1) In the ground, so far I have garlic, onions, peas, lettuce, cabbage. radishes, Swiss chard and carrots, and the more cold-tolerant or perennial herbs like chamomile, chives, rosemary, sage, catmint, lemon balm, mint and catnip.

Ready to go into the ground any day now: potatoes, and they are very late, but you cannot plant in excessively wet ground which is what I'm dealing with here. If I can't get them into the ground by Tuesday, I'll give up and plant them in containers.

2) Ready to plant next week: Broccoli and TOMATOES! I had hoped to get the broccoli into the ground yesterday and today, but the forecast high winds which may gust up to 55 and higher here in my part of OK today made me postpone it. It would be cruel to put little baby broccoli plants out to face that sort of wind their first couple of days in the ground.

Once I have those first 60 tomato plants in the ground, I'll focus on corn, beans, etc. Once April arrives, it is just a matter of waiting for the soil temperatures to arrrive at the right level for corn and beans and my soil temps are almost there. Next week's hot weather should raise our soil temps pretty rapidly and once they're warm enough I'll plant my warm season crops pretty quickly. After corn and beans the rest of the warm-season crops start going in.

I'd say go ahead and plant your lettuce and carrots as soon as possible so they can make good growth before the summer heat arrives.

Dawn

I have garlic and shallots in. In the process of planting leeks and onions between storms. I will plant radishes and carrots as soon as I can. I've had greens growing all winter in the cold frame. Will start some more soon. Most of my warm season crops will be the end of April or later. If soil temp rises and the long range forecast looks good around the 15th020th I'll start my corn ect. Being right on the state line in the Panhandle area I'm a little cooler than most of you and have to plant a little later on the average. Jay

Sounds nice that you guys are planting. I dug a hole today and when I got about 6 inches deep, it filled with water. It will be awhile until I can plant.

Carol,
If you and Dawn would share some of the moisture with those of us in the Panhandle then both of you would be happy and so would Jan and I. LOL. Jay

I would be happy to share some. The Mesonet said that we got 2 inches but the TV station said we got three inches in Grove. I can believe the 3 inches. I have lived here 8 years and have never seen that much water on the ground at one time. One of my neighbors took a shovel around and cleaned out ditches and such to help the water flow to the lake better. Even then it was raining faster than it could run off. I drove to Walmart later in the day and the little bridge I have to cross had water within a couple feet of the bridge and usually that creek is barely flowing. We got a lot of water quickly.

We aren't getting much rain--only one inch this week, but it isn't running off, draining away or soaking down. I guess our soil is moist way, way down as a result of last year's 53" of rainfall.

I was digging in the lower part of the garden this morning in a spot where I was planning to plant broccoli tomorrow and I hit standing water about 4" down. I guess I'll maybe rethink my planting plans, plant the broccoli higher up and grow either rice or catfish in the lower garden.

I had to give up the gardening work and come inside once the wind started gusting about 45 mph because tree limbs were snapping and cracking and coming down just outside the garden fence and my old garden dog, Biscuit, was very uneasy. Once I brought him inside, I really didn't want to go back out and be sandblasted any more.

Maddie and I recently hung three sets of windchimes in the burr oak tree that shades her sandbox here. Those windchimes are going insane today and I fear for their lives....they're either going to be blown to pieces or have a nervous breakdown out there.

Carol, do you ever have a dry springtime there or is it always impossibly wet in the spring?

Jay, I don't mean to be hogging the water. If I could find a way to extract it from the soil, I'd put it in a gigantic zip-lock bag and send it to you and Jan up there in the drylands.

Dawn

I don't have a place to start plants from seeds yet. I was inspired by the posts here and bought two cherry tomatoes and nine slicing tomatoes and six broccoli plants yesterday when I was at Lowes. I think I'll wait for this round of storms to go through before I get them in the ground. I've never grown broccoli so we'll see how well that goes.

I was actually out shopping for some flowers and dirt when I picked up the veggies. I bought impatiens and phlox for the front flower beds. I hope I didn't get them planted too early. I put the asparagus in a front flower bed that gets sun all day. I hope I planted them right. The instructions said to plant them 2 inches in the ground and pointed side up. I planted them with all of the fingery looking things up. That doesn't look right to me, but it looked the most pointed.

