Here is my pepper list for 2010. I had planned on a few others but never obtained the seeds. I will have plenty I'm sure. Jay

2010 Peppers started
Tray #4
3-30
Bull's Horn Sweet Italian
Amish Pimento Sweet
California Wonder Bell 300
Larson's Colossal Kim
Larson's Big Kim
Kim's Colossal
TAM Jalapeno
Grande Jalapeno
Big Bertha Bell
Colossal Hybrid Bell
Whopper Improved
Green Giant Bell
Ozark Giant Bell
Hungarian Volcano
Senorita Jalapeno
Zavory
Purple Jalapeno
Ancho San Luis Poblano
Jalapeno M
Giant Marconi Red
Nu-Mex Joe Parker
Nu-Mex Big Jim
Fooled You Jalapeno
Anaheim Chile
Larson's Mild Anaheim
Navaho Pepper
Cayenne Large Red Thick - Hot
Alma Paprika Bell
Aji Dulce

You will be getting your lycopene and antioxidants.

Jay,

It is such an amazing list as always. I hope they grow well and you get to transplant them on-time or even early. The weather this year seems so much more favorable than last year.

I start transplanting mine tomorrow. I'd do it today, but the winds are supposed to be pretty high today. I am going to cruelly put the broccoli seedlings in the ground and let them fight the wind.

I didn't plant as many kinds of peppers this year as I'm still on pepper overload from last year, and there's still several gallons of peppers in the freezer.

I hope the last freeze has happened here because I'm going to process as though it has.

Dawn

Gee whiz Jay, you got your typing practice with this thread. I see lots that I have never heard of, so I will be interested to see how they do for you.

I noticed that you planted Red Marconi peppers. Be sure to let me know about your germination. I had new seed for both Golden Marconi and Red Marconi. I planted 20 seeds of each kind. I have 17 Golden and so far only one red one has germinated. I still have them in the heat thinking maybe they are just late, but it isn't looking good. I planted a few jalapenos and I didn't think any were going to germinate but a few finally did. George sent me new seed so I could replace those. The new ones he sent are almost as big as the few that finally did germinate and I didn't plant them until I had given up on the others. Peppers are really weird with germinatioin. Sometimes the first ones just seem to pop out of the ground and the same kind from the same pack will take another week. I have about half of mine in small pots now and they are looking healthy so far. They are still under lights inside tho.

Your list is very interesting. I need to read up on a few. I've never heard of 'Dora'.

Carol,
Yes I keep my fingers in shape this time of year. I try to make and save lists of everything I plant and where. And it still seems like I have something every year I'm not sure what it is. I'm going to add my bean, okra, cukes and squash lists to this post. I'm not sure I'll get every bean variety planted. I was only sent 5-10 seeds of some of them. So that helps limit what I plant. In okra this year I'm trying every Cowhorn type I could find. The only new cuke I will try this year is the Verdi Ortolani. There are only 3 squash varieties I'm sure I'll grow.

I will let you know how the Red Marconi germinates. So far on the maters I'm having good results. Just hope it continues.

I believe I sent Dora to Dawn but would have to check. It and Gary O' Sena are Brandywine x Cherokee Purple crosses made by Keith Mueller. I have some I'm very anxious to see how they do and taste. I also have several I had never heard of till I received them. I received seven seeds in the mail Tuesday. They were from a source whose wife is battling cancer. And four of them I had never heard of. I had asked for a couple. But will grow five of them being he took the time to send them. Jay

Jay,

You did send me Dora and Gary O' Sena and both are growing well and ready to go into the ground. It will be my first time to grow these two varieties.

Dawn

Carol,

You're not alone with your Red Marconi difficulties. I'm having the same trouble. I initially started them with soil-less mix in peat pots and nothing happened. Tried the same method again... nothing. So now I'm up to the moist coffee filter/ziplock bag/heat pad method and I'm still not seeing signs of life. Ugh! All the other peppers and all the tomatoes (with one exception) sprouted fine.

