Dawn you go girl! Wow planting until dark!

I have still not planted a single garden plant or seed! Still waiting for DH to get the peach tree out of the last garden bed...lol. But he worked so hard putting down 50 bags of rock on the weekend and finishing up the spot under the photinias he was worn out yesterday.

I did stop at walmart garden center for a new bird feeder and ended up picking up a Clematis vine they had just gotten in. I think it was a Dr Rupal or Rupel? The photo on it showed a purple flower with deep pink stripes.

Anyway it was very crowded in there in the garden center and everyone was buying plants like crazy. I am worried now that if I don't buy plants soon there won't be any good ones left to buy!

This is OT:

I was so happy yesterday to see a pair of cardinals checking out our new space in the photinias!!! I ran for an old feeder and put some black oil sunflower seeds in it and it was not long until the male was feeding there! Later DH and I both saw the female taking twigs and things into the bushes and we are hoping they will nest there!
I have been wanting cardinals in my yard for years!!! They seemed to like our new area. I have to say it looks much better than it did before. At least it looks like we TRIED to do something with it other than just leave a bare spot out there...lol.

I later saw a chickadee feeding! I have never had cardninals or chickadees in my yard. Would love to have some titmice....or titmouses? (lol) too!

I hope it becomes a little bird sanctuary...wouldn't that be neat? I can hope....lol. Oh also bought a new hummingbird feeder. They didn't seem to like the fancy one my sis gave me for my birthday last summer.

Stay safe with all this stormy weather!!!
G.M.

I am also in Southern Ok, and have only been able to tiller my vegg. garden once. with more bad weather on the way, I have been putting off planting the tomatoes this year.
But we have black dirt, that is like a sponge, and being in a low area its hard to get the ground to dry up before more rain hits. : (

I am glad your able to plant your tomatoes, good luck!

G.M.

Well, I hadn't planned to garden in the dark, but each night I was finishing up something and I didn't want to go inside with the task 95% done, so I just got out the flashlight.

After two long days in the garden, I am exhausted. Isn't that pitiful? My body is not used to working such long days and it gets lazy during the winter.

I did notice that the nice weather has brought out people in droves to the garden centers.

I'm keeping one eye on the weather because it looks like we have two nights coming with lows in the low 40s (sigh) so you know that means we could go much lower down here by the river. The other night when it went to 36 here, our mesonet station recorded 33, so some people probably had more frost than we did.

It is great that the birds are coming around more this year. I think when you start gardening for the birds, they notice it and respond. We always have all kinds of birds, and this last week we've had a significant increase in the hummingbird population. They've been spending most of their time at the coral honeysuckle on the veggie garden entrance arbor. It is "Pink Lemonade" and they love it. I need to plant them some more honeysuckle since it blooms earlier than the trumpet creepers, which they also love.

Kirts,

I had that heavy black clay soil in Texas so I thoroughly understand what you are dealing with.

I have heavy red yucky clay soil here, and the only reason I have been able to plant onions, potatoes, herbs and tomatoes is because part of my veggie garden (but, alas, not all of it) is raised beds in which I've improved the soil with lots of organic material. I only have 2 raised beds left, and then I will have to plant directly into grade-level ground. That soil is probably still too wet from last week's rains to rototill now, and with several rainy days in the forecast, I don't expct it to improve any time soon.

One reason I have put in two consecutive long days in the garden has been an efforct to get something done before the return of the rain makes such a thing impossible.

Most of the veggie garden that is not raised beds does at least have soil that has been moderately improved (although not improved as much as the raised beds' soil).
If I can somehow manage to till it up this morning, I might be able to plant those areas a few days after the Tues.-Thurs. storms are done with us.

When it is rainy and I cannot plant "on schedule", I feel like I am already "behind". I know that it is still early in the warm-season planting period for southern OK, but I like to get everything going as early as I can, so it has a chance to grow before the summer heat arrives.

I do have at least 8 tomatoes on plants, with the tomatoes ranging from being marble-sized to about ping pong ball sized. So, when I start stressing and telling myself to "hurry up, I'm behind" (LOL), I look at those plants and remind myself that I already have tomatoes, so I am NOT behind.

Well, I just went and let the dogs out of the garage and into their dog yard, and a little light drizzle is falling. So, my plans for the day probably are shot already!

Dawn

I have always been worried about a raised bed, due to the heat.

