in there.

Malva sylvestris (Meadow Mallow)

HMMMM… I found this plant at Wagler’s, I think in 2018, that was unlabeled and not flowering. It looked like a Hollyhock in a way, but it reminded me more of the plants that were growing in the bed at church. You know, Malva sylvestris…. Anyway, Mrs. Wagler said it was a miniature Hollyhock. So, when I got home, I looked up Miniature Hollyhock online and it was NOT what was in the pot. At least, I hoped not. Luckily, once they flowered it did turn out to be Malva sylvestris. Since it wasn’t labeled, I don’t know for sure but their flowers look similar to the cultivar ‘Zebrina’. A week or so after it started flowering, I was walking around taking photos and the plant had been shredded by some kind of caterpillars. I know that’s what did it because some were still on the plant’s stems. There were no leaves left. Well, it completely died… Amazingly, they came back up again in the spring from seed but once again they disappeared. When I was taking photos on Saturday, low and behold, there was this clump with flowers…

Lamium purpureum (Dead Nettle)

The Lamium purpureum (Dead Nettle) by the back porch has been enjoying the spring-like days. I am not 100% sure this is Lamium purpureum since a few Lamium amplexicaule (Henbit) grow in this area, too. 95% sure… 🙂

Malva neglecta (Common Mallow).

The native Malva neglecta (Common Mallow) that grows along the east side of the house (especially around the AC) is still growing a little and flowering. I just let them grow here because not much else will. It is an area with fill dirt and just not a place I can decide what to do with. Yeah, one of “those spots”. It’s like an itch I can’t reach…

Then I went to the other yard…

Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree Cholla)

The Tree Cholla (Cylindropuntia imbricata) looked a little hungover when I took this photo. I think it is worn out from guarding its territory from the invading Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’. Excuse me, I mean Phediumis spurius ‘John Creech’… I think it is contemplating putting up a border wall… 🙂

Then to the chicken house…

Equisetum hyemale (Horsetail)

OH MY GOODNESS! I did something wrong a few years ago when I let the Horsetail Equisetum hyemale) out of their pot. I dug a few of these plants out of a yard when I lived in Mississippi and kept them in a pot while I was there. Even after I came back here I left them in the pot until 2014 when I got the brilliant idea to plant them in front of the chicken house. I knew what could happen, but honestly, I never saw this plant where it has been allowed to do its thing. If I had, I may have left them in the yard I took them or at least left them in pots. I admit I think the Horsetail is a great plant and I am happy to have it here because I do think it looks neat. The area in front of the chicken house is somewhat of a problem area and they grow great here. The biggest problem is that they are coming up as far as 20′ away… Equisetum is the single surviving genus of a class of primitive vascular plants that dates back to the mid-Devonian period (350 + million years ago).

Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) next to the chicken house.

I love Yarrow but I haven’t found its sweet spot here. A friend of mine in Mississippi gave me the start of this old Achillea millefolium cultivar from a HUGE colony in her back yard. She yanked them up by the handfuls like she was really eager to get rid of some. They grow like mad down there in the south, but not so here because I have neem somewhat reluctant to let them have their way. I think they know that because they always creep their way to a sunnier spot. It has really been fun to watch them do this and I am sure if they could they would just pick up and move. One clump has actually adapted to the shade in the north bed but it sends rhizomes out 3-4 feet away. The clump by the chicken house is moving around the corner to get more sun and is finding the Chinese Elm very annoying. They have a nice surge of growth late in the summer and through the Fall and it isn’t until it gets very cold that they completely disappear. Once spring gets close, they start sending up leaves to see if the coast is clear.

Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’.

This spring took several Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ and Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) to the church instead of going to the greenhouse to buy more plants. The Veronica and Dracaena came up from last year so they didn’t have to be replaced. For some reason, the Rudbeckia in the right side of the bed is still flowering but on the left side they aren’t. The bed here hasn’t been flowering for a very long time either… Nature is a wonderful mystery sometimes.

I think I am finished with this post. I have no idea what I will write about next… I do know I need to do a lot of updating on the pages. I am sure there are several name changes I have to update.

I have a question… I write about a photo (under the photo) and I always add a space between what I wrote and the next photo. Lately, I have not been adding a space. Does it still make sense or do you like the separation between the words and the next photo better?

So, what do you want me to post about? Politics. LOL!!!!!! Religion? I don’t think either would be a good idea.

OK, now I am finished. Until next time, be safe, stay well, and stay positive.

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I got up this morning and went to make my morning coffee as always. I looked out the window over the sink and saw this! I thought… Well, I was so shocked I don’t even remember what my first thought was. Maybe I was blank. Maybe I thought I was still not awake and I was having a nightmare. Maybe I went back to bed to try to wake up. But no, I was awake. Wide awake… It was really happening…

I don’t ever remember it “S’ing” this early here in my life. Not that “S” is a memorable thing, but one this early… It did “S” here on Thanksgiving in 2007, though. I don’t really know much about what happened from 1987-2013 because I wasn’t here. I have seen a few flakes early but you couldn’t really tell if it was “you know what”. It would be like one every 30 seconds to a minute. But not in October. Well, it is almost November, but still… I am never ready for winter anyway.

I went to feed the cats on the back porch and it was snowing there, too. Only two cats were present… The thermometer on the wall said 30° F. It wasn’t snowing that much, just a steady flurry. It had rained off and on during the night, but I certainly wasn’t expecting this. I hadn’t looked at the weather forecast for a few days but maybe I should have.

I opened the front door and there was “S” there, too!

The leaves are still on the trees… Jade normally wants to go outside but she was not even coming to the door…

We only had a light “F” on October 15, which is normal, so I hadn’t even cut down the Cannas or dug the Colocasia rhizomes…

The grass is still green, there are green leaves on a lot of the trees and shrubs. The Buick is normally in the garage but I have been cleaning it up and working on making it more organized. I had bought a new shelf to clean up the corner by the door. I wanted to put stuff on the shelf like gas cans, sprayers, etc. that have always been on the floor. That project was started on October 1, but a missing part delayed the whole operation…

The Alocasia watch on with discouragement. They were hoping for warmer temps so they could go back outside for a few days more. Their spot in the basement is ready but they really don’t want to go down there yet. The coffee table in the living room is also full of plants…

The cactus in front of the sliding door are not too happy about it “S’ing” so soon either. But they are glad they are inside instead of out in it.

I had plans today to finish the new shelf in the garage and start working on the new plant shelves. GEEZ!!! The part for the shelf in the garage finally arrived. I had called the company about the missing part and the lady said I would get it in 5-7 days. Well, it didn’t come. SO, I got on the company website and sent them an email. The next day I had a reply and I was once again told the part would arrive in 5-7 days. It was shipped promptly and they sent a tracking number. This time, it did arrive. Apparently, the person I talked to over the phone screwed up somewhere and the part didn’t get ordered.

I have been working on the Fall 2020 updates and am almost finished with #3. It will probably be finished today despite the interruption…

The extended forecast says it will be 54° F on Friday and 61 on Saturday and sunny…

How is the weather in your neck of the woods? As I am finishing this post, it is still “S’ing” a little. At least for the moment…

Until next time, be safe, stay positive, and so on. I am at a loss for words at the moment!

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. First I want to say I managed to get all the plants inside yesterday since an “F” was in the forecast. I photographed all the cactus and succulents, and a few others. I measured most of the cactus and a few of the succulents like I usually do to compare their progress with the year before. Before I went to bed I looked outside and it was frosty as predicted. At 3:30 AM I checked the temp and it was 34° F. I was glad I moved the plants inside.

Anyway, I bought a new flannel quilt from a seller on Etsy because my old quilt was falling apart. Jade thinks she always has to be where I am and likes laying on my bed. My computer is in the bedroom so it kind of doubles as an office so naturally she wants to be in there with me. I could normally get her to lay on the end of the bed as long as I had a newspaper for her to lay on. I don’t get it with the newspaper, but that was OK. At least it keeps her hair off the bed for the most part. The problem was after I put on the new blanket she wanted to lay next to the pillow. So, I started closing the door so she couldn’t get in the bedroom but then I could tell she felt neglected. She would paw at the door and meow wanting in and couldn’t understand why I didn’t want her in the bedroom.

I told her I would buy a bed for her so today I picked one up at Petsmart. I brought it home and she would have nothing to do with it. When I returned from the grocery store this evening she didn’t meet me at the door like she usually does. I walked around to the living room and she was in her new bed smiling. 🙂

This is my new flannel quilt just in time for cooler temps. Completely hand made and hand quilted.

I will be working on the cactus and succulent updates and will take several posts as usual.

Until next time, be safe, stay positive, stay well, and give thanks!

Orange Glazed Chicken Thighs. Recipe from In Dianes Kitchen.

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. While I was reading a few posts from other bloggers I ran across one of Diane’s newest posts about Air Fryer Chicken Thighs. Then, I saw her recipe Air Fryer Chicken Thighs. While looking at that one, I saw her recipe titled Orange Glazed Chicken Thighs. Well, I must say that one caught my eye.

I must admit I didn’t do a whole lot of cooking over the summer because I was busy outside until it became too dark to see. By then it was almost 9 PM. Then, as it started getting dark earlier, I wanted to start cooking regular meals again but I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat. It was similar to having writer’s block only I had a cooking block.

I decided I would give Diane’s recipe a try. Now, for those of you who don’t follow In Dianes Kitchen, I suggest you head over to her blog and see what she has been up to. If you are bored with the same old thing, I am sure there is a recipe on her site that will catch your eye.

YUMMYLICIOUS!

I am not going to write down the recipe because you can find it on Diane’s blog. It is very easy to prepare and I think you will like it. The only thing I changed was substituting chopped onions for the green onions. I didn’t see any point in buying a bunch of green opinions when the recipe only calls for four. I already had onions… On, and I used thighs with the bones and skin while her recipe calls for boneless skinless thighs.

Along with the Oranged Glazed Chicken Thighs, I had green beans, sweet corn, and okra which I cooked in the steamer. They are all from the garden…

The ‘Jing Orange’ Okra is delicious, by the way. It is unique to most other okra I have grown. The plants are fairly short compared to the other varieties I have grown. Some believe red okra more tender than green varieties after the pods get fairly long. Personally, I think when it is hot and the pods are growing very fast (GEEZ) the pods of any variety are fairly tender up to about 6″. Okra grows the fastest when the temps are hot but slow down as the temps cool. When the growth of the pods slows down, they seem to become tougher at a smaller size. At least that is what I am finding out. When it was hotter, even the 6″ or longer pods were very tender and seemed to get that big after 1-2 days. Well, that’s the way with most okra and you have to pick them every day. The ‘Jing Orange’ pods seemed to have smaller seeds, even when longer, until their growth rate slowed down. Their flavor is great and they didn’t seem as gooey as some. Well, they are still somewhat gooey but seem more solid. I have no idea how to really explain it… Maybe my taste buds are out of whack, but they seemed to taste like vanilla ice cream. It was like eating creamy warm ice cream that didn’t melt. 🙂 PLEASE don’t quote me on that. I will say I can neither confirm nor deny. 🙂

I have been working on another post for a week so I better get it finished. We had a warm spell, but now the wind has picked up and the temps are going to drop again. Soon, an “F” will be in the forecast and I will have to bring the potted plants inside for the winter. That means I will need to photograph and measure all the cactus and some of the succulents like I always do this time of the year. They like it because I am giving them some attention after being neglected all summer.

SO, until next time, be safe, stay positive, stay well, and GET DIRTY if you can.

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well, maybe even better than before. Shortly after I wrote the last post I figured out what I need to do to do to get to the classic editor. Even though I had sent an email to support I didn’t check it until today and man was it long. Things had only changed a little and all I had to do was pay attention to what had changed. But, after you have been doing the same thing the same way for so long you don’t always notice one small, little detail…

Your dashboard may not even look like this. When I first started blogging in 2009 then moved and started a new blog in 2013 the dashboard looked similar to this. Then, when I started the current blog in January 2017 it was all different and blue… I got on a chat with support and they gave me a link to what I was used to. This is just part of the page and there are more features below the Feedback. If your dashboard looks different, I think you have to type https://yourblogname.wordpress.com/wp-admin/ and it will take you to this style dashboard.

