December 2018, Week 4, Happy Holidays

5 years ago

As the month of December winds down and the start of a new calendar (and gardening) year approaches, I hope all of you are well and will be celebrating a joyous holiday season with your family and friends.

I'm grateful for our online gardening family here and all that we share with one another throughout each day, week and month of every year.

So, there's really no gardening chores for us to worry about doing the holiday week, right? Surely we can give ourselves that much of a little, bitty break.

Okay, maybe not. Remember to keep your indoor plants watered and getting the right kind of light depending on their needs. If you have any winter plants actively growing outdoors, remember to water them occasionally if rain isn't falling. Oh, and don't forget to feed the birds!

Part of cleaning my house before the Christmas gathering always involves picking up my seed box, which inevitably is in the living room at this time of the year so I can dig through it to figure out what seeds I have and what seeds I need, and carrying it upstairs so it at least is out of sight. I also have to scoop up the pile of gardening catalogs on the coffee table and at least dump them in the magazine basket where they are out sight and out of the way. Right after the Christmas decor comes down and is put away in the attic for another year, though, the seed box and gardening catalogs resume their rightful place in the living room where they are always mere feet, or sometimes inches, from my fingertips. So, I guess we go straight from Christmas decor to gardening catalog decor here at our house, sprinkled in with seed packets and, before you know it, bags of seed-starting soil and such.

At this time of the year, when I am looking a bit ahead to the spring garden and to planting time, I try to formulate a mental garden plan that involves considering what sort of weather we're likely to have in the new year and how I'll adapt my garden plans accordingly. This year, with El Nino not really developing properly, I have no idea how to plan ahead weatherwise. If the atmosphere had responded to the El Nino Sea Surface Temperatures (which did develop) and an El Nino had been declared, which hasn't happened, I'd be carefully planning for lots of rain, mud and the resulting fungal issues. Instead, I hover on the edge of uncertainty. Granted, we have had nothing much but rain here in our region since September and we have tons of mud, so even though an El Nino has not been declared, it still feels very El Nino-ish here. I just don't know if the rain will continue in such bountiful amounts over the coming months.

I guess I'll plan for a normal gardening year here, which means that we have equal chances of having floods, drought, hailstones from pea-sized to grapefruit sized, thunderstorms, tornadoes, wildfires, torrential rainfall....or no rainfall at all, microbursts, severe clear (i.e. bright sunny skies and no clouds), etc. etc. etc. The one thing I am certain we will have, no matter the weather, is a garden full of plants. It remains to be seen if 2019 will be the sort of year we breeze through the gardening season, which is blessedly long here, with only moderate weather challenges or if every day will be a battle with the elements. Despite all the challenging weather, I feel like all of us here in this region, whether we're in OK, TX, KS, MO or AR....well, we're pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful region and to be able to share the gardening journey with one another.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope all your dreams come true and that you and yours have a happy, healthy and safe holiday together.

Afterwards, brace yourselves, because the seed ordering, garden planning, and longing to start seeds 'now', though 'now' clearly still is too early will hit us all as soon as the holidays are behind us.

Dawn

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Nancy RW (zone 7)

5 years ago

For sure it'll be seed-starting season two days after Christmas! Full steam ahead.

Prayers for a peaceful Christmas for you all.

We saw the feral hog yesterday. Tonight we were coming back from the dinner in Wagoner, and on our road, maybe 1 mile away, we saw a coyote (and a surprisingly well-fed-looking one) dart across the road (no houses nearby); then just beyond him was a fellow walking next to the road with a white lab on a leash and a cap with a headlamp on. Looked like they were looking for something--Wily Coyote, maybe? No, didn't seem to be carrying a rifle or gun; but it was a strange place to be seeing a guy with his dog like that. Then another half mile up the road an enormous owl swooped down in front of the windshield and barely got back up out of the way to keep from us smashing him/her. Wow. So much excitement. :)

Your mention of the weather, Dawn, made me remember last year's weather compared to this year's. So far this year, MUCH milder, though we did have a killing frost or 4 or 6 earlier than last year. But at Christmas-time last year, we had a few low temps of down to 10 or lower. Nothing nearly that low so far this year, and there were three days in the past five I worked out in the yard a bit. Not super warm, but 50-65 and no wind. Perfectly fine working weather. I always have something to do out there in the yard. I will never ever be done hauling wood chips, leaves, raised bed soil, dirt, peat, other stuff out to the beds. Even if I just do like two loads, it's two loads. And since the kitties love being outside but love it more if their humans are out there, too, it's fun to be out. Another plus to hauling all that junk to the beds is that when it's warmer, hauling it all is like hard work. When it's rarely warm enough to be out, like now in December, hauling stuff is like FUN and recess. :)