I haven't admitted defeat yet (but I may be close). lol

Lynn

Ok, so I started several seed variety of tomatoes that I rec'd mostly from the last swap. However, a lot of my tomato seedlings did not make it. I am really disappointed bcz I put a lot more tender loving care into these than I usually do. Maybe that's my problem, I smothered them!! lol

Anyway, This is what I planted:
Goliath
Arkansas Traveler
Heinz 1439
Porter Improved
Porter
Tommy Toes
Sweet Treats
Black Cherry Tomato
Romeo Roma

I did plant like 2-4 seeds of each, 2 in one spot. All of them sprouted and grew the first baby leaves. Then one day I put them outside bcz the weather was very nice and they wilted. I guess I stressed them out or something. Anyway, I lost all of them but a few. I am just so disappointed and would like to start more seed. Do you think it's too late to try again?

The peppers I started are:
California Wonder
Cayenne
Fesno Chile
Orange Bell Pepper
Yellow Bell Pepper
Sweet Banana Pepper

Not sure what the orange and yellow peppers are exactly, they are seeds from last year's crop and I forgot what they were. Out of these most of them have sprouted and doing pretty well.

But, like I said, I have put more love and care into these seeds this year. So, I have more expectations than usual. I did have some kind of a fungus on the top of the seed mixture. It was white and kinda puffy. I would just scrape it off. I have now officially put my plants onto my porch for the time being. I move them into the light during the day (if there is any) and then back to the shelf during the evening. I am watching to make sure they don't dry out also. By the way, I just moved them out this last week about 2 days ago.
Melissa

Melissa,

I'm sorry you lost so many of your tomato seedlings. I am assuming you must have left them outside too long? They can handle only one hour of exposure to full sun the first day, and then you add about an hour a day. If it is very windy, even an hour the first day could be too much.

It isn't too late, technically, to start new seeds now, but any seeds started right now likely won't give you ripe tomatoes until the late July to early August time frame. If you plant seeds today, maybe you'll have most of them up by April 10th....which happens to be the start of the recommended tomato transplant time period (April 10-20) for most of Oklahoma. By April 20th, they might have two true leaves. You might be able to put them into the ground the first week in May, but by that time, plants that were transplanted in early to mid-April will already have flowers and probably some fruit or will be very close to doing so. As you can see, your plants would be about a month to six weeks behind and your crop will be as well.

It wouldn't hurt start them, if only to give you experience at hardening them off. For crop/harvest purposes though, you'd be better off getting nice, large healthy plants at the Spring Fling.

Fungus on top of the seed's soil-less growing medium generally indicates overwatering, by the way.

This has been a tough week for seedlings....the winds are very strong and young seedlings are easily damaged by them. My plants are fully hardened off and I still have moved them to the most protected spot I can find daily to try to keep them from having leaf burn from the wind.

Dawn

With predicted lows of 45 for two nights, I moved my tomatoes inside last night and since we had a chance of hail, I didn't take them back outside today. Tomorrow morning they will move back outside and I hope can stay out. I planted one in a big pot and another in a pot that has a milk jug with the bottom cut out and put down over it. Both appear to be doing just fine, but if I didn't have so many plants I probably wouldn't take the chance, or would be quick to drag them inside.

Monday is supposed to be very windy so maybe that will dry the ground some since we got another 3/4 inch of rain today. I was mad at myself for sleeping late this morning because I didn't get anything done in the garden before it started to sprinkle.

I didn't start any regular head cabbage this year but had been thinking about picking up a few transplants. I went to Atwoods today and was roaming around the greenhouse and the cabbage caught my eye. As I strolled that direction a sign caught my eye which said, '5 packs for $1'. The packs were 3-packs. They had a lot of things there and I could see roots coming out the bottom so they need to be planted immediately. I think they had lettuce, red cabbage, late cabbage, early cabbage, brussels sprouts (which I don't plant in Spring) califlower, broccoli, a few yellow bell peppers, etc. Well who can resist that? Most of it I didn't need, but I did need the cabbage. I quickly found 15 packs (45 plants) of various things for $3.26. I am sure my husband thought I had lost my mine when he saw me buying plants......but they were almost giving them away.

I have 6 or 7 flats of plants outside and have everything I can possible stuff under 6 four foot lights inside. Which is an extreme amount now since all the tomato plants are inside tonight.

Melissa, If you are going to the Spring Fling, then as Dawn said, that is a great place to find plants. If not, I'm sure I can spare a few. HeeHee I must admit tho that I have several people asking, but I could probably spare 10 or 12. I didn't plant many of the ones you planted except for Black Cherry and Porter Improved. I only have one Goliath so you can't have that one. LOL You will probably find that the plants at the swap will be larger because the gardeners in the southern part of the State start theirs earlier and can get them outside to harden off earlier (most years). Some years I start early but it gets to be too big a pain to deal with if you are starting a lot....and I started a lot this year.