I'm not sure what was up, but I also picked up the last hanging fern from the front of Lowes when I walked in. It was only $7 and will work well in a wet shaded spot in my front bed. I had several people ask me about that fern. I've never really owned one so I didn't realize they were in such demand.

Dawn, I wouldn't say impossibly wet because most years I put in an early crop of sugar snap peas and some salad greens and they are OK. This year the problem has been cold weather AND lots of rain. Our temps have finally started coming up a little but as I was typing this I heard thunder and the rain started again, but I think it is a small shower.

I also have planted tomato plants only to have those in low spots drown while they were small. I usually let my transplants get large and the weather settle down before I try to plant summer things in the ground. This year I don't have to worry about planting too soon because my plants are still very small.

I started potting up peppers this morning and had another of those 'what was I thinking' moments. I am glad that the cool crops can start spending their time outside because I will be out of room soon. I have broccoli, spinach, tendergreens, and chinese cabbage in cups and have them on two wagons so I can pull them inside if I need to. I have been keeping them inside most nights and letting them spend the day outside. However, they were out the night that we starting getting the heavy rain. Yesterday we left early in the morning and were gone all day and I wanted them to be outside, so I put things out onto a glass top table that had a layer of ice on it. The sun was already up so I knew it wouldn't be cold for long and I think it went into the high 60's. I think the coldest prediction now is 39 so I think they are probably out for good now.

We were in OKC yesterday and they were cutting the grass that is all around the Lowe's at 122nd. I looked at what they were dumping in the bags and it was about half dead grass and half green, so was likely the first cut of Spring. Looked like near perfect mulch to me so I asked if I could have it. The crew leader said that it hadn't had any chemicals on it and was happy for me to take it. They loaded up the back of the truck for us so all day we drove around looking like a mowing team. LOL

The Avalanche doesn't have a lot of space but it was piled up. I either need to work on our trailer or buy a work truck because I am ready to go get bulk compost and don't have a way to get it home. I think I am a displaced farmer type.

Carol,

Good find...grass clippings you didn't even have to clip!

I feel like another frost or two is likely here in the next couple of weeks, but not necessarily a killing frost, so I ought to be able to cover up anything in the ground that can't handle a light frost. Nothing that's been carried out is going to come back into the house again....the peppers and flowers are now filling the plant shelves.

You do need a farm truck! Our truck is so useful....I'll never be without a truck.

Today was nice and I got a bit done outside. The high temp hit 67 here at our house by 11 a.m. and then the cold front came barrelting through and dropped us into the upper 40s with a wind chill in the 30s. The few sunny, warm hours we had were very nice while they lasted.

I think we have a huge, fast warm-up after tomorrow, with highs hitting in/near the 80s by midweek. The only thing that worries me about the sudden warm-up is that often, this time of year, a really warm spell is followed by a really cold one. I don't want that cold one to happen!

Welcome to the farm world. You know you've converted from city woman to farm woman when you (a) want and need a truck, (b) buy good-quality, practical footgear because it is what you need to work outside, and (c) would rather go to TSC or Lowe's than to the mall or the movies. I wasn't a farm woman when we moved here, but it only took me about a year or two to turn into one. The more I got into veggie, fruit and herb gardening and freezing, canning, and dehydrating, the less time I spent shopping or having lunch out 'with the girls' or whatever. I still grow flowers, but not as seriously or as extensively as before, and I have no patience for anything with special needs. If a flower of any sort is going to grow here, it had better be tough, useful to wildlife and low-maintenance because that's all I plant any more.

Living in the country is so enchanting, and it doesn't really matter if your farm is 200 square feet or 200 square yards or 200 acres....farming is a state of mind. I am seeing many, many, many more folks doing veggie garden and having chickens for eggs and such, and it is just amazing. It reminds me a lot of the late 1960s and early 1970s, except we're are engaging in sustainable living wherever we happen to live instead of moving out to the middle of nowhere to homestead off the grid and get 'back to the land'.

My little sister's best friend's mother tilled up her bermuda grass lawn and planted a patch of wildflowers/pasture grasses in the late 1970s or early 1980s and everyone sort of thought she'd lost her mind. She wanted something beautiful, low maintenance and sustainable.....she was just so far ahead of her time. I always think of her and that yard full of wildflowers when I'm walking through my field of wildflowers. I am grateful I didn't have to fight City Hall for my wildflowers like she did.

