LADYBUG SAYS ... FOR GARDENERS, THIS IS A SUMMER OF DISCONTENT

For the gardeners in our midst, this has not been a summer of great content.

Flowers and vegetables, shrubs and plants of all kinds have taken a beating from the merciless rays of the sun and mid-summer's drouth that has baked and cracked the earth.

It is not the home gardener alone who is suffering form this one, two combination. Farm crops, too, are taking a beating. The wheat crop was a disaster. Corn and beans desperately need a soaking rain, not simply scattered hit-and-miss showers, though they have been helpful.

At our hours the water bill is rising sharply. It takes constant watering to see the azaleas, the annuals, the perennials and all of the shrubs through the summer's heat. We've adopted a schedule of sorts, the front and side yard one day, the back yard and its plantings the next. The sprinkler is turned on the vegetable garden for a good soaking about once a week.

This has not been a banner year for vegetable sin our small backyard garden. First the continuing spring and early summer rains where are you now when we need you? prevented tilling and planting. Once in, there were (and continue to be) bouts with the town rabbits, which love our beans. Now, the drouth.

As is the case everywhere, there are plenty of tomatoes. Our millionaires, courtesy of our friend Henry Ochs, have outdone themselves with large, luscious, juicy fruit. These, however, were from the early bloom set. With the excessive heat, tomato plants are not setting blooms, as they do in more normal temperatures. As a result, we expect a blank period until cooler weather inspires heavier blooming.

By this time of year, squash should be prolific producers. Not ours. We have picked only three. Nice blooms, but no fruit. Again, we suspect it is the heat. Flowers come on in profusion, yet no squash are set.

We covered our hills with black plastic this year, cutting holes for the seed. The plastic provides a mulch and a clean surface for fruit and plants. Could it be that the heat from the early morning sun, absorbed through the plastic, makes the ground too hot for the blooms to make squash? Or is it heavy afternoon shade? We don't know and are left to wonder.

A blight has hit our Japanese cucumbers and we are losing some of the vines. It may take over the entire planting. Have not found any cucumber beetles, which will wipe out cukes. Something, though, is taking its toll.

Then there are the beans, bush and pole. All is not well here. An insect with criminal intent has been chewing off the ends of the beans, especially the pole beans. Sometimes it is the mature beans. Other times it is the baby beans. In some instances, much of the bean has been destroyed.

We could find nothing definitive in our books, so we called the University of Missouri Extension Service at Jackson. Probably, but not positively, we learned it could be the Mexican bean beetle. We have seen none, but nevertheless, we are declaring all-out war. The Sevin duster is our first line of defense. We're defending the Alamo. Yeah, and you know how that ended, don't you?

Enough of this morbid tale. Time for more positive thoughts. though the complaints of the spring-summer gardener are many, there still is opportunity ahead. It is time to think of the fall garden. It should be planned now, if this has not been done.

Once the ground can be tilled, and surely we will have a rain soon, the fall crop of bush beans can be planted. There are many varieties, but our favorites are Blue Lake and the recent introduction, Derby. If planted in the next couple of weeks, and you can fend off the rabbits, beans will get their strong growth and production period in cooler weather.

It won't be long, either, before you can put out cabbage and broccoli for fall use. Sometimes it is hard to find plants, but usually some are available. It may be too late to start plants form your own from seed, but might be worth a try.

Lettuce should not be planted until near the end of August or early September and October. Beets can be planted in August. Some people plant sugar peas in August, but we have had very little luck with fall peas. If planted now, cucumbers might make it before frost, giving a second crop. Whatever you plant, be sure to keep it watered until nature does it for you.

Before you do any fall planting, clean up the debris from the spring-summer crops. This can cause disease. More often than not, we have had more success with our fall produce than from the earlier plantings. In the spring, the garden moves form cool weather to hot. In the fall, it moves from hot to cool, and this is what most plants like.

Ortho Consumer Products, a division of Chevron Chemical Co., has announced a recall of its "ORTHOGANIC Insecticidal Soap, used to control garden insects on plants. The company said there is no danger to humans. However, a small amount of herbicide was found in the product and it was decided to remove it from the market.

A single batch, about 67,000 bottles, was found contaminated by the herbicide Oxyfluorfen. Affected lot numbers are 123650 and 120701, to be found on the neck of the bottle. The company said customers may call (415)-842-2334 collect, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., to arrange for a return of the product and claims information.