Melissa, one of us seems to have trouble with transplants every year so the rest of us just kick in and bail them out. We weren't born with this knowledge, so we all have had to learn. Sometimes I take chances, so I may kill all of mine next week....LOL....but I hope not.

Carol,

Our forecast low for tonight is a disgusting 40 degrees, and you know we usually go colder than Marietta's forecast low down here on the river, so I am expecting 38 (but hoping I'm wrong). I moved all the flats into the garage for what I hope is the last night....but one really cold night is lurking in next week's forecast too. I even carried in the peppers from the back porch because they don't need to be subjected to 40 degrees either.

Our rain hit overnight, so I couldn't work on my gardening 'to do' list today either, but we only got a half-inch and the wind blew like mad all day and will blow some all night so maybe the soil will dry quickly. When I heard it raining between 5 and 6, I went back to sleep since I didn't need to get up and get out to the garden.

That was a pretty wonderful deal on plants at Atwoods, wasn't it? I think you got your money's worth...and more.

I think I'll have enough spare tomato plants for everyone at the swap if I can keep them alive that long, and assuming something doesn't wipe out all my plants in the ground after I transplant them. I HATE the mention of the word hail in the forecast. It never fails....as soon as I put tomato plants in the ground, we have a hail storm. I think it was in 2008 that a storm blew up out of nowhere and hailed on my tomatoes about 3 hours after I finished a marathon transplanting session. That's why I grow all the extras though...."just in case". It never fails that if I don't need them, someone else does and that is great. I hate to 'waste' them if I don't need them, so want to find good homes for all of them.

I'm hoping to get a lot done tomorrow...wet soil or not. We do still have a couple more days of heavy wind here...it seems like early March wasn't very windy, but we've made up for it the last week or two.

Today I saw the first Indian Paintbrush flowers budding in the pasture so spring is rolling on ....full steam ahead, and it is about time!

Dawn

My little cousin that lived to be 98 always said that Indian Paintbrush only grows where an Indian has lived. I always remember hearing that every Spring. I am sure where you live that is really the truth.

We have been very lucky with hail and have only had pea size stuff mixed with rain the entire time we have lived here. It seems to go all around us so I'm sure my time is coming.

The first year that I joined GardenWeb, I covered my garden with everything I could find because we had a threat of a very late freeze or frost. I spread row covers, filled 2 litre bottles with hot water and put them under there, etc, etc, etc. All of this was done in the dark. Then I came inside and read the Oklahoma Forum and you had been outside covering all of those tomato plants in your garden. That was Spring of 2007, and you had hundreds. I don't think my tomato plants were in the ground, but I covered everything that was. My garden is almost twice that size now so I hope I never have to do that again. I am trying to be patient.

Jay, It's not fair to make you do all the typing and just sit back and read so I guess I will share also. I get a charge out of what everyone plants. It sounds like a science experiment and we are all Googling to read about this one or that one. LOL

I have the following:

Sioux
Pink Brandymaster
Mariannas Peace
Nyagous
Ensalada
Kosova
Ilini Gold
Aunt Gerties Gold
Yoders German Yellow
Kelloggs Breakfast
Thesseloniki
Black Cherry
Mountain Pride Hybrid
Rutgers
Big Boy Hybrid
Sungold
Royal Hillbilly
Carbon
Cherokee Purple
Cherokee Chocolate
Cluster Goliath
Anna Russian
Baker Family Heirloom
Lime Green Salad
Cherokee Purple
Isis Candy
Dr Carolyn
Goliath
Dr Wyches Yellow
Golden Jubilee
Porter Improved
Barnes Mountain Pink
Aunt Gerties Gold
KBX
Black Krim
Nebraska Wedding
Illini Star
Ildi
and one lonely Tess's Land Race

As you know, I don't have room for everything I would like to plant, so I will probably have a lot of containers.

Carol,

Well, in our case, this particular land was originally part of a land grant given to a woman who was an enrolled member of the Chickasaw nation although it passed out of Indian hands long, long ago....I think in the 1930s or 1940s. So, I guess that explains the Indian paintbrush. We also have oodles of Indian Blanket alongside the roadways near us although it doesn't grow in our clay at our house. Every now and then I'll see one pop up in that narrow band of sandy soil near the western edge of the veggie garden.

