February 2018, Week 2, Outdoors Planting Begins For Some Now

6 years ago

A day late and a dollar short, but better late than never, here's the Week 2 thread.

This is the week it all begins, at least for folks in southeastern and southern OK, where it finally is time to put onions and some other cool-season plants in the ground. I haven't done either, but expect my onions to arrive today. I'll probably plant them in a few days, certainly before the end of the week, but first I'm going to put a soaker hose on their future bed and water low and slow so the soil in and beneath that raised bed will have adequate moisture in it.

For most of the state, we gardeners have been almost two months without receiving even a measly 0.25" of rainfall in one day, so it is safe to assume the moisture levels in the upper levels of the soil are low. For some parts of the state, the last good rainfall was in early October. Here's the map that tells the tale:

Consecutive Days Without 0.25" Rainfall in One 24-Hr Period

In our garden, I'm only worried about the lack of moisture in the upper 2-3 inches of soil right now. When I dig down deeper with a trowel, I find some moisture in the soil---probably because of the wonderful 2.5" of rainfall we received in mid-December, Without that moisture, I think I wouldn't be planting at all because we'd likely already be in Extreme Drought here right now. As it is, planting a garden during Severe Drought is enough of a leap of faith as it is. I've just got to believe that it is going to rain (I mean real rain, not the piddly little one-hundredth inch here or there that we're getting this winter) again at some point. I no longer trust a forecast with rain in it at all because no matter what they forecast we get nothing or next to nothing.

I'm also not real thrilled with the overnight lows. They are staying consistently lower than forecast and that's not good for a gardener's plants. The forecast low last night at our Mesonet station: 22, actual low (as of right now) 14. For some reason, the NWS forecast models have been consistently off by 6-10 degrees on our overnight lows this season, and for me, knowing the overnight lows is important in determining when to plant. Even cool-season plants have a point at which they can freeze to death or suffer severe cold injury, so it matters to me if the lows are in the low teens instead of the low 20s, for example.

For those of you wanting to plant onions, normally onions planted in well-drained soil can tolerate temperatures below 20, and often down into the upper single digits, with no damage. It gets dicier if your soil is sopping wet. I've had onions freeze to death in wet soil at temperatures that don't bother them in drier soil. Remember, though, that what also matters is the air temperatures to which they're exposed after they reach the 5-leaf stage. At that point, just a week of cold temperatures can stall their growth, and later cause bolting after they resume growth. So, I plant as much with the next month's air temperatures in mind as with the current temperatures in mind. Even if you get snow, young onions can tolerate it well---and even like it because the snow brings them moisture and also insulates them some from the cold air. Remember how our daffodils do in snowy weather? Their little flower heads may droop a bit but they perk up as soon as they snow melts. That's about how onions handle snow. I'm going to go ahead and plant onions this week pretty much on time as long as something external (like fires) doesn't keep me out of the garden and prevent me from getting it done.

I might drag my seed potatoes out of the deep, dark recesses of the darkest corner of the walk-in pantry under the stairs and see if they are starting to sprout yet. I don't think it would hurt the seed potatoes if I put them in the ground now, but I may need to chit them for a week or two if they aren't sprouting on their own yet. I plant potatoes pretty deeply---about 8 to 9" down, so there should be adequate moisture available to them, and by the time they've grown enough to emerge from the soil, surely the nights will be quite a bit warmer than they are now.

Other than that, my plan for the week is to sow more seeds indoors---I am behind on that partly because of the wildfires and partly because that little internal gardener's voice in my head has consistently warned me for weeks to go slow and not get in any sort of a hurry. I've been listening to that voice because it generally is steering me in the right direction. For as far south as we are, we still can have shockingly cold nights very late in Winter and even through late Spring, even when the days are very warm. This feels like one of those years. One thing to watch for? Low dewpoints. When the dewpoints are low, our temperatures drop like a rock the second the sun starts to go down. That happened last night. When we went to bed last night, our temperature was already 1 degree lower than the forecast overnight low, and it was like 9:00 p.m. or so.

Yesterday when we went to the Wal-Mart in Gainesville, as we drove by the Garden Center, I noticed all the spring gardening transplants were gone. I was puzzled because they usually don't move them indoors---tending to let them freeze rather than proactively covering or protecting them. Well, when I went into the stores, all the little cabbage, kale, broccoli, lettuce, and herb transplants were sitting on racks inside the building, joyfully smiling and beaming at the warmth and nice store lighting. For once, the personnel at this store didn't let their cool-season plants freeze overnight. Yay! Perhaps that's a good sign, because sometimes they've let everything freeze to death---and I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of plants.

What I hated about going into the store yesterday.......the way that certain retailers go overboard on every single holiday any more....so far overboard that it turns me off and I don't want to buy a single holiday thing from them just because they have jumped the shark. (Y'all remember Fonzie jumping the shark in Happy Days, right? That was a sure sign the show was too old and going overboard and needed to be cancelled!) If this store had one Valentine's Day bouquet of fresh-cut (or, lol, not so fresh....) flowers, it had 500, They were everywhere. You couldn't walk anywhere in the store without having to go past massive row after row of bouquets. And, that's just the bouquets. Need a Valentine's Day themed cookie or cupcake? Relax. They have dozens and dozens of different options. Need an innocent little green house plant? They have all kinds with plastic hearts and red or pink ribbons added. Don't even get me started on the special section of ridiculously overdone and overpriced Valentine's Day cards and other merchandise that mostly is candy/excess sugar that no one needs and cheap plastic junk toys. Need a stuffed animal of some sort for your Valentine? No problem. They have hundreds of options. Want to buy the sweet little girls in your life something for Valentine's Day that does not involve sugary sweets or useless stuffed animals that just clutter up their rooms? Ooops, you're in trouble there, but I eventually emerged from the store more or less victorious in that area. Now I remember how much I hate the way the stores overdo the holidays, but the sad reminder that there's more to come lies in the fact that Easter merchandise is already being crammed into the store shelves beside the Valentine's Day stuff. They cannot even let one holiday arrive before shoving the next holiday down the public's throat. All of this reminds me why I am a gardener joyfully and a shopper grudgingly---the only shopping I really like is garden shopping and it still is too early and too cold at night to do much of that.

This weekend was quiet---no real ice problems here, though it was awfully cold. There were no fires, and the fire pagers didn't wake me up at night with calls because I have a new strategy to ensure I can sleep at night---I completely turn off my cell phone and my fire pager. I decided I either needed to do that and find a way to get some sleep or I was going to die of sleep deprivation. It was so nice to not hear one little beep, buzz or siren sound waking me up during the normal sleeping hours that I intend to turn them off before bedtime every night. Inevitably, at some point, I'll miss a fire because I won't know it is happening. Guess what? I don't care. If the chief of my VFD (who also is my spouse) doesn't like it, he can fire me and I won't be mad...I'll rejoice at having my life back.

There's some rain in the forecast for this week---perhaps rain that might fall in tenths of inches instead of in hundredths of inches, at least for some of us. I don't know whether to trust the forecast or not because the forecasted amounts of rain have failed to materialize for months and months now...but here's a look at what is forecast:

7-Day QPF

I'm not expecting much in my location but some of you in eastern and southeastern OK might get a decent amount. We all just need to pray for western OK because they are not getting rain and things are looking really bad for them. I don't even think heavy rainfall now will save them from a really bad fire season in the March time frame, though anything at all would help a little by pushing some green-up of some sort of plants. Even winter grasses and weedy things would be nice if they sprouted in some lovely shade of green.

Okay, I've rambled on enought...what's new with yall?

Dawn

Featured Answer

jlhart76

6 years ago

A little over 6 years ago, I met this guy on a dating site. Actually, on 2 different sites, but it took a while to realize that the guy on site A was the same as the guy on site B. Anyway, I finally agreed to meet him, though I refused to do it on Valentine's day. Too sappy and cliche for my liking. So our first date was Feb 15. 2 years later we got married on Feb 15. So as much as I don't care for the hype around Valentines day, I'm stuck with it. And they do have some great sales on the 15th. Last year I picked up a box of candy for him & he was so appreciative & guilty for not doing anything for me. About an hour later he says, "Wait a minute, valentine candy is half off today." Yes, honey, you married a cheapskate. What can I say, we're evenly matched.

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Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago

Spring bulbs up, and overwintered spinach and chives. Spent 2 hours filling jugs today. Back after a shower and dinner.

She observed me the whole time.
Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago

