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I’m a new gardener. I think we have aster yellows in some of our plants. Dug them up and trashed them. Hope the disease does not spread to the rest.

I’ve been spraying with insecticidal soap and chasing (and crushing) leaf hoppers out of the flowers when I find any. Also having trouble with mealy bugs.

I guess this year will be my learning curve, but it’s frustrating. I have been cursing these bugs every time I catch sight of them. Does it get better? I live in NC (zone 7b).

Consumed first tomato of the year. The regulation-looking part of the tomato was fine but there was some white, fibrous material interspersed in the outer flesh. I’ve never encountered that before. We got plants from the local high school’s FFA this year. They were the last plants to be sold so I guess we got the dregs. If the Creator doesn’t send us another animal at death’s door next year, I plan to start everything from seed. The zucchini casserole turned out well, but we seem far from having the overabundance of zucchini that the other gardeners have!

Had to make the trip to the Big City (Rapid City) today, so that meant hitting all the usual stores: feed, building materials, the Sara Lee/Oroweat “used bread store”, etc.

While at Running’s, I heard some faint cheaping, and was surprised they still had chicks this late in the year. It was a single tub with white cornish cross broilers. I innocently asked how much the chicks were, since I didn’t see a price. We walked out with a box with 14 in it, marked “NO CHARGE”, and signed by the department manager. SCOOOOORE!

Last tomato seedlings went in this week.

The 2 types of Indian corn sprouted within 3 days of planting, and is growing fine; but the Golden Cross Bantam that went in Saturday still hasn’t penetrated the surface.

The white crowder peas I mentioned last week also sprouted within a few days, and all are up & looking good.

Did a final (I think) hilling on the potatoes; first flowers are opening. The potatoes in the tires got straw, and get a second tire tomorrow. Naturally, they are quite a bit behind the ones in the ground since they didn’t get planted until the others were already up. Sweet potatoes seem to also be doing well.

Still getting at least one, sometimes 3, thunderstorms 2 days out of 3 all week.

Been eating strawberries; and the raspberries look like we’ll get a decent amount.

I hadn’t been to my land in weeks, and the weather forcast said rain and thunderstorms all afternoon, so today I went out in the morning and worked in the hot sun getting things planted. I managed to get everything in the annuals section except for the flint corn, before heat exhaustion drove me to stop. I was drinking water constantly, but it didn’t seem to help.

And then, even though it was time to stop, I went and picked a quart bag full of wild yarrow. I had read on another forum where someone made their own bug spray by distilling fresh yarrow, and it worked so well that people were literally begging for it! My usual bug spray is only half-effective on this year’s mosquito crop, so I’m up for making my own. Especially since the ingredients are free! If it works I might write something up for the prepper thread.

It’s still sunny out. Darned forcasts!

Now, why did I work myself to heat exhaustion when I darn well know better than that? Because moving out of my parents’ house has taken on a new urgency. I’ve been living with my parents due to a long string of mysterious health issues, which sometimes leave me completely incapacitated. Anybody remember on last week’s thread I mentioned my dad spraying weed killer on my strawberries just as I was going to pick and eat them? This week he said something, just an offhand comment that would normally seem harmless, but in that context it gave me the creeps. So I did some investigating, and in previous years he has spread weedkiller on other things he knew I was going to eat, without telling me about it. The times mom could remember when he did that, match pretty closely to the times my health suddenly went downhill.

I think it might actually be deliberate.

Dad always loves it when people feel sorry for him. If he doesn’t have anything going wrong, he’ll make stuff up. He tells horrible lies about people. But I didn’t think he would try anything this sick. I have no idea how to react to this, other than look for ways to get out of this house. My health propblems make that complicated enough, but I’m also paying off tens of thousands of dollars in medical debts. I don’t make much, I’m not sure I could afford an apartment but I’m looking. I might just see if my office would let me park a camper in the back of the lot. I know I’ve seen campers tucked in the back corner before.

I think I’m rambling now, so I’ll stop. I could use some prayers.