Dawn

I am amazed at how many people have chickens now. I am finding that I have too many at the moment. I have given eggs to three neighbors in the last two weeks, took 6 dozen to my daughter and have 4 and a half dozen myself. My grandson is a picky, picky eater, but he loves omelets which he cooks for himself.

My husband and I have discussed the truck situation and I need a truck more than he does. We have talked about him keeping the SUV and buying me a truck next time we upgrade. I don't want a fancy truck like his, just one I can depend on and won't be afraid to load stuff into.

Dawn, maybe you and I are farmers because we were both born in 'cowtown'. LOL

I could never have lived this kind of life when I was young. I wanted to work in business. I wanted to be successful. I wanted to be the boss. I wanted all of those things that the law said woman could achieve but society was still fighting every step of the way. I did all of those things, and enjoyed the ride, but I don't need it anymore. Even when I work, I am just as happy if they give me a computer, tell me what they want done, and put me in a corner to do it. In fact, I just got a call today and I asked my husband what he thought about it. I told him I couldn't have a big garden if I did it. He asked me if I would enjoy the money more than the garden, and I said no, and turned down the job. LOL

I haven't planted a thing yet other than some morning glory seeds that I've started indoors, but have made a couple of visits to TLC and picked up some perennials that I hope to get in the ground within the next week. I also have some herbs, a few annuals, and two tomato plants that I'll hold off on a little longer.

I can't get the vegetable garden started until the building goes in, which is scheduled to start around the second week of April. Of course, with the Oklahoma weather, anything can happen that could push that back. That's why the bag garden appeals to me, because I can't do a lot of advance work due to having to wait on the building to finalize the site, etc. Today my husband and a friend moved the storage shed that is going to become my garden shed. They moved it to the general area where the garden will go. Thank goodness they started early and got it done before the clouds and rain rolled in.

It's been fun checking out the yard to see what is coming up. Since we moved here in late fall a lot of the plantings were already going dormant for the winter, so there are lots of surprises. So far I've found phlox, hostas, coreopsis, and oxalis (sp?) and something that I'm pretty sure is daylilies. There are a couple of other things that are still mysteries. Also there's a small pink-blooming tree that may be a crabapple. I need to sign up on a photo sharing site so I can post photos and see if anyone here can help me identify it. I planted tulips and iris in the fall and they're a few inches up but none are blooming yet.

The perennials that I've bought and hope to plant next week are coneflower (2 varieties, one is a red called Hot Lava), pincushion flower, bee balm, achillea, agastache, and Veronica/speedwell. Those last 3 I've never grown before. I like trying new things. The herbs are lemon thyme (it smells wonderful!), sweet basil, parsley, rosemary, and lavender. I have some bright hot pink geranium and asparagus fern for a couple of pots, and some supertunias for the flowerbeds out front. Also have seeds - sunflower, zinnia, sweet pea, and some more morning glory. I saw a new lilac at TLC that is supposed to re-bloom during the season, it's called Bloomerang. I think I'm going to have to go back and get one. Once I get the garden in I'll plant the two tomatoes - Early Girl and Celebrity - and hopefully add two or three more, and some peppers. I'm starting out small on the vegetable garden this first year.

Soonergrandmom, I love your outlook on life!

Suzie

adellabadella, I am concerned that you may have planted your asparagus upside down and if you did you will need to replant them. If the fingery things were the roots, as I suspect they were, they should go down of course. This time of the year the buds on young asparagus will be just tiny pointed protruberances on top of and in the center of the crown. My suggestion is that you dig one up, place it in a flat bowl with a little water in the warmth with the fingers laid out flat on the bottom and watch it. The spears will emerge from the buds.

Or perhaps someone can find a pic and link it. George are all yours in the ground already?

Now to what I have in the ground: Have planted Sugar snap pea plants, onion plants, cabbage and a few romaine lettuce. Have planted seed of spinach, lettuce, arugula, parsnips and radish and they are all up. The beets,carrots and fava beans are not yet. Oh and planted potatoes last Friday, not up yet. The broccoli, tomato, pepper and tomatillo plants are still on the porch under lights, going outside when the weather permits.

Of herbs the garlic, elephant garlic and walking onions are all greening up nicely. The sage is putting out as is the wormwood and oregano. The rosemary is still on the porch in the pot it overwintered in. The cilantro selfseeded last fall and overwintered in the garden and is starting to grow. Haven't seen any dill yet. It doesn't overwinter but comes up in the spring when it's ready.