My biggest problem with a lot of rain now, is my veggie garden now gets flooded from the lot behind us there water from the ditches, over flow down to the ditch in front of our house.
because of that, now my veggie garden was put underwater last year 3 times.
taking away anything I have added to the ground.
my Veggie garden has been in the same place since 95, and the last 5-6 years.. I have had problems..

Ya I have also seen a small little mist come though this morning.. as well as the temps dropping off by 10.. It was 70 when I got up at 5 this AM, now its in the 60s with the winds out of the north...
maybe we will not see any bad weather after all?

Our weather in NE OK is still a little dicey. I planted five tomato plants a few days ago during a warm spell, because they were getting so darned huge, but it has turned off on the chilly side ever since. This year I tried something different. I made a slit in the bottom of a black leaf bag, and eased it over the plant right after getting it into the ground. Then I put one of those cheap little wire cages over that, making sure that the cage secured the garbage bag. When it's cold or there's hail in the forecast, I have been going out there and drawing up the bag all the way to the top. Drawn up about halfway and secured with a clothespin, it's effective protection from the north wind we've been getting plenty of in the last few days. It was supposed to get to 70 yesterday, but only got to 65 and the wind was really cold. The nights have not dipped down to freezing since Friday night but luckily it was not a hard enough freeze to damage my peach blossoms, either that or the hosing down I had DH do to them worked, don't know which, but I'll take either. I'm hoping and praying for a crop from my peach, plum and apple trees this year since I got absolutely none last year. There is no freezing temperature in the forecast through to the weekend, except Friday is expected to be in the upper 30's, and around here that could mean a freeze.

I'm holding off planting the rest of my tomatoes as they are a little smaller and will tolerate being held. I will probably only have about 15 or 20 plants total. What I started this year were:

Kelloggs Breakfast
Martinos Roma
Mule Team
Nebraska Wedding
Striped German
Watermelon Beefsteak
Big Red
Grape Tomato

Here's what the ones I planted look like this morning. I had them covered all night and opened them about halfway today so they could get some light. Still rainy and temps in the upper 50's.

Well, it is getting darker here and there is more thunder and slightly harder drizzle, but the drizzle is still sparse. Maybe if we get the rainy weather earlier in the day, it will be less violent since daytime heating hasn't occurred. It was 72 degrees here around 7 a.m., and our forecast high for the day is 72, so I guess 7 a.m. was the best part of our day.

Heat is not a problem for raised beds as long as you mulch the soil. I use a little of everything for mulch--usually either straw, chopped leaves or shredded bark early in the growing season, and then grass clippings on top of that stuff as the season goes on. I have gardened with raised beds in zone 8B and still had great crops even in the hottest summer weather, so don't think heat is that much of a problem with beds raised a few inches above the surrounding grade.

My garden had standing water in it last year for weeks and weeks, and that is very odd because I am on a slope and the water usually runs through pretty fast. Last year was an anomaly though. Usually, in wetter years I do have to wait for the lowest parts of the garden (where there are no raised beds) to dry up, but last year they didn't dry up until our rains stopped falling in July.

I wonder why it is that rain always falls at the worst possible time for planting? Of course, if it wasn't raining at all, we'd be saying that we need rain because it is time to plant. Sometimes gardeners just can't win.

Dawn

Dawn - I think you need one of those head lights that the miners wear on there heads since you don't know when to come in at night. LOL

Merryheart - Sounds like the birds read you "vacancy" sign loud and clear and are moving in.

Ilene - Did you plant those tomato seeds at Christmas? I agree that those did need to be in the ground. I think your bags are a great idea. I bit the bullet yesterday also but only with two small plants, and 4 more in pots that I can drag in if I need to. Yesterday was such a great day - - and then the rain hit. In the early one we only got a little wind and light rain, but the one early this morning really dumped on us. Your temps tend to get a little colder than mine. I am wondering if the lake has something to do with it because we are quite near the water. I pulled my seedling table under the shed last night and just left it there today. There are to many to get under my light set up inside and they get quiet a lot of light where they are.

Scot - If our tomato plants fail, we are all blaming you for that forecast. Of course, if we get early tomatoes we will have forgotten by then that you said it was OK to plant. LOL

To all - I think this week in Oklahoma we will be doing more "talking about gardening" than "actual gardening" since it is looking mighty wet for a lot of us. Carol

Our weather started out cool and cloudy with a little bit of drizzle, so I dropped my plans to work in the garden, and instead went shopping and out to lunch and running errands.

By the time we got home, it was sunny, clear and gorgeous, so I got to work in the garden for a couple of hours. I could have worked longer, but thought it would be fun to come inside before dark one night this week. I planted petunias (Dreams Red and Limbo Blue (Purple?) as companion plants for the two rows of potatoes. And I got a couple more tomato plants in the ground.