Scroll down to “Posts” and click or click on “All Posts”… DO NOT CLICK ON “ADD NEW” OR IT WILL TAKE YOU THE NEW EDITOR.

After clicking you will see “Add New” with an arrow next to it. This is the small detail I had previously missed…

When you click on the arrow you are given the choice to click on “Block Editor” or “Classic Editor”.

There it is… The Classic Editor. Without having to upgrade to the business plan.

Thank goodness WordPress is meeting the needs of its seasoned bloggers and allowing us a choice instead of making us learn to use the new editor.

Ummm… The green dot is from Grammarly and not part of WordPress.

So, that’s how it works. I am working on a new post and all is well. Until next time, be safe, stay positive, be well and you know the rest…

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all well. I went to Jay Wagler’s a few days ago since he grew a lot of watermelons as part of his business. We talked and laughed about the many ways people have to tell if watermelons are ripe. He laughed when I told him, “Yeah, but none of them work for ‘Black Diamond’. He said one of his neighbors grew ‘Black Diamond’ last year and he said they were really tough. He wasn’t sure, but he thought maybe he didn’t even get a ripe one. Then he gave me the way he used to tell if a watermelon is really ripe…

Making videos is kind of new for me so sometimes I forget what I intend to say. When he said to press down on the top of the watermelon, I asked him what if you press too hard. He got a laugh out of that but it is kind of like the scratch test. How hard do you scratch? The older a melon is the harder you have to scratch it, but it still leaves a mark. So, how hard do you press on a watermelon? Well, here’s the thing I forgot to mention since I had already found out the watermelon was ripe on Friday morning. This video was taken Friday evening and it didn’t make a sound then because it already did it that morning… The first two melons I pressed down on didn’t make a sound but the third one did. It didn’t hardly take any pressure at all. In fact, I was very surprised that I barely had to press down on it. I pushed harder on one because it didn’t make a sound, and when it did I think it was the inside of the rind that split instead of the flesh inside.

If you have grown watermelons before you may know I exaggerated somewhat when I sampled the melon and said how good it was. Truthfully, when you pick a watermelon and it has been in the hot sun all day it doesn’t taste all that great. That’s why when watermelon growers pick melons they let them sit in a cool place or in the shade so they will cool off. Once this watermelon was in the refrigerator overnight it was much sweeter.

‘Black Diamond’ is an heirloom variety with sweet pink flesh and is known for being called the king of the watermelons. At this moment I have to honestly say I have had much sweeter watermelons. This particular one weighed 26 pounds and I picked another one later that weighed 28. I gave half of this one to a friend and the bigger one to the neighbors across the street. The biggest one in the patch didn’t make a sound yet…

I made another video today to try and find one that would make the sound while recording. I walked around the entire patch pushing on melons and didn’t hear anything. It was very windy so maybe I just didn’t hear it. That would not be good because they may not do it the second time.

Linda, who has a blog titled “Life On A Colorado Farm”, said in a previous post’s comment how her grandfather taught her how to tell if a watermelon is ripe.“He taught me to hold the melon against my stomach and pat it. If the water sounds and feels like a rock skipping across a lake…the melon is good to eat!” Well, I couldn’t quite get that or even picture it in my head.  So, I asked her a little more about it . She replied, “Pick up the melon, try not to tear the vine, hold the melon close to your body on your stomach. Pat the melon sharply several times. If you can feel the water in the melon moving through the melon like ripples then it is ready to eat.” SO, I tried that with one of the ripe melons after I had picked it and you can actually feel the water in the melon vibrating… So, I guess I need to try that with one on the vine that isn’t ripe to see what it does. She said he taught her that trick when she was 8 or 9 and she is still using it. Linda has a great blog about her and her husband’s life on their Colorado farm (obviously). Thanks for the tip, Linda!

That’s it for this post! Until next time, be safe, stay positive, stay well and GET DIRTY if you can.

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. So, how many rules can a ‘Black Diamond’ Watermelon break?

DAYS TO MATURITY

Hmmm… Information online says says “Black Diamond’s’ reach maturity from90-95 days. OK, so maybe I don’t know exactly when they came up but I know they were a few inches tall on June 7 because I have a photo to prove it…

SCRATCH TEST

Well, no one ever said how hard to scratch…

YELLOW/WHITE BELLY

Well… It has only been light green, and tonight it was kind of dark and I thought it was more yellow. One of the bigger melons like this one has a white belly, however, I know it isn’t as old as this one. The flower didn’t make a melon for a couple of weeks after the one here. Besides that, there are smaller melons with white and yellow bellies and they can’t possibly be ready.

DRIED TENDRILS

HA! Information online says when the tendrils are brown they are as ripe as they will get BUT… For some, including the ‘Black Diamond’, that could signal when they are beginning to ripen. The tendrils opposite the stems where the watermelons are attached have been brown for weeks and most of them have completely fallen off. One thing for sure, there is a lot of difference  and days between “ripe” and “beginning to ripen.”

WHAT ELSE?

A few days ago I was talking to this older guy at a store in town about the watermelons. He said, “Don’t you know how to tell if a watermelon is ripe?” I gave him a list and he gave me a rather disgusted look almost as if I were an idiot. He said, “When the end of it turns brown or black it is ripe.” He further said you can also tell by thumping on it. Well, for his information I have been thumping on watermelons all my life. Well, maybe not all my life… I had to learn how to walk first. OK, so maybe we can add that one to the rules.

THUMP TEST

Now, after watching everyone thump on watermelons since I was a kid, I always figured it was just the right thing to do. Tonight, I even thumped on the one that was rotting and it sounded like an old flat tire or maybe my stomach when I have eaten too much. Well, so did the one I just cut, and the bigger melons all sound like an old flat tire… When I actually get a ripe melon I will remember what it sounds like.

BLACK OR BROWN END

Wait until I see George! He will ask “Was it black?” I will say, “You said black OR brown. What if it is black and brown?”

SO, WHAT HAPPENED?

I call my friend with the scale again and asked if I could borrow it. She said, “You didn’t?” My reply was, “NO, but I am going to.” SO, I went out and did it and darn near dropped it on way to the water hydrant. I washed it off and my pants almost fell down by the time I got it inside the house. I put it on a towel and went to get the scales. For the life of me I can’t find my own. It’s amazing how things aren’t where they always were since my son was here. It has always been in the cabinet in the main bathroom… I know he used it before because I saw him do it… I would ask him what he did with it but he has been gone for a while and I haven’t heard from him in several weeks.

SO, I waited for 90 days. I have spent weeks of thumping, scratching, and checking the bottoms on several of the watermelons WAITING impatiently. Well, as you know, I wasn’t patient the first time. Last week I picked one that had a few holes in the bottom and was starting to rot. It weighed 23 pounds and wasn’t ripe either. Then, there was a smaller one whos stem turned brown and fell off. I cut it open and it wasn’t ripe… One small melon literally exploded and I saw another one tonight that had rotted. Both of those weighed maybe 10 pounds and had just somehow turned to yellow mush inside.

A lot of the vines are starting to die now because it is just that time. The vines and stems attached to the watermelons, besides that one, are still green even though there may be no leaves on the vines. With no leaves, many of the watermelons are turning yellow on top from the sun.

This particular melon has been a shiny dark green from the beginning while most of them have a bluish-green color with a chalky appearance. This one also has a lot of lumps…

SOOOO, what did it look like on the inside?

Hmmm… They always say practice makes perfect but I am not sure if this is progress or not. The one with the holes in the bottom was riper than this one… 38 pounds, almost 18″ long, and about 38″ around. Even though it isn’t ripe I had a few bites. It was sweet and juicy but definitely not quite there…

But, I will learn. By the time I get a ripe watermelon, I will know…  With the cool temps and rain we have been having off and on, I hope they don’t rot before they ripen.

I put the other watermelons on the porch before I took them to the chickens the next day. I found out butterflies like watermelon… Later on, I spotted a hummingbird taking interest but I never saw it eat.  Somehow a few very large holes appeared.

Well, that’s it for this one. Until next time, take care, be safe, stay positive, and do your best to GET DIRTY!

Hmmm…

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds everyone well. We have had several days where it has been pretty hot. I had a little setback last Monday which put many things to a screeching halt and left me a little bewildered.

I had been working part-time but getting paid well. It required a lot of driving and for that, I was using a friend’s pickup. Well, last Monday I was traveling on a back road a was in an accident. I approached an intersection where there were no stop signs and weeds growing up so tall and right down to the road I couldn’t see if anything was coming on the left. I slowed down and proceeded only to be hit after about halfway through the intersection. The guy in the other vehicle had the same problem with not being able to see me. The road he was on had also been freshly graded which hampered his ability to stop. Luckily, we had both slowed down because of the intersection and not being able to see. He hit me in the driver’s side door. Since it is an extended cab, both doors were moved inward. I managed to get the door open but now it won’t latch. I guess I should have gotten out the other side instead of forcing it open, huh? Anyway, luckily there were no injuries and it could have been much worse if we had have been driving faster. Normally, there is hardly ever any traffic on the back roads but we both just happened to be there at the same time. So, I spent over a week getting dad’s 1996 Buick Century ready to drive, insured, and licensed. It runs well in town and you wouldn’t notice it had some issues on the highway. On rare occasions, I drove it out of town it would sputter and act crazy when picking up speed. So, I gave it new spark plugs and plug wires and now it runs much better… I hadn’t driven it for a while because I was using my friend’s pickup. I hadn’t been insured for a while which the old insurance company didn’t like very well. Not to mention the fact my license had been suspended for back child support, which I thought was straightened out with this new job. Unfortunately, to my surprise, it hadn’t been. Here I had been driving around with a suspended license. Fortunately, when the accident happened, we just exchanged insurance information and didn’t call the sheriff. When the insurance companies called neither one even asked about our driver’s license… One other reason I couldn’t get insurance with the old insurance company I had was that the driver of the other vehicle had insurance with them. I actually didn’t know my license was still suspended until I tried to get insurance. Anyway, I went to one insurance company to get the Buick insured and they wanted over $80 per month. I thought “HOLY CRAP!” Then, once I received the letter in the mail stating my license was good to go, I went to another insurance agency and they quoted me $156 for six months. WHEW! WHAT A DIFFERENCE! SOOOOO, it took me from Monday last week until Wednesday this week to get everything straightened out so I could get the Buick’s new license. Now I am told I will have to work out of the area and possibly stay at motels in order to continue working… Still only temporary… Finding a job at my age hasn’t been easy… I have not been “employed” for five years…

OK, so there are a lot of changes being made in so many areas. It makes one wonder what is going to happen next. A while back Facebook came out with a new version they wanted everyone to try out. I tried it out for a few minutes and didn’t like it so I switched back to the original. They have updated off an on over the years, but the basic “look” was barely changed and easily adapted to. Then last week, the popup covered almost the entire screen and it basically said we “had” to try it and get used to it because soon we would have no choice. So, I had no choice but to try it AGAIN. I basically only use Facebook to send messages to friends and family. At that time, I got on FB to message a friend but I couldn’t even find my friends list. After a few minutes of insanity, I found out how to switch back to the classic look. Last night, I again got on FB and the same darn popup was starring me right in the face AGAIN. You can’t just X out of it, you have to “try it”. Then, you have to go to your account settings to switch back to classic. I have been a FB member since 2007 and although changes have been made, it has always been similar and easy to navigate. I don’t use Messenger and I don’t have a cell phone.