I remember 2007. It was a horrible year and that big cold spell hit after I had almost my entire garden planted. I essentially built a hoophouse type greenhouse over every bed with all those buckets and bottles of water as solar collectors. That weather stayed gray and dreary and cooler than average for so long that I left my plants covered up for a couple of weeks like that. The plants mostly survived though, and that ordeal of covering it all up is why I've been planting later and later every year....I don't want to ever have to go to those lengths again!

I'll try to type my tomato list later. Somewhere here in this house I have a spiral notebook with an actual list of what I have growing as opposed to what I planted, because there were at least 2 or 3 varieties that either gave me 0% germination or that germinated and promptly died. It didn't look like damping off, and nothing else has damped off....it was just sprouts with cotyledons one day and then nothing the next.

I always overplant too and now I am at the "where am I going to put all these plants" stage! lol I do it every year and I know I'm not going to change, so I just overplant and enjoy it. Despite all the plants I have, I still have to look at every single tomato plant display in every store we'e in. I always say "I just want to look and see what they have", and I do, but I also know that if I see some type that I'm not growing, I might decide I "have to" have one of those. So far this year, I haven't seen any specific variety that I 'must' have.

Dawn

Carol,
Great list. I enjoy reading others lists and then the end of season reviews. I have heard about everything on your list. Have seed for or grown many of them. Have been going to grow some of the mountain series but haven't yet. So at the end of the season will be expecting an end of season review. LOL.

It was either 07 or 08 that I carried big plants back and forth from outside to the inside I'm not sure how many times. I had the tops get bit on some I had in the garden and had covered. Think the first week of May we hit the low 20's here. We were on the southern edge. As I remember Guymon was several degrees warmer. I said never again. Plants got 2' tall and root bound. Now this year I think waiting as long as I did too plant I may regret it. Hopefully in the future I will have the greenhouse and then have a place to hold them. So can start at least part of them earlier. My last tomato tray has sprouts all over it this morning. So in a week or so I will know what I have and don't have to plant.

The wind died down in mid afternoon yesterday. Got a bunch of labeling done in the garden. Out of over 200 cloves of garlic I had around six no shows or they died. Got all but about ten foot of my onions planted. So will try to get them in today. At least starting to look like a garden. Jay

Carol,

I found the notebook with the list of tomato varieties I ended up with. These are mostly 7 to 8 weeks old and nice-sized and ready to plant.

Aunt Ruby's German Green
Baker Family Heirloom
Berkeley Tie Dye
Black Brandywine
Black Cherry
Black Krim
Black Plum
Brandymaster Pink
Brandymaster Red
Brandymaster Yellow
Cherokee Purple
Dora's Dusky Rose
Dixie Golden Giant
Dora
Fabulous
Fargo
Gary O' Senna
Glick's 18 Mennonite
Golden Cherokee
Golden Sweet
Goldman's Italian American
Heidi
Heinz 1439
Ildi
Indian Stripe
JD's Special C-Tex
Jet Star
JTO-99199
Juliet
KBX
Mama Leone
Moreton
Mountain Fresh Plus
Mountain Glory
Mountain Pride
Mountain Princess
Mr. Bruno
Nebraska Wedding
Pink Climber
Prime Time
Ramapo
Red Defender
Riesentraube
Rutger's Select
Santa Clara Canner
Scarlet Red
Sprite
Suncherry FT
Sungold
Supersonic
Sweet Million
Sweet Treats
Tennessee Britches
Tennessee Heirloom
Tess's Land Race Currant
Texas Star
Tomatoberry
Tumbling Tom Red
Tumbling Tom Yellow
Valena Pink
Window Box Roma
Yellow Jelly Bean

Those are just the ones I've raised from seed and that list doesn't include the tomatoes plants purchased to plant in pots for early tomatoes. I think those four are Better Bush, Early Girl, Husky Red Cherry and Goliath. Three of those four have green tomatoes on them, with the largest being about the size of a ping pong ball.

Jay, I know that your Dora seeds didn't sprout. I have several Dora plants and can bring a couple to the swap for you if you want them.

Dawn

Dawn will let you know. I planted Dora from two source. Still hoping at least one source with sprout. Jay

Jay, I would think that you would recognize a lot of them since they came from your house. LOL I had many packages of seed to choose from but I wanted to plant those that I had gotten from you that were new to me. I don't think the two of mine with mountain in the name are part of the 'mountain series' that you are interested in tho.