Then I came in and caught our TV forecast and saw we have lows temps in the upper 30s this weekend. Grrrr. Every time I make a little progress, the weather starts threatening to do something ugly.

Ilene, The tomato plants look great. I think the bigger they are when they go into the ground, the faster they take off and produce, so you should have a great tomato year.

Carol, I already have done more gardening this week than I thought the weather would allow, so I sort of feel "ahead" of myself, for once. I'd love to get the last two raised beds tilled and planted with tomatoes tomorrow, but if the rains come early, I'll just mix up my container mix and plant into the Grow Bags. And, I guess, if worse comes to worse, I can just stay inside and clean house or something.

I hope the weather on Wed.-Thurs. is kind to us all.

Dawn

I'm keeping busy trying to get ready to participate in our town's CityWide yard sale, so that keeps me out of the garden some. And I've had a bout with my back which had me in bed for a week, but that's over now. It's really too early to sell garden stuff, except for things that have popped up in the yard in odd places, like hollyhocks, violets and Johnny Jump-ups. But, I have RETIRED! So I can have another sale at my leisure, whatever that is.

Carol, I didn't plant at Christmas, but darn close! I have in years past started my plants the end of January and usually have them ready to set out by spring. But this year they did so much better than usual, and sprouted so much sooner. I have had a time keeping them in good shape, had to repot several times and all that. At one point they all turned purple and I worried and worried over them. Then I gave them too much water and they started turning yellow. My grown son came over one day and asked me if we were actually going to have any tomatoes this summer, doubt in his eyes. It's been so much work! He's feeling better about it now that they're looking good again. Next year I'll wait till Feb. to start the seeds.

Dawn, in "Signs of Spring" you'll notice that's my Datura in one of the carts on my back porch picture. They, too, germinated much faster than I expected and I'm doing my best to keep them healthy enough to transition to the ground when it's time! Someone sent me Datura Metel to start as part of my WS project and a few of them have come up in the milk jug. Not as many, and tiny at this point, but I'm looking forward to them, too.

I guess I'm just not accustomed to doing so well. ;~) Glad to have all of you chiming in with advice and experiences. This is such a great site.

Kirt, I've had raised beds for years. I'm in Zone 6. Mostly I did it because my ground is gumbo clay and it's easier for me to build good dirt this way. Plus easier for me to work in them and keep the dog out. I do usually have to water in August. But they really made a difference for me last spring when we had so much rain. All our friends who had tomato plants lost them. Mine did well until the weather got dry and then started to fail because they were so used to getting lots of water and I imagine their roots didn't go very far down. I haven't had much luck with peppers in my raised beds, so this year I'm going to plant them in containers where I can control the water level better for them. They tend to need a lot more water than the tomatoes.

I'm keeping busy trying to get ready to participate in our town's CityWide yard sale, so that keeps me out of the garden some. And I've had a bout with my back which had me in bed for a week, but that's over now. It's really too early to sell garden stuff, except for things that have popped up in the yard in odd places, like hollyhocks, violets and Johnny Jump-ups. But, I have RETIRED! So I can have another sale at my leisure, whatever that is.

Carol, I didn't plant at Christmas, but darn close! I have in years past started my plants the end of January and usually have them ready to set out by spring. But this year they did so much better than usual, and sprouted so much sooner. I have had a time keeping them in good shape, had to repot several times and all that. At one point they all turned purple and I worried and worried over them. Then I gave them too much water and they started turning yellow. My grown son came over one day and asked me if we were actually going to have any tomatoes this summer, doubt in his eyes. It's been so much work! He's feeling better about it now that they're looking good again. Next year I'll wait till Feb. to start the seeds.

Dawn, in "Signs of Spring" you'll notice that's my Datura in one of the carts on my back porch picture. They, too, germinated much faster than I expected and I'm doing my best to keep them healthy enough to transition to the ground when it's time! Someone sent me Datura Metel to start as part of my WS project and a few of them have come up in the milk jug. Not as many, and tiny at this point, but I'm looking forward to them, too.

I guess I'm just not accustomed to doing so well. ;~) Glad to have all of you chiming in with advice and experiences. This is such a great site.