Carol,

You know, I never thought of it that way, but two ladies born in Cowtown would have farming/ranching in their blood, now wouldn't they? And so we do, except we have chickens instead of cows.

I did the whole 'having-it-all-a-family-and-career" in the 1980s and earliest 1990s and got over it all pretty quickly. I soon realized that nothing I did at work gave me the same satisfaction as being at home taking care of the family, so I quit in 1992, and never looked back, even though it was so VERY hard to go from two incomes to one. We survived it though. One thing that amazed me was how many of the women that I worked with told me they wanted to quit and stay home and raise their kids too, but couldn't afford it. I think that they mostly could have afforded it, but didn't want to change their lifestyle. I wouldn't trade our little country house and our simple lifestyle on our acreage for a mansion in the city, even if that mansion came with a chef and a housekeeper!

Sometimes people ask me what we do for entertainment "out here" and I hardly know where to begin...but they generally aren't impressed with our birdwatching or batwatching or frog and turtle watching activities. lol I guess you have to live it in order to understand it.

I'm glad you turned down the job if it wouldn't have made you happier.

Suzie,

It sounds like you're busy with the flowers, and if the building goes in more-or-less on time, there still will be plenty of time to get the veggies going.

Dorothy,

Sounds like you're off to a good start. I'll find and link an asparagus planting photo.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: How To Plant Asparagus

Oh ladies....Carol & Dawn and I'm sure others. I so very much envy you guys. I wish I could do what you have done. I have..of sorts...when my kids were small. I was a stay-at-home mom & wife...that was the early 80's. Life & times took it's toll and I HAD to work full-time to provide for my kids. They have always told me I should have been a farmer's wife because of the way I cooked, baked and gardened. I would gladly trade my job with this fancy law-firm and good salary if I was in a financial position to do so, but God puts us where he deems necessary. That's a good thing since DH lost his job 14 months ago. Nonetheless...I couldn't have the gardening opportunities (not to mention quiet country living) if he hadn't invited me to live here with him. Carol - Kudo's to you for turning down that job. We DO get older and wiser. I'm less than 5 years from retirement from my current postion and I CAN'T WAIT! I'm not going to quit working....but I'm NOT spending 8 hours a day behind a computer after that time. I want to be a plant lady at Lowes or Home Depot or even one of the local nursery's!!!! (kinda juxtaposed to being a paralegal that does aviation financing law, huh?)

Anyway....the point of this is I'm going to start an asaragus bed too! Just seems to be the right time. I've made note of the recommendations...DH has never like it but even he is suggesting it so I'm thinking that's a good sign.

Paula

Paula,

There are so many different paths our lives take. Tim and I now say that we should have moved to the country when we got married in the early 80s and probably would have if we'd known we'd like it so much. I guess you just never know where you'll end up or where life will take you because I can tell you that in the early 1980s there was not the slightest whisper of a desire to move to the country...it wasn't even within the realm of possibility or probability.

I'm just glad we moved to the country when we did, because we both really love living here. Tim pays the price, of course, with his 170-mile-roundtrip-commute 4 days a week, but since he's a police officer, he's in a car a lot anyway, so the drive doesn't bother him as much as you'd think it would. Our first couple of years here he carpooled to work with his best friend (whose house was 2 miles from us) until his best friend retired. Nowadays, XM Radio does make his commute much more enjoyable than it used to be.

You don't have to be a full-time stay-at-home wife and mom to live in the country, but I happen to be able to do it that way. I do think one reason I garden so much (and can't stop!) is because I need to be busy all the time. Otherwise, there's no way to explain the insanity of harvest time and the long days in the garden harvesting and the long days in the kitchen canning, dehydrating, etc.

One thing that is funny now is that so many of our siblings, cousins and friends who thought we'd lost our minds when we moved 'way out here' now have moved to the country themselves or want to or plan to when they retire.

One of my closest cousins who was almost like a 5th child in our family because she was an only child and lived nearby told me one Thanksgiving "I want what you have" as we were strolling down our quiet dirt road on an after-Thanksgiving-diner walk (during which we had to stop the walk long enough to put up the neighbor's escapee goats). I encouraged her to "just do it" if she wanted to live in the country, and a couple of years later, she and her husband, her mom, and her married daughter's family, all sold their homes in the city and moved to a country property with three homes. They have 3 homes on 15 acres so they aren't crowded terribly close together and everyone has space/privacy, but they are within walking distance and can look after one another. They have animals, gardens and a big fishing pond. It is the good life and I'm thrilled for them that they took the plunge and followed their dream.