While I’m here, this is a volunteer pecan tree that I’ve been trying to get rid of for a couple years. It’s covered with tiny buds. I can’t get close enough to the big trees to get a picture, but they’re covered too. I didn’t see the buds until March last year.
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Comments (43)
Larry, That is a beautiful and awesomely tall example of variegated reed grass! Maybe yours is going to get head high to the Jolly Green Giant? Jacob, If I didn't have the 8' tall deer fence all around both garden plots, the deer and I would not be friends. I think Bambi lost her mother, perhaps to a hunter. We have tons and tons of fawns this year---it seems that most does had at least twins this year and one that comes regularly has triplets. I love seeing them. If only the fawns could stay little, cute and adorable forever. People who hunt the property due west of us (it is the buffer that sits between us and the river, so they get a ton of wildlife) are getting pretty large bucks every year....say they sit on their property and wait for the bucks to come off our property. I rarely see the bucks because they feed at night, but I know they are there because every now and then late at night when we are out late, we spot them as we are arriving home. I tried for the first 8 or 10 years to have nice landscaping around the house/yard, which my husband stubbornly refuses to fence off with an 8' fence. The deer ate every single thing I planted, so I finally gave up. Now we just have trees, shrubs, trumpet creeper vines (because apparently the deer don't eat those), grass and some four o'clocks. Everything else? Hostas, hydrangeas, roses, perennial salvias, any annual flowers I planted for color, day lilies, etc......all deer chow. They even would eat the tough, prickly leaves of the hollies in drought periods, but finally the hollies are so big and old and tough that they don't bother those any more. If I ever convince Tim to surround our house and yard with a big ugly fence to keep the deer out, I will plant everything I've ever wanted around the house. I think his desire to not have a fence is much stronger than my longing for one. Where he grew up in Pennsylvania surrounded by woodland, nobody had fences so you could look out and feel like you owned hundreds of acres of forest as all the back yards and farms just sort of flowed together. So, he remains anti-fencing based on fond childhood memories from the 1960s and 1970s.....even though, if you go back there to his childhood neighborhood now, everybody has fencing and the farms and woodlands mostly are housing subdivisions with lots of fencing. I still think that someday I'll at least have a fenced back yard I can landscape. We'll see! Nancy, I am so sorry about your mom's passing. I know I don't "have to" comment, but I want to. Tim and I send you and your family our deepest and most sincere condolences. What an incredible, long life she lived, and you did everything you could to move her to the place that was best for her to live out her final stage of her life. You were a great daughter and I suspect it is because you were reared by an amazing mom. When y'all do travel to Buffalo in a few weeks, I wish you a safe journey. I do think Tiny Dude needs to travel with you so he can enchant and delight your friends and family who see his photos on Facebook and undoubtedly want to meet him in real life. Many cats travel well in a cat crate. Do they microchip cats like they do dogs? If they do, I'd get him microchipped in case he escapes from the vehicle, or at least get him a collar with a tag so you could put your cell phone number on the tag. Being close to the interstate where wrecks are frequent, we get lots of requests to watch for/search for pets that escape from a vehicle (not necessarily a wrecked vehicle---pets can bolt from a broken down vehicle when someone gets out to check and see why the engine is acting up or to change a tire or just when their owners stop at a gas station or fast food place). Sometimes you can find the pet, even weeks later, but it is hard by then to figure out which traveler passing through was searching for that pet if they aren't tagged. In my meager 20 years of living here, an early winter almost always equates to a bad winter. Or, for snow-starved southern OK, a really good winter. But, we don't get the ice storms that folks further north get in bad winters so what a lot of you might view as a bad winter, I might think of as a delightfully cold and snowy winter....if we get snow. If we don't get snow, then who cares? All winter without snow means is that we are cold and wet. I don't like being cold and wet, but I love snow. Not that I've had much snow to love. Our county does sometimes get the ice storms that bring down trees and power lines, but so far, that sort of weather never has come as far south as our house---it has made it down to maybe 3 or 4 miles north of us though. The bad thing is that if we get cold enough for ice and snow, then we get cold enough to lose Zone 8 plants that I planted here in order to see if they would survive here. They will survive here for a few years until we get an extra cold winter and snow. So, I sort of hope for snow, and sort of don't. I rarely plant Zone 8 plants here any more, although I planted a couple this past year.....which pretty much guarantees a cold winter is coming so it can wipe them out. I haven't seen a hummingbird since a week ago Thursday, but left the feeders up in case any were going to ride down on the big cold fronts. I haven't seen any, but will leave the feeders up until Monday or Tuesday, just in case, and then take them down. We ended up with the oldest granddaughter coming to stay with us for the weekend after her plans to spend the weekend with her dad fell through at the absolute last minute. We are always excited to have her come visit for a weekend, even if it wasn't planned. So, we ate dinner out with her, her mom and Chris last night, and then they headed home to get sleep before the busy work weekend with long shifts scheduled at work. We went to Wal-mart after dinner and bought everything we needed to stay home indoors and out of the rain today. We're going to carve pumpkins, which she has been dying to do....but I wanted to wait for cooler weather so the heat wouldn't ruin the Jack-o-lanterns. I think the heat isn't an issue any more. We're going to decorate Halloween Jack-o-lantern cookies (pre-baked and sold with a decorating kit). She has a long list of Halloween crafts she wants to make, including the Halloween version of a gingerbread house (we'll see about that one), so we'll work out way through that list as much as we can. I awakened at six and saw on the radar that the rain was almost here so rushed to get the dogs outdoors ahead of the rain's arrival. Whew! That was close but we made it. We're supposed to have rain all morning. How deeply into the afternoon the rain lasts is the unknown. I wish it would blow through faster, but it might be a long, rainy day here. We're ready for it and aren't planning on going out in it. I have some amaranth in the garden with huge flowering seed heads I'd hoped to have harvested and drying by now, but the relentless rain has kept me from cutting them. I keep hoping for a warm, sunny, windy day without rain so they can dry out some and then I'll cut them. I think if I cut them while they are so wet, they'll just mildew and look awful. I want the flower heads for autumn flower arrangements, but the rain may ruin that idea. When I planted the amaranth seeds in July, I wasn't expecting record rainfall in September and October. Have a lovely Saturday everyone. I hope those of you that the rain keeps missing will get some of this moisture plume left over from Sergio. The unfortunate thing is that it seems largely to be traveling over areas that already have had too much rain recently, so flash flooding and flooding likely will occur in those areas. The Red River is up and running fast and looked ugly last night, so this rain will just make that worse. I am thinking the winter wheat crop here likely is ruined. Too, too much rain even for seeds to sprout and grow, so it is more likely that if the seeds sprout, then the young plants rot. That's so unfortunate, but that is how life goes here on the southern plains. Dawn
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Bill, OSU says the dates for sowing lettuce seed are February 15 thru March 10, but that does not mean everyone in Oklahoma should be sowing lettuce seed on Feb. 15th---remember that with all the Spring planting dates given, the earliest date is applicable to far southeastern OK where soil temperatures usually warm up first, and the latest date is for far northwestern OK where soil temperatures usually warm up last. Everyone who is not at either extreme of the state just picks a date somewhere within that range, and how they choose that date usually has to do with where they are positioned geographically within the state. I'm in extreme southcentral OK and we usually warm up a little more slowly than southeastern OK, so I usually sow lettuce seed around a week or two after that Feb. 15th date....sometimes earlier, sometimes later depending on the weather and on my soil temperatures. For germination purposes, the warmer the soil (up to a point), the quicker the lettuce seed will germinate. So, if you sow lettuce seed into soil that is 30-something or 40-something degrees, it will germinate, but fairly slowly. If you wait until soil temperatures are in the 50s, it will germinate a lot more quickly, so I've never felt like it hurts to wait another week or two to sow the seed.

Tom Clothier has a chart that shows the percentage of various seeds that germinate at different temperatures and how many days it takes them to germinate. I have used his numbers as guidance for years, and I check my own soil temperatures myself using a soil thermometer or an old kitchen thermometer. Soil in raised beds and in large containers can warm up more quickly than grade level soil in Spring, but if the nights still are getting very cold, the soil in the containers also can cool quickly.

Here's Tom Clothier's chart:

Tom Clothier: Relationship Between Soil Temperature/Seed Germination

Different lettuce varieties have different amounts of cold-tolerance, and it also matters if they've been growing only in warm weather or if they've had some sort of previous cold exposure. Some varieties will tolerate a hard freeze really well, and others don't. I think you probably could sow the seeds now and they'd be fine, but all bets are off if you still have overnight lows in the mid-20s or lower.

Jen, I hate to see what she'll be like on the first trip back to the dog park with all the energy she's been saving up. She'll be bouncing around like....Tigger! lol. At least her name truly fits her.

Amy, And this is the reason I do not mess with anything that has fancy stratification needs. lol. I decided about a decade ago that I was through trying to deal with anything that needs complicated stratification. I already had enough hairs turning gray and didn't need a reason to have more. Now, if I want to grow something and it has complicated stratification requirements, I mentally remove it from my list if I cannot find a place to buy it as a plant. Anything that needs fire stratification is too dangerous for OK and for residential areas most years. You might try scorching your seed packet (if it is paper) on a cookie sheet inside the oven and I base that on Sally Roth's description of how she couldn't get Texas bluebonnet seeds to germinate until they had been scorched (not on purpose) in a kitchen fire. So, maybe a few minutes in a hot oven might help your seeds germinate. I wouldn't leave them in there long enough for anything to burn---just to get hot.

Sally Roth's Article on Jump-Starting Seeds

Jennifer, If someone would fire a pellet or bb gun into the ground at the feet of those other dogs, they might stop hanging around. Or, an air horn will scare them away, but it also may send the chickens into hiding.

I've only been letting our chickens out about once every two weeks and only when I'm home and expect to be able to stay home all day (so I have to be watching the fire weather pretty closely before I make that decision). Before I let them out, I wait until late enough in the morning that the coyotes usually have moved on through the woodland after seeing and hearing me working outside, and I've watched the sky for a while for circling hawks---if they are around, I usually won't let the chickens out but if I haven't seen any hawks in the first couple of hours after sunlight, I'll let the chickens out. Picking a safe day isn't an exact science but I'm a pretty good guesser. Today our chickens have been just deliriously happy. I told them I hope they enjoyed out because they likely won't have a free-ranging day again until at least March. I also have the wonderful coyote/hawk alert dogs, Princess and Ace who bark and howl and carry on as if Satan himself is after the birds if they see or smell coyotes or hawks. They have incredible canine detection skills (their little noses), and sharp little eyes and they are on the watch all the time except when we put them in their crate to sleep at night. (They cannot sleep outside their crate because they will alert on every owl, mouse, possum, etc. that is out moving at night if they are out of the crates. If they are in the crates, they only alert on an occasional train whistle or emergency vehicle siren...but not on all of them. )

Rebecca, Your spring is further along than ours. I think that if only it would rain, more stuff would start popping up but rain teases us by popping up in the forecast and then falling elsewhere.

Clearly the cat is your personal body guard and she's keeping you safe by watching your every move. Also, she's probably hoping for a toy or treat. Pumpkin and Tiny Baby don't like planting time because it interferes with their attention-getting antics. Sometimes I have to lock them out of the garden or they'll pull up recently-transplanted seedlings and carry them around as if they are a mouse. They don't really have an interest in the seedlings---their interest lies in getting me to stop paying attention to the garden and to pay more attention to them.

If you still want to get rid of the pecan tree, cut it off at the ground and paint the cut edges of the little trunks or stems with a brush killer type herbicide. This works for most trees. If painting the cut edges doesn't work, drill holes in the remaining little trunks and pour the herbicide directly into the holes.

We hit 81 degrees here today. Isn't that ridiculous? It is typical though. January and February both usually range from the single digits to the low 80s, although our average temperatures for each month are nowhere near either extreme.

Another school shooting today, and it was a bad one. I just do not understand people who are so filled with hate. I refuse to say these shooters are sick---they are just flat evil. I cannot even imagine what all the folks in that school in Florida went through---or what their family members and friends were going through trying to find them. Imagine being the parents who cannot get hold of your own kid or kids for hours and hours, and slowly it begins to sink in that maybe your child didn't make it. And then you find out they did not. Or, for that matter, it would be the same thing if an adult you knew was a victim of the shooting. At this point they are saving 17 people are dead in this mass shooting. I do not care how many floral arrangements people send, how many balloons get released to the skies, how many memorial trees are planted or memorial crosses are hammered into the ground, or how many counselors the schools bring in to help everyone----nothing changes the fact that those beloved folks are not coming back. Every day that I live a quiet, ordinary life here in the middle of nowhere and absolutely nothing happens....I am just so grateful for my boring life.

Dawn
Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I spent 2 & 1/2 hours outside today, mostly starting seed jugs and soaking the pots that I'll be using for greens and peas. Used a large bag of potting mix. Weather should be good enough that I can get the rest of them done this weekend, since I'd happily stay out and work in the rain, just to remember what it feels like. And it's now tomato season because I started 3 Glacier seeds today.

Spinach - Space

Lettuce - Little Gem, 4 Seasons, Simpson, Red Sails

Chives

Bunching onion - Blushing Bunch, White Lisbon

Tomato - Glacier

Calendula - Strawberry Blonde

Marigold - mixed

Painted Daisies mix

Got Red Pontiac seed potatoes at Stringers. No fingerlings so I'll have to check elsewhere this weekend. They also have a ton of last year's seeds on buy one get one free.

On sleeping...I had sleep apnea and snored horribly. After I lost 70 pounds, I don't snore and no longer have sleep apnea.

I take it I can start beets and carrots anytime?

Dawn, the pecan tree has had multiple applications of brush killer. It's like Godzilla in that it just won't die. I have a new bottle coming this weekend.

I have a weird question. About soap. Specifically, for after hot, sweaty garden work. My regular daily soap is Dove, which is everything I need for that. I need something stronger, sweat killing for after garden work, but that won't dry out my skin and doesn't smell like a man. Regular deodorant soap is awful on my skin and I hate the smell. Dr. Bronners works ok, but I tend to itch a lot after I use it, and my skin always feels more dry. Same with Ivory. Is there even such a thing as deodorant soap that's unscented and extra moisturizing? I've never seen it.

Mom decided she wants okra instead of eggplant this year. Happy to oblige, and I have seeds. I guess I don't need to start the seeds for at least another month, right?
luvncannin
6 years ago
I am so thankful too Dawn. For my quiet boring life.

I was just thinking today before I heard the news how thankful I am for the little things like a real toilet that flushes and big things like Family new friends close and faraway friends.

My new neighbors brought me a beautiful plant for valentine's. So good to be here.

there's a new shock system wireless. My son has it for his new dog. There is a base which is the center and it has different distance settings. It sets off a warning piercing tone and then shocks if they continue. I am going to get one for my Sophie. I would like her to free range but I am 20 feet from main road. And yes I agree letting a dog get run over is way worse than training them by slight shock.
luvncannin
6 years ago
Rebecca I use unscented from natural grocers and also baking soda if I am really rough. It works as far as I know. Might have to ask someone who gets near me tho lol
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
Audrey reminds me so much of my Kitty. Son Wade got her for me same year Russ died; he was busy at school and thought I needed company. A little bitty pet shop kitty, about 2 months old. . . not socialized, scared to death. She was not a fun kitten. . . but turned into my best friend for nearly 23 years. At one point when she was 19-20, Wade says, "Hey, Mom. Do you realized you've known Kitty longer now than you knew Russ?" I said, "So've you, for that matter." All we could do was laugh. It was true. RIP, Kitty and Russ.