Kirt, I've had raised beds for years. I'm in Zone 6. Mostly I did it because my ground is gumbo clay and it's easier for me to build good dirt this way. Plus easier for me to work in them and keep the dog out. I do usually have to water in August. But they really made a difference for me last spring when we had so much rain. All our friends who had tomato plants lost them. Mine did well until the weather got dry and then started to fail because they were so used to getting lots of water and I imagine their roots didn't go very far down. I haven't had much luck with peppers in my raised beds, so this year I'm going to plant them in containers where I can control the water level better for them. They tend to need a lot more water than the tomatoes.

Ilene,

You retired? Well, congratulations! Now you have more time to do the things you really want to do! I am so happy for you.

I am glad your tomatoes, datura and other seedlings are doing so well. I know it is a pain-in-the-neck (ha! betcha thought I was going to use a different word, but I chose "neck") to keep the large tomatoes going inside, but just wait until you put them in the ground. They are going to take off like a rocket once they get over the shock of leaving their safe, secure seedling pots and venturing out into the big, bad world.

The seedlings that I have transplanted into the garden (even those transplanted just a couple of days ago) look as if they have been there for a month to six weeks already because they were so large when they went out. I have found that bigger transplants give you earlier tomatoes too.

When the seedlings start getting "too big", I always swear that "next year" I won't start them as early, but when next year actually arrives, I start them early anyway. Of course, I am in zone 7b.

The storms are coming so I won't be planting today.

Good luck with your sale this weekend. I hope the bad weather has passed on through by then and doesn't come back. (Our weekend looks good here, except for a couple of slightly cold nights.)

Dawn

My husband heard that there is a tomato that is best for Oklahoma/ Texas weather.. (wet springs, dry summers)

He thought it started with an M. he will try to get the name of the plant when he goes back to work.

I have always just bought plants.. usually better boy or big boy...

Has anyone hear of anything like this..
since this seems to be a local thing, I don't think Wal-mart or a major chain would carry the plants..

Does anyone have any heads up on what plant this might be?

Well, it could be "Merced" but it is no longer on the market (although some growers may have stocked up on seed when it was announced that Merced was being dropped from commercial seed production). And, there are thousands of tomato varieties, so it is hard to guess which one he heard about. Usually, though, only 2 to 3 dozen varieties are available via the usual retail channels.

"Merced" was marketed as being more heat tolerant than most other tomatoes and, to an extent, it was. However, when breeders focus on one trait....like heat tolerance or disease-resistance....something else usually suffers and that "something else" in the case of Merced was flavor. Although some people claimed it had good flavor, most people didn't like it and, consequently, it fell from favor. An older variety that is very similar in performance to "Merced" is "Jackpot" and sometimes you still see it in nurseries. To me, Jackpot always has had a better flavor than Merced.

There are lots of tomato varieties that start with "M", including Marion, Marglobe, Mortgage Lifter and all its' derivatives, Momotaro, Mozark, Millionaire, Miracle Sweet, Manitoba, Matina, Matt's Wild Cherry, Maui, Marglobe, Martino's Roma, Mr. Stripey, Mirabelle, Missouri Pink Love Apple, Manyel, Marizol Gold, Marizol Purple, Mammoth German Gold, and the whole "Mountain" series, including Mountain Fresh, Mountain Belle, Mountain Princess, Mountain Spring, etc. And, then, there is Mule Team.

If Merced is not the one your DH has heard about, I would guess it most likely was Mule Team. Mule Team is an old heirloom variety that produces exceptionally well in our heat and has outstanding flavor. It produces bright red, round, medium-sized tomatoes (maybe 8 to 10 oz. or so). They do have good flavor and the plants themselves seem pretty disease resistant. It does bear fruit later in the summer than many tomatoes. Mule Team reminds me a lot of Sioux, which at one point in the 40s or 50s was the most popular tomato grown in Oklahoma.

I have grown hundreds of different varieties, and grow between 80 and 100 varieties per year, and there is NO miracle tomato that is head and shoulders above all the others. Each gardener has their own favorites of course, and there are some that do produce better in the heat. The closest thing to a reliable and dependable producer that is disease-tolerant and produces well in the heat (and is easy to find on the retail market) here would be something like Celebrity, Better Boy, Jetsetter, Arkansas Traveler (or Traveler or Traveler 76), Bradley Pink or Porter.

Dawn

It was Merced Tomatoes.. and we looked all weekend, even in Texas..
At the last stop we found a grower that use to sell them,
they went on to say that the Merced tomatoes do not produced "true Seeds" and they have not been able to get any for 2 years.

We ended up with Celebrity,

Celebrity is not a bad tomato. It is very disease resistant, has good flavor, and is a good producer. I like it better than Merced.