So many people wait until retirement to follow their dream of an acre or two in the country and a veggie garden and fruit trees and berries and a place for the grandchildren to enjoy nature. I feel truly blessed that Tim and I moved to our 'retirement place' while relatively young--I was 39 and he was 41. Maybe by the time he retires, we'll have all the hard work behind us and will have a more low-maintenance place. The more I convert grassy fields to mulched beds, the less time we spend mowing and weed-eating and I'd like to get to the point where we have very little to mow at all.

I'm glad you're going to plant asparagus. I want to do it every year but haven't taken the plunge yet. Our clay soil is so impossible to deal with....and I just know Johnson grass would infiltrate the asparagus. I need to build a 'future' asparagus bed and grow something else in it for a few years and get all the bermuda and Johnson grass out of it for several years and then plant asparagus there. It is on my 'to do' list.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn, the pointed buds that go up in that photo are to the left of the thumb. The roots are to the right and those are really nice roots, longer than on most plants I see offered for sale.

And you're right Dawn, you've got to get rid of the Johnson and Bermuda grass first.

Dorothy,

You're welcome. I'm sure they found the prettiest roots possible for their photo as I've never seen any that nice for sale either.

Yes, getting rid of Johnson grass and bermuda grass is my life's work. I had Johnson grass re-infiltrate a large daylily bed and I eventually gave up that battle and let the Johnson grass have that area back again. I'm determined that I won't let that happen to my eventual asparagus patch.

Dawn

Thanks for the asparagus link. I've planted them before, but they must have already been putting green shoots out because I don't remember having to guess at which end is up. Oh well, I will replant them when I get outside later.

Haven't planted a darn thing! YET! LOL But I'm anxious to get started. We had 6+ inches of snow on the ground just a week ago so I'm waiting a bit yet to put anything into the ground. I'm busy researching, shopping (looking only right now) and planning. I work at a school and still have kids at home that keep my schedule busy so I never plant more than I can handle - but I do try to do something new every year. We'll probably get serious about it next weekend - in between baseball games!

This year, I will have my usual tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and *maybe some beans. I will also continue my herb garden - which I happily share with butterflies. I just plant a few things - dill, parsley, basil, chives, oregano. Last year we raised probably 15-20 black swallowtail caterpillars from the dill and parsley. We still have about 7 chrysallis in an aquarium on the back porch and we're anxious to see how many of them will emerge and when.

I also plant a ton of annual flowers and this year we are creating a new perennial flower bed (Maggie's Garden) in which we will spread the ashes of our late Maggie (our 14 year old lab that passed away last August.) I try to keep it all organic, and I do my own compost (which creates a ton of fun with the worms and snakes!)

That will likely be it for us this year. As soon as my youngest starts driving himself (just one more year to go)to practice and games, I hope we will be able to devote a little more time to the gardens.
~Laura

I don't know if this will be a dublicate post, but here it is any way...

spinach, musclen greens, 2 kinds of radishes, 2 kinds of carrots, 3 little pea plants.

I have seeding: 3 kinds of tomatoes, swiss chard, brussel sprouts, leeks (about to go in the ground), lettuce, more peas, 4 kinds of peppers.

I have to see if our soil temp. goes up this week and stays there before I plant any more...

Oh, I just get little shivers reading all of your posts. I have now been retired for 3 years, and I sooooooo love it. My daddy gardened, my grandfather grew petunias - all over the yard - and my grandmother was know for her Iris. So I guess I have a little bit in my blood.

I worked from the time I was 17 yo, some in television as a copywriter for commercials, and then as a paralegal for more years than I want to count. I traveled to the Northeast and lived just outside Boston for a while, and then to Dallas for awhile. Came back to OKC and worked the last 10 years in a fancy-booty firm downtown in the Tax Department. No, we didn't do anything but business tax, corporate filings, estate tax (federal), trust and estate issues. As a single mom for most of that time I was fortunate enough to purchase my own hme in 1998.

