I agree. Im starting pretty much the same on Sunday.

Mike

I don't even have my light shelf out of storage, but I need to get on the ball. I did buy more onions today, red, white and yellow.

Larry

We finally got to spend a few hours in the garden today and it was nice. I still had frozen areas, but some parts were not frozen and were easy to dig so we dug about 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket of Jerusalem Artichokes. Al washed one at the faucet and peeled it and we had a little garden snack. Nice, crisp, and fresh.

Our neighbor came to talk to us over the fence and reminded us that the lake was frozen and we were gardening. LOL

Dorothy, I think I will be starting the same things this weekend.

Yip!

Started indoor seeds yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon was warm enough that we were able to clean up four of our flowerbeds. The detritus gave us enough material to start two additional compost heaps. We have five compost heaps, now, averaging 4'W x 6'L and 2' - 3' tall.

Today, I hope to 'mine' three of the compost heaps for material to add to a couple of the beds in the front garden. I'll add Epson salts to those beds in order to bring the pH down a bit. When I replant them, this summer, I'll add some iron sulfate to bring the pH down a little bit more.

Last month, I transplanted the heritage rose(s) by the Chinese elm on the north side of the house and moved it to the lavender bed in front of the house, on the west side. There were two roots. Now, I can only hope that they survive the move. We need three or four more roses for that bed and about two dozen lavender plants and we're done with it...except for adding some more mulch...

The two beds of garlic are looking ok, but a bit withered by the cold weather. We'll have to wait for spring to see how well the fruits have handled this winter.

Time to start looking at the seeds we have on hand, too.

I started tomato seeds on Wednesday and likely will start the others in the next day or two. I thought I'd have all the seeds started indoors by now but I've been trying to listen to the voice in my head that keeps telling me to slow down and wait. I don't know if it is the voice of experience or the voice of paranoia after last year's pattern of having 1 or 2 freezing nights every week through the first week in May, but I'm trying to heed its warnings.

I don't think the cold weather is done with us yet, but I'd like to believe it is almost done with is.

The wind yesterday made it feel colder out there in the garden than I had expected, so maybe I should have stayed inside one more day and finished starting the early season seeds.

Larry, My light shelf still is in storage too, so my flat of seeds is sitting on the coffee table. I'll get the shelf out today and get the seed-starting flats lined up on it so the growing magic can begin.

Dawn

Plans for this weekend include some work on a sideboard I bought to be redone that is now totally in the way of getting to my seed shelf in the garage! Need it done and in the house stat - after four months it is now a priority. Also cleaning out my veggie plot and getting onions into the ground. Woot!

I have tomatoes, peppers, basil, dill, kale, and two kinds of lettuce growing in three flats under lights in my kitchen. Bought a shelving system yesterday so I can finally get all of that out of my kitchen. I will now have room for more flats as well, so I need to get busy starting more seeds. Yippee!

Yesterday I picked up a bag of Espoma's soil acidifier and 6 bags of pine bark fines and started prepping beds. One bag of pine bark fines and about 2 lb. of soil acidifier in each 8' by 2' bed. Soil in the raised beds is perfect for working but there are huge lumps of frozen pine bark sitting out everywhere since each bag had at least some frozen areas lol! Back to town today to get more soil acidifier so I can finish prepping the beds. I have only 100 square feet total so its not that much. Was hoping to add 4 more beds this spring before the tomatoes are ready to go in the ground, but it will depend on my health. Autoimmune disease+gardening is a most maddening combination!

Is it too early to plant spinach, lettuce and kale? I have some spinach and lettuce that overwintered without cover so I'm transplanting the survivors into prepped beds. I have a few more kale and lettuce plant under lights, but need more. Maybe I'm better off starting them under lights and waiting till it warms up a bit more? Carrots and beets have to be planted from seed though, as far as I know. Do you all think its too early yet? I'm in Edmond/OKC.

I did plant potatoes and peas yesterday, and will plant the rest today.

What about strawberries, rosemary, thyme and sage? TLC has lots of strawberries now. My herbs didn't survive the winter :( so I'll be starting over this year.

I have been chomping at the bit to get outside and today is the day. I am going to get my onions and a few other things going (gotta check my seed stash). We are supposed to be warm all week so I thought carrots and sugar snap peas. it will be in a raised bed with a cover when needed.
Also trying to get my furniture rearranged to accommodate my shelf/light setup.
Yay I am so ready
kim

Well, the first batch of Super Sugar Snaps sprouted in less than three days on the kitchen counter. Soaked them Friday morning planted them this morning with lovely sprouts at least as long as the seeds, some longer. Filled 180 halves of toilet paper rolls. Now it's out to get the tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and some flowers started.

Ate another serving of greenhouse mixed greens on Friday. They were wonderful, sweet and nutty tasting. I don't know if the flavor is due to the cool (cold at night) temps or the kelp meal and compost I dug into the bed at planting time.

I have not planted anything. I hope to plant onions today or tomorrow. I do have everything that is dry enough tilled. If weather permits I will try to haul some mulch this week and gets my light shelf set up.