Another website I use frequently changed their appearance but you could switch back to the old way. Then they asked why you switched back. They must have gotten a lot of bad reviews because now it is back to normal. They did make some good changes which is better for people using cell phones and tablets. Ummm, I only use a desktop computer (for now) and I don’t have a cell phone or tablet… Hmmm…

Now, I have been hearing a lot about WordPress bloggers having to use the new editor. When I started blogging again in 2017, everything had changed. I couldn’t find the old dashboard I was used to so I got on chat with support. They sent me a link so I could use the old version which I am still using even with this post. A few months I was prompted to try the “new block editor”. So, I did and after a few minutes, I deleted the post and went back to the old way. I understand updates have to be made for many reasons but when “seasoned” bloggers are used to writing and uploading photos a certain way we don’t like to change. It works perfectly fine the way it is. Now, if you want a little more pizzaz, you can choose from many themes. I have been blogging since 2009 and I have been using the same old way since I started. Updates have been made but they haven’t affected me at all. There have been moments I have had issues, but they have been because of my computer’s operating system updates. I had been using the Premium membership with WordPress for many years but then, because of a lack of funds, had to go back to the free WordPress. Fortunately, last week I was able to purchase the Personal membership. Nothing changed in appearance and everything is working the same as usual. It would have been the same even if I had purchased the Premium membership. The best thing is no ads on my blog now. The other thing is that I was using 93% of my space on the free membership which made me leery about adding a lot more pages and photos. I was told by support I could start seeing “things” disappear. Hmmm… SO, I upgraded and now I am using 46% of the space allowed. The reason I don’t like ads on my posts is because I have no control over where they are stuck. I checked before and they were randomly placed here and there interfering in the post. I didn’t like it but I couldn’t complain… Besides, with a free blog, I couldn’t chat with anyone to give my opinion. LOL!

I am confused somewhat why so many things are updating, upgrading, or whatever you want to call it. Why can’t they be made without changing the way sites look and work? Of course, we like new features that are helpful, but we don’t like having to deal with learning how to make things work. We all know barely anything lasts forever and has to e replaced like coffee pots, cars, lawnmowers, trimmers, clothes, etc. Sometimes we have to get newer computers because the old ones we have used for years are no longer upgradable. When we buy a new appliance we have no choice but to learn how to use it.

My 4 cup Mr. Coffee pot decided to die a few weeks ago. I went to get a new one and it was $17.00 at Wal-Mart. I paid less than $10 for the old one and I didn’t feel like paying $17 for a new one. SO, I got out the old percolator and used it for a while. When my son was here he had a nice fancy Keurig which I didn’t use. Oddly enough, he used my coffee pot more than the Kruig. Before he came here, he had lived with his mom for a while. I thought it was weird that he complained about her hiding her coffee pot in her bedroom so he couldn’t use it. He said, “why would I use her coffee pot when I have a Keurig?” Well, why did he use my coffee pot more than his Keurig? He is the one that even dug out the old percolator from the basement in the first place. He has been gone for a while, but I still had the old pot in the kitchen so I just started using it when the Mr. Coffee quit. Somewhere, the one we replaced it with is still here but I can’t find it… The coffee pot I used in Mississippi is also here somewhere but I can’t find it either… Maybe I got rid of them but can’t remember… I don’t think so… My memory is still fine. 🙂

ANYWAY, when was at Wal-Mart a few days ago I decided I could afford a new coffee pot. I still didn’t want to spend $17 for a 4-cup coffee pot nor did I want their cheaper Mainstays version. I don’t like cheaply made products and would rather do without than waste my money. I remember the days when I had an awesome Bunn coffee pot but I certainly didn’t want to spend that much for only a couple of cups of coffee per day. So, I looked around and there were less expensive Keurigs but I still didn’t want to pay $60 for a pot. SO, I opted for a less expensive Faberware that does the same thing. Well, that may have been a bit impractical because I paid more than a new Mr. Coffee would have cost me. I had a couple of pods laying around from somewhere that I tried out. Settings let you select either a 6, 8, 10, 12, or 14-ounce cup. You can also select if you are using a K-Cup or ground coffee and they have a gizmo for each one. I use a 12-ounce insulated cup for it to pour in and I think it would overflow if I selected 14-ounce. Then I add a little addictive creamer to an 8-ounce cup and pour my coffee into it. It is still a little strong but the creamer helps with that. This morning I used grounds and I will have to tweak that a little. It makes coffee stronger than the old pot and percolator, so I can actually use less coffee. This is not a complicated change and it works very well. I get my coffee in much less time.

I really want another cappuccino machine. I had one of those in Mississippi, too. The machine was in Suzanne’s stuff she had for the store, but I brought it home after she passed. A friend of mine there used to work in a coffee shop so he showed me how to use it. I wore it out after a few years… It was AWESOME!!! I had my own version of a white mocha latte.

Some things that upgrade I like. I like the new TV’s and I like new vehicles. I like the convenience and anything that helps us make our life better. I don’t like it when gadgets don’t work properly or fall apart. I always believed if you want something to last you have to pay the price. That I have done and basically do without until I can afford quality. I would love a new Ventrac with several attachments but that will have to wait until I get my lottery check.

COVID-19

My thoughts about COVID-19 are not that great. While I don’ think it is a joke like so many do around here.

Having to wear a mask when I was working was a pain in the neck but it was required. It itches, fogs up my glasses, and falls down when I talk. BUT, I think it is something necessary that should be done, especially in crowded places. I was in a larger community about 40 miles away one day and needed o go to Wal-Mart before I left. I decided not to go because that area had A LOT more positive cases than where I live or even where the Wal-Mart is I normally shop at. While working, I have stopped at a few convenience stores in different communities. Rural communities, where testing has not been done, seem to have a careless attitude toward the virus and no one wears masks except for store employees. In bigger communities, most customers are also wearing masks. Here in my home town, 99% of the people in stores and restaurants do not wear masks. While it is true we have only had maybe three people test positive it is likely because not many people have been tested. Supposedly, the clinic in town tests everyone that comes in and they have not reported any cases. The first case we had was an elderly lady that had been moved to the nursing home from another area. After a few days, she tested positive and was moved out. Another man tested positive after returning home from traveling. Another person, maybe his wife, also tested positive.

I watched a video on FB that is titled “THE FIRST COUNTRY TO WIN AGAINST COVID-19?” The guy was talking about Taiwan for the most part. Taiwan is a country with a population of 23,823,665 that has only tested 86,826 people. If they tested more I think they would have a different story. The United States has administered 79,472,486 tests and has a population of 331,309,290. Hmmm… I think someone screwed up when they decided to test so many people. It makes us look bad compared to countries like Taiwan. It was a good video, though, and shows the importance of wearing masks when in public. I think it is probably a good measure especially when you are around a lot of people not wearing them…

Now, I think we have all been pretty much exposed to the virus and a lot of us are positive or have antibodies indicating we had it and got over it. I had this weird cold or something that I mentioned a few posts ago. It is getting better now since my new supplements from Nature’s Sunshine arrived earlier this week. I stopped using nasal spray as soon as I started taking the pills. No cold/allergy medicine I had taken for three weeks helped one lick except to reduce the feverish feeling I would sometimes get. I started using the nasal spray in January because I was not allowed to take my elderberry supplements (because I was scheduled to have kidney stone surgery). The problem with cold medicine is that it took a while to feel better after taking it and then when it would wear off I wouldn’t feel so good again. With the supplements, I don’t have that rise and fall. My sinuses are now draining well and I am feeling better but it may take a while to feel as well as before. I didn’t go to the doctor for several reasons. One is that I am not a prescription drug taker. I know sometimes we have no choice or don’t think we do, but I am a believer in herbal and holistic medicine. Nature’s Sunshine has been a brand I have used for MANY years and I have always felt the difference when using their products. Many other brands I have tried don’t work that well.

I decided I would also try a vitamin supplement because I am getting, umm, older and I don’t always eat well. Even though the supplement has 500 mg of Vitamin C, I am still taking 500 mg from the bottle I had before.

You never know. Maybe I have COVID! What would happen if I got tested? Would I be quarantined? Sent to a facility somewhere? Who would take care of the chickens, cats, my plants, and the garden? What about the watermelons that are about to ripen? I have waited so long for a ripe one!

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT INCONVENIENT UPGRADES… 

The problem with upgrades is that we can’t get an upgrade ourselves. We should be able to own a gizmo we can step into or lay down on like a tanning bed. We get in and get out and look and feel 20-30 years younger. Not that I am old, or even feel old, I am just “looking” older. This is where I think god screwed up. Notice I use “g” instead of ‘G”. I know about the Sumerian tablets (etc.) and have a different opinion about our creation than what the bible teaches… Hmmm… And to think I am an elder at the church I attend…

HMMM… I JUST DELETED ABOUT 1,000 WORDS…

 THEN ANOTHER 1,000!

WELL, over the past four years I have done a lot of research and have my own opinion. One that I am not quite ready to share. I am quite sure my opinions and beliefs are the same as a lot of others but none of us want anyone else to know what we think. That is why we have so many issues on this planet. I have a lot to talk about but I am not sure how to go about it…

OK, I think I should wind this post up for now. I have several others in the works I can finish now before I get behind and they become old news…

I did get some new plants in the mail from a cactus and succulent farm I have to write about. Well, that was part of the deal I think even though it wasn’t directly stated. 🙂 Well, you know what I think about the industry’s misnaming of plants and their website is no exception. I will have to have some “rules” in place if I am going to help promote the company. The plants are great, though!

SO, until next time, be safe, stay positive, always be thankful, embrace life, stay well, and so on. GET DIRTY when you can and take a deep breath of fresh air!

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all well. In the last post I mentioned the storm. Well, it came and I made it to the house only getting a little wet. That was about 3:30. Then the wind picked up and we got a pretty good soaking. While it was raining and blowing I was thinking I would have to stand the corn back up. Since I cut the trees down in the old foundation I can see the garden from the porch. The first time I looked the corn seemed OK but the storm wasn’t over. Once the soil gets wet the corn is likely to blow over even though it is hilled more and the roots are bigger and stronger than before. Corn stalks blow over just like big trees. After the storm was almost over I looked out the door again. Well, it did look much better than before, but still, some blew over.

I know I mentioned it before, but the corn is planted in two sections each with four double rows. ‘Peaches and Cream’ in the first section and ‘Incredible’ in the second.

At 7:30, the rain was pretty much over and it was just barely sprinkling so I went to have a look. The worse part was the ‘Peaches and Cream’ in the same spot as before. This is where I found the moles had an old tunnel under the corn… There seems to be NO new mole activity in the garden because of the mole repeller (which I still need to write a post about).

The north side didn’t look too bad… This is the end of the rows of ‘Incredible. Some of the more spindly stalks still want to lean…

The ‘Incredible’ stood up much better and only part of it was leaning. There were a few stalks at the beginning of the ‘Incredible’ in the last row that blew over…  From this view, you are looking at the northeast corner of the corn, which is the end of the fourth row.

I am very thankful after four hours rain and wind it didn’t look much worse. The wind wasn’t so bad most of the time which was a good thing. I didn’t want to get right in and start standing it up because the corn was all wet and the soil was soaked. It wasn’t going to start curving during the night anway so I waited until the next morning…

Standing the corn back up after it is tall is not a job you can do with a hoe. I DID NOT take usethe tool I did the last time. I pretty much always work on my knees anyway and that little gizmo on the right is my tool of choice. It has to be the absolute handiest garden tool ever. You can hoe with it, make rows. cultivate, dig holes, and even give something a good whack. 🙂 I found this tool in Suzanne’s (Dr. Skinner) stuff when I was in Mississippi in 2008 and I have been using it every since. When I showed it to dad before he said he had one in the garage. I checked it is also from Publishers Clearing House which I have not used. The hand trowel is from Clarington Forge that I bought in 2009. I bought my first one like it from Smith and Hawkin in 1981 and used it until 2007 when I, ummm… (another story). Anyway, it was a Bulldog which was made at the Clarington Forge. At one point, the name was changed to Record, which was synonymous with Bulldog then the name the company started using was Clarington Forge. Now,  the company is using the name Bulldog again, but for Canada and the U.S., you will be prompted to use ClaringtonForge.com. I do miss my Bulldog spade, fork, and hoe which I mentioned before. Ummm, in the last post about standing up the corn I believe. LOL! Well, I need something with grit! Something that when you pick it up tells you it can handle anything… Just the name Bulldog says they are ready and capable. GEEZ! Maybe I need to be an affiliate!

This morning the corn in the third row didn’t miraculously stand back up and neither did any of the rest of it…

I was finished after an hour and now we are ready for the next time.

I know, I know, I said the next post would be about the watermelons but that was before the storm (which was in the forecast at the time). I kind of ignored the forecast on purpose because last week nothing happened… The clouds blew right over and we didn’t get a drop. So, I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to seem anxious for rain. I did take more photos of the watermelon patch which I will use on the next post. Hmmm… Maybe you aren’t going to trust that now. 🙂

Anyway, until next time, hopefully this evening or tomorrow, be safe, stay well, be positive and GET dirty somewhere in there.