I've been gardening ever since, even thru many major health issues, it has been the one peace giving, spiritual element in my life that has sustained me and connected me to a power greater than myself. So I tend to stay close to it. That, and all of you guys here.

I think that is why I love butterflies and moths so much, and most any other critter that comes along. For me, they are such miracles.

I will plant peas, a passion vine, a pipevine, a Hop Tree, Pawpaw tree, Spicebush, and some other ones that are arriving this week, and planting more seeds, and doing more clean up. I get slower every year LOL!

It's a joy to be here!!!!!

Susan

I have planted asparagus, rhubarb, potatoes, onions, and radishes outside. I have cabbage, spinach and pea plants about ready to go in the ground. Tomato and pepper seeds just planted. I will probably plant more radish seed, carrots, lettuce and spinach seed outside this week. I may have to cover some of this to protect it from late frosts but have many buckets and lots of hay available.

I have always lived in the country and can't imagine living in even a small town. I taught for several years before having children and then quit while they were young. Financially it was a bit challenging but little kids don't care if they have all the "stuff". Mine spent their days playing outdoors with pets and building tree houses and forts instead of TV and video games.

I went back to teaching when my youngest started kindergarten. She is a freshman in college now and I have about 3-4 more years before I retire to the farm again. I really enjoy the high school students I teach and will miss them but it becomes harder each year to motivate them. I have a degree in chemistry and have been asked many times why I would teach when I could make so much more with the chemistry degree. I have two reasons: 1. I like teenagers. 2. I can't imagine living in a city and chemistry jobs are not too common in rural areas. (There are more available here with bio-diesel and oil and gas than there were in Colorado where I began my career.)

Looking forward to full time farm life soon...

Jan

Hi,

I have (in the ground) onions, potatoes, carrots, lettuce and spinach.

I hope to plant (if they survive from the peat discs) tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and peppers. Later I will plant corn, beans, peas, watermelon, cantaloupe ....

Our story of moving to the country starts with my husband, Casey, living 45 min. from the nearest (real) town since he was in 8th grade. When we got married, I told him I would follow him anywhere except don't move me to the country. I was city born and bred. I couldn't imagine not living at least 5 min. from a store.

Fast forward 13 years and 8 children later and I was begging to move to the country where the children could play without worry of being run over. We now live in the same house I begged him not to move me into.

For the past 10 1/2 years we have piddled with gardening. Now that the children are more help I am doing more. Every year it gets bigger. Last year was a bomb, though. Between the weather, the goats and whatever got the cantaloupe and watermelon, it really wasn't worth the effort. Maybe this year!

Thank-you for all the great reading and encouragement.

God Bless,
Connie of
Casey, Connie and Crew of 13

So far in the ground - potatoes, onions and garlic. whoopey. However, this week DH will be getting the fencing up around the garden spots so thru the week and next weekend I hope to get planted romaine, leaf lettuce, cabbage, carrots, radishes & broccoli. That will clear a lot of space on my growing shelves...which I'll need to pot up the peppers.

I took inventory...10 varieties of each. 103 Tomatoe plants and 122 pepper plants (and that's not counting the "doubles" of each). I have NEVER been so blessed with sprouting....

AND I bought aspargus roots this weekend!!! "Giant" (3 root balls) and Martha Washington (6 root balls)!!! The tips that were linked are very helpful, but I was wondering it I should soak them overnite before planting?

Can't wait for the Swap to see you all! Anyone else remember Ricky Nelson's "Went to a Garden Party...to reminise with my old friends...."? Dang song has been going thru my head for 2 days now....LOL!!!

Paula

Laura, I'm sorry y'all lost Maggie and I know it must have been very hard to go through that. I bet Maggie's Garden will be very special to y'all. We have 8 dogs and the oldest is 16 and in failing health, and I can't imagine this place without her.

Susan, Are you seeing many butterflies yet? We're seeing more and more every day here.

Paula, I have had that song in my head for several days now...what a coincidence! My peppers get to move from the light shelves to the screened-in back porch today and that will open up the light shelves so I can start flower and herb seeds. It's always something.....

Dawn

So far, just Cabbage Whites, which are the first butterflies to arrive. Yesterday I saw a flash lf black wings, so maybe a Swallowtail, but cannot confirm.

I'll be outside finishing clean up and planting a few seeds and things, so maybe I will see more with the warm temps and southerly winds. I did hang the hummer feeder yesterday just in case. But only mixed a singular batch of sugar water, so I won't be wasting a big batch until and if I see them here.