Dawn, The Porter Improved and the Pink Brandymaster came from you. You sent me 2 Porter and 2 Porter Improved in an envelope with instructions to share with Melissa so I sent one of each to her, I kept the Porter Improved and sent seedmama the Porter. The tomato that I got from you at the swap was a Porter and seedmama had asked me to save seeds for her. That was the one tomato that I lost last year before it had produced seed.

I haven't lost any seedlings this year, but I have had poor germination on a few, and a few peppers that germinated but just seemed to stay buckled up in the seed head. They were a green stem with a seed on top. Since I knew I had over-planted anyway, I didn't try to go back and soak the seed and try again, but that probably would have worked.

We are having a beautiful sunshiny day here and the temp is 57, and on it's way to 69 they say. Can't beat that. Too bad it is so muddy tho. I might be able to plant a few salad crops into my raised bed by afternoon.

Carol,

We are overcast and 73 after an overnight low of 37. I am digging as deep into the mudy ground as I can (and it isn't easy!) and trying to finish the potato planting, but it is very slow going. If I wait any longer for the soil to dry out more, there's the risk more rain will fall and re-wet it instead. Our soil has been wet for months and just won't dry out, but I'll be singing a different tune about three weeks after the rain stops falling completely this summer. I told Tim a few minutes ago that I have too many seed potatoes and he just laughed at me and said "well, as long as you have enough". He won't be laughing when I ask him to rototill up some more bermuda grass so I can expand the garden one more time to make room for more potatoes.

I want to plant tomatoes but I'm keeping an eye on a cold night forecast for next week and may wait until it passes. The last thing I want to do is to have to cover up a bunch of stuff.

I didn't plant Porter or Porter Improved this year because Jay sent me too many wonderful new (new to me) varieties to try. I dropped a lot of old favorites to put in the 20 or so varieties Jay sent me so I'll have the fun of tasting lots of new kinds this summer and I can hardly wait.

I have had pepper seedlings do that before and I am pretty certain it is some sort of genetic defect but haven't ever taken the time to research it and figure it out.

Well, I need to get back outside. Apparently the potatoes are not going to plant themselves while I am here inside, although it would be a neat trick if they could.

Dawn

It is 63 here now. The wind is kicking up again. Wasn't bad this morning. Finished planting the onions, leeks and cippolinis. I put in almost 14 bunches. The only multiple bunch was 1015Y Texas Supersweet. My Sister and BIL really love them. So I grow extra of them. Waited for the mail before leaving as I expected my potatoes to arrive and they did. Along with one extra. Horses are getting nervous everytime the UPS, Fed EX and mail carrier stop. LOL. Heading up to Garden City to do some shopping and pick up a few things I need for the garden. Will try to stop at a couple of nurseries. Hope it dries up so you all can do some garden work. Radishes and peas are all I have left to get in this weekend. Think I'll wait a few days on the potatoes. Only one variety really has any eyes growing yet.

Carol yes I recognized a few I sent you. Hope they all do well for you. I have several I hadn't even heard of till they arrived in my mail box. Will be interesting to see how they do. Jay

Dawn,

WHAT DIDN'T YOU PLANT?!?!?!

That's a nice list you have there. I don't even have the room to plant that many. However, I did plant a couple of each variety that I had. I looked last night and saw that I have a Tommy Toes left and possibly a Porter Improved. I was really wanting to try the Goliath, but lost those. Oh, and I still have an Arkansas Traveler. The reason I planted a few different varieties is bcz I wanted to see what would work well for my area. I am close to Carol. However, as you know in Oklahoma, you can be like 5 miles away and have different soil. So, I had thought I would try that. I think I'm going to try my tomatoes in containers. My MIL has these things that are like raised beds only octagonal and with the cage on top. That's what they use and their tomatoes always do well. Anyway, will go look at those this week. I get the raised part, the cage on top, and the dirt inside all for $5 each. I didn't think that was too bad.

I guess I'm going to have to do more planning next year, setting up a better space for the seedlings.

Carol,
I'm not going to be able to make it to the Spring Swap so I was wondering if you could be kind enough to get me a few things? Also, I thought I could pack up some seeds and send quite a few seed packets with you. I have a lot of flower seeds that I could send. Just let me know. I would really appreciate it.

