I said a prayer last night before going to sleep, asking for the rains to come back. I prayed for the poor farmers who sowed their winter wheat but got no rain to make it grow; I prayed for the ranchers whose stock ponds have dried up, and the little towns around the state whose water wells went dry' I prayed for us gardeners that our gardens will be sustained and blossom again, and I prayed for all Oklahomans who have needed the rain for their jobs and their livelihoods, and for our health's sake, and for our trees and plants, that there would be and end to the wildfires.

I awoke this morning around 6 a.m., sat up and saw a flash of bright light. For a decond, I thought something was wrong with my eyes, seeing flashes...scary, but then came the booming thunder and the echoing rumble that always follows. The sky opened up and the rain poured down. I jumped up and thanked God. Happy me. Happy me. My prayer was answered with a resounding YES, in a big wet way and a deep roll of thunder.
It is still raining here. Yahoo!
Looks like winter out there today. Never thought I would say this, but Yipee! Yahoo! for Winter Rain!!!

I will take this thankfully, even if this is all we get, but I sure hope this is just the beginning of more normal wet weather to return to drought ridden Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

Grow my little plants - grow!
Happy am I! ~Annie

No rain out west........ boohoo! :(
I'm one of those that has a dried up pond. We need the rain so bad. Today I'm watering trees.

WindsurfGirl

Poor you!

My sister lives up in Newkirk...same deal. Not a drop!
Strange weather.

SweetAnnie4u

I've heard the West is the worst drought area in the state. My heart goes out to all of you and I'll say a prayer for rain for you guys. I'm not sure it's going to be much better for any of us really. We got 1/2 inch. Not near what we need, but we'll take it.

Windsurfgirl - where are you at? In the panhandle?

Susan

We got at least an inch here on the ridge, maybe more. Rained all day, a good, steady, soaker rain.

No Susan I'm central west, near Clinton. It's straight west of OKC about 90 miles.

WindsurfGirl

Windsurfgirl - Hey neighbor, I'm not too far from you - Sayre. It misted here just enough to mess up the car but that's it.

I took advantage of the nice weather to finish up the last bit fall clean-up that I just couldn't get motivated to do earlier.
I think some of my daylilies are toast. I didn't know that I should've been watering through the winter if it wasn't raining/snowing until I read it here. I've got my fingers crossed that the ones that haven't sprouted yet are just hiding because it is still cold at night.

Kelly

Wow Kelly,

None of my daylilies are up yet either. I sure hope they haven't died from me not watering them this winter. I mainly concentrated on watering my 50 new hostas I put in the ground in late fall, and I'm really worried I didn't keep them wet enough. We are on a water well and I haven't watered as much as I should have this winter. I did notice my Bloody Dock was up today.

We got an inch and a half of rain on Friday night and Saturday, but that didn't stop the wildfires north of me today. DH called from work and said they had several wildfires near him at Pauls Valley. We've had two inches of rain in the past week or so, but it's still extremely dry here. The rain really did green my yard up though, even though it's probably mostly weeds.

I'm so sorry you didn't get any rain, Windsurf Girl. I will keep you in my prayers and hopefully you'll get some rain Friday in that *slight* chance we have for rain.

Sorry - I meant actually the Northwest. Supposedly they are in the worst drought area of the state and in for more according to the long range forecasts.

Susan

My daylilies have their little green noses up out of the ground already. I planted out more daylilies this evening too. I have very sandy soil and live on a south facing ridge, so that might have something to do with why mine are up already. Also I have been watering since November. Normally I don't see them come up until late March or early April.

My chives & Garlic chives both have new green growth, and noticed my strawberry plants are making new leaves. I am going to start my Broccoli seed tomorrow. Just going to winter sow them, and cabbages, too and see how it goes. Maybe plant some onions, Mesclun mix and spinach, as well. If it comes a deep freeze, I can whisk them into the greenhouse, I suppose.

This weather really has me worried about what summer will bring. . .

SweetAnnie4u
"The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies"- Gertrude Jekyll.

Annie, have you ever planted beets? I know, everybody says, why would you want to? Well, I love beets. I just wanted to try some fresh and home grown for a change, instead out of a can. I need to go get some mesclun, grape tomatoe, baby carrot, and onion seeds for my granddaughter's little garden. She's my garden buddy.

I don't think it will freeze long enough to hurt them, will it? The ground is so warm, can't you just cover them with a sheet?

I can't believe you're watering. You must have well water. Lucky you. My water bill was so high this last summer, that I needed some relief during the winter. I just haven't had the financial guts to get out the hose yet. Since everything is dormant, I am just taking a risk that it's okay.

One hot summer, when I was very ill, I had to let everything go. Everything burned up and died out. But the following spring, it all came up again. I was totally shocked. I didn't lose a single plant. These things are a lot tougher than we give them credit sometimes.

