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bbbbrrr!

rjj1
17 years ago

I saw 30's for lows last night on the weather and made the mad haul of about 40 plants back to the greenhouse. Glad I did, it was 30 degrees at 4 this morning and 29 degrees at sunrise.

I'm relieved I didn't let those abnormally warm couple of weeks lull me into thinking it was safe for everything to find their growing season homes yet.

Still have my black plastic down on our garden area to kill out the grass and weeds. Might wait another 2 weeks before uncovering and planting all the veggies I have going in the greenhouse.

Anyone else get a hard freeze?

A little off topic. I've posted photos of my lovely daughter and our dog she calls "Little Brother" in the past.



This year is her 2nd year of competitive gymnastics. Friday night was the Western Sectionals. It's kind of a tuneup for state.

Daddies little girl placed 3rd on vault, and 1st on bars, beam, and floor.

I pulled a few frames from my video camera. It was too dark in the building for photos.





The girls were pumped about bringing home the 1st place banner.



randy

Comments (19)

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Wow! Tell her congratulations from your gardening buds, Randy! She's a gorgeous little girl! I know dad is very proud of her.

    Only got to 37* here. I left all my plants outside and they're just fine. I can't believe you're just in Norman and it gets that much colder there. Amazing.

    Susan

  • rjj1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi Susan

    Thanks. We are very proud of her. She's finally starting to understand what dedication and hard work can accomplish and she's having a lot of fun. She's asked me to buy her a tee-shirt that says "If gymnastics was easy, they would call it football."

    The temps here probably have more to do with my micro-climate than my location in the area. I'm surrounded on 3 sides by higher elevations with a creek running across the property. Ever drove on a rural run early summer at night with the windows open or on a motorcycle. The temps in low dips in the road can be quite a bit cooler than the other parts of the road. I guess we get that effect here on clear nights.

    Plus there is not a lot of concrete here in a rural setting to hold the heat from the sun into the night.

    What kind of container plants do you like to grow?

    randy

  • rjj1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    A little follow up. Saturday was the state meet.

    Daddies little girl helped her team win state. It is a team sport and it's great to put up good scores to help the team. 3 of her 4 went into the total that barely won by .20 points.


    Probably bigger for a dad and mom is the individual dreams. Her goal all year was to be a state champion. Saturday she fulfilled that dream. 2006 level 5 11 year old Oklahoma All Round Champion.


    I'm glad it's over for a couple months:-).

    randy

  • wolflover
    17 years ago

    Congratulations to your beautiful little daughter, Randy. I know you and your wife must be so proud of her. Tell her all of us here at Garden Web are proud of her too, and wish her well! And to keep up the great work. We'll see her in the Olympics!

  • rjj1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi Dawna

    Thank you for the kind words. We are very proud of her. She doesn't like to talk about the Olympics, but I bet it's in the back of her mind. She does want to be good enough to be offered a scholarship to OU :-).

    How's your H. rosa-sinensis "Red Hot" doing?

    We need to do some banana swapping sometime.

    randy

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Oh, Randy, what a beautiful, talented daughter you have, and I know you're both so proud of her. Yes, all of us here on the forum are proud of her, too, and you must tell her that for us. Congratulations to all of you, and especially to your hard-working, dedicated daughter!

    Dawna, how's your "ears", BTW? I just got 'Chicago Harlequin', and my luteas are doing fine - still in their pots because I'm letting them getting a bit acclimated to the climate. They are just taking this cooler weather like little champs, though! I'm so surprised, I though I might lose a few leaves, but no! I'm getting new ones!

    B&B is such a great nursery - I'll definitely order from them again.

    Susan

  • rjj1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks Susan. I've had her look at the thread here and she's a little shy about it. She thanks all of you for the words of encouragement.

    I have a question for you and others that have veggie gardens going. I'm taking the black plastic off my garden area today and will start planting some things I have in containers. I really wanted to make sure the Bermuda is completely dead before planting.

    Do you use straw around your plants? Many years ago I grew a lot of strawberries and straw was what I used around them.
    Is there something else you use?

    I've finally got my girls interested in growing things to eat. Hopefully I'm not the only one doing something out there this summer or I will pull a Little Red Hen:-). That story will definitely date me. I have a feeling there may be a few here that haven't read that one:-).

    randy

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Oh, yes, I am familiar with the Little Red Hen. I get my granddaughter interested by butterfly/moth gardening. If you grow tomatoes, set aside a few for the hornworms, which are the beautiful sphinx moths, so they can watch them grow. They'll love it. Let them touch/feel/hold them - they're very soft/harmless.

    I already have seedlings (about 6" high) of pear and cherry tomato plants that I started from seed outdoors in water bottles. I need to get them planted out in the soil. By doing this, they're already acclimated to the outdoor light and temperatures. My granddaughter and I, together planted a container of baby carrots, and another one of mesclun. This is so we can make a salad of her very own produce.