Melissa

Melissa, I have a gardeners CARE package for you. I will meet you somewhere this week and give it to you.

..Tomato Plants..
Sioux
Big Boy Hybrid
Sungold
Cherokee Purple
Black Krim
Black Cherry
Baker Family Heirloom
Dr Wyches Yellow
Rutgers
Mountain Pride Hybrid
Ildi

..Peppers..
Golden Marconi
Purple Beauty
Qudro d'asti Rosso
Pablano

They are still small but have good roots. The tomato plants have been staying outside all day and night unless the temps drop below 50. In that case I roll them back inside for the night, but they could probably handle more than that. I think it is still a bit early to put them in the ground.

It will still be a while before we can plant peppers and these are still tiny.

Call me when you are coming to Grove and I will meet you somewhere. I know your garden is part of your home schooling so I don't want you to be without plants. I hope the selection is OK.

Melissa,

There's a lot I didn't plant, but I'll start about 20 other varieties in May for fall tomatoes, so I'll get to add some more varieties. lol

I really don't have room for all the tomatoes I grow, but I put a lot of them into containers and that allows me to plant more than I otherwise could. I have three new garden areas this year and that will give me space for more of everything, but it is amazing how quickly the new areas are filling up.

I've actually cut back quite a lot from my 'peak' tomato year in the mid-2000s when I had 400 tomato plants representing about 100 different varieties. The deer weren't a problem then, so I could plant outside the main fenced garden. Now that the deer have become a garden problem, I've had to limit myself to only those tomatoes that I can squeeze into the fenced areas.

Dawn

Carol,
Oh wow! I am speechless. Thank you so much. I appreciate it very much so. Please let me know what I could do to repay you. You have touched my heart by your generosity. And yes, I do incorporate the garden in my homeschooling. That is sweet of you to remember that. I do remember you saying your daughter homeschools, though. I hope to be coming to Grove sometime this week, so I'll call you when I am. I think I still have your number, if I don't then I'll email you.

Also Carol, did you see where Dawn said she plants more tomato seed in May for a fall harvest? Do you think we could do that here? I would love to have some fall tomatoes. My in-laws usually have maters well into October. Makes me jealous for tomatoes!! lol. Although, they do share some which is great.

We got a new puppy yesterday and I have had my seedlings outside also. It wasn't windy when I left at about 9:45 am. However, when I got home it was terribly windy. I noticed my seedlings missing from the porch so I kinda got freaked out that they might have blown off. My 9 yr old dtr was smart enough to carry them in the garage for me. She knew they could blow over. And, they still got a lot of light bcz the garage was open all day due to us working on a fence for our new puppy. Anyway, I was so proud of my dtr for thinking of them. She is so wonderful.

By the way, I am praying this rain away!! So far, so good. We don't need any more rain. Yet!

Melissa

Melissa,

We also use our gardening for home schooling. This year they wanted to have mini gardens of their own to care for. I hope that doesn't mean they won't want to help me with the main garden :-)

This is the first year we tried to start with seedlings. I was so excited when they began to sprout. I was so looking forward to the swap because I was going to have something to swap. Now, it looks like not only will I not have anything swap, we may not have any make it to actually plant. The more I think I know the more I find out I don't know.

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

Melissa, I put some transplants in the ground in late July or early August and still had fresh tomatoes late into the season. They were not abundant, the taste wasn't quite as good, and the cold weather hit pretty early last year. I my case, they were just left over transplants that had managed to live in their small pots with no care all summer. I just did it as an experiment.

So my answer is yes, but I would try to have them in the ground by early July, I think. My guess would be that some years you might not succeed, but as seedmama says, "You can't win if you don't play".

Here is a good example (of a bad example). I planted several crops in cups this year that I had planned to move to the garden when the weather settled a little. They were all cool season crops and have been outside for a long time. They endured a three inch rain, so I gave them a drink of fish emulsion. Although growing slowly, they were growing, EXCEPT the spinach. It grew to about one and a half inches, then set seed. So try as we may, sometimes mother nature works against us.

I planted pole beans in late July last year and had a wonderful harvest, so I think if we plan to start our fall garden early, we can plant a lot of things. Leave your peppers in the ground all season if they still look healthy because although production may slow a little in summer they will likely rebound in fall. Tomatoes seem to wear out much earlier. My summer squash was productive into the fall, and my ONE melon vine produced for quite a long time.

