Hi Dawn!

We got about 1/4" early this morning and I'm still not complaining. With the really warm afternoons over the weekend, I'm already having to water my hanging flower baskets morning and evening. After finally getting everything in the garden (almost, still have sweet potato slips....) I sometimes fuss about the watering. Like to hold off fussing as long as I can. Need to keep the speckled bean seeds damp to germinate!

Laura

I got probably 1/3 inch of rain today. I was thrilled. I've already started the watering, but mostly because I added new plants. :)

I have been running my head off with graduations and graduation parties, but I think they are finally finished. Yay. Monday I got to spend a couple of hours in the yard, spreading mulch, putting in new plants, and dead heading. I need a ton more mulch. Home Depot was running a 5/$10 sale this weekend. I hope it holds for a while.

I planted two pipevines, a lantana, a Lavender Lady passion vine, 3 more fennel and 2 more rue. I need to stay out of stores and off the internet :) All but the pipevines were because I was looking for my "vine and tree seedling" killer and had to go to several nurseries to find it. WM used to carry it, but I finally found it at TLC. I like it because I can cut the sapling and then just drop a little bit of the liquid on the "stump". There is not as much of a chance of accidentally spraying a good plant!

Lisa

Laura,

I have the slips too, but they aren't in the ground yet. I would have planted them today but that inch of rain fell. I've been watering the plants in containers on the days there's no rain.

Lisa,

The Home Depot ad says the mulch prices are good 5/21/09 thru 5/27/09 "unless otherwise noted" and I don't see any other notation on the mulch part of the ad, so get some today or tomorrow! We picked up 25 bags yesterday.

Dawn

When I posted this message this morning, I saw storms on radar approaching the OK panhandle and SW Kansas, but apparently they stalled and miss them. Sorry, Jay, I was so sure you were about to get rain.

As if having rain once today were not enough, we're under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch here (for Love, Bryan and Marshall Counties) through 11 p.m. Tuesday night, and there are large storms in Texas to our west and our south. Rain twice in one day when we've already had so much? Say it isn't so. I'm hoping the severe stuff misses us.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Current Radar

Dawn, thanks for the heads up on the end of the mulch sale. I went down after work and bought another 10. I put down six and have four to use in the back yard...another day!

Lisa

Lisa,

You're welcome. I still had the ad sitting here on the coffee table and I didn't want you to miss a chance to run by the store before the ad expired.

Dawn

Send me your rain!!! We only had a trace here. Tomorrow I'll be putting out the sprinklers on the flower beds.

I have sweet potato slips too, but they're only a half inch tall tonight. I thought I read in Ed Smith's book that I should wait until they're 3-4" tall to break them off, then put them in their own water until they start roots.

I would let them get larger before I broke them off. You can root them in water or moist sand. The retailer I bought my 4 varieties from yesterday had them growing in pure lava sand and they were almost too long. I'll probably cut off the top half before I plant them.

You have plenty of time to get your sweet potato slips planted. They love heat and sun and will produce a great crop even if planted well into June, so there's really no pressure to rush the slips along before they are ready. That's one of the great things about sweet potatoes....the amount of heat or light doesn't impede their growth so they are great for a late planting. Some folks routinely plant them "late" in June to fill an "empty" spot in the garden left by the harvesting of cool-season crops.