My name is Voice of Experience and I am here to tell you don't use my idea of the black plastic bags. They don't work!! We had temps down to 29 on Sunday night and I lost most of what I planted. A few look today like they might come out of it, but I will have to wait and see. It might just be better to pull them up and replant, anyway. The good news is that my fruit trees appear to have made it through without damage and I'm so happy that maybe I will actually get plums, peaches and apples this year!!

My sale went well, even though it was cold and windy. I sold quite a few of my "extra" tomato plants, a few pepper plants that I kept inside, and some violets, grape hyacinth bulbs, naked lady bulbs and sedum. I couldn't believe people were buying plants as nasty as the day was. I'm glad though that they didn't buy me out as I do have some left now to replace what didn't make it. But there was really a lot of interest. It was just too early to be selling plants, and some of my wintersown seedlings are still too small to pot up, so I may have another sale later on. It really helps defray the costs of seed, starting soil and what not to be able to sell the extra. If it hadn't been for the fact that it was a City-Wide thing, I probably wouldn't have chosen that weekend to have a sale. People were here from Coffeyville and from Tulsa.

My son repairs lawnmowers as a side-line and he brought over several mowers and a couple of riders. He made twice what I made! Truly, people are ready for spring! (Me included).

Yesterday several little ? I think they're wrens? showed up. They're small birds and they sing the loudest song. They like to nest in the apple-shaped gourd bird houses I have hanging under the grape arbor. They're very territorial and will chase off the other birds, even though almost all the other birds are bigger than they are.

I have been staying busy digging henbit and grass and other weeds I don't know the names of. Everything has gotten so overgrown, it's going to take me awhile to get caught up. Plus there are things that need to be done INSIDE too. Men don't clean very well. Once again, I am Voice of Experience. --Ilene

I saw that Merced tomato today in my Lowes store so if you are still trying to find it you might try your local Lowes.

Ilene - I am sorry about your tomatoes. I think the only damage I had was to the tops of the potato plants that were about an inch or two above the surface. They don't appear to be harmed by it and still seem to be growing.

I just can't wait to plant more things but I am playing it safe and just doing the container ones. If we get another cold snap, I will have wall to wall pots living inside. I just can't stand to waste all of these good growing days. If we can just find a way to cover those "few" days of spring and fall we can really increase our gardening season, can't we? I had four tomatoes in pots that I had to drag inside for a few days, but they have new growth so I am glad that I had them potted. I have potted up another four this week. This is my first year to grow veggies in containers, so I hope I know what I am doing. I have been reading all winter. Unless you have a greenhouse, or at least a hoophouse, I think pots are the only way to help extend the season. My garden is a mess also since I didn't get to tend it last year. I probably have about a third of it cleaned so far. I had landscape cloth at my cattle panels where my tomatoes will go so maybe that will speed that part up. It didn't hold up well enough to use again but I think it kept down a lot of the weeds. Some of the rest is going to take a lot more days on my knees pulling and digging up grass. I hope I don't have to resort to that seven letter hyphenated word.

I will be going out to town on Friday, I will run to Durant and see if Lowes have one.
Thanks : )

Ilene,

Sorry about your tomato plants. Black plastic bags ARE great wind barriers, and the heat they provide during the day does help the plants grow, but they aren't at all good for freeze protection. (I tried them one year when the temps began plunging much lower than forecast and they didn't do my plants any good either.)

I had my plants covered with flower pots, buckets, and other containers and still lost several plants at 29 degrees. It was really a hit and miss type thing. One plant would be completely dead, one next to it might be perfectly fine, and the next one might have only a little freeze burn on the tips. That's usually how it goes though. Different tomato varieties exhibit different amounts of tolerance to cold weather and I don't know why it is so variable.

I've already replanted the plants that were badly damaged, using the back-up plants raised specifically for such an occasion. (Most years I don't have to use the back-ups and just give them away.) I haven't trimmed off the damaged foliage on the partially damaged plants as even damaged foliage can conduct some photosynthesis. I will trim it off once new growth appears. And, one of the plants that survived with no damage is blooming today.

I piled grass clippings around the potato plants, which were about a foot tall, so only the very top of the foliage froze and those plants are already putting out new growth.