Susan

We've got garlic, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, collards and the sole surviving chard seedling plus some chard from seed that hasn't come up yet. Today is the day for the potatoes--better late than never, I guess.

I've got Potatoes, Lettuce, Cilantro, Onions, and 75 Strawberry plants planted. Planted all of those about two weeks ago.

I've got walking onions, bulbing onions, garlic, sunchokes, broccoli, cabbage, pak choi, spinach, lettuce, strawberries, and herbs planted out already. I'm really not sure what I'll get out this week as this is definitely a year to play it by ear -- and last-minute plays at that! I do think I'll get the kitchen garden tilled a final time this week before the next rain hits, assuming it's unsoupified enough by then. And we're currently working on getting the lower garden hog-fenced so we can turn the hogs in there for tilling. That'll be corn, pumpkins, and probably watermelon after the hogs are finished with it.

So, not really much in the way of planting this week but plenty of prepping.

We've lived all over the country, from big metro areas to small towns to out here in the boonies. We've always wanted to live in a "nowhere" place like this and finally bought our dream seven years ago. Ahh... It's wonderful and we would all go insane if we ever had to move into a town or city again.

As far as doing the housewife thing, I've been doing it since I adopted my oldest and love it! Neither one of us have ever been into keeping up with the Joneses and pinching pennies just comes naturally so we've always managed to scrape by on one -- and sometimes almost-none income. I've done a bit of intermittent work from home but I mostly sit around eating bon bons and watching TV. ;-)

Diane

Diane - YOU're a nut! But the best kind! I never at all one single time would believe that you sit around like that...although I really wish I could envision it. Looking forward to seeing you and keeping up with your harvest this year!!!

Paula

LOL I bet Diane's never sat around eating bonbons and watching TV for a single day in her life.

OOOhhh, chard, thanks laspasturas, I forgot to plant chard when I planted the beets and the beets are already up. So chard goes in tomorrow.

Diane, we must be soul mates. DH and I have never cared about keeping up with the Jones either, and have always lived frugally. (He's Norwegian and Scots-Irish and I'm Scots-Irish so it comes naturally.) I have worked part time jobs over the years, but have mostly stayed at home. Whenever anyone asked, "What do you do all day?" with a tone that implied, "since you don't work," I would answer, "nothin' much, mostly just lay on the couch eatin' bonbons and readin' romance novels." I'm not even sure I know what bonbons are. Sounds indulgent though.

Heh. I actually googled "bon bons" a couple of years ago so I'd at least know what they were when I told folks that's what I do all day. Blech. They're nothing I'd get excited about. Gimme a dripping mater sandwich any day!

That reminds me: I was married once before to a man 27 years older than me -- quite the shocking fodder for gossip. When we'd go to his old town for visits, the ol' nosy hens would invariably try to chat me up as soon as he was otherwise distracted with other folks. I'd say, very quietly while peering around nervously, "I'm sorry but he doesn't allow me to talk in public." Then I'd just gaze down at my folded hands until he returned. :-D

Diane

Add us to the not-keeping-up-with-the-Jones crowd. The things that make us happy aren't 'things'.

Dorothy, A bonbon is any kind of candy with a center that is nougat, fruit, nuts, etc., generally coated in chocolate but sometimes coated in nougat. I think we get the term 'bonbon' from the French. I'm really more of a Hershey bar type person than a bonbon type person. Of course, I've eaten a bonbon or two in my time, but only while reclining on my sofa and watching a soap opera.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1087255}}

I have four kinds of lettuce, carrots, spinach, potatoes, and sugar spap peas in the ground. When I get Kait back from violin lessons, I am going to fill a raised bed that I made this morning with strawberry seeds and compost and hope for the best. My daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, irises, and cyclamens are looking good, too.

Next weekend, I think I will go ahead and put some tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers in the ground. Hopefully, that will be good timing!

I have been so thankful for my garden since my job has been especially stressful this year. :(

Laura

Dawn, it's really important this year to report Monarch sightings since their population is so small. Will you let me know when you see the first? It would be really helpful, and thanks!

Tomorrow I wash pots, plant peas (I know, I know, I'm late) so if nothing else, maybe they'll add a bit of nitrogen to the soil. Also pot and plant my new babies, and sow some Salvia seeds and others. Whew - do I have grandiose plans?