I was noting all the plants that are just happily growing along today, including two cheerful bright dandelions. The curry bush Eileen brought me--it's big. No idea what good they are. Anyone have any ideas? Well, it's very pretty, E. AND it smells good. Maybe I could bring some sprigs into the house. Cilantro and dill are happy out there in the veggie beds, still, along with rosemary, tansy. In other beds, sage, rosemary, verbena bonariensis, catmint, catnip, parsley, oregano, even some lemon balm, shasta daisies, hollyhocks, and hollyhock zebrinas. And even echinacea, coreopsis. Some tough customers out there.

Dawn. No light in this house, except for in the art room, also the cat's room/quilt room/computer room. Do your cats bother the amaryllis at all? My cats have never really bothered any of the plants in here. But even if I put an amaryllis in here, it would just be more junk. This is THE one room that is truly a kind of disaster. Cluttery and junky. Definitely not a room that would be showcased in Architectural Digest.

One of our daughters will be here the day after Christmas, but tomorrow and Christmas will be quiet here. I do expect that kids in Minnesota will be calling with all kinds of exclamations tomorrow evening, as they'll be getting three separate boxes of stuff. Two to Wade and Steph and Weston, and one to Evyn, who is now a freshman in college and living in her own "home." They will freak, I guarantee, and we'll have so much fun laughing about it (once I reassure them that I have no reason to think I'll die next month--but could happen.) I basically began giving away heirlooms that mostly go to kids when their folks die. This is stuff that belonged to Wade's great grandparents, grandparents, and me. Wade knew and loved his great grandparents, and adored his Grandpa Stan. After moving Mom, first, into assisted living and having to pare down her stuff, and then into the nursing home, paring down some more, and now after her death, the final paring down. I don't want my kids having to deal with it. I know my newest daughters wouldn't care about any of these things, and the only ones who would are my Mpls kids. So I decided I'm going to begin sending stuff up. I told them to throw away or get rid of anything they don't want. But they're pretty sentimental, so know they'll appreciate having the chance to decide.

Again, blessings to you all for a peaceful Christmas. XOXO

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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Nancy, The winter months always seem to bring out such an abundance of wildlife. I mean, they are there all the time, but seem to be more visible in winter especially if they start hunting more and more during the daylight hours as prey becomes more scarce.

Our weather has been slightly warmer too, or at least our low temperatures have been warmer. We haven't even hit the single digits yet, but we've been down as low as 15 degrees (only once or twice). Usually when winter is milder, spring will have some surprisingly cold nights, and I personally prefer to have the cold in Dec or Jan than in Mar or Apr, but we'll get whatever we get. The weather today was pretty nice, but I was too tired to work out in the garden. All this Christmas holiday prep work wears me out. lol.

The cats do not bother the amaryllis that much. They sort of ignore them. I think it is because the pots are too small to really dig in. They also haven't bothered the cyclamen or the Christmas cacti. They do bother the tree, which is funny because it is the artificial plant.

I think it is lovely that you are sending family heirlooms to the kids now. I think it is so smart to do that while you are still around so that if they have questions or want to know about the history of anything, you are here and can answer and explain. There's nothing worse than going through an older relative's home and belongings after they are gone and trying to separate true family heirlooms with sentimental value from old junk that no one would care about. And, of course, for each kid, grandkid or great-grandkid, there may be different memories of the heirloom item (or no memories of them at all) and it can be hard to know who wants what. I remember that when my dad passed away, one nephew spoke up and asked for dad's toolbox to keep to remember him by. I'm glad he did because we wouldn't have known that toolbox had any special meaning to him if he hadn't said so.

The older I get, the more I like a quiet Christmas. Our Christmases now are not the huge gatherings of our youth, and I'm okay with that. I have lovely memories of those long-ago days with a gazillion cousins, but I am glad the present day gatherings are smaller. Our family has smaller sized families with each succeeding generation and our holidays have become calmer and more quiet....in a good way. Having already done the holidays with Chris, Jana and the girls, with them all being out of town and elsewhere on Christmas Day, we're going to stay home, probably in comfy sweats, and will grill steaks for dinner. Just a calm, low-key day. I may even take down the Christmas decorations. Usually I leave them up until New Year's Day but I'm tired of looking at them this year. It was so busy here from Thanksgiving up until this weekend that I feel like I've been running like a hamster on a wheel and I am so tired. I'm ready for a break.