And then Daff for another 15 years, here posing as a tired artist. Both singular

Our lives are so boring, they're beyond boring. My one main thought when I sprang out of bed this morning was Happy Anniversary to ME!! Today is the first day of my 4th year in Oklahoma and in my home. What a lovely day!! 2-3 hours later I realized it was Valentine's day, from FB. So I kissed GDW and told him Happy Valentine's Day. Then I planted onions (still have more to plant tomorrow.) He went out and cleaned up the front yard and herded walnuts and little bitty acorns. Then I came in to start in on grow-cart seeds; needed some organizing first. Then all ready to go--no seed starter. I had inadvertently ordered potting soil instead of seed starter, and in fact had used a bag of it without knowing. I kept wondering why it felt a little sandy and had little stems in it. Duh. Now, do I go get some seed starting stuff, or do I plow on. I opted to go get some; so we had dinner at El Lopez. One of the El Lopez guys told us he just knew we'd be in tonight because of Valentine's Day. How funny! I would have told him why, but he doesn't speak very good English, so figured it would be futile to try and tell him. It was a great day.

I didn't know about the shooting until we got back home and I was reading through her. As always, shockingly, abhorrently tragic and heartbreaking.

I prefer using Ivory, Rebecca, but finally have learned to use tons of lotion. Even so, right now my lips feel like they're gonna fall off.

Got to visit with my DIL this evening. As always, too much to talk about, too little time. I got to consult with her on herbal teas, as she's a big herbal tea person.

I'm going to try and get carrots and beets in in the next few days, Rebecca. Not Friday. lol

Boy they pack a lot of onions in those Dixondale bunches! Uhhh. . . . anyone need onions?

81 degrees, Dawn! Wow! I think it got to 70 here. Didn't you all feel like someone had released you from prison today? I did.

Tomorrow, the next day, the next day and so on for a while, planting seeds. Yay!
billstickers
6 years ago
hey Nancy... those cats really get to us don't they. I had a white one named Emma that I really bonded with. I lost her in a divorce (the ex got the house. the cats live in the house.) the last time I visited was a couple of years ago and as soon as I got out of the car she came running from the backyard and climbed the chain link fence demanding that I pick her up. it's a really happy memory unless I think about it too hard...

if you want to trade some of the onions or PayPal for a portion, I would like to do so. I have some seeds from the dwarf tomato project if that interests you.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Hey, Bill, don't need ANYthing. Send me your address and the onions are on their way. Heart is touched by your kitty running up to you. :( Email me at 2nrussell2@gmail.com with your address. I'll get 'em out straight away.
billstickers
6 years ago
thank you! will email you right away.

i also have the saga of occasional cat I will share someday that I am blue. nothing but great memories there. when I get a place of my own there will be a new kitty there.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Rebecca, Yes, I think you can sow beet and carrot seeds now. Keep in mind that in colder soils they can take 2-4 weeks to sprout and during that time the biggest danger is that heavy rain will wash them away before they can sprout. I find them frustrating in that regard just because they are slow, but if you wait until they'll sprout more quickly, then they have to grow on in significantly hotter conditions which isn't a good thing since they are cool-season crops. I don't think my soil has the moisture at seed-planting depth that they need, so I"m going to have to water their bed first, and then sow the seeds.

That pecan tree is the sort of thing that just vexes me----I don't know why trees are so determined to stay where they aren't wanted, so now I guess you have an unkillable Pecanzilla.

Kim, I hope you'll keep us posted on how the wireless shock system works. Obviously my memories of these things are stuck in the past....back from before we had anything wireless probably. It takes me about 20 years to catch up with the latest technology.

Nancy, I think boring is good, especially for any of us seasoned citizens who have been around a while. I look at my son and his friends and their children and their schedules....and how they are always so busy and on the go.....and I'm glad we are beyond that go, go, go stage now. We paid our dues when our children were small and our schedules were too full, and I enjoy the slower-paced and quieter lifestyle we live now.

I hope your dinner out was fun, and you could have used the potting mix instead of a sterile soil-less mix if you wanted, but there would have been more of a risk of damping off since the microorganisms that cause it are soilborne. I just prefer to use the sterile starting mixes for that reason.

Dixondale Farms does tend to overpack a lot more than they tend to underpack, but there's nothing wrong with that---I think they err on the side of safety to make sure no one's bundles are shorted. One year I had so many onions that I sent out a bunch to folks here on this forum. That year, the bundles were packed with hundreds more onions per bundle than usual and I had ordered a lot of bundles. I am pretty sure the folks who pull the onions and bundle them up just grab a handful that is a specific size, and some of them may be grabbing a bigger handful than they should.

I did feel like I had been released from a cold, gray wintery prison, and I watched carefully for snakes because they like these hot winter days as much as we do. Since it had stayed gray and cloudy all morning, I was a little surprised at how quickly the air temperatures heated up. We maintained good relative humidity values all day long so it felt like a late April day, right up until the fire pagers went off for a grass fire in Thackerville very late in the afternoon. I was stunned. I had been outdoors and knew how moist the air felt. I had tracked our fuel moisture levels on the OKMesonet's fire management page and knew how high they were. It didn't make any sense at all to me that there was a fire---unless a human being had deliberately started one. And one had. We ended up not having to go to that fire which was described by the first firefighters on the scene as a "controlled burn that wasn't called in'. My primary issue with that? Doesn't matter if it was called in or not, we are under a Governor's Burn Ban so they shouldn't have been burning anything. I assume either the firefighters put it out or the landowner did. The words 'controlled burn' are used around here to describe pretty much any fire started by someone on purpose, whether they are burning household trash (not supposed to do that, but people do....), a pile of brush, or burning off acreage of unwanted brush or whatever. My main gripe is that people rarely maintain control of these fires so the words 'controlled burn' are inaccurate anyhow. There, I vented. Y'all know my wish for today's nearly identical (about the same temperatures, but higher wind expected) weather is that I get to spend the day in the yard and garden, not running off to fires. On a day like this, it should be a crime to do anything that pulls gardeners out of their gardens.

Y'all ever notice how many gardeners have kitties? I am really missing Yellow Cat right now. Usually he'd be in the garden with me, rolling on the catnip and catmint plants on a warm winter's day. I am not sure if it is the drought, the very cold nights when we dropped to 2 degrees or what....but Yellow Cat's catmint plants haven't broken dormancy yet. He wouldn't have cared. He just would have rolled around on the dormant plant stems. I hope the catmint hasn't died, but if it has, then I might not replace it. All the other cats love the catnip, and only Yellow Cat loved the catmint. It would be odd if the catmint died a few weeks after he passed away, wouldn't it?

We are supposed to be pretty windy today and the wind blew all night long, but right now the air is incredibly still. I don't know why, but I like it so still and quiet.

I'm headed outdoors in a few minutes and hope to completely wear out myself outdoors today. The next cold front comes through here in the early morning hours tomorrow while we're sleeping, so I want to make the best of this weather while it lasts because it won't last much longer.

Dawn
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
Bill, . . did you get my message to you???

Onions are planted; it's rather breezy outside unlike your quiet and still, Dawn, and there's some annoying constant machine hum far in the distance. Have no idea what it is. On to seeds.
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
6 years ago
H/J, I feel bad for Kane, and I wish I had an answer. Heaven knows I have a chewer. This morning it is my clean socks from my laundry! Is there a near by school with a fenced play ground where you could let him run in the evenings?

My kids all swear by Melatonin for getting to sleep, but I wake up feeling hung over!

Rebecca, you must be in a little heat island micro climate. I have dead nettle, that nasty little geranium weed and Elbon rye that are green. Even my comfrey died to the ground. Of course, I don't have any bulbs planted. Maybe I should water the flower bed. But then, things might sprout that aren't ready yet.

I am pretty sure I ordered the red root on an impulse without even considering how hard it would be to start. It is a shrub, drought and clay tolerant with medicinal uses and can be used as a caffeine free substitute for black tea. (All though, it is c. americanus is usually called New Jersey tea and this is c. integerrimus according to what I saved from Bountiful Gardens.) I wonder if I wrote down the wrong species. I am pretty sure they wouldn't give the wrong description. In any case, it is a pretty native shrub that looks like white lilac.

And that was an informative article you posted from Sally Roth.

Dry skin. Rebecca, I use a cheap Walmart brand moisturizing body wash. It may be unscented, because strong scents bother me. I also don't like soap, though I used ivory for years. But it has not been enough moisture lately. When I started using a moisturizing hair conditioner...20 years ago, I found my back didn't get so itchy, because the rinse water moisturized my back. Also not enough this year. I make a concoction in a spray bottle. Witch hazel, glycerine and a light oil like almond oil or I have a vitamin E oil, too. The witch hazel soothes the itch. The glycerine is a humectant which attracts water. This means it will pull it OUT of your skin if it is not available in the air, and the oil seals in the moisture the glycerine attracts. This is most effective after a shower when skin is still damp. And I don't have to be a contortionist to get the places on my back that always itch.

Kim, you are a far better woman than me! Living in that camper, without flushing toilet, isolated. I am so glad your living conditions have improved and you are not so isolated! I'm going to have to look up that wireless dog shock system! I wonder if it would keep her OUT as well as in. Regardless, my son has an escape artist dog who tends to take his siblings along for his walk abouts. He figured out that the regular buried shock fence only got you once. He would have jumped through before he realized it, then refuse to go back.

I guess we're going to Atwoods. Have a good day.
jacoblockcuff (z5b/6a CNTRL Missouri
6 years ago
Have fun at Atwood's Amy. I keep seeing you guys reference to them, but I don't think we have one of those here. If we do, I'm not sure where.

Its REALLY windy today. We were only supposed to get up to 65, but it's already 70 so there's that lol. I almost want to plant potatoes, but too often we get nasty cold spells in March (like last year) so I'm waiting until at least after St. Patrick's Day. I have my eye on March 20-22, a favorable moon sowing date for potatoes. By the time they sprout in April we usually don't get temperatures below 30 or so they usually do well then. If this warm weather does keep up however, I may put peas in on the 25th as well as start some brassicas in my greenhouse. Another favorable moon sowing date. I think tomatoes will wait until mid March, since I can't put them out until at least May usually. My onions should ideally go in at the time I'm putting in potatoes but I started them on Jan. 22nd, a bit late. They may have to wait another week or 2 before they're ready. I'll wait until April to start any flowers in my greenhouse, though maybe sweet peas on Feb. 25th with shelling peas since they're cold hardy. I'm going to put my sweet peas in a container and let them climb a tomato cage. I'll wait for root vegetables until I do my potatoes probably, maybe a little longer. Sometimes seed rots if I sow earlier than April, but it's so dry this year I might get away with it.

Our neighbor put up a fence, so the dog doesn't run away anymore. Otherwise he would. We were originally going to find a farm for him, someplace he had room to roam, as he thrived in those situations, but our neighbor wanted him. She has a golden retriever that he can play with all day up there, so he's much happier.

Gotta get back to work
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
6 years ago
Jacob, we call Atwoods Cowboy Walmart. They are kind of like Tractor Supply or basically any feed store, but with pretty much anything you would need on a ranch or farm, from boots and clothing to chicken feed and baby chicks, to horse gear, bee keeping supplies, automotive/equipment supplies. DH's favorite things are the cast iron cookware and the guns. They have canning supplies, seeds, onion transplants, seed potatoes, fencing, cattle feeders, cattle panels, straw/alfalfa, a greenhouse with plants in season. And you can take your dog inside. Darn, I like them better than I thought!
jacoblockcuff (z5b/6a CNTRL Missouri
6 years ago
Wow, Amy. ATwoods sounds great. We go to Tractor Supply occasionally. Usually we get things like potatoes and straw from a local small, kind of old time feed store. They sell many plants as well, onions, cabbages, broccoli, etc. Also seeds!
jlhart76
6 years ago
Your profile says NW Ark; my grandma kin in that area so I spent some time there growing up. Theres an Atwoods in Siloam, another in Fayetteville/Bentonville area. I know there are some others, bit those are the 2 I remember.