I picked up fertilizer and Chicken Manure today, so I am officially ready to begin planting.

Susan

I always thought bon bons were ice cream!! oops. In addition to my earlier post I've planted lettuce, carrots, chives, oregano. Also, I branched out and I've planted some flower seeds in a pot!

Susan,

With the warmer temperatures we're seeing an explosion of green here...the redbuds are finally blooming about 10 or 12 days late and many trees are leafing out, but the only wild critters I'm seeing in greater numbers are the craneflies, wasps and wild turkeys. No hummers and no monarchs. I haven't seen any milkweed emerging in the pastures yet either. The wildflowers that are blooming now are mostly the Jan. and Feb. bloomers, so everything is still behind and it will be April in a few hours!

I do expect hummers any day now 'cause they're being seen just across the river in Texas, but the monarchs are a lot less consistent anyway, and probably more so this year than most.

You know I'll let y'all know when I see them.

Dawn

I'd really been wondering when the redbuds would show that first blush of color and finally .... just in the last day or two, they are showing up along the roadsides. A deer visited a few days ago and snacked on some of my tulips :( but the ones that are left are beginning to bloom and they are beautiful! Phlox is now blooming and the hostas are growing fast. I'm now pretty sure that the tree that I thought might be a crabapple is just that, and it looks like another small tree is a redbud (yay). It's fun discovering what's growing here, now that the weather has finally decided to warm up. A neighbor said 12 wild turkeys were in our yard the other day, but we were at work so we missed seeing them. The street we live on is called Turkey Run Drive, so now we now how it got its name :). Oh, and one bit of good news .... they started the dirt work where the building will go, and when they stripped off the bermuda grass the land is mostly nice dirt, with only one little strip of red clay running through it. This may have once been farmland, or a pasture. So that's good news for the vegetable garden.

Suzie

Dawn, hummers have been reported in Cache, Oklahoma - in Comanche, Oklahoma, so you should be seeing them any day now.

Yeah, we'll all be extremely fortunate if we see Monarchs at all this year.

Susan

Susan,

I thought I saw a monarch last week, but I was talking to a visitor at the time it flew by and I couldn't just turn and follow it to look more closely and make sure it was a monarch. It was new, not faded.

With the heat and the strong winds out of the south, I really thought we'd have the first hummer yesterday or the day before. Maybe it will happen today.

Suzie, That is good news about the good soil. This is the latest the redbuds have bloomed here in a very long time. We have resident wild turkeys here but they don't come too close to the house. I love seeing them.

Dawn

Well then of course I've eaten bonbons, in those variety pack boxes of candy.

Diane, you are a hoot!! That is so funny.

Our redbuds are late this year too. Just now showing color. And I haven't seen hummers yet.

Susanlynne, did I miss something? Why so few Monarchs?

Suzie, lucky you, getting to go on a plant treasure hunt.
By phlox blooming do you mean creeping phlox or woodland phlox? It's still too early for tall garden phlox. My creeping and woodland are just beginning to show color.

Dorothy,

For several weeks, news reports have been circulating that the numbers overwintering in Mexico this winter were at a 15-year low. The reasons are complex and the lower numbers seen migrating in the US these last few years may be linked to GMO corn which has the Bt gene in it. There's a severe loss of habitat there in Mexico too and with fewer fir trees in which to hibernate, more monarchs than normal died of exposure to the cold temps there this winter.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Monarch Population At 15-Year Low

Mulberryknob,
I'm afraid I don't know enough about phlox to be sure what kind it is, but my guess is that it's the creeping type. Some of it is in green mounds that are beginning to bloom with purple flowers with dark purple centers, about the size of a dime. And then some of it is more of a spreading type, with flowers also the size of a dime but they are very pale pink (almost white) with dark pink centers. Hopefully you can tell me what type this is. You are so right, discovering what's growing in our new yard is just like going on a treasure hunt .... so fun!

Suzie

Sounds like creeping phlox. Mine are starting to show color and should be open in a couple days.

Dawn what a shame about the Monarchs. I know I didn't see as many passing over our place last fall as usual.

Dorothy,

Last fall was odd. They went way west of most of us, but that was fun for the folks in western OK who got to see more of them than usual.

I hope their population rebounds. I didn't see as many last year as usual...not in the spring, summer or fall.

Dawn