Hi Frank, I'd be cautious of the temperature swings in the shed. I've read that a plastic, pop-up greenhouse can get to 60 degrees on a sunny winter day. That's when outside temps are in the 20s! Also, the mid-30s is awfully close to freezing. An occasional frost won't kill the plant, but the leaves will be badly damaged. I have a thermometer that shows the high/low temps within the prior 24 hours. I've found it invaluable to monitor the temps on my plants. As for the exact process, I'll tell you what I do here in Michigan. Plants are outside all summer and are watered and feed well. They come into the house about October 15. The date depends on the weather that particular year. I withhold water so that the soil dries out and they're placed in a dimly lit, cool area. This year we've had a warm fall and temps won't start really cooling until next week. I'll give them a sip of water (to prevent the roots from shriveling) and put them in the root cellar. Then, I'll really start watching the temperature. If the area cools to the desired temps, I count that toward my timing for bloom. If the temps stay warm, I'll extend the time. During the dormant period I give them a sip of water every month or so. (Larger pots won't need as much as small ones.) Too much water in the cool, dormant period will lead to root rot. Yes, start them to the growth-cycle gradually. Give them a sip of water, a little fertilizer, introduce light and some warmth. Within a week or two, increase all to normal conditions. These are just guidelines, you'll find what works best for you. It took me a couple of years to test my process out and still some are reluctant to bloom. Others may not bloom until May, June or even later (out of season bloom). Good luck. Gail P.S. Some people use Christmas lights wrapped around their plants on the occasional freezing night.

Karyn, we had a very early cold (freezing) spell in November. Usually we have a few cold days in January. Hope we are done with it. This year I planted a few brugs in the ground to see if they survive and how they do.I do not want to go through digging them up and store them every year. I do not have a greenhouse or a basement to keep them. The ones are blooming now I pulled them close to the house under a porch and they are doing fine. Eloise, the one you like is Monkey Shine. It is my first time seeing it bloom.

Mosquitoes are a problem sporadically for us, but since we tend not to have the heavier rainfall many of you have been having, they're not much of a problem right now. We do have a huge platoon of dragonflies and damselflies who look for food relentlessly all day long and they love mosquitoes, and we have lots of birds (including Purple Martins) and bats that eat them too. I also put Bt 'israelensis' granules or dunks in all our standing bodies of water...like the rain barrels, the ponds, etc. Suzie, It can be very hard to identify caterpillars since there are over 300,000 species of Lepidoptera worldwide but Susan might be able to tell you what it is since she is into butterfly gardening. On the website linked below, there are additional links that identify known butterflies and moths of Oklahoma. If the damage to your shrubs rises to the level that you feel like you need to treat the caterpillar infestation, you can spray your shrubs with Bt 'Kurstaki' which is a toxin manufactured from a bacteria that specifically targets caterpillars. It is organic and won't harm anything other than the butterfly/moth larvae. It is easily found in stores and the products that have it as their active ingredient include Thuricide, Dipel and Safer Caterpiller Killer. In the veggie garden, I generally just handpick cats off plants because I have so many flowers there that attract butterflies and moths, and even desirable caterpillars like those of the Black Swallowtail, so I don't like to use Bt there. In an ornamental shrub bed, though, I wouldn't hesitate to spray with Bt if the shrubs had considerable damage. Anna, I'm in Love County and have not seen any decrease in fire ants this year (I wish I had), so I don't think the winter affected ours even though our low temps this winter went down into the single digits a few times. We had them all over the place beginning about late March and running through mid-May. Since the rain stopped in our county and the heat cranked up into the mid- to upper-90s, they've gone underground the last 2 or 3 weeks and I'm not seeing them as much, but I bet if it rained they'd pop up out of the ground overnight. I still find them in raised beds in the veggie garden when I'm digging or when I'm pulling weeds, and I still run over an occasional mound when mowing. I only treat mounds in the veggie garden and in my container-grown vegetables, the dog's fenced play yard, and the backyard where our granddaughter plays and I only use organic fire ant killers. We have almost 15 acres, so there's no way we could afford to treat all of it. In the past I have used some non-organic fire ant killers, but because we have a lot of edible crops in the form not only of vegetables but also fruit trees and berry crops, I've stopped using all nonorganic fire ant killers. We have oodles of native ants of all kinds, but the evil fire ants dominate the ant world at our place. We also have red harvester ants in and around the veggie garden, but I leave them alone because they are a food source for the horned toads and because they clean up the carcasses of dead insects. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Butterflies and Moths of Oklahoma

Carol, This time of year is so hectic anyway, even without fires to put out. Sounds like you've been at least as busy as we have, if not busier. Yesterday's fire was a house fire, and there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a family's home burning a week or two before Christmas. It is tragic any time anyone's home is damaged or destroyed, but just seems worse when the holidays are near. This morning, we awoke to 16 degrees, defying the NWS prediction of 25, and at Burneyville it was 12 degrees. It is a frosty cold morning out there, though not nearly as cold as it was yesterday morning. This is not a week that I really have time to think about the garden, as we have three Christmas parties/gatherings to prepare for in the next six days. The good news is that after I fill up all the gift bags for the VFD party and family party, there will be more available shelf space in my pantry. Right now I've got home-canned jars of food tucked into every nook and cranny. Maybe after all the bags are filled, I'll be able to walk into the pantry again without tripping over cases of filled jars piled up on the floor. I agree that low tunnels perform in a pretty impressive manner. I think I will be using them a lot more in the winter plantings. The issue I have is that they can get pretty warm on our occasional hot winter day, so if I am leaving for the day, I need to uncover the plants, or at least open the ends of the low tunnels to allow good air flow. The other thing that is surprising me is how much better the greenhouse has held heat. Last year with no special measures in place, the greenhouse air was just as cold as the outside air. This year, with a lot of molasses feed tubs of water serving as solar collectors (I have big boards over the tops of the tubs and plants in containers sit right on top of those boards), and with the Aluminet shade cloth helping hold in the heat, the greenhouse has routinely stayed at least 8 degrees warmer than the outside air and often 10-12 degrees warmer. When I bought the Aluminet earlier this year, I primarily wanted it for the shade, but had read that it also helps hold in the heat in the winter (and I was skeptical about that). So, I am pleased to see it truly it a dual purpose shade cloth. Of course, men are never satisfied. While I am perfectly happy that the greenhouse has extended our harvest season more than 2 months past our first frost back in early October, Tim's been talking with a friend of ours whose family has put up their first greenhouse this year. They have heat lamps in theirs, which has him thinking about heat lamps, heaters, etc. I was trying to keep the greenhouse simple and economical to operate but he's getting all kinds of ideas about how we can keep it warmer and keep it operating year-round (which really wasn't my intention). I'm tired of the cold weather and it has just begun. Dawn