I'm glad the sale went well. As for the whole issue of things that need to be done inside.....if you just stay outside all day, you won't have to think about it! LOL I do that a lot, but then, when I come inside, all that inside stuff is just sitting there waiting to be done. I TRY to be efficient and clean a little before I go outside, and start laundry that I can fold later in the day, etc. And I TRY to start dinner in the crockpot a lot of days, but sometimes it is hard to manage it all. Luckily for me, my DH and DS work really crazy schedules (one is a police officer, the other a firefighter) so I don't have to cook a big dinner each and every night. When they are both gone, I tend to work in the garden till dark and then come inside and eat a bowl of cereal or just make a quick sandwich.

The weeds are so bad this year. They aren't a problem where I had landscape fabric and mulch, but they're a problem everywhere else. I have been using my hands so much in the garden that they hurt at night.

Dawn

I'm loving the weeds! I've discovered a patch of cudweed (for the American Lady butterflies)! This is what happens when I just let everything go. Many so-called "weeds" turn out to be the butterfly plants that you can't purchase anywhere at all.

I also discovered a strip of median road a short distance from me where crimson clover is growing! Yippee! It is such a beautiful clover! I'm going to wait until they start to turn brown (the flowers) and grab some seed. I don't know if it was actually planted there, or was seeded by the birds, wind, or whatever. Gets a bit taller than my white clover, but the blooms are just gorgeous!

Mine is definitely a wildlife garden in the midst of the city! A lot of people in my neighborhood don't mow their backyards because there are so many trees. I barely mow the front, and I have butterflies and moths by the gazillions now.

I didn't get any plant damage at all. I covered by recent purchases in small pots, with a sheet and they did great!

I have a lot of protection, though, from two big ole austrian pines.

Susan

Speaking of weeds, I have no idea what most of them are called. Is there a website somewhere that shows weeds native to Oklahoma? I have some that grow thick and about 1' tall that have little tiny daisy-like flowers. When you pull them they feel like they have a lot of moisture in them and the roots don't go very far down. I didn't know what Henbit was called until someone posted a picture of it in Signs of Spring.

I do have a couple of tomato plants that are coming out of it. But the Black Krim is just standing there, still erect, but sad little limp, darkening leaves dangling and no evidence of new growth. The sad thing is that I sold all my extra Black Krims. I had people requesting "that purple tomato". I guess I will sow a few more seed and maybe have some late ones for me. DH doesn't like them. Of course half the stuff he eats is stuff he says he doesn't like, he just doesn't know he's eating it.

I covered some plants with plastic buckets and that didn't work, either. I should know better than to plant tomatoes before April 15 or 20. It seems like I "jump the gun" every year.

One of the Tulsa news channels ran a piece on Livesay's Porter peach crop and how they had helicopters hovering over their trees, trying to force warmer air down during the freeze. It was interesting that Mr. Livesay said that at 27 degrees you lose about half your peaches. I always thought the margin was less than that -- that you'd lose all your fruit at anything less than 32. Since it only got to 29, I guess my trees were safe and I didn't know it. I hosed them all down just before I went to bed, and got up early the next morning to hose them down again, only to find that the hose was frozen! Grrrr. At that point the leaves were "crisp". I suppose it's really too early to know about the peaches. There are still flowers on the trees but they look a little lackluster. DH says it's because they've been polinated and are forming fruit but what does he know? He sent me off to Walmart during a snow storm once, saying the snow wasn't going to stick. By the time I got out of the store, it was snowing so hard I could barely see to get home and slid off the road when I turned the corner. We got about a foot of snow that day. One time I told him I thought the shelves in the pantry were starting to "lean", and he said they'd be OK. Luckily I was in the pantry when the shelf started to fall and was able to push back on it and holler for help. Otherwise I'd have lost my jars of pickles and tomatoes, not to mention the mess. So I know I can't really trust his judgment. I haven't seen any peaches forming. A few of the flowers have fallen on the ground but I think that's normal. I look every day to see a hopeful sign. The plum trees, though, had tiny little green plums formed before the freeze, and they still look good. And the apple trees were just beginning to bloom and they went ahead and bloomed on and the bees have been visiting the blossoms regularly.

Is it just me, or have we had a colder than usual Spring?

Seems like it has been very cool this year, Sheri. As far as weed identification, the Noble Foundation has a list of wildflowers. Many wildflowers are considered "weeds" by folks. They have an extensive list with photos, but it takes awhile to search, because you have to click on each name to see the photo. Not really user friendly IMHO.

Don't know what your plant is from the description. So many weeds in the compositae family. If it belongs to that family. What does the foliage look like?

Susan

Thanks for all the good tips on growing tomatoes! I am a beginner and will give it a try this summer! There's alot to learn! I am in SW Oklahoma and the weather is unpredictable this time of year, so hopefully I will get off to a good start!