What a year for bugs in the garden. Aphids continue to multiply on the tomato vines and okra, making it necessary to take the hose to them at least once a day. Both insects spread disease in addition to the harm they inflict on the plants. To decrease the aphid colonies, I place a rotating water dispenser at the base of the plant and turn up the water so that the spray reaches the whole plant.

Most of the mites and aphids will be on the underside of leaves of plants. Aphids usually attack okra where the bloom buds are forming so that it is necessary to direct a hard spray of water directly on them to blast them off. I've never found chemical insecticides are less effective against these tiny creatures.

The hot weather of July and August stresses tomato plants, especially those that are loaded with fruit. Diseases and insect damage tend to work from the ground up so good grooming sufficient moisture and mulch become ever more important to getting your plants through the summer; naked soil sometimes reaches near 140 degrees when air temperatures reach above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to blister one's bare toes.

Turning to a cooler subject, last week Gwen Gransberg, a friend from the Cleveland County Master Gardener's Association, invited me (at my request) to come see what she and her husband have done with her two acres of land east of town. She grows some unusual plants for Oklahoma -- blueberries -- so I was eager to visit.

Gwen was taking the Master Gardener's course when she first tried growing blueberries, and that experiment ended in sickly plants. She soon learned that they require extremely acidic soil, among other things. Craig Evans headed the OSU Extension Office at that time, and he just laughed at her when she proposed growing the nutritious berry, which made Gwen all the more determined to be successful.

She prepared a new bed for the sickly plants, cultivated the soil, removed the soil then thoroughly cultivated the second layer, working in copious amounts of peat moss, and ammonium sulfate -- more than you would ever think the plants could handle. She prepared the upper layer in the same way, placed it over the bottom layer and transplanted the plants. She spread a generous layer of acidic pecan shell mulch, fed them acid-based fertilizer, replenishing the shells as needed.

"They almost popped in response -- just sprang up happily and vital that year," she said. "Birds have been the worst pest snatching the ripe berries as they ripened."

Her son built a PVC pipe form around the blueberries on which Gwen experimented with different netting until she settled on commercial bird netting. She tried other closely-knitted fabric at first but the flimsy cloth could not take Oklahoma's strong winds. Gwen cautioned that snakes may get trapped in the strong netting and choke to death. She leaves the edging loose except for an occasional rock so that snakes and other small animals can shimmy under the net and not be harmed.

Choosing the right varieties of blueberries for our climate is essential; different varieties require certain periods of cold weather and our climate does have enough frigid weather to grow the northern varieties. Gwen suggests Southern Highbush types: Misty, Georgia Gem, O'Neal and Sunshine Blue (evergreen semi-dwarf). Rabbiteye: varieties that she is growing are Climax and Tifblue, but these are still too young to produce berries. She cautions that before you buy blueberry bushes to do your research. Sometimes outlets sell northern varieties even in the south.

Things Gwen learned about blueberries:

· Give them more acid than you think is remotely reasonable;

· Mulch them to retain moisture and prevent weeds, don't cultivate, the roots are too shallow;

· Plants will tolerate afternoon shade, but too much shade will retard berries;

· Pruning of first-year blueberries should be done in late winter when blossoms are already formed, the second year's production will be reduced but plants will gain have increased crops in the future;

· New plants are easy to root from cuttings and sometimes you can transplant a side shoot;