And vaguely garden related, my husband decided to surprise me this year for our anniversary. I told him potted plants were much better than cut flowers. Now to just keep the thing alive in my office.
jacoblockcuff (z5b/6a CNTRL Missouri
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I did not know that! I suppose I've never seen it when we've passed through there. I just googled Atwood's as well, and it says there is one in Lowell. I need to go check them out. Thanks
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Nancy, The quiet and still didn't last long, but was nice while it lasted. By mid-morning we were gusting in the mid-20s and by mid-afternoon in the upper 20s. A temperature of 81 plus wind gusting as high as 29 mph made it feel hot and dry, and I was careful not to disturb the soil because I didn't want for it to blow away.

And, yes, before y'all even ask----this part of the state, including our county and adjacent ones, had grass fires and wildfires this afternoon, because even though our humidity was really great all day, the other conditions were not so kind. It wasn't as quiet as I had hoped, but our fire wasn't that bad (the one west of us was a lot worst) and I didn't go to it. They were so deep in Love's Valley we really couldn't hear them and tell if they were okay, but we assumed no news was good news, and it turned out that it was.

Jennifer, Do your dogs have lots of chewy toys to chew on? Our house is full of them, and that helps most (but not all) the time.

Amy, Melatonin makes me feel like I'm going to throw up, and it doesn't make me sleepy, so I see so reason to take it.

I hope your trip to Atwood's was fun. I don't think we've been there lately.

Jacob, Atwood's is a crazy blend of ranch-home-tool-animal-plant-hardware type items. And, it has unexpected stuff---tons of canning supplies. Some food items, and we find unusual stuff there like rhubarb jam or pickled quail eggs or pickled okra or whatever. There's everything from camo-print recliners to fire rings to livestock supplies....oh, it is mind-boggling sometimes, and you never know what you'll find in there, so you have to stop in pretty regularly to see what they have. Any time now they should be getting their chicks in the store. That usually happens in late Feb or early March. Our Atwood's has only been here a couple of years and is probably 8 times the size of the TSC that's just a couple of blocks away, so I would rather go to Atwood's if I'm looking for random stuff, but to TSC if we just need animal feed and want to get in and get out quickly. It never fails, though, that if TSC is out of something and you go to Atwood's to get it, they're out of it as well. Every. Single. Time.

Jen, That's a nice little rose. I imagine you won't have any trouble keeping it alive in the office, and it will be less likely to catch RRD there than it would be outdoors, so at least there's that!

Having hit the 80s, our plants now are waking up. The daffodils popped up seemingly overnight, and lots of weeds too. I am even happy to see the weeds---green is green is green and we need more green.

Of course, fruit trees are budding too because once that train leaves the station, it doesn't reverse or stop.

I did what I could in the garden today, with lots of unhelpful help from the cats. I didn't see a single snake, and didn't accidentally dig up any toads or snakes or skinks or anything else, so I'm a happy camper.

The cold front comes through in a few hours. The warmth was really nice while it lasted.

Governor Fallin extended the burn ban through March 2nd and added about a dozen more counties. Hopefully that will help keep the wildfires to a minimum. It surely doesn't mean we won't have any, but we'll certainly have fewer of them. I am so relieved we get two more weeks. I don't know if she'll keep extending it indefinitely because the farmers/ranchers get antsy if they cannot burn off their fields and pastures at the right time, so I know she'll be getting pressure from their lobbying groups.

I saw the first wildflower of Spring blooming in the field east of my garden--a tiny little white and pink Spring Beauty. This is a photo of what one looks like:

Spring Beauty

It was only the one tiny flower---smaller than a dime, but the first flower always makes me smile.

Dawn
hazelinok
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Y'all have been busy! This is the fun time--when seed starting begins!

About our dogs, we will probably try an electric fence at some point. If a chicken accidentally hits it, will it injury it? Opinions? Chew toys. Yes, we have tried them. Kane enjoys things he can tear up--that's SO much fun for him. But the ones like Kong that are meant to last longer than 5 minutes, don't work for him. He only enjoys them if he can tear them up. The ones you can put treats in, he likes those until he works the treats out which is fairly quickly.

What a beautiful afternoon. It didn't go quite like I had planned. My Mom bought a mattress, so we delivered it to her. Then, I found a great deal on landscape stones/bricks on Cragslist. We got those picked up and will probably go back to get more because the guy is just going to throw them in a dumpster! I paid for a certain amount and he said I could have them all. However we only got about half of them. Plan on going back to get the rest--and he doesn't even have to be there.

I'm going to work on my seedlings now.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
Beautiful, Jen. It looks healthy, too!

I see the Atwoods in Broken Arrow is right off the expressway. We'll have to check it out one of these days on our Aldi day.

I am sooooooooooo sleepy. Wrong time of day to be sleepy. Gotta fix dinner soon. Blach. AH! A cup of coffee! I've been doing good on coffee--and headaches. It doesn't hurt that we're enjoying the herbal teas so much. Still am appreciating HJ starting the herb thread.

Well. Got my nap after dinner. Whew.

Score, HJ!! Good for
you guys! How exciting is that. What do
you mean by landscape stones??'

I spent the rest of the day organizing seeds, setting
planting priorities, and then getting some in.
Although I'm growing many many seed on the cart--and outside--I'm not
planting as many of each one or variety, so I seem to have plenty of cart space
so far. Some are now in the outdoor
planting list, but there's a lot of seeds in that drawer, so I may end up
putting some back on in the grow cart category. Jerry helped plant seeds this
afternoon; there wasn't enough action for Tom, apparently.

It certainly was a beautiful afternoon. The wind died down here about 3, and I had
the screen doors open. Told the kitties
to be studying the great outdoors as they will get to experience it soon.

Bill--please look at my post to you above--I edited the
EMAIL address!!

So, Dawn, your little purple harbinger of spring!

I noticed they updated the 5-day weather forecast. Much better. It'as as though today was the changing point. I appreciate the forecast hasn't been revised to the 70s, however! But not many freezing temps from here on out, feels like.

I miscounted onions so need to plant more day after tomorrow. THEN I'll be done. I got the veggie beds (and compost--grin, Dawn) watered. The decided to water a couple beds and the lawn just to see if anything turned a little bit green. That was fun. Boy, the WS plants certainly would have fried in today's sun, so they got to spend the day with lids off. Good things happening in there, but not enough good things yet. :) Saw a couple delightful surprises, but want to see MORE delightful surprises!

I've had a heck of a time getting a post written, so will quit while I'm ahead for the moment. Cheers!
jacoblockcuff (z5b/6a CNTRL Missouri
6 years ago
It got up to 73 here. Hit almost 80 at my grandparents' in MO. Wow.
hazelinok
6 years ago
Landscape stones...bricks? They are concrete "bricks" that are often used in retaining walls. I'm going to border an area in my garden with them--where I had the tomatoes last year. The onions will go there in a few days.

Good grief. Ethan just told me that he doesn't want to go to school tomorrow morning because there is a pep rally. There was some sort of "kill" list from a Southmoore student. He doesn't want to be stuck in a large area with few exit areas. SIgh. Southmoore is not the only one today. Two social media threats on schools as well as something about a Guthrie school and Western Heights school. There have been 18 school shootings in this country in 2018. It's Feb. 15. Now kids are afraid to go to school. Honestly, if I had babies now, I would plan on homeschooling for various reasons.

I hope my onions come tomorrow or Saturday so I can get them planted. Monday is a holiday (that's when they were scheduled to be delivered, but the mail won't run.)

My neighbor with the dog who killed Jolene, came and apologized today. Thought that was nice.

Got a few of the leggy seedlings potted up tonight.

I'm ready to sleep.

Tom just came in from taking Josi and and said it's sprinkling!
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
Jacob, that IS warm for you, isn't it. I THINK it got to 76-77 here. Your most recent mention of liver had me craving liver. Tonight was the night. Garry got steak. He thinks I'm crazy, but it's fine with him, of course, if he gets steak! haha

We had no potatoes, but frybread instead. I used a different recipe from the one I'd used before--WHY do I do that--and they were a little tough. And a frozen veggie mix. Pretty easy, except for the spattered grease everywhere. :)

I had to get planting dates and germination dates on the big spreadsheet today, too. Time-consuming but will be helpful. Who was it? Bruce, I think, said one word to describe his planting--behind. That's how I am, not with the planting, but certainly with journaling and the spreadsheet. I SO want to do carrots and beets--but I panic a little when I see disappearing garden bed space. . . Still. I'll make room. After all, tomatoes and peppers can go in some of the flower beds. Here's my prediction. I fear I'll be showing up at SF with a lot of plants, when I realize I grew more than I have room for.

Got a chuckle planting seeds today. Amy, was it you who mentioned Shisho Red, or Dawn? Or? At any rate, thought I was planting a nice little green. Holy mackerel. This plant sounds terrific! I'm excited! I suppose all the ones I'm most excited about (not this one, I think it'll be a no-brainer) will be the ones that fail. . . . isn't that how it goes? But at least I will have verbena bonariensis. It appears they actually germinate better than the trailing verbena. And I planted about a dozen little pots of sprouted New Guinea impatiens. That was pretty exciting. I don't know if I can GROW them, but I can get them to germinate, anyway. lol Onward! The seed-starting stuff is so interesting, maybe I can encourage myself to continue experimenting throughout the year. Oh, also going to start cilantro outside soon, and plant every couple weeks for a little while. I'd like to get a bunch this spring to freeze.

Hey Amy--I hear dead nettle makes for a great herbal tea. . . :)

HJ, I was just thinking about our kids in school last night. . . and now you mention what was on my mind re Ethan. This has been on my mind as much as gardening yesterday and today. And I thought the same thing you think. . . . if I had children today. . . . And what a tragedy that we are all having to think this way. I totally support homeschooling, but again. . . homeschooling is only as good as the parent doing it. And, of course, many parents don't have that option. (I, for example would not have had that option, since I had to work outside the home.) But say if I could stay home to homeschool, I believe I'd do it in a NY minute today. But to do it because you're fearful for your child's safety--that is a shameful commentary on life today in our country. It just makes me so sad.

I'm so thrilled you found these landscape bricks/rocks. I bet you guys will have a blast. I hope you get enough to do other cool things with them, too. I remember you saying last year that you loved rocks. These are going to be very fun for you. Those of us in Green Country/northeast, and Jacob have plenty of rocks. . . .:) just y'all let me know if you want any rocks for SF. Jacob--it would be great if you all made the trip for Spring Fling in April. You're about an hour and a half from me, so only 2 more hours to go to get to OKC. LOL Sounds like a fine (or not?) outing for the family. I laugh--and you all know how I hate to drive anywhere, even 10 miles into Wagoner. But here's something about my history. There was a time when it was nothing to drive 50 miles for groceries, or 90 miles for most department stores. Lotta miles to cover in the 8th largest state, Wyoming, and not many folks or towns.

BTW, I thought that was a good question about electric fences and chickens. . .

When I moved to the city (Mpls), my main criteria for job-hunting/house hunting was proximity. When one spends an hour traveling 5 miles to get home from work, that's the time to look for a different place to live or a different job. lol

Dawn, melatonin didn't set well with me, either. But this Sleepytime tea put me out quickly the other night. I'll have to try it again. And the burn ban thing. . . and "controlled burns." I empathize. I disdainfully laugh about that, myself. "Controlled?" Indeed. Nuff said.

