Hi Suzie,

Welcome to the Oklahoma Forum and to country living. Our family fled Fort Worth 11 years ago to move to the country ourselves and I just love living in the country too.

I'm glad you like Barbara Pleasant's book. I think it is the most useful, practical vegetable gardening book I've seen in many, many years. The bag garden is a wonderful way to start a new bed and also is great for anyone dealing with difficult soil. Our granddaughter's small garden will be at least partially a bag garden.

It sounds like y'all are going to be very busy getting the building put in back, planting, building beds, re-doing beds, etc. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!

Dawn

Welcome Suzie! You've landed in the BEST place to learn about gardening in Oklahoma.

I speak from experience. I moved rural about 4 years ago. Left the southside of OKC because I ran out of space for flower beds....just kidding. I'm a bit over 50 and at this later place in life, re-married. Have 2 grown daughters and 2 wonderful grandkids.....and I'm finishing my life married to a guy I knew in high-school...and should have been married to all along. He's chided me about being from Green Acres too! In fact, tonite while I was re-potting 80 tomatoes starts - he said he thinks he's created a monster! I wouldn't be this far if it wasn't for the great info I've received on this site. I was lucky that our 2 and a half acres was very un-developed when I got here ....sorta. Kinda like a blank slate. You're going to have a wonderful time "painting" yours! I've done all the beds around our house in perinials and crepe's. You can't go wrong with those. And face it, we're getting older and need to think about ease in future upkeep. But a word of warning...this site if filled with enablers. Before long, we'll have you growing at least 50% of your own veggies too! (if not more!)

Hope you keep us posted on your developments!

Paula

Paula, Only 80! You may have to buy some. LOL

Oh Carol - I know....it's Dawn & Jay's fault!!! The scary thing...I've got just as many peppers started. Guess what I'll be offering at the Spring Swap? LOL

Suzie - don't be scared, really...we're "virtually" harmless....sorta

Paula

I started a lot of peppers as well, but I was just looking at them and I can see signs of germination on everything except my jalapenos. I didn't buy new seeds and the ones I had were about 3 years old. I hope someone started extra. I only planted 8 days ago, but I got germination in 6 days on 3 different kinds and can see a few showing through on everything else in the flat except jalapeno.

At the end of the season, I cut up all of my peppers and froze them and have used them all winter. I told my DH the other day that I bought one bag of 3 peppers all winter and only because they had a red, yellow, and gold in a bag for $2.50 one day. They made a really pretty stir fry. Otherwise, I have used my frozen peppers for everything this winter.

We can blame everything on Jay and Dawn if you want to. LOL I sure thought of them a lot as I planted my seeds because I planted a lot of Jay's and some new ones from Dawn that I hadn't tried before. I planted her new Pink Brandymaster and it really grew into strong looking seedlings. I will be interested in seeing if it tastes like Brandywine and produces better. I don't think I even planted Brandywine this year. Jay sent me some really choice ones that are new to me. I don't have nearly enough cages for all of the tomatoes I will plant, but I tie some to cattle panels. I may have to buy some more cattle panels because I also love them for pole beans and several other things. Except for the things I really like, I planted 5 seeds of most things. I ended up with 3-5 plants in most. Actually I got 6 of a few things because the seeds stuck together. My only failures were Box Car Willie which I only had 4 seeds and got none, and Tess's Land Race which I only got one of 5 to germinate. I got five of a lot of them and of course I don't have room for that many. I have two neighbors that usually buy a few plants in town, then add more to their gardens from those I don't plant.

My husband's (step) grandmother is 95 and likes to have a small garden. I don't think she is able to put it in, so we thought we would go plant a few things for her. I took plants to the Senior Citizens for 2 years, and last year I didn't take any. My DH said they reminded him this past week that they sure did like to get plants from me. My new son-in-law has 6 Earth Boxes, so he will probably need a few plants. Then there is the Spring Fling.....maybe I need to plant some more. LOL

Welcome Suzie! Folks here are happy to have more friends join in. Sounds like you and your husband are enjoying a special time in life.

Carol, I hope to drop you an e-mail. My "Jalapeños," which are Chile Rayado, a Jalapeño variety, came up BIG TIME this year, something like 100%.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Welcome Suzie,
The previous posts have all warned you about this site - it is definitely habit forming and filled with enablers (of the best kind) - you will refer back to it constantly because you get lots of advice and honest opinions and ideas you would never dream up on your own. I'm not the GreenAcre lady, but my husband has told me I remind him of Granny Clampett on the Hillbillys show....lol

Welcome Suzie and good luck on your new place. You'll find great gardening advice here. Dawn and Jay are tomato experts, and George is a long time seedsaver. I am planting lots more tomatoes this year thanks to Carol's mail seed swap. (But the peppers haven't shown yet, Carol and it's been a month.....so...) And I have had years of experience with Sugar Snap peas and broccoli, two crops that some people find difficult. If the search feature on this site will work, you can glean lots of good info from past threads.

Suzie, We hope you will visit often and join in the insanity. LOL

Dorothy, That is not sounding good for the peppers. I planted a lot of different kinds and the first ones were up in 6 days and most of the others began showing on the 8th day. I had them really warm, so I guess that is what did it. I can send you some seed if you want to try another batch. I only have partial packages left, but can send you a few of several different kinds if you want. Just shoot me an email. I planted five seeds of "Frank's Thai Hot", that George gave to all of us and all five germinated on the 6th day. The only pepper I planted that didn't germinate were jalapenos. I suppose they could still come up but I doubt it. I love peppers and use a lot of them. I had some others that I wanted to try but didn't get them planted. Since I had such quick germination, I may start another flat. I didn't plant any of the mini bell peppers and would like to have a few of those.

I never knew that Sugar Snap peas were tricky to grow because I have never had a problem with them. This year may be the exception since they aren't planted yet. Now broccoli is a different story. Some years it does good and other years, not so much.

Carol, I spoke too soon. I went out after I posted that and there were a couple peppers up of all three kinds that you sent. The Tam Jalapenos that I planted at the same time came up over a week ago so I was worried. I had turned off the germination mat when everything else came up and guess it just got too cool for speedy germination.

That's great Dorothy.....I sent 3 kinds??? I don't remember. Could it be my age, you think?

Peppers are a little tricky. I thought I could see green on everything except the Jalapenos, but after checking again, I don't see any of the Red Marconi either. The yellow Marconi is coming up great - side by side - both were new seeds. Go figure!

Thank you all for the very warm welcome! I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time here soaking up all of the wonderful information you all share. And yes, I can see there is a bit of enabling too, haha! But it's always that way with things we feel passionate about, right? I started some morning glory seeds so that I can plant them along the fence that borders our property on the back. And I have big plans for a sad-looking little storage shed that the previous owners left. It's going to make a perfect gardening shed once I get a good coat of paint on it. I have a nice potting bench that some neighbors passed along to us a few years ago when they moved, and it will fit right next to the shed. But I'm most excited about having home grown tomatoes this summer. Our favorite summer meal is home grown tomatoes sliced thick, fried okra, and hard boiled eggs. I can hardly wait!

Suzie

Ah-ha, another tomato lover. You'll fit in just fine Suzie.