TOPIC: opening day...

them peach's are early...mine are about the size of a golf ball....starting tomorrow we are in for a wet week..by sunday we could see as much as 5 to 7 inches of rain......

I have had that peach tree and another near 20 years now.

Early Elberta (the early one) and the other was supposed to be a Reliance.

I found out this year, that it may not be a Reliance though... because it has very showy blossoms, and a Reliance does not. Most likely a nursery mix up, sent me the wrong tree, and I did not know it for nearly 20 years

Oh well.. it makes some decent peaches... but I would not say it is all that "Reliable"..

When I have a late frost, both of my peach trees fail to fruit. For near 20 years now, they either both fruit, or neither does.

The Early Elberta start ripening fruit June 20-25 and the Reliance ??? first week in July usually. That works out nicely when one ends, the other starts up.

TNHunter

its been a week and my rain total ended up at 8 and 7 /10s inches of rain..river is out of its banks.my yard looks like a swamp and i live on top of a big hill..those folks in the low ground are hurting.30 miles north of me they had over 13 inches..

Glad you are on a hill there Chief... we are on a ridge top ourselves, If it floods us, most of the county is going to be under water.

We got some rain this week, but a nice rain, good slow steady rain for hours.. and it had been hot and dry for a couple weeks, so much appreciated here.

My fruit and berry producers are happy now. My sweet corn and okra, growing like crazy. I have tassels starting to show now.

Have been eating some nice big red ripe Big Beef tomatoes lately too.

I have not checked any ginseng since hunting morels in early April... too many ticks and chiggars to get out in the woods much during the summer here.

You have to really want to go, to risk it..

I saw some wild blackberries yesterday that were black... and around July 4 is ideal time for first picking here... I will have to risk it some for some blackberries.

TNHunter

our wild raspberries are winding down ..the wild black berries are blushing pink....

Hey guys, good to hear you're doing well.

We've had a nice steady much needed rain the past two days as well TN, but a few weeks ago we had here what Chief described.

Our creek jumped its bank in several places but spared the house (we sit in a basin). I had one bridge dislodged from its foundation (sitting on rocks) and washed down stream a few feet. I've since dragged it out of the creek. I still have much silt and stone to dig out from the creek and more work on my culverts but I've at least got water flowing through them.

BTW, the bridge I spoke of was here when we bought the place, the five bridges I've built all survived, at least one with water flowing over it. I planned to replace the washed out bridge so mama-nature helped motivate me I guess.

Our hollow was really a mess and the county folks haven't gotten to our road yet, I suspect that storm provided them with months of job security.

Our creek jumped its banks and ran through both my vegetable gardens. I had some cukes washed away and a couple rows of corn buried in silt/washed away. I cleaned up the gardens and have replanted both cukes and corn plus more beans since the spinach and onions were also washed away. Everything is looking good right now.

I finished another 100 mile race two weeks ago and all else is good.

congrats of your race Woods

Thanks Chief! Not sure if I've ever posted a photo of me here but here you go, pretty scary no doubt. At 60 years old, these races get tougher and each race I finish gets sweeter and more rewarding.

The cutoff times are closing in on me, or is it age? lol

woodsrunner...

Looking pretty good for an old fellow who just ran 100 miles

I might be able to walk 100 miles, if there was nice 4 prongs leading me on...

I have walked from 7 am - 4 pm on a ginseng hunt and covered near 15 miles (as the crow flies)... but as the ginseng walker walks, no telling how many miles that was.

Here is a tip for you folks that grow your own tomatoes.. i just learned this recently..



Tomato/Tobacco Hornworms will glow purple if you shine a LED blacklight on them.
I lit that one up early this morning after daylight but it was quite cloudy. I could not see the shine until I got the light pretty close to him.. but I hear that in the dark they really light up.

I have not tried it in the dark yet, but am going to give it a try after dark this evening...

TNHunter

Here is what they look like at night... under the LED Blacklight... the tomato leaves sort look purple in the blacklight and the hornworms glow bright green.

Stink bugs and some other insects glow bright green also.

I looked my 7 tomato plants over good last night and found 5 more... I had just looked them over good during the day and found all I could...
But after dark I went back out and checked with the blacklight and EASILY found 5 more.

The hornworms are in some serious trouble now.

TNHunter