Long time no see everyone! Now that my little tyke is finally old enough to sort of enjoy playing in the garden with me (he likes to eat dirt, though...), I'm hoping to get more into it again this year. I've got a few tomato plants just starting to sprout, and I started some peas on Saturday. This morning on the way to work I stopped at Atwoods in Norman to poke around and found that they were selling bunches of Dixondale onions for $1.50 each. They look a little dry and sad, but at that price I figured it was worth a shot.

Canokie, here in z6b I usually plant spinach, kale and lettuce the first week of March. I also plant onions, beets and carrots the same time. Potatoes go in midMarch.

DH is starting to the garden now to till the area where early stuff goes in. I am going to the greenhouse to plant some flower seed.

I've got the seed-starting light shelf out of storage, dusted off and cleaned up, and it is set up in the spare bedroom. I sowed seeds in two 72-cell flats....a combination of veggies, herbs and flowers. I didn't even get out the seedling heat mat because there's nothing I seeded that really needs extra heat to sprout. I just put pea seeds in water to soak for a little while so I can sprout them in baggies.

Part of the front garden is cleaned up and ready to go, and the rest will be ready by the end of this week. It's too early for me to do much of anything else. It is, after all, still only February. One warm spell in February doesn't cancel out the fact that it still is winter, and I'm not going to rush anything into soil that still is pretty cold. I'd love to be out there planting everything in sight, but it is too soon.

Shelly, Dorothy gave you good advice on planting times, and I'll just add this....I am at least 120 miles south of you and it is too early for me to put much of anything in the ground. Onions can go in now, but not much else. When you sow seeds or put transplants into the ground while the soil is still this cold, it can hurt them more than it helps them. They often will sulk and refuse to grow because the soil and even the nighttime air temps are colder than they like even if we are having sunny, warm days.

I'm going to link Tom Clothier's Vegetable Seed Germination Data Base for you. Look at his numbers and you'll see the "best" temperature (the one at which the highest percentage of seeds sprouts in the shortest amount of time) for each kind of vegetable. I find this database enormously useful. Why sow seeds into soil that is 40 or 45 degrees if that particular seed sprouts best when the soil is 65 degrees? Why not wait until the soil temperatures are at the temperature that is best for quick germination? When seeds are put into cold ground, they'll eventually germinate....in 2 or 4 or 6 more weeks. During that time when the soil is too cold, you can lose a lot of seeds. They can rot, blow away, wash away in rainfall, or be eaten by hungry soil-dwelling critters. Why risk it?

While strawberries and the herbs you mentioned can be planted in the ground now, they still will be vulnerable to late freezes and frosts, so I don't know that I'd rush anything into the ground yet. If you put them in the ground, watch them carefully and watch your forecast low temperatures very closely. The other day, our forecast low was 30 and our actual low was 22 degrees. I was glad I didn't have anything in the ground that was marginally cold-hardy because it either would have frozen to death or would have been severely damaged. In the springtime, even when daytime air temperatures are decently warm, nighttime lows often lag behind or fluctuate wildly. Soil temperatures warm up much more slowly then air temperatures.

When the OSU Garden Planning Guide lists a range of planting dates, as it does, that say "Feb 15 - Mar 10", that doesn't mean that anybody anywhere in the state should start planting seeds and transplants February 15th. It means that the folks in far southeastern OK can start planting on February 15th. Those of us further north and further west need to wait a bit longer. The further north and west you are, the longer you should wait. That March 10th is the recommended date for extreme NW OK. I will put onions in the ground in mid-February of most years, but nothing else much goes into the ground until March. I don't plant much earlier than Dorothy does. That is because I have learned from experience that planting earlier than that does not give me an earlier harvest or a better harvest, and planting at the early end of the range often means there's lots of pest and weather challenges that can mostly be avoided by waiting a few more weeks to plant.

If it sounds like I am hopping up and down hollering "Shelly, slow down!", well, I am. : ) I have a friend here in my area who insists on putting seeds in the ground a month earlier than I do every year. Guess which one of us gets the earlier harvest? (And if you're thinking it is the early bird planter, guess again.)

I was in a nursery yesterday that had warm-season flowers and veggies in stock, and I was so shocked to see some of those plants in the stores in February. It instantly gave me an immensely bad case of planting fever. I had visions of buying plants, coming home and planting them and having a beautiful garden off to an early start. Then, I took a deep breath, said "it is too early" and left the store empty-handed. It was the right decision, and it wasn't an easy one either. Every gardener I know wants to start the planting season too early. Generally the well-seasoned gardeners like Dorothy and I know that there's little to be gained by starting too early....and guess how we learned that? Our spring weather is so erratic in nature that it always is risky to think the first big warm spell signals we should plunge full-tilt into planting. Very rarely will the weather warm up in February and stay suitably warm. If I feel like I have to plant something in February, I'll plant it in a container that can be carried inside when the more seasonably cold temperatures return.

Heather, Welcome back to the gardening world! It is hard to picture your little type being big enough to eat dirt already. I bet y'all have been having the time of your lives watching him grow. They change so fast when they're so young, and I hope you're enjoying every minute of it.