Well, I could go on and on and on, now that I had my nap. . . but maybe I'll go drink some Sleepytime tea. Or maybe not. GDW is getting pretty annoyed now. He's been crappie fishing several times and has yet to bring one home. He was gone when I got up this morning. . . caught a few but they weren't big enough. So I helped him order some more ammunition this afternoon. . . and maybe with the weather change tomorrow, something magical will happen. I am LOVING this. It's just like me planting a challenging seed six different ways. Now that I "liberated" him, he's on a mission. And, further, because I actually like fishing, I'm interested in how it went and what he thinks might work better, and am learning right along with him. For whenever he actually brings one home and if they're really as delicious as everyone says they are, I'll already be ahead of the game in knowing how to catch 'em! lol Ahhhh, life is good. Blessings to you all.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Jennifer, I don't know the answer to your question about whether an electric fence would hurt the chickens. It would depend upon the product itself, I suppose, as well as how it is set up. You might want to ask this question on a poultry forum or farming forum or perhaps check the website of whatever fencing product you are researching using before you buy the fence. Some people use standard electric fencing to keep dogs and other predators away from poultry, and some of those are awfully strong because they'll even repel cattle, cougars or bears. Others use electrified poultry netting like that made by Premier Poultry and I am not sure what the strength of those can be set at. I think in general, a chicken's feathers will insulate it from the shock, but that's a guess on my part. One think to remember is that wherever you put the electric fencing you have to keep the grass mowed down very short or killed with a herbicide or whatever because if plants make contact with the fence they can interfere in its proper operation.

Nancy, I hope this change in the forecast is that turning point that signals Winter is on its way out, out and out and that Spring is coming in, but I've had "surprise" hard frosts and freezes as late as May 3rd or 4th after tomato and potato plants already are waist-high, so I never ever really trust the weather until we get past that first full week of May. I know I don't even have to say this because you all know it is true----Oklahoma weather is crazy.

One thing that would bother me if we suddenly warm up quickly in February is that in years when that happens, the sudden transition from cold to warm usually presages drought, especially when the last freeze comes early. Well, we're already in drought as it is, so a sudden warm up isn't a good sign unless more frequent rainfall in decent amounts accompanies it. The worst possible case scenario, and this is common this time of year, is a big warm spell that lasts 2 or 3 weeks and fools all the fruit trees into blooming and then, WHAM, a cold spell hits and the blooms and young fruit freeze. I try to enjoy the warm spells when they hit, but keep my eye on our average last freeze date anyway and try to not get too far ahead of myself because even when that date arrives, we still have a 50% chance of a freeze. My average freeze date is March 28th or 29th depending on which source you use, so I'm still expecting more cold weather somewhere down the line no matter how much nice weather we have in the interim.

I watch the pecan trees. Nothing much fools the native pecan trees, not even the early arrival of sunshine and warm temperatures. If all the other plants in the yard are going nuts and leafing out and blooming, but the pecan tree is not....then guess which tree is the smart one that's likely to avoid freeze injury?

Jacob, I am so happy for y'all that you got to have a lovely, warm day in February! At 81 degrees it felt too hot here, but only because we are not acclimated to that sort of weather yet. I had to be sure I was drinking plenty of water and iced tea so I didn't get dehydrated. Today's going to be entirely different, and not in a good way, but the sunshine and heat were nice while they lasted. We were cloudy and still hit 81 degrees. The sunshine we'd had earlier in the day disappeared after lunch time. I think if we'd had full sun we likely would have hit 83 or 84, which is definitely too hot for February.

Jennifer, Ethan has my sympathy. I cannot imagine what it is like to have to go to high school nowadays in the midst of these school shootings. I am sure if this sort of thing had been happening when I was a teenager, I would have been petrified.

Yesterday, at one of the big high schools (Marcus High School in Flower Mound, a very nice, upscale community) in the D-FW metroplex, a student was arrested and removed from campus when he was found to have a gun and ammunition in his backpack. Credit for possibly preventing another tragedy goes to whomever knew this info and shared it with the police and to the school's in-house police officer who acted quickly to get his hands on the student with the gun so he could remove the threat. There were other schools with scares via threats and talk of kill lists/hit lists, etc., but as far as I know that's the only one where a gun was actually found in a student's possession. I am sure the same things are going on everywhere in this country now---one school shooting seems to embolden other kids to, at the very least, play sick, twisted games with lists and threats and such. When I was in high school, the students who were hunters always had a rifle hanging on a gun rack in the back window of their pickup trucks, which probably weren't even locked back then, and nobody gave those guns a second thought. That was a couple of decades I guess before school shootings became a thing.

It was nice for your neighbor to come over and apologize for their animal's role in Jolene's death, but it certainly doesn't bring Jolene back. We've been through that with neighbors before and most of them just don't care---their attitude is that it is just a chicken. Or, they'll say, next time we should just shoot and kill their dog. That aggravates me because (a) it transfers the responsibility for their dogs behavior right off their shoulders and onto ours (how about they keep their dog fenced or chained so it cannot come onto our property and kill our poultry), and (b) they know we love dogs and likely aren't going to shoot one unless it is attacking us or our dogs or cats.

I hope your onions do arrive so you can plant while the weather is nice, but there's no hurry. It is very early in onion-planting season yet. More problems with onions are caused by planting early than by planting late, and a lot of my onions are pretty large so once I get them in the ground, the odds of them bolting will be higher than if they'd been smaller. That sort of aggravates me, but Dixondale cannot control how fast the onions grow down there in south Texas and nice weather can make the onions get bigger than we'd like to receive at planting time. All we can do is plant them at the right time and then hope the weather doesn't turn back very cold for a prolonged period again. I thought I'd probably get mine in the ground (at least some of them) yesterday, but then there were fires in various counties that I was watching, and then our fire in ours.......and, you know, the onions never made it into the ground because I had to leave the garden to get ready to go to the fire. Ultimately, Fran and I decided the fire didn't sound that bad and didn't go, but maybe we should have. Those firefighters were out there longer than we expected them to be. Once I had come inside and changed out of dirty gardening clothes and into clean clothes to go to the fire if needed, I didn't want to go back out and get all dirty all over again in case the pagers went off again. This is a very common issue when fire/planting season overlap (as they always do, unless we're so wet that we're not having fires).

Nancy, It is not too late for you to save yourself from the Shiso. Hurry now, destroy all of the plants and throw the seeds and plants in the trash, and then tie up that trash bag and double bag it to make sure it doesn't escape. Perilla (other than a sterile one like Magilla) is an invasive, re-seeding monster that makes bermuda grass look lazy and laid back. Once you plant it and discover it is bent on world domination, you'll be removing it from your property for the next 6 to 8 years. Just stop it right now before it starts. I am not kidding. I planted it once and regretted it for years and years thereafter. This was in pre-internet days and it was so much harder to find info from anyone who'd ever grown it, so I had no idea it was such a highly invasive monster in our climate. I never would have planted it had I known what it was capable of, and the green shiso is just as invasive as the red. If you ever let the seeds get loose on your property, it will pop up in places hundreds of feet from where you planted it. That stuff is a nightmare.

I wonder why the fish aren't biting? Is it the weather at this time of the year? We sure see lots of people with their boats and poles going out fishing so I would think surely they're catching some fish or why bother going? It is 49 degrees already (my overnight high shows 68, so it still was warm at midnight) and I think our high is only supposed to be 51 or 52 or something, so we aren't going to warm up much more. If it wasn't so windy, it would be another pleasant day to work outside. I'll reserve judgement on that until I see what it feels like once the sun is fully up. I'm hoping the wind will ease off a bit as the front pushes further south.

Dawn
luvncannin
6 years ago
I have been so focused on getting ready for MENF. I can not even catch up with you.

About the shock collar systems, I googled wireless shock collar systems and a page came up where they compared 50 different systems. One of the systems had flags you put out at your corners yo keep them in and you could put them around a garden or pool area to keep them out. Some have wires and some like I am going to get have a base you can set for 5 to 500 ft or something like that radius. It is easily movable so I could take Sophie out to the field and set up an area larger for her to play. I never knew all these different systems existed.
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
6 years ago
H/J, that is horrible that Ethan doesn't want to go to school. The event in Florida is bad enough, but the repercussions/copy cats make it worse. I wouldn't want him to go to school either.

Have you tried the toys made from fire hose? Usually there are little ears or legs they can tear off, but the fire hose is really tough. I noticed Honey has made some little holes in hers, but not like the things she pulls stuffing out of.

I'm glad the governor extended the burn ban, and glad you got some garden time in. I planted my onions yesterday. DH took a nap so we didn't go to Atwoods. That will be today's excursion.

It was down right HOT here. Tulsa set a record at 81, I believe. At one point I was looking for the dog and she was laying in the shade of the wheel barrow on the concrete patio. I believe she was hot. So what happened to my rain?

Nancy, have you had Indian fry bread tacos? There used to be a place in Pawhuska that made them. Sometimes I would see them at fairs. Basically you use the fry bread for a taco shell. I found one recipe on line that called it Navaho fry bread, but Pawhuska is in the Osage Nation.

Do not let that shiso set seed. It has become invasive. (Oh, I see Dawn told you this with more pizazz.) I had a plant that came up in 2016. I did not plant it. Freeze the cilantro in lime juice. Dead nettle might make good herbal tea, if I didn't have dogs.

Kim, have fun at the fair! I am off to google wireless dog fences.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
hahahaha Dawn. Shisho gone. Oh my! Darn. Well, that's two bucks down the drain. Thank YOU and I'm glad I mentioned it!! And what were the chances, anyway, of me even mentioning that specific plant, out of all these seed packets sitting here! Whew. It was divine intervention, right? I had a perilla magilla two years ago in the center bed, and it probably looked a lot like shisho, as it was a striking gorgeous red. It got to three feet tall, very bushy I kept taking cuttings and at the end of summer had four large "bushes." I loved it, but didn't save any cuttings. So last year found another one, not half as pretty as the one before. Still, I did save cuttings from it. Although not as striking, it also grew into nice sized bushes. Oh well. . . . as always, so appreciate you! Always here to save me from myself! Bad Pinetree, bad bad. LOL

No idea about crappies. . . maybe they're kinda fished out at that particular dock. He thinks he's lost his touch. I've never fished for them before, Can't imagine being on a boat in today's weather, that's for sure! (He's not using it. . . he goes to that heated dock.)

It's 39 here today and windy. Brrrrr.

Guess I'll be gardening indoors, and am happy to be here doing it.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Haha, Amy, yes, she DID tell me with pizazz, didn't she!? I was just telling Garry last night about using the fry bread as "tacos." I don't know that we'd do it, but I can see it working. Kinda fat tacos. lol

GREAT tip about freezing the cilantro in lime juice. Yummy!! Thank you!
billstickers
6 years ago
Nancy... should have an email message now
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Uh-oh. Just had a good "visit" with one of my favorite nephews. (Garry's nephew, who grew up 4 houses down from me when I was a kid. This nephew was about 6 years younger than me, so I didn't know him WELL, but he was a cute little guy. After GDW and I got together, said nephew told me he had a crush on me when he was this little guy so was glad we're now finally related. Cute. We're polar opposite in many areas of our lives, but we enjoy each other, and enjoy thoughtful dialogues. We carry on many a conversation on FB messenger.

The uh-oh was because I was just settling in to plant seeds, when my Mountain Rose herbs and tea showed up. Amy--wow. Class outfit!! I am more than impressed. And to my consternation, 4 oz is way more than I thought 4 oz would be. Now I have to find containers for them. AGGH.

There's a PS here. I hate the potting soil I inadvertently used. I'm going to re-plant those seeds. The potting soil won't hold moisture and they dry out very quickly. Rats.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Kim, Y'all been on the road a long time, so I'm assuming you've reached Belton....unless y'all stopped and had a really long leisurely lunch on the way or something. Have fun at the MENF.