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. All is well here… Well, kind of. When I went to bed the weather forecast said there was a 30% chance of rain. It said “less than one-tenth of an inch possible with higher amounts during thunderstorms.” Well, early in the morning the wind started blowing and it started pouring. I thought, “GEEZ! The corn will blow over.” Then I went to sleep after not being able to sleep all night. Sure enough, it did as you can see from the Wordless Wednesday photo… Anyway, I started this Homo neglectus Part 2, so I will finish it then write about the sweet corn blowing over.

The original shade bed is doing well as always but the lilac bush next to it some trimming. To the left of this bed is a concrete slab where a metal storage shed was many years ago. The slab gets covered with weeds, Carolina Creeper, and small trees that come up in the cracks. It is a yearly task cleaning it off. I have an idea to tie some pallets together and make a compost pile on the slab…

The corner shade bed, as I call it, is looking great as well. The Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’ (left) is flowering but ‘Krossa Regal’ (right) hasn’t started. The Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’, in the front, is doing good and already flowered.

Ummm… I know it looks like a mess, but this newest addition to the shade garden is doing fine. It just needs some weeding. Being next to the old goldfish pool there is A LOT of mosquitos to deal with when weeding. Sometimes if I am very quiet it takes them a while to know I am there. 🙂

With the mole repeller in the garden, the moles have returned the area next to the shade bed and in the yard in front f the chicken house. GEEZ! When I was mowing I saw one of those dirt piles is not from a mole. It has a good-sized hole. DOUBLE GEEZ!

I have almost completely gotten rid of the poison ivy that was growing in and around the shade bed but this one still lingers.

As I was walking by the old bird feeder I noticed ther was some grass in it. Hmmm… It appears Mr. Wren thought a female might like a nest inside but so far no takers. He completely ignores the wren house and so does the females that come… A few years ago a female was screaming at me and she kept going to the wren house but would not go inside. Then she would come back to where I was and scream some more. So, I went to have a look and there was a HUGE paper wasp nest blocking the entry. I cleaned it out and moved the house to the eve on the north side of the chicken house. I moved it because it was hanging next to the bird feeder and was pretty low. Apparently, she didn’t like my decision. Instead, she made a nest somewhere behind the chicken house… I really like House Wrens and they are certainly entertaining.

Now, let’s go to the south side of the house… In the “other yard”… Where the house is…

Baptisia australis cv. ?.

The Baptisia australis cv. ‘?’ (Wild Blue Indigo, False Indigo) at the southwest corner flowered very well this year and now has seed pods. This is the one I bought a few years ago that was supposed to be ‘Lunar Eclipse’ that turned out not to be… It has grown A LOT and seems to keep getting bigger every year. Good thing I moved the Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ to the other corner… It is a hybrid, of course, so maybe a better caption would be Baptisia Hybrid cv. ‘?’. I AM SO CONFUSED!

South bed…

I am always a little embarrassed to show the south bed in this condition. So many of you have great looking flower beds and I wish my back yard and beds were so well kept. The Elephant Garlic has done very well this year but the wind had played havoc with them.

Celosia argentea ‘Cramer’s Amazon’ on 6-26-20, #714-8.

One of the main reasons I neglect the south bed so long is because I have to wait for the Celosia ‘Cramer’s Amazon’ seedlings to come up. I am not even going to write the species name because that will lead to venting. 🙂 I sent seeds to Raphael Goverts, Senior Content Editor of Kew (Royal Botanical Gardens-Kew, Plants of the World Online, ETC., ETC.) and was happy to see there are photos posted of them on Plants of the World Online. I am hoping whoever is in charge of plant names will start using infraspecific names (var., subsp. or whatever) instead of putting the many “types” in groups. Oh, crap. I still vented a bit…

Torilis arvensis/Torilis japonica (Hedge Parsley).

Someday I would like to be free of stick tights altogether. I do need better photos of the flowers, leaves, and stems of Torilis arvense (Common Hedge Parsley, Spreading Hedge Parsley, Field Hedge Parsley) or Torilis japonica (Common Hedge Parsley, Erect Hedge Parsley, Japanese Hedge Parsley) for correct ID. Not that it matters for such a pain in the neck to be correctly identified. Missouri Plants says Torilis arvensis is a synonym of Torilis japonica, and it may have been for a while. However, there is apparently an agreement they are separate and distinct species now… Most also seem to agree, depending on location probably, that Torilis arvensis is the most prevalent. SO, I suppose the ones here are likely T. arvensis… The problem with getting good photos is that I am always pulling them up. I did get some good photos for ID before they flowered from the pasture. They are actually a neat, ferny plant before they set seed… GEEZ!

Talinum paniculatum (Jewels of Opar).

There are usually LOADS of Talinum paniculatum (Jewels of Opar) seedlings to transplant along the front of the south bed but so far only this one came up. I didn’t even deadhead them last summer to keep hundreds of seedlings from coming up. I think the seeds are good for several years in the ground because I had them coming up in the old cast iron planter last yere where I didn’t have any plants for several years. Just think, with only one coming up this year, I could have lost it completely… These plants are another reason I don’t do anything with the south bed until its seedlings come up.

Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ on 6-26-20, #714-25.

The Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ is doing pretty good in its new location for the second year. It doesn’t seem to be mad at me anymore especially since I do try to keep the weeds from growing around it. It is one of my favorite perennials so it does get pampered for fear of losing it. I have had it since 2013…

Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s Ears) on 6-26-20, #714-34.

The Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s Ears) completely died ate last summer so I was happy to see it return a little farther from where it was. That was a good surprise. I guess it didn’t like it to close to the wall of the basement steps or perhaps it didn’t like the Elephant Garlic next to it…

Hmmm…

OK, I am sorry the roses look like this. I know well-kept roses are beautiful but I am just not a fan. I took care of the beds for a lady in Mississippi, including her roses, so it isn’t like I don’t know how to manage them. I just despise the thorns. Mom liked roses and these came from Publisher’s Clearing House. GEEZ!!! When they came in 2014 or 15, before I convinced dad to stop fooling with PCH, he wanted me to plant them along the right side of the basement steps. Before, I had a Zinnia bed here. SOOOO… Since mom and dad have passed, guess what is going to happen here? In the next few weeks you will find out. 🙂 I kind of rate roses up there with Poison Ivy, getting stuck, flat tires, molehills, Japanese Beetles, and dead batteries. I am sure there are a few others that are fighting for number one on the list or maybe at least a space in the top ten. The list does fluctuate depending on the time of the year…

Alocasia on 6-26-20, #714-1.

TRIPLE, MAYBE QUADRUPLE GEEZ! I needed to do a lot of work and replant/repot the Alocasia before taking them to the area next to the shade bed. I always put them on the concrete slab around the barrel that covers the old well. SO, when I brought them from the basement (where they overwinter) I put them on the back porch. I have only got five pots finished… There are a few on the front porch, too. You can’t tell from this photo, but one of the Alocasia ‘Calidora’ is already almost over 8′ tall (including the pot).

Zantedeschia elliottiana (Golden Calla Lily) on 6-26-20, #714-38.

HOLY CRAP! The Japanese Beetles didn’t bother the Calla on the back porch last year but they found it this year already. They love the roses next to the porch. They like the Zantedeschia elliottiana but do not bother the Zantedeschia aethiopica next to it. I have had the Zantedeschia elliottiana for several years but somehow lost several bulbs over the winter. It was AWESOME last year!

Zantedeschia aethiopica (the white Calla) on 6-26-20, #714-39.

The Zantedeschia aethiopica went dormant in January in the house but I was hoping it wouldn’t. This is the Calla the owner of Wildwood Greenhouse gave me last June that he grew from seed. He said he couldn’t get them to grow or do anything. The plants were healthy but kind of droopy. They just grew to a point then stopped. So, I brought this pot home and repotted it in Miracle Grow Potting Soil and it continued to just sit there. Then, low and behold, in August they kind of perked up and started growing. They kept growing and getting taller even after I brought them inside. Then I think in January they started going dormant… I managed to keep the bulbs from rotting and they came back up again… There are many species of Calla native to different parts of Africa. Some are winter dormant and some are summer dormant because of their rainy seasons. Then there are the hybrids…

When you buy a pot of Calla that is beautiful and flowering they have been growing in a controlled environment. Trying to overwinter them so they will come up and flower is a bit tricky. Zantedeschia aethiopica is a species from South Africa that “can be” evergreen in the wild if they get enough rain… They can also flower in the spring, summer, and fall… Zantedeschia aethiopica can also be used along ponds (fish pools) so it seems to do well in moist conditions. I am just learning about this plant and I do love Calla!

Lavender and Rosemary on 6-26-20, #714-18.

I bought a pot of Lavender and Rosemary way back in, ummm, maybe April but I neglected to put them in the ground somewhere. One of those impulse buys from Wal-Mart. They were fine until we had a hot dry spell and I was busy in the garden and didn’t get them watered… I wonder if I can take them back to Wal-Mart and say I need a refund because they died. 🙂

Back of the house on 6-26-20, #714-4.

OK, so I need to do some trimming… The Nepeta x faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’ (Catmint) is in the corner next to the AC. It is blooming up a storm right now and will do so all summer. The Malva neglecta (Common Mallow) has always been growing around the AC and along the foundation and is also now blooming. It thinks I like it so it does really good here. Hmmm… It’s basically a weed but I do suppose I like it for its lush foliage. The Persicaria virginiana (Virginia Knotweed) and Persicaria maculosa (Lady’s Thumb) also think I like it since I did a post about Persicaria last summer. GEEZ! I have news for them as well…

Canna bed.

I have to admit how I screwed up the Canna bed. The Cannas were getting so thick AGAIN it wasn’t funny. I decided not to mulch the bed last fall or even remove the old stalks after the “F”. I knew by doing that I may lose some of them but I thought that would be a good idea to thin them out. Unfortunately, now there are bare spots. What is weird, though, even without mulching the Colocasia esculenta survived the winter. Don’t ask me how that happened…

Colocasia ‘Distant Memory’ on 6-26-20, #714-10.

DOUBLE GEEZ! I managed to overwinter the Colocasia ‘Distant Memory’ rhizome and I knew it also had an offset. I kept the rhizomes separate over the winter but they kind of got mixed up when I got ready to plant them. So, I panted both the larger rhizome and what I thought was its offset together. Well, apparently the offset I planted was a Colocasia esculenta so now I have to dig it up and relocate it. Most of the photos on this post were taken on June 26 and I noticed today the Colocasia esculenta has GROWN A LOT since the above photo was taken. I need to move it ASAP!!!

Salvia coerulea ‘Black and Blue’ on 6-26-20, #714-29.

I was very surprised the Salvia coerulea ‘Black and Blue’ returned this spring because I have problems with perennials overwintering in this spot. The Conoclinum coelestinum (Hardy Ageratum) used to reseed here every year but apparently didn’t approve of me putting other plants here and fizzled out. There a couple of plants came up on the other side of the steps but I accidentally pulled one up. GEEZ!

Colocasia ‘Coffee Cups’ on 6-26-20, #714-9.

I attempted to overwinter the Colocasia ‘Coffee Cups’ from last year but was unsuccessful. I was glad Muddy Creek Greenhouse had more this spring.

Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ on 6-26-20, #714-15.

The Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ just keeps getting bigger. The clump is now 32″ tall x 60″ wide and the flower stem is 52″ tall. Not bad, huh? The Astilbe x arendsii ‘Fanal’ thinks I screwed up and planted it to close. Hmmm… It is right so I have to move it somewhat next spring. It doesn’t mind being planted next to royalty, but as with some of the elite, they can be a bit pushy.

Forsythia…

I couldn’t stand it anymore so I gave the Forsythia a good haircut. It went from an afro to a crew cut…

The north bed has been weird… I will get rid of those trees ASAP and dab the stems with Tordon so maybe they will stop coming up. I put four Colocasia esculenta rhizomes in the bed and only one has come up and did well. The others are STILL in the sprouting phase. That never happened before and they always do so great here. I still have several I haven’t planted so I think I will just line them all up here. GEEZ AGAIN!

