Central Midwest Gardening: August 2012, very hot and very dry., 2 by billyporter

billyporter wrote:
63°/81°/53°
Sunny. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Ju,
I planted muskmelon. One is sunburned, the other two look pretty good. Small, but still green and not sunburned.
Your flowers are pretty and your melon is cute, LOL!

Crit,
I lost a volunteer squash that was a really nice plant. It grew in the compost pile and kept wilting. I'm betting a stink bug got into the stewm. I pulled the plant and burned it when it dried out.
All our garden that gets shaded did great with watering. It is just plain too hot for peppers, for sure!

Will,
I got stung by a yellow jacket when we were doing cider. I grabbed him with the wheelbarrow hadle, LOL! It stung alright! Burned is more like it, but it was mostly my fault for not seeing it. My Aunt told me My great greandfather kept bees. He never seemed to get stung. I think that's why I like bees. Maybe because they like me?
We water those arborvitaes every year. They were exceptional plants when we got them from Walmart. They were $20.00 apiece. I wish I needed more at that time.
Squirrels will drop shells and such on you. I swear they do!
NICE tererrium!
You can walk across most of the little rivers here. Only the Mississippi has enough to boat or fish in :o(
That sure is a beautiful fountain! Well worth the trouble to get it.
Yep, really nice arbors! Water them deep once a week while they are little. Don't overwater. That kills more plants than no watering.

Happ,
We all have to go missing off and on.
Good for you, getting a vacation!
Iowa has missed all the rains too :o(
NICE coop!! They need to be well built. Chickens are an investment.
LOVE the solar chandie!! It's beautiful and so inventive! LOL!

Will,
What will your new job be?
ROTFL over your wasp encounters!!
Nice paint job. It will look like a new house for a while.

Pepper,
I sure hope you get a better chance for rain.

Crit,
Those are beautiful chickens!
Oh, I am so sorry you lost all of them :o(
Prayers going out. I've been praying/pleading for the whole midwest to get some rain and I didn't forget to give thanks for what we recieved.

Opps, sorry. I usually read my way down. This time I hit ''end'' and missed the new thread. How embarrassing!

Will,
I hope your Susans bloom.

Ju,
I have seed I took of a plant at DD's but haven't sowed any yet. I'm not sure where to put it yet. I love them most of all the coneflowers and rudbeckias.

Will,
It's amazing how much the earth has dried and compacted with no rain. Your friend is right to worry. Mice also can dig in easier around foundations. That's small potatoes compared to your house sinking tho.
Nice paint job on the fountain :o)

Yesterday we had the most beautiful thunderstorm ever!! There was constant thunder and we got 1&1/10'' out of it!! Altho it came down pretty hard, it all soaked in. I hope this can end our dry spell. Some farmers have cut their corn. Not harvesting it, but maybe using it for silage. One field had gone completely yellow in just a few days. The irrigated corn isn't much better. They say the drought is worse than the 1930's drought. It's scary.

Right now I'm researching yard trees. Do you know how hard that is? I have to have a tree with no nuts, no surface roots and no big pest problems. That leaves out oak, maple and ash.... I'm looking at yellow poplar right now, altho it's short lived.

I just bumped someone's post that asked about the yellow poplar. No one had answered him.

My sad muskmelon and my green, and one hot pepper. The peppers get shaded about 2:00 pm.