Good Morning Folks. Lori here from beautiful McDowell County, West Virginia.

Let me start by saying it has been ridiculously nerve-wracking round here. There have been some challenges to work through to be sure. The weather has been uncooperative, so many of our participants have had issues with soggy gardens, one family had to replant just about everything. It seemed like it would take forever to get the plowing finished. Now it is hotter than the surface of the sun, and we had a hard time getting tomato and pepper plants.  Then there was the blog issue, which is why this is late.

Our Mercer County participants are all plowed up and planting their plants and seeds. As Jeremy finished plowing the last garden in Mercer County, the motor mount bolts broke on the plow! That set back the 3 plowing jobs here in McDowell County. We got the new bolts and are back in business. We were able to finally get folks their tomato and pepper plants, and we are back on track. Hopefully the rest of the season goes a bit more smoothly.

We want to thank Candace for getting us set back up with the blog. After the second password change, here we are. I’m glad that the log in can be saved, because the password is longer than most epic novels!

We choose to believe that all these little setbacks and annoyances mean we will have the best season yet. We don’t want to jinx it, but so far the insects haven’t been a problem, and its great watching the seeds sprout and flourish.

Here are a couple of pictures of tomato plants and potatoes that were planted about 2 weeks ago. They are glorious. We will have updated pictures of them soon. They really took off after a gentle shower broke up the scorching heat. The tomato plants are flowering now.

According to some of our participants, some things are doing better than others right now. Strawberries and lettuce and onions are doing great. Some had potatoes rot, but replanted and are doing well now. Radishes are doing ok for some and bolting for others. Corn is looking iffy at this time, it’s been slow to start but is getting better.

One good thing about the ground being so warm, is that when the seeds get planted, they sprout in no time at all. If all grows well, we will have great harvest this year.

Until next time, Have a wonderful June.