    Another thing I will plant very soon, is red eggplant seed. Growing this for hornworms also. But, will harvest the eggplant as well. Peppers will attract them, too. If you have several plants, you can move the hornworms to specific plants set aside for them. Usually they don't appear in large enough numbers to damage an entire garden.

    If you grow okra, sphinx moths are the only ones who can pollinate the flowers, because they are deep throated, tubular shaped flowers. If you get a chance some evening, go out with a flashlight covered with a colored saran wrap or plastic see-thru paper and try to catch them around the okra flowers, nicotiana, daturas, brugs, petunias, moon flowers, or honeysuckle.

    I have definitely used straw - but usually after it has set around for a year. Straw often contains seed (alfalfa? whatever it is grown from) that will sprout once you start watering it. You can always douse it with really hot water to kill the seeds. I've heard that works. I get straw at halloween and let it sit over the fall, winter, spring. The seed sprouts, dies, and then I can safely use it in the garden. There may be places that you can buy it "seed free" - I don't know. Check the farmer's markets.

    What are you planting, Randy?

    Susan

  • rjj1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi Susan

    All of these we have in pots on the back porch ready to go. Some of the tomatoes are already blooming.

    We started 5 or 6 plants of each of these heirloom tomatoes. 2 of each will go in the garden and the others will be in large pots so they can be isolated and try to keep the seed pure. Wanting to narrow these down next year to 5 or 6 we really like.

    KelloggÂs breakfast, Uncle Steve, Argentina, Kosovo, Cherokee Chunk-a-Chocolate, Vintage Wine, Farmers Market #1, Hungarian Giant, Bulgarian #7, Italian Giant paste, Burgess Improved, FusionÂs Bulgarian (9b), Shillings Giant, Grandpa CockÂs Plume, Pink Shipper, MariannaÂs Peace, German Red Strawberry, Mother Russia, EarlÂs Polish, Cherokee Green

    And Roma and Super sweet 100

    Cayenne, Anaheim, Serrano, Jalapeno peppers.

    Red, yellow, and green sweet bells

    Cucumbers, Dill,

    The herbs I havenÂt decided whether to leave in pots they are in or go to flower beds.

    Italian Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Cilantro, Oregano, Lemon Balm, Lemon Basil, Dark Opal Basil, and Cinnamon Basil.

    The girls want to go get some more seed and do squash, okra (Got some from a trade I need to start), carrot, and watermelon.

    We see a lot of the sphinx moth here. I grow a bunch of brugs and they love em.

    randy

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Randy, I just got some brug cuttings in the mail. Any suggestions on how to root and care for them?

    My cherry tomatos are also the Super Sweet 100.

    Susan

  • rjj1
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Susan

    Brugs root very easily in about 2 inches of water. You might need to change it a couple times to keep the fresh before roots pop out.

    My plants get about 1/2 to 3/4 days sun, but my mothers gets less and they look nicer:-).

    randy

  • wolflover
    17 years ago

    Wow Randy,
    It sounds like you're going to have a great garden. I'm jealous. This year we decided not to grow a veggie garden because of the drought and our being on a water well. I grow so many tropicals and perennials that I was afraid I'd run my well dry if we failed to get rain. I have bought some habanero plants to set out, and DH will probably grow a few tomatoes, just nothing like we usually grow. I will be so happy to get our new house built and get on rural water so we don't have to worry about running our well dry.

    My Red Hots are growing beautifully. I haven't had any blooms yet since I put them in the ground this spring, but the Schitzopetalus you sent me has been blooming. Ooh, I love those plants. I'd like to trade you some bananas when mine start putting off pups. I think you'd love the pink velutina and maybe some others as well. I'm going to store my Musa 'Ice Cream' in my brother's greenhouse next winter, as he keeps his very warm, so maybe next summer I can get bananas to eat from it. :)

    Susan, I got robbed on my Lutea!! I should have ordered it from B& B instead of eBay. I've had it for over a month and it still hasn't sprouted, but I am holding out hope that it will come out of dormancy eventually. What a rip off of my $20. It's the worst auction I ever won on eBay! Oh well, if it doesn't grow I'm going to buy another one because that is one plant I just have to have! You will love the Chicago Harlequin. They put off babies like crazy.

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Dawna, if it doesn't, I'll be happy to share my spare Lutea with you. I ordered an extra "just in case" one. I went to Horn's today, and they have 'Hilo Beauty', 'New Guinea Gold', 'Green Shield', 'Frydek', 'plumbea nigra', and the regular old other ones. Except, they had one with lime green leaves - small, but I think they had just started growing. Also had lots of little pups, but one of the main stems had grow a trunk of about 4-5". There was no marker, and Mr. Allen didn't know what it was, so naturally I had to buy it. In a gallon pot. But, which Alocasia/Xanthosoma/Colocasia would be growing a stem that quickly? and with lime green foliage? Got any ideas?