I guess as technology has advanced, so have all the shock collar and electric fence type options. Way back in 1999 when I was going through my cancer battle, one of the radiologists I saw regularly had 2 large German shepherds she was taking through a venomous snake training course. It was pretty fancy stuff for that era. The dogs wore shock collars (which I didn't know existed back then) during the class sessions and were shocked when they approached venomous snakes during the training course.The idea was that you taught them to avoid contact with the snakes until it just became second nature for them to do it. I forget what she was paying per dog for the training course, but I remember being amazed at what a huge sum of money it was. She lived in Parker County where it was pretty rocky (so probably more towards Palo Pinto County) and felt like the snake training was essential for the survival of her dogs. She also bought Nolo Bait by the 50-lb. bag to deal with all the hoppers during that drought, so I think her acreage must have been a lot larger than ours. We both were gardeners and dog lovers so had lots to talk about when I went in for my appointments.

Amy, Well, it certainly isn't hot today, is it? I want yesterday's weather to come back instead of what we're stuck with today. At least we're supposed to get rain this time in some sort of measurable amount. I'm not holding my breath. I'll believe rain is falling when we have actual raindrops pounding the roof. The NWS is not always right, sadly.

Nancy,

Gardeners don't let friends plant shiso, perilla or any form of that plant under any name. Forewarned is forearmed. Watch on the FB gardening groups this summer and you'll see Linda Workman Smith posting photos of hers every year as she is yanking it out and yanking it out and yanking it out.....and she hasn't planted it in years. I believe she posts the photos as a warning/reminder to us all. Maybe somewhere in America the shiso is not an aggressive, invasive reseeder but I cannot imagine where that magical place would be. Maybe Alaska. Maybe it stays both cold enough and wet enough at the same time in winter there for the seeds to rot.

If your potting soil is drying out too quickly, it probably has too high of a percentage of peat moss. Peat is that way---it is hydrophobic, which actually is a chemical problem, best explained by someone more scientifically inclined than I, so here's the explanation:

Peat Moss and Water

The quick fix is to add a few drops of soap to your water when you wet the peat moss. They probably make a gardening type surfactant you can purchase for this purpose, but plain old simple soap (not detergent) works.

It is so cold and windy and icky that all I've done today is clean house and cook. Yesterday spent out in the garden was way more fun than today! Oh, and I've done laundry. Well, at least tomorrow I can do whatever I please because my work is done, but if it rains, there won't be anything I want to do outdoors. If might be a good day to go plant shopping if it isn't cold, rainy and windy....or if I am careful to choose places that have huge greenhouses where I can roam around forever and fill up a cart with delightful things that won't be going outdoors into our cold nights just yet. As nice as the prospect of rain is, I'd still rather have yesterday's weather than today.

For anyone who hasn't looked at it lately, here's the 7-day QPF:

7-day QPF

The bands of heavier rain are slowly edging their way westward again after moving eastward for a couple of days. I'd love to see western OK get some sort of meaningful rainfall because they're in a world of hurt without it.

The songbirds are eating today like there is no tomorrow. They must feel cold, wet night coming our way.

Our daffodils are finally emerging from their bed of pitiful red clay down by the road. Imagine how well they'd do if I had planted them in good soil. I did add compost that first year, and mulch for a couple of years thereafter, but then after repeated years of drought, I developed my 'sink or swim' attitude towards ornamental plants here, so they've had to survive on their own with no help ever since then.

Is it March yet? Because February drags on for too long with these endlessly gray skies. The plants and I need sunshine.

Dawn
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Sound like any somebodies you know? Sounds like a few I know--who is the most notorious one? heh heh heh My SIL just sent me this. . . do you think she is beginning to suspect us? And by the way, SIL is a gifted weaver, hence her having discovered Tien Chiu. . . and Tien Chiu is so talented, there's no beginning to describe her talents. You must look at her weaving and candies, her gallery. https://www.tienchiu.com/author/tien/ (Spoiler--but THIS one's about tomatoes. . .)

Here's one of her blogs on chocolate: https://www.tienchiu.com/2016/11/a-peek-at-life-in-the-chocolate-mines/
hazelinok
6 years ago
Haven't caught up yet...

But onions are here! And we are supposed to get rain tomorrow AND it's supposed to be 60 tomorrow afternoon. Maybe I can get them planted!

Obviously, there are a few very cold nights still....I can't remember. How do these nights affect the onions?
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Onions are fine most of the time down to single digit temperatures with no problem, especially if insulated by snow or mulch. They are very cold tolerant as long as they are in well-drained soil. If they are in very slowly-draining soil and it is extremely wet and extremely cold at the same time for several days, they can rot. If yours are in a raised bed or if you have well-drained sandy loam, they should be fine.

The issue with onions is that they are biennials, so what you have to watch for is: (a) the onions already have reached the 5-leaf stage (or are beyond that stage) and are actively growing and then (b) a cold spell sets in that is both cold enough and prolonged enough to stop the active growth. When the active growth stops, the onions perceive this as the end of their first growing season. If the cold is neither cold enough nor cold for long enough to stall their growth, it isn't going to hurt them. When growth eventually resumes, the onions perceive they are now in their second growing season, so they do what onions do in their second season---at some point, they begin to send up a flower stalk to produce seeds. We commonly refer to this as bolting. Sometimes a few bolt. Sometimes they all bolt. Sometimes they slowly bolt over time. Sometimes they all bolt at once. So, you will not necessarily ever lose onions to cold weather in a 'help me, I'm freezing to death' type way. Instead, being too cold for too long after reaching a certain size can induce that bolting--even though you may not see the bolting actually occurring for another month or two.

Once onions are planted, I don't worry or fret over them too much. I do try to keep them well weeded because they abhor competition from weeds. Onions are pretty tough. I consider large hail a bigger risk to them most years than any sort of cold that would be bad enough long enough to kill them.
Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago
Dawn, my pecan trees are budding out now. And, our March temperature predictions are trending above normal - light to medium orange, whatever that means (per Travis Meyer). April could still surprise us, of course.

I just want to work outside this weekend.
hazelinok
6 years ago
Dawn, thanks for the onion review. I'm pretty sure I knew all of that, but needed the review. Plus I am planting earlier than in the past. Last year, the last week of February and in 2016, in March. Both years they did fairly well.

Do y'all ever have a moment of panic that it's all going to fail? I look at my beautiful plants (in pics) from last year and the amazing harvest of both tomatoes and peppers. What if it all fails this year?
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
HJ. . . then when something works okay you can do victory laps, instead of expecting it all to be successful and then running into the wall of reality! lol I was looking through photos, looking for something the other night, and thought, WOW. Look at the yard. Did I ever really have all those green plants? The greens Amy gave me were the way to start, for sure. They all popped up within 3-4 days. I needed that. :) Yes I do have those moments.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Rebecca, Okay, your weather has officially gone bonkers, hasn't it? If it isn't raining there all weekend, I heartily endorse the idea of working outside and taking advantage of the early warm-up. You never know when you're going to get one of those early Spring warm-ups and somehow slip through the rest of Spring without a return to freezing temperatures. I mean, you know, it could happen. Statistically, is this very likely? Nope, but this could be that one in one-hundred year when it does happen. Our native pecans get fooled about 2 years out of 10 though, so they are not infallible, and in the years that they get fooled, there's no pecan crop, which means.....hungry squirrels (sigh).

I can think of at least 2 years since 1999 that our last freezing night here occurred in February (and can think of 4 or 5 more when it occurred in May, which just shows you how insane OK weather really can be). In one of those 2 warmer years, both January and February had been warmer than usual throughout, so the last cold night occurring so early wasn't such a surprise. In fact, I had tomato plants waiting to be planted and was waiting for that last cold February night to happen so I could plant them in pots. As soon as we had that night and were past it, I planted tomatoes in pots in the last week of February. I use the words 'pots' loosely because one of the containers I used was a 2' tall 4' wide galvanized stock tank, so it wasn't like I could move it indoors if the cold came back. I want to say I planted around the 23rd. I did cover up those early tomato plants with frost cloth on a few cold nights when the temperatures were in the upper 30s, but that was just a precautionary move on my part. We did not get close to freezing temperatures again. (Frost, however, can happen at 37, 38 or sometimes even 39 degrees if all the conditions are just right, as I learned the hard way over several years' time.)

Jennifer, Onions are one of the easiest things we grow and one of the most worry-free so go ahead and plant when you can and enjoy having that one thing crossed off your To Do list.

I don't worry about crop failures. Could it happen? I suppose it could, but in my experience that sort of thing is exceptionally rare and usually not the fault of the gardener. For example, suppose your garden sits 100' from the county road and someone like a county worker or a utility worker comes along and carelessly sprays a broad-leaf herbicide near you on a windy Spring day. Perhaps they spray too much, perhaps they spray at too high of a setting, or perhaps they spray when the wind is too strong and is blowing towards your garden....and you go outside the next day and all your 3' tall tomato plants that already have fruit on them are dead. Or, maybe they all aren't dead, but some of them are definitely dead and the others are likely to die. And, it could be anyone who does this---a rancher, a farmer....the family next door, even the guys maintaining the railroad right of way about a mile away. Can you plan for this? Nope. Can you prevent it? Nope. You just have to pick yourself up off the ground after throwing a temper tantrum because it occurred and move on. That is the sort of possibility that could cause me sleepless nights if I let myself worry about it because sometimes it does happen, but most often it does not.

Other gardening disasters that might cause a crop failure? Extreme to exceptional drought where the gardener might able to water heavily enough, at great financial expense, to keep the plants alive but cannot water enough to keep them producing. Hordes of grasshoppers that fly in by the hundreds or thousands and strip your plants down to bare stems in a day or two or three. The neighbors' goats or cows or whatever who escape and come trample and eat your garden. Deer who infiltrate your garden and eat everything down to the bare ground by, perhaps, jumping a 4' fence or knocking over an electric fence or whatever. Some bizarre fungal or bacterial disease comes in and kills everything (not likely, and rare, but possible in very rainy years.) Now think about all these disasters? I've seen them all happen, as described, but life went on, the affected gardener replanted and carried on, and every crop in the garden was not a total failure---even if some of them were. What else could destroy a garden? Flash flooding? Regular flooding? Wildfire? Tornadoes? Gigantic hail? The odds of any of those hitting a specific garden in OK in any given year are fairly slim, but it does happen. I try not to worry excessively about all those could be's or might's because most years none of them happen. If we let anxiety about such possibilities get too much inside our minds, it is hard to relax and enjoy our gardening the way we should be able to enjoy it.

My gardening fears actually run in the opposite direction----I'll plant too much, it will grow too well, the harvest will be more than I can keep up with, more than we can eat, and even more than the chickens can eat, and more than I have time to preserve......so, you know, I'm addressing that this year by deliberately planting far less edible stuff and lots more flowers in an effort to make gardening (or, at least post-gardening harvest and food preservation) less stressful and more fun. I have no idea if I'll succeed, but it will be fun to try and it will be fun to worry less.

All you can do is prepare your soil well, plant properly, water and fertilize as needed and leave the rest of it in God's hands. People have been growing their own food for thousands of years, both with and without the cooperation of Mother Nature, and I try to remind myself that in the overall scheme of things, most garden fears never come to pass, and most gardens grow pretty well without excessive amounts of human intervention. i have friends who drive themselves (and their children) crazy worrying over every little weed. You'll never see one weed in their gardens, but it worries me that maybe they are raising children who will hate gardening because they'll have a lifetime memory of hoeing, hoeing, and more hoeing out in the hot sun. I have friends who pretty much don't weed at all and you'll see them out standing in a garden infiltrated with 6' Johnson grass, harvesting away. Guess which ones seem to get the biggest harvest, much to the dismay of the serious weeders? Yep, it is the weedy gardeners. I think there's a lesson in there somewhere for us to maybe slow down, smell the flowers and don't sweat the small stuff (and it mostly all is small stuff).