I think your onions will be fine even if they looked pretty dehydrated. They shouldn't have been at the store for so long yet that their energy would be totally depleted.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clother's Vegetable Germination Database

And although onions are fairly cold hardy, they can freeze out. I planted both reds and whites last year--sorry, I'm not much into onions so don't pay attention to variety names. The whites survived last year's repeated late frosts; the reds didn't.

When I order strawberry plants they arrive here in mid-to late March.

Dawn is so right about the necessity of timing. Planting too early can cause some things to be permanently damaged. I had to learn to be patient about putting peppers in the ground and to hold off direct seeding okra. On the other hand, planting some things too late can leave them with too little of their optimum growing temps to produce well. Beets are a case in point. If I don't get them into the ground within the first half of March, they just won't make any size before hot weather. I grew up near Puget Sound where green beans bore all summer and tomatoes didn't ripen until August. And nobody I knew had air conditioning. Learning to garden in Oklahoma was a struggle.

Gardened yesterday for the first time this year and it felt GOOD! Cleaned beds, added cardboard and mulch to paths (anyone in OKC need cardboard? I have tons), compost to beds, planted my two bundles of onions, and for kicks, threw some lettuce, radish and pea seeds down because I couldn't resist that beautiful dirt. Yay!

Haha I came into this post worried that I was behind. Reading through this topic confirmed it until Dawn came along with her reality check. I actually am kind of behind because I haven't started seeds yet. I got most of my onions planted this weekend and cleaned up the garden. I do have one tomato plant in a container under lights (thatIstartedbeforeChristmas) and it's covered in tomatoes so I think it's kept me from going too crazy. Hopefully I'll get the rest of the onions planted and seeds started after work today.

Leslie

I am running behind on stockpiling mulch, but I did get a load yesterday. I will try to unload the truck today and go for another load. I will try to get a couple of loads of shredded leaves in a few days. I use the shavings around the edge of the garden and the leaves between the rows. I also planted 7 bundles of onions, but many of them were too large and I expect to have trouble with them bolting.

Larry

Dorothy, I've lost plenty of onions to late cold weather in the low 20s even though I waited and planted exactly "on time" and not too early. It drives me crazy, but what can you do? Sometimes the weather wins and our plants lose.

I agree that learning to garden in OK can be challenging. I only moved 80 miles north and still found that I had to learn how to deal with temperatures that were more erratic in winter and spring and both colder in winter and hotter in summer than what we had in Fort Worth. One of our new neighbors told me that, as a gardener, moving here from Fort Worth was only a negative because the gardening conditions were worse here year-round than they were there. He said there was no upside involved in gardening here vs. there. I laughed when he said that (it was our first spring here and it was a pretty mild one), but quickly learned how true his words were. He told me that it wasn't uncommon to have snow here in April and even in May. Since then, we've seen snow and sleet in April, but so far not in May...and I hope we never see snow in May. He was 87 when we moved here and had lived here since he was 3, so he knew the weather here very well from so many decades of experience both living here and farming here. I took his advice to heart because I knew it was backed with real-life experience here in the exact conditions I'd have to learn to deal with.

Mia, Didn't it feel great to be outdoors playing in the dirt?

Leslie, If anyone could/should plant early, cover up those plants to protect them, and fight to get ahead of the hot weather....it would be you! I would understand that because your spring lasts approximately 3 days there, doesn't it? I've never seen an area go from "too cold" to plant to "too hot" as fast as your part of SW OK does. If I lived there, the weather would drive me stark raving mad.

I'm glad you have your indoor tomato plant to keep your sane. The first tomato plants hit the Wal-Mart store last week, and I bought three little containers of them on Sunday: an Early Girl, a Park's Whopper and a Big Boy. They spend the night in the sunroom and the day outside. I haven't even potted them up to larger containers yet, but will do that today. Having that handful of plants in pots gives me something to fuss over and helps me resist the urge to plant anything in the ground too early.

Our forecast for last night was 30 degrees, and at our house it went down to 28 and was frosty this morning. Our mesonet station went down to 23. Nighttime lows like that help to remind me it is still winter (as if I need a reminder). Even though it has been really cold, the air temps warm up fast as soon as the sun rises. That 23 degrees made me nervous for onions in the ground near our mesonet station location. If we didn't have to get our onions in the ground so early to ensure they have enough time to make good growth before the daylength induces bulbing, I'd wait and plant them a month later than I actually do. We just have too many nights that get surprisingly cold compared to how warm the days are, and if I didn't have a Min-Max thermometer outdoors, I likely wouldn't even realize how cold it is getting at night.

Larry, I know you might be behind where you usually are at this time of the year, but as far north as you are, you're still in great shape time-wise.

It doesn't matter how much mulch and compost material I stockpile all winter long---it is gone in the blink of an eye once planting time rolls around.

I had a couple of bundles from Dixondale that had onions that were far too large and that will bolt, but they did overpack the bundles with lots of extra onions to make up for the fact that some of them were too big. I guess the weather hasn't cooperated with them either because it is rare for them to send that many onions that are obviously far too big. We'll just use those as scallions when they start to bolt.

Dawn