Welcome to GardenWeb and congrats on the new home. You can plant cover crops (green manure), garlic, carrots, kale, greens, turnips, and onion seeds now. Also plant spring blooming bulbs now; daffodils, tulips, crocus, etc. You did not mentioned where in Oklahoma you are but perhaps your zone is the same as Tulsa...this url might be helpful http://www.tulsamastergardeners.org/blackbox/lm_sch.htm You can also call your county extension agent for information about what grows best in your area, etc. I add amendments to my garden year round; collect coffee grounds from Starbucks year round and they go right into my beds. Also collect from a local restaurant and they include the large tea bags. If you have weeds to deal with you can begin smothering them out with newspaper. Put down at the least 12 pages thick of newspaper; soak in tub of water as you do it (I'ved used my wheelbarrel, too) to keep the wind from blowing them about. Once you get the area covered you can add any amendments you have and then spread mulch...great way to start new flowerbeds or veggie beds. A visit to the Soil and Compost forum would be helpful http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/ Fall planting of trees is recommended in my area. They get a chance to start a good root system before they are stressed by our heat. Also you might benefit from a visit to the GW Oklahoma forum: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/okgard/ Good luck and happy gardening! Peggy

I've had good luck with spinach. I don't pull it up, just pinch off leaves as they grow, then I mulch it good with straw around December or January depending on how cold it's getting and I'll start having Spinach again in February from the same plants. I also have good luck with Snow Peas. My family really loves Chinese cooking so I plant snow peas in spring and fall. I just put my seeds out a few days ago. They haven't sprouted yet. I do a little bit of English peas, but my gang doesn't really like them, I just grow enough for throwing in chicken pie and soups. I also just put it out. I put some short season corn around first of August(early sun glo) and some of it is starting to tassle. I hope it comes in before second week in November which is usually my first frosts. I also planted green beans around mid august, they look like they'll have buds soon. I tried something new with my tomatoes. I had a couple of indeterminates left that look pretty worn out. I dug them up, pulled off all the leaves and branches to about 10 inches or so and replanted them stem and all. They are looking terrific and have blooms. maybe I'll get a few tomatoes from them. I hadn't put out lettuce seed yet because it was still a bit too warm probably. But we've started having rain and seems a little cooler, so I may sow some this weekend. Dyanna, what green bean do you get that is 30 days? My blue lake are 42. A shorter variety would be nice for fall.

Kraftdee~The problem with canned veggies is that they use so much salt. Would you be willing to cook extra veggies when you are doing fresh & freeze part of those so that you will have your own frozen? That way they wouldn't be rubbery & you know they would be the way you like them. Perhaps take them out & freeze them a couple of minutes or so before they are as done as you like them. I wouldn't cook them 100% if I was going to freeze them but just blanche them. Hope this helps. :-)

do not give your pets grapes or raisins they can't process them and if they eat too many it can kill them much the way chocolate does! a friend of mine found that out the hard way!! seriously you can probably google it much the way i did, and i found out: The grapes and raisins came from varied sources, including being eaten off the vine directly. The dogs exhibited gastrointestinal signs including vomiting and diarrhea and then signs of kidney failure with an onset of severe kidney signs starting about 24 hours after ingestion of the grapes or raisins. The amount of grapes eaten varied between 9oz. and 2 lbs., which worked out to be between 0.41 and 1.1 oz/kg of body weight. Two dogs died directly from the toxicity, three were euthanized due to poor response to treatment and five dogs lived. Due to the severity of the signs and the potential for death, the veterinarians at the poison control center advocate aggressive treatment for any dogs suggested of ingesting excessive amounts of grapes or raisins, including inducing vomiting, stomach lavage (stomach pumping) and administration of activated charcoal, followed by intravenous fluid therapy for at least 48 hours or as indicated based on the results of blood tests for kidney damage. there is a need to panic if a dog eats three or four grapes but if the whole bunch is missing from the table one day, it would be good to think about watching for any signs of a toxic reaction. i copied paste that from www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dtoxin.html