I planted a lot of winter squash (which I don't normally grow) and I got it in a little late for full maturity. The butternut finished, but the others needed a little more time. I actually could have left them on the vine longer, but I listened to the weather forecast and pulled them when they said frost threatened. It didn't happen here - - twice - -, so I could have gotten them much more mature.

Of the tomato plants I have set aside for you, three are cheeries and include our favorite tomatoes. Sungold and Black Cherry are wonderful tomatoes and I am trying Ildi for the first time. I know your children will enjoy picking and eating Sungold right off the vine. It is super. They might even get a few into the house, but I doubt it. HeeHee

Having said all of this, please remember that I have only lived here 8 years and some years didn't have much of a garden, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt (and a heavy duty prayer) and just use your best judgement. Carol

Y'all, I've linked the OSU Fact Sheet on planting a fall garden. This is similar to the Garden Planning Guide that includes a list of spring planting dates except the dates are reversed, so the first date given is for gardeners in northern OK and the later date given is for gardeners in southern OK.

For what it is worth, with any warm-season plant I'm putting in for fall, I try to get it in the ground as early as I can....If they say July 1st for me, I aim for June 15th. Planting a little early just increases the odds of getting a good crop, particularly if any given autumn has an early first freeze. Since living here, we've had our first frost as early as September 29th and as late as mid-December, so you never really know what to expect, but even in an early-frost season I have felt like I got enough production from the fall garden to make having one worthwhile.

The best way to have a fall garden is to have a separate garden bed for fall---at least for the earliest plantings like fall tomatoes and fall peppers. Otherwise, your spring-planted garden is just about at its peak when you should be starting fall plants, and that makes it impossible because you know you're not going to rip out your spring plants when they're producing well just to have space for fall plants.

I try to plan ahead to the extent that I can, I already know that fall tomatoes will go into the beds that have spring broccoli. Sometimes, though, it is hard to find a space to plant fall crops on time without removing spring crops prematurely. I 'need' a second garden just for fall--a space I could plant with a cover crop in late winter or early spring and then rototill that cover crop into the soil in early June and start planting the fall garden in late June. Maybe one of these days....

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Factsheet on Fall Gardening

Dawn - I'm thinking that possibly 14+ acres was not enough property for you. LOL

Carol,

Well, it would be enough if about 10 or 10.5 acres of it wasn't heavily wooded!

Seriously, can you imagine having even an acre-sized garden? I like all the new 'little' garden spots we're sneaking into little odd spots where we have sunshine and flat land. The problem with them is that they don't seem like that much space but after you build a few of them, it does start to add up. I figure if I bite off more than I can chew this year, it is OK....we're due for drought this summer so I'll have less of a weed problem if there is less moisture.

Dawn

I would not be able to take care of that much. I still have so much to do. I'm sure there is something wrong with my calendar because spring comes too slowly and winter comes too fast every year. My yard and garden should have had a lot more done to it in the fall. LOL

I still need to get a truck load of compost, and a bunch more cattle panels. My DH informed me today that I need to do something about that awful mess in the back yard (meaning various tomato cages). They are pretty bad. Some short, some tall, some rusty, some bent, all ugly.

I have gotten a few things done this week tho. I planted my potatoes this morning. I only plant a few to have some new potatoes to eat with fresh green beans. I think they were Kennebec and Yukon Gold and just a few of each. I planted lots of lettuces, chard, etc in a raised bed and got most of those 'cheap' transplants into the ground.

I had some onions that I bought long ago and was afraid they wouldn't still be good, but I planted one bunch of them several days ago and they appear to be greening up, so I guess I will plant the rest.

When DH got home today, we put up three cattle panels. I have planted sugar snap peas on one of them already. It seems very late, but thought I would give them a try anyway. I hope I get one more day to work in the garden before it rains. They say we have a 20 percent chance both Tuesday and Wednesday. I would be most happy if it missed us this time. One side of my garden is OK, but the other is still fairly wet. I tilled enough to plant the potatoes this morning, but it was a little too wet. DH tilled the area for the peas and it was much better...damp but not wet.

The first couple of weeks in the garden does prove to me how out of shape I become every winter tho. My brother-in-law always told me that old age, isn't for sissies, and I am realizing it more every year. LOL It is still fun to dig in the dirt and I plan to do it for as many years as I can.

I cleaned one flower bed today, and planted a few plants that had survived the winter in small containers. Talk about root bound!!