    Yes - the B&B plants were a good deal - very nice looking. Already got a new leaf on one of them. Still in their pots - I have been letting them acclimate, and they've been outdoors in the 40s and 50s and haven't been hurt at all - still looking as good as the day I got them.

    Susan

  • wolflover
    17 years ago

    Susan,
    That is so sweet of you to offer your extra lutea. Thank you so much. Hopefully this tuber I have will eventually sprout. I tried to pull it out of the pot this week and it sort of resisted, so possibly it has grown roots and maybe it will sprout in time. I was afraid to pull on it very hard for fear I'd kill it. :)

    I'd guess the new lime EE you bought is Xanthosoma aurea 'Lime Zinger'. It is another one of my very favorites. :) It's also called the 'Big Mafaffa' or 'Chartreuse Giant'. It is one of my best growers and puts off more offsets than most EEs. I love it. I grow it in full sun beside Persian Shield plants for one, and it is stunning. It also looks good with anything black or purple. But then, I am into that gaudy tropical look, LOL. But I think you will really love this one. It sometimes fades out a little when the temps get over 100*. I'm going to plant a few in partial shade this year and see how they like it.

    I don't have 'New Guinea Gold' or 'Green Shield' either, so I guess I'd better stop at Horn's next time I'm in the city. I traded for three new EEs today and can't wait to get them. One is A. Robusta, also A. calidora and A. wentii variegata. I really should stay away from the Alocasias so much because they don't like me as well as Colocasia and Xanthosoma do. But, they're too hard for me to resist...

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Don't you have Alocasia macrorhiza? Mine does great here in the back yard and has finally started multiplying like crazy.

    Wow - wentii variegata - that sounds great. My wentii is not up yet, but sometimes they don't come up until June, so I am not panicking yet.

    I already have New Guinea Gold in the planter bed, albeit small, I think it will grow fine. Colocasia 'Black Ruffles' is starting to take off in the pot, and I need to get it planted out. I think it would look great with either the Lime Zinger or Lutea, don't you? Except, one likes lots of water, and the other doesn't. Or, does Lime Zinger like lots of water, so I could pair it with Ruffles?

    Thanks for the help!

    Susan

  • wolflover
    17 years ago

    Susan,
    I got my EEs today and they are absolutely gorgeous!! I can vouch for this seller as I have traded with her a couple of times and she is always very fair and sends great plants. The variegated Wentii is prettier than it appears in the picture. It has nice variegation and purplish under leaves. The A. Robusta she sent me is fantastic too, and the Persian Palm is huge and beautiful. Plus she sent me a bonus A. Odora. She is a wonderful trader/eBayer and has fantastic plants for a great price.
    Dawna

    Here is a link that might be useful: Alocasia Wentii Variegated

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    Gorgeous plant, Dawna! Translate Persian Palm, please? Wow! Sounds like I might need a connection to your ebay seller some day.

    When I received my plants from my friend, he also sent me a new arisaema tuber, which is up. I just noticed it the other day. He didn't know what it was, so I'll have to wait to ID it. I was actually surprised it came up, because I just planted it a couple of weeks ago.

    Congrats on your new plants, and I'll continue to hope for your luteas!

    Susan

  • wolflover
    17 years ago

    Susan,
    That's great about the arisaema. I hope you'll have some of those to trade in a few years!

    Thanks for the good thoughts on the A. lutea too. I sure hope it will sprout. I knew better than to buy a dormant bulb, but I was desperate to have the lutea. I've had alocasias that didn't sprout up until July. That's one reason I don't like them as well as Xanthosoma and Colocasias. I have about 20 alocasias, but I am not totally in love with them as far as elephant ears go. I try to keep them from going dormant because I have such a hard time getting them to "wake up".

    The Persian Palm is the same as Alocasia Calidora. The one she sent me is a nice sized pup with a little baby beside it. I am dying to put them in the ground but am a little afraid to in this 100* heat, since they're such young plants. So I have them potted up and if it cools down a bit anytime soon, :) I will plant them in my tropical garden.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Alocasia Calidora

  • susanlynne48
    17 years ago

    The PP kind of resembles my new plant, except for the color (which is a brighter, lighter green), but has the same veination in the foliage. That's kind of why I think it might NOT be Lime Zinger. The fact that it has a trunk, too. I've never bought this young a plant that already has an established, definable trunk on it.

    Oh, my sauramatum venosum is up, too! It snuck one in on me. Didn't come up "exactly" where I thought it would, but a few inches to the left. Grrrr. Do I feel like a goof. It's bigger than last year at least.

    Susan

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