Susan

Susan,

Yes, I plant beets every year. I like them pickled with cinnamon, as small whole baby beets and later when they get bigger, I slice them and pickle them. Yum! Ten times better than the ones you get in jars at the store. Have a very earthy taste that gets processed out of the 'store boughten' ones. Just can't compare.
They are easy to grow, too. I like to plant them in 3-4 ft. blocks, but sometimes I just plant them in rows next to the onions.

Yes, I have a well. Even with the pump coming on every few seconds, the electric bill for my watering never is more than 5 or 6 bucks and I water plenty. (Sheeesh! Don't tell anyone! They might hike up my rates!)

I have a white grape tomato that I bought from a co-vendor at the Stillwater Farmer's Market. It is called, Snow White and it tastes like a grape, I kid you not. They are kind of a creamy white color - just a touch of yellow to the white. really pretty in a bowl with the little red grape tomatoes. Delicious as antipasto and yummy just as a snack. Anyway, I saved some seeds and anxious to grow some this year. I grow several varieties of tomatoes, so I am sure to have gobs of extra tomato plants that I can can bring to Swap. I will have Sweet basil, Lemon Basil, Lime Basil, Spicy Globe, Thai & Cinnamon Basils, too.

As long as it doesn't drop down into the 20s and last for days, you can cover your plants with sheets and weight them down with small rocks. You can cover them with lots of hay, too, and that works great. Hay is a great insulator.

If you want to get really clever, here is one of my methods that works fantastically:
Fill black plastic trash bags with leaves or hay. Damp is okay. Tie them shut. Lay these along both sides of your plants, down your rows. Secure them with sticks so they won't blow or roll away in the wind. The black plastic will really warm up the soil around the plants during the day and if it is supposed to get cold at night, you can just throw a sheet or lightweight blanket over the bags of leaves. The bags will keep the blanket off the plants and help hold in the heat. Makes sure that you cover them back up before it gets dark to conserve the heat in the hay or leaves.

I have used this method to extend my growing season well into the colder months. I grew green beans all the way into December several normal wintery weather years. In fact, I harvested enough fresh, crisp green beans on Christmas morning one year to feed my entire family that came to dinner!

Blah, blah, blah! Nuff said.

~SweetAnnie4u

Annie, you're a real charm. Do you think I can grow beets in pots? They're a root vegetable, and I don't have time to prepare a bed for them. So I was thinking about just putting potting soil in several of my clay pots. How deep do the pots need to be? At least 8"? Do they need a lot of manure/compost?

Susan

Yes, you can container garden. Great for people who live in apartments with balconies or homes with very small yards. I would get top soil or garden soil and composted manure - something a little heavier for growing veggies, esp. root crops. Potting soil is much too light for veggies. (I don't use it straight out of the bag for my flowers, either.)

And I would get some bigger containers. You want at least 12" of soil for beets, and all root crops. - 24" would be ideal. This allows them to send down long roots or big, fat roots - the part we eat!

Clay pots dry out too fast here in Okie, unless you have urn sized ones. I use 5-gallon buckets, wash tubs, old cooking pots, or garden planters, & etc., that are deep enough to sustain veggies. Clean them out and punch holes in the bottoms, if needed, so they will drain. If you have any really groovy looking old pots or containers that would make great growing containers, but have cracks or holes that are just too big, you can still use them. Line them with burlap (you can buy burlap sacks at Atwood's REAL CHEAP); trim to the edges of the container, then fill with dirt. The burlap is a natural fiber and is slow to break down, but is porous. It will keep your dirt in but allow adequate drainage. Works great!

- [By the way, this is the best way to plant water plants too. The dirt stays in the pots and doesn't pollute your fish pond!]

Beets, like spinach, are heavy feeders. They grow tall tops and store all their energy in their swollen roots. You can eat beet tops too, like spinach. They are extremely high in minerals and vitamin A. Better than Spinach even. I confess, I don't like the taste, so don't eat them, but I could if I wanted to or needed to eat them!

Beets grow well with all alliums (onions, leeks, garlic), Kohlrabi, lettuce, & bush beans. Any of the coles crops of the cabbage family are also good companions to beets. They do NOT like Pole beans.

TTFN

SweetAnnie4u
"A garden is like those pernicious machineries which catch a man's coat-skirt or his hand, and draw in his arm, his leg, and his whole body to irresistible destruction."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The Conduct of Life" (1860)

I have about a 10 gallon plastic pot, so I could use that for my beets. That's all I am really planting that needs a lot of depth. I do have some garden soil, and chicken manure. I may have mentioned that someone recommended it over cow. Have to use less than cow. Also have peat moss as well. Can I use some of that, too?

Used to veggie garden, but have forgotten a lot of it. I have plenty of yard, but since these are a root veggie, I wanted to give them a better advantage by planting them in a pot, rather than having to dig a huge hole and amend it.

Susan