Now that we had 2″ of rain, and maybe still more to come, I need to mow. The garden is to wet and I have to see how much of the corn stands back up on its own… I did a post in 2017 about corn standing back up and only had 13 views. The post was titled How Does Corn Stand Back Up. There were 7 views in 2018 and 185 in 2019. A few weeks ago I noticed the post was getting a lot of views so I checked and it has got 327 views so far in 2020, 207 in June alone. LOL! SO, I think I will write a new post about the corn since it blew over so bad… The reason I hilled up the corn apparently has nothing to do keeping it from falling over. There are multiple reasons… I will write a new post about the corn and maybe be a little more entertaining and explain the reason for hilling, removing the suckers, and so on. Last night I noticed there were aphids on the tassels of two stalks and, of course, the ants farming them. There were also Ladybugs feeding on the aphids. 🙂

So, until next time… Be safe, stay positive, stay well, and always be thankful. Take care and GET DIRTY!

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you all doing very well and beginning to enjoy the heat of the summer. There are many ways we can enjoy the heat like under a shade tree, in front of or under a fan, or in a recliner in the AC. You don’t have to be outside in the heat to enjoy it. I find taking a nap under a ceiling fan in the afternoon a good idea. Then, I get up about 6 PM and go outside and work until about 9. By then a few mosquitos have found me so I go inside.

This may be a weird post showing the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am not going to sugar coat anything because with me, what you see is what you get. The flower beds have been neglected a little more than usual because I have been spending a lot of time in the garden. That is slowing down somewhat now because we haven’t had much rain to make the weeds and grass keep coming up. I can till and weed and just watch the garden grow. We did have 6/10″ on Friday and a little more Saturday so that will sure help. The forcast has 30-40% chance of rain every day all week. It says each day less than one-tenth of an inch with more possible during thunderstorms. Hmmm… Well, this time of the year, 30-40% means a very slight chance. It may thunder and lightning and the wind may blow but there may be no rain at all.

I have finished hilling most of the corn (I think I said that before). Not having to work in the garden has allowed me time for other projects… This past week I cut down the trees inside of the basement. They were getting so tall I couldn’t see the garden from the house. It looks much better now.

The front steps and old entryway were covered with grapevines and Carolina Creeper. I had been cutting down a few maples and white mulberry trees from the old entryway for several years. I bought a product Tordon RTU from the feed store I have been using on all the trees and grapevines I have been cutting down and it keeps them from coming back. I don’t like using chemicals but enough is enough…

When I cleaned out the Iris bed on the north side of the steps I found grapevines, Carolina Creeper, Smilax tamnoides, elm, redbud, and maple trees, and maybe a few other unnecessary intruders. Hard to imagine so much stuff in one small space.

Physostegia virginiana (Obedient Plant).

The southeast corner of the foundation is a BIG problem area and it always has been. When I lived here before this area was full of Bermuda Grass and used to grow all the way up to the top of the downspout. I dug it all up from the dining room to the corner of the back porch for a flower bed but the Bermuda Grass was very hard to control. I am still fighting it…

I thought this corner would be great for Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana) and it has worked very well here. It is a spreader and the colony gets bigger every year. I wanted it here but I don’t want it anywhere else and it softens the corner… The only problem with them is that their top leaves look like they are burnt or frostbit. I guess it is a common thing… I put one plant here in 2017 and it has spread very well but I wouldn’t want it in a flower bed.

Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree Cholla), Phedimus spurius ‘John Creech’, Phedimus kamtschaticus ‘Variegata’, and Sempervivum ‘Killer’.

Hmmm… You can clearly see the Tree Cholla in this old cast iron planter (used to be part of a coal-burning furnace) but you have to look very close to see the Phedimus kamtschaticus ‘Variegata’ and Sempervivum ‘Killer’. The Phedimus spurius ‘John Creech’ is taking over so I need to remove it from the planter. It has its own area between the planter and the foundation…

Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree Cholla).

The Tree Cholla is doing great and promises it won’t bite when I start removing the intruder. I have had this cactus since 2017 and I am always hoping for flowers. Maybe next year…

Phedimus kamtschaticus.

The Phedimus kamtschaticus (Orange or Russian Stonecrop) is doing great and always has since I put it here in 2016. I think finally (hopefully) “those in charge” have agreed to call it Phedimus kamtschaticus instead of Sedum kamtschaticum. Several Phedimus/Sedum species have been flopping around between the two for a long time. It used to stand up in a nice tidy clump but since it started flowering a few years ago it wants to sprawl leaving a hole in the middle. A few years ago, when it was a Sedum, the Missouri Botanical Garden had a page for both Sedum kamtschaticum and Sedum kamtschaticum var. ellacombianum. They said the latter was similar but had larger leaves. Since the Phedimus name is now accepted, the variety is now Phedumis ellacombeanus once again like it was named in 1995… Phedimus kamtschaticum is a native of Russia and Phedimus ellacombeanus is a native of Korea and Japan. It seemed this clump had larger leaves before it started sprawling so I wondered which it was. I am pretty sure it is Phedimus kamtschaticus now. Dave’s Garden still doesn’t have a pronunciation for Phedimus, but kamtschaticus is pronounced kam-SHAY-ti-kus. I guess we just have to redneck the Phedimus part which I do a lot of anyway. 🙂 Maybe FEED-ah-mus. How about FEED-A-mouse?

Echinacea purpurea cv. ? on 6-26-20, #714-12.

The Echinacea purpurea cv. ? (Purple Coneflower) is doing great. They have done so well I put a couple of clumps in the center of the bed at church. I have a clump in the southeast corner bed next to the house as well.

GEEZ! I cleaned off the ivy from what used to be an enclosed back porch, steps, and patio area. In the 1980’s I moved the Japanese Spirea from the front of the house to this area between the back porch and basement steps. When I returned in 2013 I saw it was still here and also in the front iris bed. I am not sure how many times I have cut trees out of this area not to mention the ivy… There was no ivy here in the 1980’s… I put the peony here a few years ago I dug up from next to my grandpa and grandma Miller’s tombstone. Now I have to remove this ivy and trees again. I already cut down several redbud trees…

Redbud trees are a pain when you cut them down. They keep growing and are hard to get rid of. I have one by the street I keep battling but the one behind the house never sprouted after I cut it down. According to the almanac, there are certain days that are best to do this and that. I wonder if sometimes I get the time right by accident. If that is true, it would be great to be able to cut the ivy out and not have it come back. 🙂 Hmmm… I am not going to count on that one…

The bed at the northeast corner of the old foundation has always been a favorite spot. Back in the early 1980’s this was where I made my first shade bed. With no house here now there is no shade. You can see it in this photo, but there were a lot of iris coming up along the north side of the foundation in 2013. Dad said he had been mowing them off for years and they just kept coming up. SO, I moved them to the corner of this bed and the colony has gotten HUGE now. He brought home some rhubarb and horseradish from a friend so I put them here as well. I have grown marigolds in this bed but a few years ago I moved the Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’/’Goldstrum’ from the north bed by the house to this location. They approved and have really spread. I haven’t gotten the old stems from last year all removed yet. Normally, there is also a big colony of native Rudbeckia hirta (?) in the front of this bed but late last summer they got some kind of mildew or something and didn’t return this year. I am not sure if they were Rudbeckia hirta or a different species of Black-Eyed/Brown-Eyed Susan. There are several species, varieties, and subspecies that are native to Missouri that I haven’t been able to tell apart. There are several in the south bed by the house that are a later flowering species that have no mildew issues.

As I was taking photos, I noticed Japanese Beetles were chewing (and mating) on the rhubarb. Yesterday I put a new attractant on one of the traps which is hanging next to the shade bed…

I will finish this post now and move on to Homo neglectus Part 2. But, before I go, I want to show you something…

Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas Fern) on 6-26-20, #714-27.

I was cleaning out the smartweed in the north bed by the house a few days ago and ran across this fern. I think it is Polystichum acrostichoides also known as the Christmas Fern. It has never been here before so I was very surprised.

And one more thing… I think I made a new friend in the garden.

Anaxyrus americanus (American Toad).

After I took the photos for this post and part 2 and maybe 3, I went to work hilling up more of the sweet corn. I was on my hands and knees moving dirt with my hands when I felt something squishy. I guess I squeezed it too hard thinking it was a clod of dirt and it made a noise. It turned out to be a big fat toad.

I sat him on the dirt next to a stalk of corn and petted him and apologized for squeezing him. There are a lot of baby toads this year which is great. They eat a lot of bugs, spiders, and even slugs. The color of this guy is a bit strange for an Anaxyrus americanus or even the other similar species. They are supposed to be browner and have a light central stripe running down their back. I am going to have to pay closer attention… He had been sleeping under the soil where it was cool and damp so maybe his color had changed somewhat. Then I scared the crap out of him and he just sat there like he was in shock. 🙂

That is it for this Homo neglectus Part 1. I will get started on part 2 right away.

Until next time, be safe, stay positive, be thankful, and GET DIRTY!

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. The garden continues to do well and the sweet corn is still weird. We finally received 1 2/10″ of rain from Friday afternoon and overnight. I came back home Friday afternoon from helping a friend and it had been raining a little off and on. The rain gauge said 2/10″ of an inch at the time… I took a nap then went to the garden around 6:30 and saw a lot of the taller corn had blown over so I had to stand it back up. I had watered on Thursday so the ground was was fairly wet. While I was at it I removed the suckers from more of the corn and hilled it up pretty good as I went. During the night another storm came in and the wind blew a lot. I thought surely the corn would blow over again but it didn’t. There was a total of 1 2/10″ in the rain gauge.

OH, earlier in the week I bought a new hose because I couldn’t get inside the garden with the 150′ I had. I needed to water the smaller corn and what I had transplanted and I was using a watering can… Anyway, a friend told me he had a lot of extra hose so he gave me 100′. Then another friend also gave me 50′. All of it is very good heavy hose so I took back what I had bought. Now I have enough to get into the garden and replace the old hose that is about shot. I can use the old hose on the faucet behind the house or the last 50′ from a friend. Either way, I can definitely stop using the weird expanding hose dad bought from Publisher’s Clearing House.

I had already removed the suckers and hilled some of the corn but not all. The reason I hadn’t hilled it all yet was because some of the corn was still very small… As I mentioned in a previous post, the seeder did not plant very well the first time so I replanted what didn’t come up. Then the moles ate a lot of that even with the mole repeller in the center of the garden. SO, I replanted again and moved the mole gizmo between the two sections of corn. That time the moles didn’t seem to bother it. Maybe the mole repeller doesn’t work well in tilled soil… Hmmm…  Believe it or not, there is not that much difference in age between the tallest corn and she shortest. The first planting grew quickly and the last planting very slow because of lack of moisture.

Ummm… I know what dad would say… I didn’t get an almanac and plant by the sign. He always said if you plant in the sign it will grow whether it rains or not. I just don’t like it because the corn is next to the street where everyone can see it. 🙂

‘Incredible’ from the north side. I always like growing sweet corn probably because it is one of my favorite vegetables. But, as always, there are a few hiccups along the way by the time it is harvested. I knew there will be mole issues and wind that will blow it over (more than once or twice) because it always happens. Despite the issues, it is well worth it…

I usually don’t have to worry that much about suckers but this year has been terrible. I have never had corn sucker so much before. Half of the corn is ‘Incredible’ and the other half is ‘Peaches and Cream’. I have grown ‘Incredible for several years but this is the first time I have planted ‘Peaches and Cream’ unless it was MANY years ago (early 1980’s).

Now, that is the way it should all look… Well, perhaps the stalks are a little close together for the “experts” but if your soil is AWESOME I think it is OK to plant a little close. Sometimes 2-3 seeds came out together and they all came up and looked good. I have to choose which ones to thin out and sometimes I may leave two if they are big and growing well. Most of the time that happens one will be bigger than the other and the smaller one should be removed. Truthfully, our corn has been much closer without thinning or suckering and we had such a bumper crop it lasted me four years in the freezer.