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I garden because of the joy of gardening---not the hassles. It can become too easy to get wrapped up in the weeding that must be done, the flowers that must be deadheaded, the mulch that needs to be renewed and the destructive insects that are driving me nuts. It can be too easy to look at the garden and focus on the one weedy invader creeping under the fence instead of seeing all the dozens of flowering plants, herbs and veggies, quietly and patiently doing their thing. A person can drive themselves insane fretting over the three varieties of seeds that never sprouted instead of rejoicing over the 40 varieties that sprouted, grew and are doing great. I try to readjust my attitude if I find I am obsessing over the wrong things---and if I am obsessing over ANY negative thing, then I am focused on the wrong things.

People who only ever see my garden as they drive down the road are always telling me what a beautiful and gorgeous garden it is and how much they admire it. I try to bite back the instant replies that pop into my head like "oh, if you were seeing it up close, you'd see it is a weedy mess and spider mites are destroying everything" and merely say "thank you, I'm so glad you enjoy looking at it as you drive by" instead. If seeing the garden from afar brings them joy, why should I ruin their joy by telling them it looks so much less than perfect up close? Sometimes I have to remind myself to look at it the way they do and to see the beauty and the perfection that exists in the overall view of the garden, instead of focusing on small imperfections that exist within small areas of it.

We always cut ourselves some slack when it is something else, don't we? Gained 5 pounds? Oh well, wear a looser shirt and know that you'll lose that weight working/sweating outdoors this summer. Get a few new wrinkles in your skin? Hey, those are laugh lines and are the sign of a joyful life well-lived. Not really loving the color of the house's trim? If you really hate it, you can repaint it. Hate your job today? Thankfully, everyone has moments like that and tomorrow will be a better day. Dogs or cats (or, lol, kids) driving you nuts today? Some days are just that way. Right? So, why do we expect to have a garden that always looks perfect and always provides a bountiful harvest? We need to cut our gardens some slack and let each one be its imperfect self. The joy of gardening is not in the perfection of its appearance or in the high yields it produces for the kitchen----it is in the joy the gardener feels every single minute they are out there every single time they find themselves in the garden...or just looking at it as they drive by or walk by on their way somewhere else. The perfection? I find it by looking at how many gazillions of little tiny things, from green lacewings to honey bees to millipedes to even toads, frogs and lizards and (yes) snakes that find shelter and nourishment in the garden. Even in a so-called bad year when the garden might not be producing as bountiful of a harvest as I would like (honestly, that sort of year is very rare), it is offering beauty, shelter and food to other living creatures anyhow.

I always am very careful to remind myself that the garden is its own ecosystem and will function as it needs to and as it must in any given time frame. Truly, if the crops fail, I'll chalk it up to being one of those years and I'll go to Central Market, Whole Foods, CostCo or a farmer's market and buy healthy, organic produce. That doesn't mean the gardening year was a bust---it just means that in that year, the garden was busy doing something else---even if I don't understand why. A garden of any kind is always about so much more than whatever it produces as a harvest, so I don't let a poor harvest of anything steal the joy I get from the gardening process itself.

Dawn
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
6 years ago
Nancy, I wish I could claim the cilantro in lime juice was my idea, I saw it on FB, but I thought it was brilliant because most everything you use it with also uses lime.

And OMG, that link about seeds was hysterical, and made me mildly uncomfortable. But MY seeds would never go to an X (and I wouldn't have lunch with his wife, either!).

H/J, looking back, last year seemed like an exceptionally good year for peppers and tomatoes. My first couple of years WERE pretty much failures. Mainly because I didn't know what I was doing, but also poor soil, and the monsoons in 2015. I have yet to get decent melons. I'm the only one in the world that can kill Seminole pumpkins. My cucumbers get sick. But I've had enough successes to keep me going. And I learn from my failures. I would not be as resilient as Dawn about herbicide drift. And there are times I think buying certain things as organic produce would be easier. But I'm still learning and I love trying new things.

We spent a small fortune at Atwoods yesterday. Had to get one of those flat carts to put chicken feed, birdseed, dogfood, scratch, bedding....Honey enjoyed the trip. I got a small bunch of sweet red onions to put out. They are kind of dry but I've seen worse. I mentioned on the other thread we had lunch at Hapa with friends.

The chickens are laying, some, not very many yet. Ron just made me breakfast and I could tell by looking at it it was one of ours. Pretty bright orange yolk.
hazelinok
6 years ago
I love those bright yolks! Ours really are laying well now. I almost went to Atwoods today to buy baby chicks. I'm so addicted to baby chicks. But, I really need to wait. This is our "poor" week of the month. lol. Not that baby chicks are expensive but I'll need to get some bedding and food, etc. I called and they have 10 varieties of pullets right now. Okay...now I really am talking myself back INTO getting some today. I want another Minorca like Stella. She's the most insane chicken but such entertainment. She came from Atwoods.

And Amy, I can kill Seminole pumpkins too! It must be related to our soil. Our soil health isn't as far along as some folks like Dawn. Also, my melons haven't been great either. Most of them have gone to the chickens. Last year was better than the previous...maybe each year gets better. And I have the same situation with my cucumbers. We seem to be on the same track. This is my fourth garden year...well, maybe 5th. But I only had one small raised bed the first year--2014. 2015 was so hard because of the rain. 2016 was better and 2017 had many successes. Maybe improved soil AND gardener experience?
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
6 years ago
Absolutely H/J. The soil gets better every year. If I had planted my Seminoles in better soil, and earlier (too late 2 years in a row) I probably would have done better. They are such a big footprint, though.

Those near Tulsa take note: Feb 24th, 10-12 there is a seed swap at the Tulsa garden center. "Everything you need to keep butterflies and pollinators happy." The contact is Utopia Gardens, I have purchased from them before. FB link.
Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago
Today has been busy. Sprouts and Reasors, Target, and the car shop to get my headlight changed (and estimates on the other 2 things that need to be done...goodbye tax refund...) Came home and did some garden cleanup, and planted the rest of the cool season crops. Cascadia sugar snaps, Oregon Giant snow peas, Ruby Queen and Early Wonder beets, and Nantes and Chantenay carrots. Also walked around the yard with my loppers and a new bottle of brush killer (which I managed to spill part of on my jeans.)

Tomorrow is tomatoes, peppers, and flowers going in jugs and foil pans.

Dawn, I have my sugar snaps in the same pots that I'll put cucumbers and peppers in later. Snow peas are where pole beans will be. Am I on the right track with succession planting?

Daylilies are up. So are English iris and Dutch iris. Trees are all budding. Travis Meyer said the word spring last night. We have two days of cold this week, but the rest of the time is fairly mild. I have no idea how much rain we got last night, because my rain gauge broke sometime during the winter. I want a new one and a big thermometer.

Big news, my sister and her family are moving to Ft. Worth this summer. BIL is transferring with his company. Glad they will be closer than North Carolina, and close enough for a weekend trip. They love Texas, and are thrilled to be back in the land of good Mexican food. I want to check out the Botanical Gardens sometime when I'm down there. I'm helping them research school districts so they can decide where they want to buy. If I can't have them here, I'll take them closer. Dawn, what can you share with me about good/bad parts of Ft. Worth?
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
The soil gets better every year if you're amending it as you should....and the gardener gets better every year too. It all works together. : ) Here in OK the thing that throws the wrench into the works and gums it all up is the weather, because we never know when we are planting exactly what the weather is going to do for the next 6 or 8 months---it could be drought and no rain for 3 months or it could be flooding rains, 12" of rain in one day and 24" in one month. How in the heck can any gardener plan ahead and be prepared for all that?

I stay out of feed stores during baby chick time or else I'll bring home chicks we do not need. They are too little, too cute, too fluffy and just too adorable to ignore. The last time we were in Atwood's they didn't have chicks in the stores yet, but I figured that for sanity's sake I need to stay out of Atwoods for the next couple of months, and TSC too.

Rebecca, You probably are on track with your succession planting, but with snow peas/pole beans it might be a little tricky. I like to plant pole beans early---before the peas are done---because we get so hot here so early that my pole beans need to flower and set beans in May in case the heat is about to crank up too hot in June, which often happens here. If only the weather were perfectly predictable.

My English iris, ornamental alliums, red hot poker and some daylilies (but not all) have been up for quite a while now---maybe a month? The daffodils were really late, and some of the daylilies aren't up yet, but I really think that is because of the lack of moisture. The recent rainfall should help with that. The autumn sages are leafing out, so I need to cut them back soon. Most of the reseeding herbs and flowers are no shows so far, but I saw the first couple of larkspur (sprouting in a pathway, naturally) a couple of days ago. I am thinking everything likely will just explode now that we had some rain.

I hope Travis Meyer is right about Spring. I'm never going to be unhappy about an early Spring because I dislike Winter's cold so much. The incredibly, horrifically invasive pink evening primrose plants are popping up all over the front half-acre, and in the garden. I pull them out of the garden the minute I spot them. I am considering hitting the ones in the pasture with a herbicide. Yes I am! One plant gives you a million more and they invade everywhere. I got rid of them in the drought years of 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014...but they staged a remarkable comeback in 2015, 2016 and 2017's wetter weather. I cannot stand them. If you let them grow and reseed as they will, that's all you'll end up with in the end. I might keep them if they'd crowd out Johnson grass and bermuda grass---but they do not---they just happily coexist with it.

Do you have any idea which parts of Fort Worth they're looking at? Maybe by direction, like North, South, East or West? The DFW metroplex has grown so very huge (7.23 million people) and Tarrant County's population so large (1.8 million I think and I am not sure how much of that is Fort Worth proper and how much is the suburbs that surround it) that it is hard to talk about parts of Fort Worth, as many people now buy homes in developments in the many suburbs that ring the city. Most people who move to the area try to choose a nice neighborhood that will be a decent commute to their work so that they don't spend an hour or two commuting each way each day. So, if you can tell me where their new place or places of employment are located, maybe I can point y'all in the direction of the great places nearby to live. And, I want them to be forewarned, it is a seller's market and homes are selling fast and at inflated rates, so if they want to buy, they need to pre-qualify to know their price limit and find a great real estate agent. Many of our friends who once lived in Fort Worth have fled to the outer, outer, outer suburbs as it all has become too urbanized for them in their former neighborhoods. Some have fled north almost to Denton, to north towards Denton and then west towards Decatur and the like. Others have fled very far south---farther south than Burleson and perhaps as far southeast as Mansfield. My niece tries to keep me up to date on what's what in terms of the neighborhoods and housing developments, and it shocks me when she mentions a neighborhood that was perfectly lovely and highly coveted when we left Fort Worth in 1999, and she tells me it has gone downhill and is now "ghetto". I guess nothing remains the way we remember it once was. If Saginaw and the area northwest of it are near their place of employment, there's tons and tons of new housing developments and new shopping centers going up there---for at least the last 10-15 years, and the growth is never-ending. It used to be Denton was considered a long drive from Fort Worth and too far to move to live, but now people tell me Denton isn't far enough away. I think much depends on whether they want to love in a highly developed neighborhood with lots of homes close together, etc., or if they want to move further out and had a half-acre or acre lot or even more.

The weather was gorgeous here today. I trust it was gorgeous where y'all are as well. It was a little wet and muddy, but that won't last long. It actually was nice to see puddles for once.

Of course, we had a fire. Remember how I told y'all that when rain falls in a bad fire year, it can make things worst? It sort of did that today. Some vehicle on I-35 had a tire that was coming apart and a piece of flaming hot tire landed in tall grass beside the road and set the grass and trees on fire. This occurred less than 12 hours after our rain stopped falling and it happened maybe a half-mile from our fire station. I was wondering if the ground was muddy enough for the brush fire trucks to get stuck, and suspected it probably was. The answer, apparently, was yes, and I learned that when one firefighter was yelling "stop, stop, back up, back up, you're gonna get stuck" to the fire truck behind him. Sitting at home listening to him holler made me grin---not because I wanted for anyone to get stuck, but because it is just so predictable. So, now that we have had rain, the fires will continue on because dry, dormant vegetation reminds dry and dormant, and the fires will be harder to fight off-road because of the mud. As my son would mutter sarcastically "Great, just great."