From now on I am going to plant the corn without using the seeder. Even though information suggests to plant 2-3 seeds (per hill) 3-4 inches apart and then thin to one plant 10-12″ (or 8-10″). Experience is the best teacher and I think planting 2-3 seeds 2-4″ apart and thinning is a complete waste of seed and plants (and energy). BUT, you do need to remove the suckers from your corn. Suckers take energy from the main stalk that needs to be used to produce corn.

I was going to write a post about seeders but that time kind of past. Most seeders have the seed plate that fits vertically on the side of the hopper with a series of holes in it. There is a small cup that scoops up the seed and as the wheel turns it comes to a hole where the seed falls out. MOST all seeders available are exactly alike except one that I know of. Hoss Tools make one where the seed plate sits horizontally at the bottom of the hopper so the seed can’t fall out. They make wheel hoes and a variety of attachments that are very well made. They are a bit pricey but well worth the money if you have a lot of planting to do. They also offer other tools, garden seeds, supplies for drip irrigation, pest control, fertilizer, and food preservation.

The remaining two “clumps” of asparagus has done really well this year and expanded very nicely. I had a HUGE bed in Mississippi and brought all the crowns with me but most died out over a few years. GEEZ! I love asparagus!

The ‘Sugar Ann’ Snap Peas are doing very good and are beginning to flower.

The kale has really taken off this past week as well. I bought new seed from the Green Street Market in Clinton but I don’t know what kind I bought. I told the owner I wanted kale seed and she put a scoop or two on an envelope and didn’t write down what kind it was. I had leftover ‘Red Russian’ and ‘Dwarf Blue’ from 2017 so I mixed them all together. I later found a package of ‘Siberian’ from 2016 which I didn’t use…

The ‘Broad Windsor’ Fava Beans also started flowering this week and are looking great.

The ‘Black Diamond’ Watermelons have also taken off this past week. I gave them plenty of space but I know they will eventually take most of the garden. One year I planted white sweet potatoes and they took the garden. They were great though! I thought about ordering some bush sweet potatoes but I didn’t…

Now for the tomatoes…

I managed to get all the tomato plants mulched with old hay this past week. They are all doing GREAT. I experimented with my own version of trellising in 2017 so I did it again this year. I put a steel fence post next to each plant and run balers twine along the top of each post. You only have to tie it to the first and last post and wrap it around the others. Get it as tight as you can… Unless it is very (VERY) old it won’t break. I always use a level when I am setting the posts because a something that isn’t straight drives me NUTS. They used to call it being a perfectionist now they say it is OCD. LOL! If I had OCD I wouldn’t be living on a 40-acre farm.

People who enjoy growing their own tomatoes typically have their favorite cultivars and their own particular way of growing them. There is plenty of good advice online when it comes to growing tomatoes. Some people use Epsom Salt on their tomatoes for a variety of reasons and I thought I might try it. But, I found out Epsom Salt is magnesium and sulfur and unless your soil is deficient in those micronutrients it doesn’t really help. Some say it prevents blossom end rot but that isn’t true either. Too much magnesium inhibits the proper uptake of calcium and one cause of blossom end rot is the inability for the plants to absorb enough calcium. Another cause is fluctuations in soil moisture which is one reason I added the mulch…

It seems once the tomatoes form their first set of branches you have to be on your toes. This is where the plants fork out and form two branches. Once the two branches get big enough, I tie a piece of twine on the post for each branch.

Some information says you need to remove the suckers and leaves below this fork. I remove the suckers but leave the leaves until they turn yellow.

Once I tie the twine to post I wrap it loosely around the branch once or twice, depending on how long the branch is, then I tie the other end to the twine running along the top of the posts. I tie it as perfectly in the middle as I can very tight and overlap the two so they won’t move around. You will also need space for tying up secondary branches between the post and center knots… You don’t need to make the twine holding the branches very tight. In fact, it is a good idea if it is fairly loose. It will tighten up as the branches get heavy and you may even have to loosen it up a bit.

Normally, I use jute twine to tie the tomatoes and wrap the branches but I ran out… I need more but I keep forgetting. I ripped some material into strips to tie the stems to the steel post and it may be an option to use it instead of the twine to wrap the branches. Balers twine and string can cut into the branches so you need to use something softer and thicker. Just experiment and watch for whatever you are tying and wrapping with to make sure it doesn’t get to tight as stems get thicker.

If I see the balers twine causing harm I will replace it with strips of material. Hmmm… I could use different colors for each plant or maybe for each variety. Well, since I don’t have a privacy fence I think I better rethink that. Trellising the tomatoes like this already makes some people think I am a bit whacky.

This photo shows a second fork on this ‘Goliath’. This is not a sucker… I will tie another piece of twine to the post at this point, wrap it around the branch, then tie the other end between the knot and the post at the top.

I bent a couple of electric fence posts to use on the ends. It works but they move around a bit. 🙂

It seems no matter how much time you spend with your tomatoes removing small suckers, there are always a few that. I noticed while taking photos I had missed several like this one. GEEZ!

Typically you want to remove suckers that form above the leaf nodes when they are very small for several reasons. You can just pinch them off easily with your fingers. Some information online says once suckers get bigger than the size of a pencil, removing them can cause damage to the plant. Well, folks, I didn’t read that until this year so I have been removing them at any size. I have noticed in the past removing large suckers has effected some of the plants, kind of like a shock. Once fruit starts growing and it gets very hot, removing large suckers can also remove leaves that are providing shade for the tomatoes. If you leave large suckers, just pinch off after the first or second leaf. You can also just remove tips of larger suckers and leave the larger leaves for shade. The other problem with missing larger suckers is that they will, sooner or later, flower and then you won’t want to remove them. Best to do it before that happens so it won’t keep you awake at night. 🙂

It is always best to remove any leaves once they start turning yellow, especially lower leaves. Any leaves or suckers that have been removed need to be taken from the area for disease control.

Many people I know never remove suckers from their plants and use tomato cages. They get along just fine and have LOADS of NICE tomatoes. I was brought up staking and pruning and kind of sort of learned from my dad. If I remember, he used to prune and leave one single stem but as he got older he didn’t worry about it.

‘Rutgers’

This ‘Rutgers’ plant has a cluster of tomatoes where the plant is forking then lots of flower clusters in the upper portion of the branches. The other two have smaller tomatoes than this one. They are more open growing and haven’t had that many suckers to deal with. Rutgers is an OLD variety and my dad used to grow them when I was a kid. I have three of these because there were only three in the pack and they are all growing exactly the same.

‘Goliath’… Hmmm… With a big sucker… 

I have grown ‘Goliath’ several times and I always like them. The plants have plenty of leaf cover for shade and the leaves get very long. They seem to form secondary branches very quickly and they sucker A LOT!

A cluster of tomatoes on a ‘Goliath’.

They produce fairly large and tasty tomatoes.

Tomatoes on a ‘Mortgage Lifter’.

The ‘Mortgage Lifter’ plants grow similar to ‘Goliath’ and produce LOTS of good leaf cover. Right now, this ‘Mortgage Lifter’ has more  and larger tomatoes than any other plant. There are five of this variety because one cell had two plants. It makes up for the one missing from the ‘Rutgers’ pack. I have grown this variety several times and they have always done well.

‘Cherokee Purple’

There are four ‘Cherokee Purple’ on the north end of the row. They are doing very good although they are MUCH smaller in comparison to the other varieties. I have not grown this variety before but I did grow ‘Black Krim’ in 2017. Very interesting and dad didn’t like them…

‘Cherokee Purple’

I noticed I need to loosen this plant up a little because a couple of tomatoes are tight up against the post.

I was thinking about trying ‘Pineapple’ also but I decided 16 plants was enough. I will have plenty to eat, maybe can, and give away. I grew over 20 plants in 2017 but a lot of the tomatoes were weird. ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Goliath’ were the best and best looking in 2017 but I didn’t find any ‘Celebrity’ this year.

I got up one morning and when I fed the cats on the back porch I noticed “something” or “someone” had dug up two packs of the okra on the plan table. HMMM… I planted the seed in the packs instead of the garden so the moles would not eat the seed and then that happened! GEEZ! So, I had to put the plants that were dug up back in the packs. I asked the cats who did that and they didn’t seem to have a clue. I have my suspicions, though… I moved the okra to the bedroom window. I planted 20 seeds and 19 came up. On plant started being weird and after the disaster, there are two more that are iffy.

I was a little hesitant to move the okra to the garden because a few storms were in the forecast. I decided to just transplant a few Saturday evening to see how they would do but then went ahead and did them all.

I have noticed a few Japanese Beetles here and there but Saturday there were A LOT on this American Elm sprout along the north side of the house. I didn’t notice them on American Elm last year but they strip the Chinese Elms. Then Sunday I saw several on the asparagus in the garden. They didn’t appear to be eating it but they were hanging out for sure. I still hve the traps from last year so I better clean them out and add new attractant. There are few things I really don’t like, and Japanese Beetles are close to the top of the list.

Last Sunday, the 14th, I went on a walk to the back of the farm and took quite a few photos. I even identified a few new species again. Anyway, I have been working on that post all week when I had the time and wasn’t too tired to focus. It still isn’t ready and I think it will be too long.

Now I better stop or I won’t get this one finished.

Until next time, be safe, stay positive, be thankful, and GET DIRTY!

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. We had another storm on June 5, a month to the day since the last one. Like before, this one did quite a bit of damage in town with trees and limbs falling. Then another one popped in the next night. I didn’t have any major issues in the yard like last time and I didn’t go to the back of the farm to see if there was any damage this time. The grass in the hayfield is getting so tall and thick it is hard to walk through. We have more rain and thunderstorms in the forecast beginning Monday night after 10 PM. We’ll see if the forecast is right… At least 2-3 more inches coming.

I managed to get the garden tilled and pretty much weeded before the rain came because I knew it would be a few days before I could get in it again. After a couple of 90° F days the top has dried out pretty well.

Hmmm… Everything has managed to come up and do pretty well except the sweet corn. I hadn’t planted a garden since 2017, so I had forgotten the issue with planting sweet corn with the seeder. You have to angle it slightly so the seed won’t fall out of the hole. SO, I had to replant a lot of seed. The second planting didn’t do well because the moles ate a lot of that seed even though I had ut the mole repeller in the middle of the garden right from the start. SO, I planted the third time and put the mole repeller between the two sections of corn. The third time I think it all came up. I also transplanted some of the seedlings. The other reason I don’t like planting corn with the seeder is because it plants the seed, what does get planted, to close together. I could never figure out why you should plant 2-3 seeds a few inches apart and thin to one plant 10-12 inches apart. Why not just plant one seed 10-12 inches apart so you don’t have to thin? I did that in Mississippi and it worked fine. Next time I am not planting corn with the seeder unless I am fortunate enough to buy a Hoss Seeder. That would be AWESOME!

The ‘Black Diamond’ Watermelon seedlings are doing well. I can hardly wait to sink my teeth into a ripe, red, sweet, juicy watermelon!

The east side of the garden is doing good. On the right of this photo is the ‘Broad Windsor’ Fava Beans. I bought the seed in 2017 but didn’t plant it. I decided I would plant some of the seed to see if they would come up. YEP… Every seed I planted came up. I left room in that row for the Okra seed. The center row, about half, I planted kale. I bought new seed from the Green Street Market in Clinton even though I had two other varieties from before. I decided I would mix all the seeds together. It came up pretty well but we had a rain afterward and I think some of the seed got covered too deeply. The other half of the row is ‘Sugar Ann’ Snap Peas. It came up pretty well and is doing very good. Then the tomatoes… ‘Rutgers’, ‘Goliath, ‘Mortgage Lifter’, and ‘Cherokee Purple’. There is still a little short grass between the tomatoes I didn’t have time to remove yet. I did manage to get them staked. I had spent every evening in the garden until I could see. Then it rained… I plan on mulching the tomatoes with old hay.

With the mole issues in the garden, I decided I would plant the okra in 4-packs. I have wanted to try ‘Jing Orange’ for several years but they was always sold out before. I found a seller on Ebay so I bought a package of 10 seeds. Hmmm… When I opened the package there were 20 seeds so, I planted all of them. All but one have come up or sprouted… You just never know…

Deutzia scabra on 6-7-20.

The Deutzia scabra is flowering full swing again. I cut it way back a couple of years ago and it is almost as tall as before. It was 14′ tall…

Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ on 6-7-20.

The Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ is STILL growing and now it has buds.

Amorphophallus sp. and Oxalis on 6-7-20, #708-1.

Hmmm… Last year I said I was going to remove and separate the two Amorphophallus in this pot and leave it for the Oxalis triangularis subsp. papilionaceae (False Shamrock). Well, as you can see that didn’t happen again (yet). Now there are a few Amporphallus offsets as well. A few springs ago 12 came up…

Amorphophallus sp. and Oxalis on 6-7-20, #708-2.

Hmmm… One of the Amorhphallus kids is going to be a joker. It said to take a photo of it with the flower to make you think it bloomed. I assured him my readers were smart enough not to fall for that…

Oxalis triangularis subsp. papilionaceae on 6-7-20, #708-11.

The Oxalis triangularis subsp. papilionaceae in this pot loves to bloom inside during the winter and outside in the summer. The salmon-pink flower is from the Oxalis tetraphylla.

Oxalis tetraphylla (Iron Cross) on 6-7-20, #708-10.

The Oxalis tetraphylla (Iron Cross) had a few flowers when I brought it home but they have just about fizzled out. It does have several new clusters, though. My other pot of Oxalis tetraphylla didn’t come up so I had to bring home another…

Well, that’s all I have to talk about for now. Until next time, have a great week. Be safe, well, stay positive, and always be thankful. Don’t forget to GET DIRTY!

Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ on 5-15-20.

Hello everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I thought I would do an update about what is going on and growing. Friday afternoon I started pulling the chickweed out of the north bed, the south bed, and shade beds. I already did it in the bed behind the old foundation and corner bed but there is still plenty to be done… I have no “to-do list” because it changes with the weather.

I decided to walk around the house, go to the garden, then around the shade beds and take a few photos. The photos are in the way they were taken and not alphabetical order this time. The names of the plants are linked to take you to their page although they may not be updated with 2020 photos. I am a little behind but that’s OK since we are a continual work in progress…

The first photo is the Hosta ‘Empress Wu’. Information says it will reach maturity in five years and this will be its fourth summer. I haven’t measured it yet, but at maturity, the clump can grow to 4-5′ tall x 6-8′ wide. I moved it farther from the corner in 2018 to allow for that but I forgot something…

Astilbe x arendsii ‘Fanal’.

When I brought home the Astilbe x arendsii ‘Fanal’ in 2018 I planted it to close to the Hosta ‘Empress Wu’. The Astilbe has really spread out all by itself and I forgot to consider that as well. The other Astilbe, that I forgot to photograph, has always remained small and really should be moved. I would really like a bigger bed on the north side but I would have to build a bigger house.

Stellaria media (Chickweed).

I don’t know if you have to deal with Chickweed like I do, but I am beginning to despise the stuff… I know it is good for this and that but I could easily do without it. To make it worse, I just spread the seed when I pull it up. I can’t complain, though, because I guess it does protect the soil from erosion and other harder to pull weeds would be growing in its place. I could use a mulch to keep it from growing but that would also interfere with the…

Geranium sanguineum (Bloody Cranesbill).

The Geranium sanguineum is on the move this spring. It has all but died out on the left side of the bed but is trying to regain ground more in the center of the bed. The north bed is actually a little wet for it and I think that is one of its problems. Dad didn’t realize it needs more sun and better drainage when he moved it from the bed behind the old foundation. It is a survivor, though, as it has been here since I first bought it from Bluestone Perennials and put in the bed behind my grandparent’s old house in the early 1980’s (when I lived there). I moved in 1987 and my parents moved their new manufactured home here in 1996. Then, a few years later, the old house was torn down… Now that mom and dad have passed I am here by myself. Well, not actually by myself. I have the darn cats, chickens, and plants…

Now, going around the house to the front porch…

A few of the plants on the front porch.

Hmmm… I moved them outside then back in again since we had a frost warning on, um, whatever day it was. Now they are back outside again because they were beginning to give me dirty looks. With this many plants in temporary housing in the living room, I was worried they might start a mutiny or something. I had to start sleeping with one eye open. Anyway, most of them made it through the winter very well. There are a few exceptions but some even grew and flowered for the first time.

Now to the south bed…

Baptisia australis ? cv ?.

The Baptisia australis ‘whatever you call it’ is starting to flower and is looking really good. If you remember this is the plant I bought that was supposed to be ‘Lunar Eclipse’ a few years ago as a first-year plant. As you may know, they flower their second year so I didn’t know it was labeled wrong. Probably the person who put the label in the pot didn’t know either. Anyway, even though it isn’t a ‘Lunar Eclipse’ it is still a nice plant…

I haven’t taken any photos of the Iris yet…

Allium ampeloprasum (Elephant Garlic).

The Elephant Garlic is doing great as always in several spots in the south bed. My neighbor gave me a start when I lived in Mississippi so I have been growing it for around ten years. I really enjoy the flowers and it is great for cooking as well.

Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ on 5-15-20, #700-24.

The Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ (‘May Night’) has been here in this spot since I planted it in 2014. The clump has barely gotten bigger for all these years. Then, when I was pulling up the Chickweed, I was surprised to see one had come up about 2 feet from the main clump. I have had some interesting conversations with this ‘Mainacht’, particularly about its size. I bought a large pot from the clearance rack at Lowe’s in 2012 when I was living at the mansion in Mississippi that was a much larger plant with larger leaves. This one, I bought at Lowe’s in 2014 when I moved back here and it has always been so much smaller. So, I question this plant about the issue and remind it that no matter what it is still AWESOME. The plant always tells me it is because of the Elephant Garlic invading its space and would like me to move it. I did remove the garlic once but I guess several bulbules were left behind because it continues to come up. I have said many times if some plants don’t like where they are they will move with or without your help… Apparently, ‘Mainacht’ has decided to take matters in its own hands and is showing me a thing or two. As you can tell, the new plant is much bigger and even already flowering. Hmmm…

I have grown MANY Salvia over the years and this one has survived where most of the others have failed. The Salvia nemorosa ‘New Dimensions Blue’ is barely hanging in there and I didn’t take its photo. Interestingly, it has the same issue with the Elephant Garlic in the other end of the bed.

I kind of upset the Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ because I didn’t take its photo this go around. I told him his photo has been taken more than any other perennial and right now he wasn’t doing anything exciting. I am also trying to encourage him to flower which would be well worth photographing…

So, let’s move around the corner to the back porch…

Most of the cactus collection on the back porch on 5-15-20, #700-4.

Most of the cactus collection are on this table on the back porch. There are a few on the front porch that seem to prefer less than full sun (at least for the moment). I only lost one cactus over the winter, the Echinopsis mirabilis, which flowered itself to death last summer. Man, that was AWESOME. If you missed it, click HERE for its page. I also lost the big Crassula tetragona (Miniature Pine Tree) so I brought home a new one from Wagler’s a few weeks ago. Strange how small they look in this photo.

On to the northeast corner bed by the steps kind of where we started. Hosta ‘Empress Wu’ is on the other side of the steps…

Salvia coerulea ‘Black and Blue’ on 5-15-20, #700-23.

Last spring I put three Salvia coerulea ‘Black and Blue’ in the northeast corner bed. They went berserk and I soon realized I only needed one. I was very surprised when they all three started coming up this spring because hardly anything I plant here ever comes up the second year. HMMM… I do not seem to have a page for this one…

Now, let’s head to “the other yard”.

Garden 2020.

I am thankful I was able to buy a new motor for dad’s old Troy Bilt tiller. The last time I had a garden was 2017. I didn’t plant one in 2018 because I canned plenty of green beans and froze a lot of sweet corn from 2017. I was going to plant a garden last year but when I started the tiller it threw a rod after about 15 minutes. It also needed new tires because they had dry rot pretty bad. One of them was so bad I had to take the air tank to the garden and keep airing the tire up. It was full of slime and it started oozing out and the tire would then cake with dirt. Dad got a kick out of it but I really didn’t think it was that funny at the time.

There is still plenty of jars of green beans so I didn’t plant any. I used to eat a lot of green beans but then I got burned out. Dad didn’t eat them either. The sweet corn in the freezer is almost gone now so I planted plenty… Four double rows about 50 feet long. I planted half Peaches and Cream bi-color and half Incredible. There are 16 tomato plants, kale (three varieties mixed together), Sugar Ann snap peas, Black Diamond watermelon, some old fava bean seeds (which I bought and didn’t plant in 2017). I still have to plant the okra but it needs to be warmer and stay that way with no rain in the forecast or the seeds will rot. I am going to try ‘Jing Orange’ this year. I like experimenting a lot, especially with okra and tomatoes. For tomatoes, I bought Goliath, Mortgage Lifter, Cherokee Purple, and Rutgers. There were no Celebrity which I had good luck with in 2017. When I was a kid dad always liked Rutgers then he switched to Beefsteak which I didn’t like. I prefer Goliath as a beefsteak type so far. I wanted some sweet pepper plants but I didn’t find any.

OH, I put the mole repeller in the middle of the garden because I have had issues with moles eating seed in the past. It did a wonderful job in the shade beds and kept the moles out, even within 40-60 feet all around it.

Dad and the Troy Built on April 23, 2015.

I had to include this photo of my dad next to the Troy Built Horse from April 23, 2015. He was 84 when I took the photo. He bought this Troy Built Horse new in 1978 after his brother bought one. He passed away in 2019 but his memories are still here. He would be very happy the tiller has a new motor, which is its third one, and two new tires.

I lost this pruner when I was working on the tomatoes in 2017. I knew where I lost it but I could never find it. Sometimes when you lose something you can’t find it no matter what. I finally had to stop looking and figured the Troy Built would find it eventually. Well, it did… After being without it all this time. This pruner was in Suzanne’s stuff in Mississippi and I found it in 2009. I really love it.

Now to the shade bed…

Hosta ‘Guacamole’.

Hosta has always been my favorite shade perennial and I started growing them in 1981 when I moved in my grandparent’s house after grandpa died in 1981. The Hosta ‘Guacamole’ is looking great. I brought this plant home in 2014 so this will be its 7th season.

The Iris you see behind the Hosta are some I had bought in the early 1980’s. Believe it or not, they have survived in this area even after being mowed off for MANY years. Since I came back in 2013 and started taking better care of them they have really multiplied.

Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’.

The Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’ was a bright addition to the shade bed in 2018 and is looking very good. This Hosta was developed in 1980 and there are at least 55 registered sports from Hosta ’Sum and Substance’ and 38 cultivars with it as a parent.

Hosta ‘Potomac Pride’.

The Hosta ‘Potomac Pride’ has always been a great performer and spreads very well. I bought it 2009, I think, while in Mississippi and brought it with me when I returned to the family farm in 2013. So, I have had this beauty as a companion for 12 seasons now… As usual, and for some strange reason, the deer sampled a few of its leaves again this spring. It is weird how they do that and never bother it or any other Hosta the rest of the summer…

Hosta ‘Potomac Pride’ was registered by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery with the American Hosta Society in 1995. It was selected as AHS convention plant also in 1995. It is the offspring of Hosta ‘Blue Umbrellas’ as the pollen parent and Hosta yingeri ‘Treasure Island’ as the pod parent.

Across from Hosta ‘Potomac Pride’ is a small area next to grandma’s old goldfish pool. I put a brick sidewalk around the pool in 1981 which I partially removed to dig a spot for the ailing Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ and the Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ in 2017.

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’.

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ has always been a favorite and I bought my first from Bluestone Perennials in 1981. This one is another Hosta I bought while iving at the mansion in Mississippi in 2009 and brought with me in 2013. We had some issues in 2016 so I moved it and it has done great since. This is an amazing cultivar that was registered in 1980 that has won numerous awards. It has over 23 registered sports. It’s most famous sport is Hosta ‘Regal Splendor’ which was registered in 1987 and became the American Hosta Growers Association Hosta of the Year in 2003.

Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’.

Put on your sunglasses because Hosta ‘Dancing Queen’ is a bright one! Even from a great distance, this Hosta stands out in the shade bed. I brought it home from Muddy Creek Greenhouse in 2017 and it was my first yellow/gold leaved Hosta. It is a 2005 introduction from Kent Terpening and Alttara Scheer. It is a cross between Hosta ’Split Personality’ as the seed parent and an unknown cultivar as the pollen parent.