One thing that was odd(in a good way) today was that it was so warm that the songbirds did not have to spend every minute of every day eating nonstop in order to stay fueled up and warm. I didn't have to refill the bird feeders until almost sunset.

The stores near us still have all the typical cool-season transplants on the shelves, but also more herbs that I think of as needing slightly warmer weather...and quite a few tomato plants. This was the first week I saw tomato plants, and I won't remember all the different varieties I saw, but among them were Early Girl, Better Bush, Roma, Better Boy and maybe Beefmaster or Big Beef. Most were the smaller transplants that cost $3.48 or $3.58 in 3" peat pots, but the Early Girls were larger and cost $5.88 in what was probably either a 5" or 6" plastic (not peat) pot. They also had flats of pansies. Last week they only had violas. I bet next week they'll have flats of petunias. It follows a fairly predictable pattern here. We only went to Wal-Mart and didn't go across the road to see what was at HD because their plants come on the very same trucks from BP, I think, and they tend to get the same plants in at the same time. Exactly the same, but sometimes HD does have pepper plants in about two months too early---and earlier than Wal-Mart does. It was ridiculous to stand there and look at those big monster plants, all of which could eat my tiny tomato seedlings in one gulp. It doesn't make me wish I'd started mine earlier---because our soil is still far too cold for tomatoes. I believe I started mine at the right time for my area given my weather and soil temperatures (even with the recent warm-up). I might feel differently if the soil temperatures start hitting and staying in the 50s while my tomato plants are still 2 or 3" tall and wide.

Gardening is an imperfect science. I hope people didn't see those tomato plants and automatically assume it is time to buy them, take them home and plant them because we have some freezing nights in our forecast around mid-week.

Dawn
hazelinok
6 years ago
Did everyone enjoy the nice weather today and get lots of good work done...OR rested or whatever you needed to do. There are now 153 onions planted in my garden. Dixondale sent nice bundles. 80 Texas Super Sweet and 73 Southern Belle Reds.

People, I'm tired. So annoying! I woke up at 6 this morning! I promise EVERY other morning, I could have rolled over and gone back to sleep. Not this morning--the one day I can sleep!

I actually put the greens/broccoli/cabbage seedlings out for about 40 minutes today to get some real sun.

Nancy, did you bring daffodils to the Spring Fling? I planted some bulbs of something that you brought (I think it was you!) and they're started to come up.

Epsom salt bath time!
Nancy RW (zone 7)
6 years ago
It wasn't that nice here. A little cool for me. I think we reached 55. Which reminds me, forgot to order our min/max thermometer. So just did that. Now had that been last month, I'd have jumped on 55. Funny how subjective it all is, right? So I cleared out a cabinet to make room for teas and the bagged herbs so they'd be very handy.

Planted a few more seeds inside and watered, cleaned a bit, and read more in the herb books. Enchiladas for supper. It's been a time since I fixed them. Oh, and I DID get a hold of 360 Farm for elderberries and decided I'd drive down, probably Thursday, as there are so many rainy forecasts this week--now THAT is hard to believe, isn't it!

Thank you Dawn for the heads up on them!

Yes, I remember you wanted those last year HJ. (Specifically, jonquils--they're a pretty, perky little spring present for our yards.) Our little clumps spread more every year--I divided them last year and now have them growing in front and at the south side of the house. I

My yard is a little behind yours, Rebecca. I don't see daylilies, yet--really, don't see much. Gaillardia sure is a tough plant, isn't it! The jonquils out front, mmmm, that's about it. I expect everything will take off this week, though, with the rain. (Still not going to be very warm--in the 50s.)

It will be traveling for us this week. I'm going to the elderberry farm, and the next day going to about 15 miles out of Pryor to help daughter get her house set up, as she's getting married the next day; so we'll be up there two days in a row. That is weird stuff for me, traveling 3 days in a row!
Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago
Dawn, BIL's office is in Saginaw. They are looking in Keller, Colleyville, Southlake, and North Richland Hills, so far. Primarily focusing on school districts first. They want a not too big school district that is not competitive and stress driven, where niece, who is a dedicated introvert, can get small class sizes and focused instruction, and nephew can be social without playing sports. BIL doesn't want to commute on I35, and sis wants all the usual family amenities right at her fingertips. But, they also want a quiet, smaller town community feel and relaxed, laid back vibe. She will be looking for a university faculty position after they get settled, too. I don't see how they will get even part of that, let alone all of that, lol.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
Jennifer, Since we're expecting a lot of rainfall here this week...with some in the forecast for virtually every day, I stayed out of the garden and planted nothing. I have my bed ready for onion planting but haven't decided if I'll plant them before the rain or after the rain. Even well-amended clay can hold too much water in weeks of heavy rainfall, so I'm leaning towards planting them sometime late in the week after most of the rain has already fallen. It is the same with potatoes. I could plant them now, but with all the rain in the forecast and with a wintery mix in there as well, I'm just inclined to wait until next weekend.

Nancy, Y'all be careful on the roads. People in Oklahoma have trouble driving on wet or icy roads. I don't know why. We get plenty of rain (maybe we forget how to drive on wet roads during the drought months with no rain).

Rebecca, I agree with you about them finding everything on their wish list. Living anywhere in the DFW metroplex is a tradeoff nowadays, and if you want to get far enough out to have the feeling of small-town living, that will come with a commute, which I know they do not want. However, I think if they are careful they can find a lot of what they want. Let me think about the schools and see what I can come up with. Unfortunately most of the public schools in that part of the metroplex are huge and constantly getting bigger, but some of them are very diverse and have different sorts of academies and programs aimed at students who don't want the big-high-school-sports-rah-rah-rah life. My cousin's kids and Tim's best friend's daughter all attended Byron T. Nelson High School in Trophy Club (close to Keller and Southlake both) though none of them lived in Trophy Club, per se, and were very happy there. They all have since graduated and are attending college. Byron T. Nelson High School has the usual high school/college prep programs and also some different Academies so students can focus on what interests them within the overall framework of getting a high school education. The Biomedical Sciences Academy is very popular with students who want to explore possible medical careers as they prepare for college, and there also is a culinary arts academy, so there's options for kids who want more than just standard college prep and football games. Southlake High School is huge, very sports-oriented and surprisingly transient with upwardly mobile career-oriented folks moving in, living there a handful of years and then moving on to where the next career move takes them. It is absolutely your typical football-is-king Texas high school and might not be a good fit for an introvert. Keller used to be a small town when we lived down there, but is growing like mad. It used to have one high school (Keller High School) but has since opened up 3 or 4 more. I think it might have done a better job than some cities at retaining its small town charm and feel since most of its development has occurred only in the last couple of decades, but I haven't been there in a while to test that theory. Saginaw had great schools as recently as the 1990s, so maybe that's still an option but it also has experienced tremendous growth and with growth comes growing pains. The people we knew who lived in Saginaw all have moved away over the years, but I'm not saying that is a reflection on the schools or anything. Moving more towards the NW towards Decatur, for example, would put them in that commuting situation they probably wish to avoid. I would commute to get out of the big city, but then I'm a country living freak. One of my favorite cities and it does come with the true small-town living experience is Muenster, TX, but I don't think the commute would please them---they'd be almost as far away from the metro area as we are, in terms of miles. North Richland Hills was sort of the place to move to back in the 1980s. My brother and sister in law lived there back then and so did our best friends and a lot of Tim's co-workers. It was your standard bedroom community. None of them still live there, and I am not sure how well that area has or hasn't aged, but the traffic there drives me to distraction. Never fear, they've built many more highways around there since we lived in Fort Worth, so maybe the traffic isn't as bad as I think it is. (Or, maybe it is worse.)

There. That's all I have to say about Fort Worth, but I do like the areas they're looking at---Colleyville, Keller and Southlake in particular have some spectacular homes and city parks and tons of shopping opportunities, but you have to search for the right neighborhood to get the small-town feel because nothing in the metroplex really is a small town any more. All the people we know who wanted small town living? They've moved as far away from the DFW metroplex as they can because today's small town (think Frisco in the 1990s, Little Elm in the 2000s, or Celina, Anna and Melissa now) is tomorrow's rapidly-growing new suburb with every inch paved over and converted to concrete and housing developments year after year until there's no small town living left. I really like Celina, but you already can tell it is going to be the next Frisco. They've already built the gigantic new beautiful high school to house all these future students that are coming. Everyone wants to be the next Frisco in terms of economic development, but that means the small town living vibe disappears, and it does so quickly.

Dawn
Rebecca (7a)
6 years ago
Dawn, what's the situation on the I-35W construction? How soon will it be completed? So many of their options put BIL on that at rush hour. These kids are very average students, with no particular interests that would be addressed in school. Nephew has a knack for building/engineering, but has a lot of trouble with the practical math. Niece just isn't sure what she's interested in. Sis is thrilled to be where there's good Mexican food again.

I'm waiting for the sun to come out so I can go outside. Yesterday morning I heard birds chirping, so spring must be at least thinking about starting.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
6 years ago
I am 58 years old, and various parts of I-35 have been under construction since I was a wee little child. They finish one part and start working on the next, and it goes on forever, round-robin style. That's not the answer you're seeking right?

If you're asking about I-35 north of Loop 820, which is the part that is just an unholy mess right now due to ongoing construction which dates back on that segment of the road to at least 2013, it is "going to be finished" in the last quarter of 2017. So, here we are in the first quarter of 2018, and it isn't finished yet, but that's the only official info I could find. The last time we drove through there, about 6 weeks ago, it looked like it had several months of work left, but I could tell they'd made a lot of progress. I think the last time we came through, the TEXSpress lanes actually were open, and that's an improvement that's been a long time coming.

Here's the City of Ft. Worth's info page on I-35 construction. They do not necessarily update it very often.

Fort Worth I-35 Projects

Quite honestly, unless you buy a home 4 or 5 miles from your office in the D-FW metro area, you're going to have a sizable commute. This is one reason that condos in downtown Ft. Worth, though very pricey, have become surprisingly popular. All my relatives who live down there, all life-long Fort Worthians except for one or two who married into the family/city, do commute, except my brother who mostly works from home. The average commute for my family members that lives in Fort Worth proper and its nearest suburbs? Around an hour one way, and some of them feel fortunate it isn't a worse commute than that. Sometimes my nephew drives from western Tarrant County to the Mid-Cities (near Grapevine, I think, so just one hour for that part) and then on to the Sanger area (another 30-45 minutes I'm guessing)...that's his one-way commute for a landscaping job. My SIL may have only a 30-40 commute, but it depends on the traffic at that time of the day. It is just really, really hard to live and work in a metro area of 7.2 million people without having a sizable commute. I'd search for a nice house in a decent school district for the sake of the kids, and then worry about the commute for the adults---cause short commutes are more the exception than the rule. I think Keller has great schools for normal people who aren't pushy types trying to force their kids to be the sorts of overachievers who are aiming for Ivy League colleges---I'd rather have a happy child who's an average student than a super high achiever who feels pressured to excel at everything they do----and some schools do have more of an overachiever type vibe (and all the stress that goes with it) than others.

Commuting is just part of living there and working down there, but there's increasing numbers of people who are allowed to telecommute by working from home several days a week and only going in to the office occasionally.

It is a good thing I'm not choosing their home---I'd pick the north side (the old, impoverished and fading north side of Fort Worth with North Side High School and the gangs and the crime)....just so I could live as close as possible to Joe. T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. Tim would not, of course, allow us to move to that neighborhood, but if I could choose......what more would a person need than to be close to Joe T. Garcia's? I could eat there every day and die happy someday, hopefully with one of their meals in my tummy and their margarita in my hand.

Dawn