Hosta ‘Blue Angel’.

Hmmm…. I had doubts this Hosta is actually Hosta ‘Blue Angel’ when I bought it from Mast’s Greenhouse in 2019 because that cultivar gets pretty good sized. This plant seemed to be a miniature because it has remained so small. When I was at Wagler’s a few weeks ago I noticed several pots labeled ‘Blue Angel’ which were also very small. I mentioned to Ruth I had bought this plant from Mast’s last year and it is so small compared to what ‘Ble Angel’ is supposed to be. She said when they bought the rhizomes the “Blue Angel’ were very small in comparison to the other cultivars. So, I suppose it is possible it is a Hosta ‘Blue Angel’ after all but it sure has some growing to do… Hosta ‘Blue Angel’ is supposed to eventually mature at 36″ tall x 48″ wide with 18″ x 12″ leaves… It certainly doesn’t look like photos online. Information online says it is one of the fastest growing of the blue Hosta and multiples more rapidly. Hmmm…

Also in 2017 I dug an area along the back of the goldfish pool and added several more Hosta Heuchera. Later I put some of the Iris from the other bed along the fish pool.

Hosta ‘Forbidden Fruit’.

Hosta ‘Forbidden Fruit’ is one of several Hosta I brought home when I made the second shade bed in this area in 2017. Hosta ‘Forbidden Fruit’ is a tetraploid form of Hosta ‘Orange Marmalade’ introduced by M. & J. Fransen with thicker leaves and wider margins. It was a weird grower at first but did very well in 2019.

Hosta ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’ on 5-15-20, #700-10.

If you are a Hosta collector you shouldn’t be without Hosta ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’. I really like its corrugated and severely puckered leaves which gives them the cup-shape. This cultivar originated by Dr. Charles Purtymun at Walden West Nursery in Oregon. He registered it in 1989 as a hybrid of H.‘Tokudama’ × H. ‘Sieboldiana’. Since its introduction, it has set the standard for all other cup-shaped Hosta.

Hosta ‘Whirlwind’ on 5-15-20, #700-20.

I found this Hosta ‘Whirlwind’ at Lowe’s in 2017 and have really enjoyed watching it grow. Its leaves are kind of twisted and they change color somewhat over the season. Not only did it win the AHS Benedict Garden Performance Medal in 2007, but it has also been given Royal Horticultural Societies Award of Garden Merit. Since its registration in 1989, 17 other Hosta cultivars have been registered from it.

Hosta ‘Red October’ on 5-15-20, #700-18.

I am very happy Hosta ‘Red October’ is once again doing so well. This is another Hosta I bought in 2009 while I was in Mississippi and brought with me in 2013. It was in the original bed where H. ‘Guacamole’ or ‘Sum and Substance’ are now. It had issues in the spring of 2018 and I found out moles had tunneled under it over the winter. I dug it up and moved two parts of it next to two elm trees then put them back together in 2019. Hopefully, it will do well in 2020.

This Hosta was introduced by Roy Herold in 1995, although I think it was discovered in 1988. It was registered by Kevin Walek on Mr. Herold’s behalf in 2009. It is regarded as one of the best red-stemmed Hosta available.

Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ on 5-15-20, #700-12.

The smallest of the Hosta in my collection is Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’. It was my first and only (so far) miniature Hosta. Hosta ‘Bue Mouse Ears’ has at least 24 registered sports and 2 seedlings where it is one of the parents. It is believed that another 28 cultivars have been registered from its sports. It is a MULTIPLE award winner.

Now for the Heuchera…

Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’.

Sadly, Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ didn’t want its photo taken on the 15th because a lot of its leaves were missing. I think possibly I must have accidentally pulled them off when I was removing the chickweed. I decided I couldn’t do this post without a photo of it so I snuck up on it this morning and took a photo. Even though this photo was taken two days after the rest I put it in order where it should be (or would have been). I purchased Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ from Lowe’s in the spring of 2014 and put it in front of the Hosta bed. It had issues during 2016 so I moved it to the newly dug bed with the Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ in 2017. I also had issues with H. ‘Southern Comfort’ which I also moved to the same area but it decided to completely fizzle out. When I first wrote the page for Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ information online said it was the most popular Heuchera for 20 years straight… It was the Perennial Plant Association’s Perennial of the Year in 2007.

Heuchera ‘Obsidian’ on 5-15-20, #700-8.

I bought this Heuchera ‘Obsidian’ from Lowe’s in 2017. It was introduced from Terra Nova in 2004 and is considered the “black standard”. Some websites say it is the darkest of any black-leaved Heuchera and the color holds up without fading. Information says this cultivar grows 8-10″ tall with flower stems to 24″ but that hasn’t happened. It is a great performer, though, even during the Japanese Beetle invasion when the bed turns from shade to part sun.

Heuchera ‘Venus’ on 5-15-20, #700-9.

The Heuchera ‘Venus’ is definitely a show stopper and it knows it. It is a very vigorous grower despite the conditions and gets quite large. The flower stems also get very tall. It is a great overall specimen and I am glad I brought it home in 2017.

Heuchera ‘Lime Rickey’ on 5-15-20, #700-7.

Heuchera ‘Lime Ricky’ is an awesome looking with bright chartreuse-green and ruffled leaves. It is on the smaller side and even its flowers are very dainty. It seemed to struggle somewhat earlier but it appears to have snapped out of it. It doesn’t seem to care for bright light and doesn’t like it when the Japanese Beetles eat the leaves off of the Chinese Elm that shades it…

Well, that’s it for this post. I better stop anyway of this post will get much bigger. I feel like I have written a book already.

Until next time, be safe, stay positive, stay well, be thankful always, and GET DIRTY if you can.

Morchella esculenta (Yellow Morel) on… Hmmm…

Hello everyone. I hope this post finds you well. Ummm… A few days ago I went back to the location I was at in the previous post only on the other side of the highway. I did find a few more wildflower species which I will write about next. I did find one more White Morel suitable to bring home and one I left behind because it was very small. ANYWAY… When I came back home after being in the woods for about 3 hours, I went to the area by the chicken house to see if I could find any Morels there. None AGAIN! So out of curiosity, I went to the brushy area along the fence. I never find anything there but you never know. I stepped through an opening where a fence had once been YEARS AGO. Grandpa had another fenced-in area here about 40′ x 150′. Anyway, it is all grown up and full of Vinca minor, gooseberry bushes, grapevines, poison ivy and so on.  I walked to the corner, covered in Vinca, and HOLY CRAP there were two HUGE Yellow Morels (Morchella esculenta). I looked across the fence and there were more. Forget I said across the fence. I didn’t say I crossed the fence but there were 19 more and some were partly covered and entangled in the Vinca. Now you are probably wondering how I knew there were 19?

OK, so here I was in a bit of a situation. The area along the fence is an overgrown mess between this property and the church next door. No one was at the church but there are neighbors across the street and a trailer park across from the church. Plus people were driving by on the street. Any other time of the year I would have just walked around the fence with no problem whether or not anyone was watching. BUT, this was NOT just any time of the year. This time of the year if you see people walking in the woods or somewhere weird, like an overgrown fence row full of vines, thorns, poison ivy (you get the picture) you know why they are there. Not that anyone is going to be looking but you still get a little paranoid. You have to keep these spots a secret even though they are right out in the open. I mean, this is not a place in a secluded woods.

I checked the fence and it was not a good place to cross. So, I went down a little farther and found a spot I could squeeze through. So I went through the fence so I could “rescue” the Morels from the Vinca. That sounds much better, but we still need to keep it quiet.

Of the 21 I found, several were beyond saving and taking to dinner. Who would have thought in such a ridiculous spot there would have been Morels. In fact, if they had been White Morels (Morchella americana) it is likely I would never have sen them. For those of you who may not know what Vinca minor is… For one, it is (or has been) popular as a groundcover that has escaped and went haywire wherever it is allowed or unnoticed. I don’t remember my grandparents every having it but somehow it has managed to go flourish in this area (and a few others). They make long semi-woody vines that go everywhere and are evergreen. Somehow, these Yellow Morels managed to grow through the mess of vines even though some were pretty distorted.

The color of these was them crying out, “SAVE ME!” So, I did.

I didn’t take any photos of them the day I found them because I wasn’t thinking about taking photos. I was in a panic situation seeing them all tangled in the Vinca. I went back today to take these photos. I am sure you are thinking I went back to see if there were any new ones…

Morchella americana (White Morel) on 4-15-20.

The one in the above photo is the White Morel (Morchella americana) I found on April 15. It is pretty good sized for a White Morel and they are usually somewhat smaller. I have found larger, though, but normally White Morels usually grow to less than 4″. Information suggests the earlier ones are larger. In 2013, I photographed a HUGE one under a Chinese Elm in February. I took a photo with my cell phone and sent it to a few friends because no one would have ever believed it. That was shortly after I moved back here and had a cell phone… I couldn’t figure out how to get the photo on my computer so it is lost and gone forever.

White Morels from April 21, 2019. As you can tell, they aren’t that large.

I am no Morel hunting expert and definitely not a fungi guy. 🙂 GEEZ! ANYWAY, Morels are pretty easy to spot as long as they are there. I started hunting with my grandpa when I was a little kid so it has just become a spring thing to go mushroom hunting.

Over the years I have heard a lot of stories about Morels that may or may not be true. I always heard they just pop up the size they are when you find them. I am not sure about that but I have gone through areas and found none and then go back a few minutes later and found them. Like walking on the ground caused them to “pop” up.

Supposedly, different species prefer growing under different trees. In my experience, that really hasn’t mattered that much. They do have preferred conditions, but at times, that hasn’t mattered much either… One year I went hunting in the back of the farm along the creek several times and found none, like usual, and came back and found quite a few in the open in the back yard. They haven’t come up again in that spot. Many years ago I found several in the apple orchard. Never again… I heard you can take the water you clean them in and throw it out and they will come up here the next spring. That may happen if there are spores, but I think very fresh mushrooms aren’t likely to have spores. NOW, I did see spores in some of the older yellows I found. I threw them along the north side of the house. 🙂

Yep. Morels in the skillet in 2019.

There are more than one species of Morels and many people get them mixed up. That is because their seasons overlap somewhat and there are various shades of each. Even on iNaturalist with several identifiers, if you look through the photos uploaded from others you will see some are possibly misidentified. Many members upload photos and say “Morchella species” without claiming a species name. Of course, I had to use species names because I don’t know any better and want people to think I do. 🙂

Then we come to the subject of the False or RED Morel. A few years ago when I was in the woods along the creek I spotted this odd creature. It looked kind of like a Morel but then again it didn’t. It was sort of a dark reddish-brown and pretty good sized. It was, for lack of a better word, weird. I took a photo with my cell phone (this was 2013 when I had one) and then brought it to the house. I showed dad and his response was, “I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t eat it.” Dad never ate mushrooms of any kind that I am aware of… Not even on pizza. False Morels are considered poisonous but some have eaten them with no side effects. Probably they didn’t know at the time they were poisonous. Even if you don’t get sick and die, they apparently have a carcinogenic chemical… I recommend not trying them.

NICE! The bad thing was that I wasn’t alone. I had to share with four other people! This year I am alone and I did not have to share. 🙂

Back then I thought all Morels were the same. I didn’t know there were different species and barely had heard of the False Morel. So, I didn’t really investigate that weird mushroom. I took dad’s advice and threw it out the door. For the most part, Morels are hollow white the False Morels are not.

Morchella species are found in many countries and several species are endemic to more than one. In the past several years more study has been done. I have read more about them this past week because curiosity got the best of me. Below are just a few of the MANY sites online that provide a wealth of information. There are also plenty of YouTube videos.

Wikipedia

The Great Morel homepage and Morel varieties gallery

The Morchellaceae: True Morels and Verpas (MushroomExpert.Com

MushroomExpert’s homepage is quite exhausting…

iNaturalist

I think I will stop for now…

Until next time, be safe and stay positive. Stay well and always be thankful. Get as dirty as you can if the weather is nice.