Even though we didn't have to go out to buy anything much, Tim and I went to CVS, Home Depot, TSC and Wal-Mart briefly this morning, running very minor errands that could have waited until next weekend if we chose. We were in and out of each store quickly and didn't have any long lines (it was very early in the day). Our Wal-Mart has been consolidating Christmas merchandise onto some shelves in order to open up other shelves for......grilling supplies and charcoal. What? I was expecting gardening supplies. Maybe the next clear aisle will get the gardening supplies. Home Depot had just gotten in a huge shipment of green tropical plants for folks to buy to brighten up their indoor living space. I wanted some, but didn't get any because every flat surface still is covered with Christmas decor. Maybe next weekend. HD also had begun pushing Christmas merchandise out of the indoor garden center area just a little bit, and had put out a little bit of fertilizer (small packs, for indoors) and some peat pots.....so the changeover is coming.

I intend to grab a couple of hours out in the garden tomorrow to do a little clean-up unless we have fire calls or something. We've been having a couple of calls a day, but more along the lines of motor vehicle accidents or medical calls. Not real wild fires yet, for which we are exceedingly grateful. I would like to at least get something done before the rain arrives. I expect to be immensely bored after it starts raining later in the week and the rain may last a couple of days. Then, of course, the mud will last forever. I can only look at seed catalogs for so long and then I'm over it. Once I've ordered what I want and need, I'm sort of done with them.

The other day, right after the SESE catalog arrived, I went right to their website to order the Tanya's Pink Pod, Fowler and Kebarika beans, and the website wasn't fully updated yet so I couldn't order the TPP. I decided to wait. Today I got an email saying their website is fully updated, so now I can go and complete that order, but I may wait for a rainy day to do so. Shumway has a couple of okra varieties I want. Nobody has any big huge thing that I've been wanting to grow. Maybe I'm old and quite jaded and have been gardening for too, too long. It is hard for me to find any 'new' varieties that get me very excited.

Our chickens are so spoiled during gardening season as I give them all sorts of things, in particular melons and squashes. I always grow enough mini melons that they can eat melon every day. It all changes in autumn, and they eagerly greet me each time I go outdoors but usually are disappointed with the stuff I'm throwing on the compost pile at this time of the year. So, today I bought them a watermelon. I think that if I cut up just enough for each day, it ought to last them all week. I hope they enjoy their Christmas watermelon.

We have far too many critters roaming here at night....not just the deer and coyotes, but bocats, foxes, ringtailed cats, feral dogs, possums, skunks, white-tailed rabbits and an occasional feral hog. When you have a lot of mud, it is easy to look at all the animal tracks and decipher who's been walking through our place. I'm not happy about 3 very large dogs that are roaming freely because I'm worried they'll get our free-range chickens, so I go out and yell at them and scare them off. Hopefully they belong to someone who is just visiting for the holidays, and will be going home with them soon. I do not recognize them as any neighbors' pets, and they do not look lean and hungry or uncared for so I don't think they've been abandoned. Sometimes when our dogs are inside and asleep, I hear barking dogs just immediately outside the house and am not happy about that. No one lives close enough for us to hear their dogs when we're indoors, and any roaming stray dog probably is looking for a meal but may end up in a skunk fight or tangling with coyotes.

Feral hogs normally are not that worrisome unless present in large numbers. Have y'all had drier than normal weather? If so, they may be roaming further than usual hunting for food. The attitude around here in our county, though, is that the only good feral hog is a dead feral hog because they (a) multiply incredibly quickly, (b) are immensely destructive to farming land, pastures, gardens and landscapes as they root their way through an area, and (c) can be dangerous to certain domestic animals and to people. We've had some old ranchers barely escape feral hogs by hopping onto an ATV and speeding away. While we occasionally have feral hogs on our property, they usually don't come within maybe 100 yards of the house and they've never torn up our yard or garden. When we see signs of them, it usually is along a creek bed or way back in the furthest corner of the property, about 1000' west from the house. They do have trails back there, and also dig and also sometimes rub against the trees. Those rubs bother me as feral hogs can be particular and like to rub against a particular tree, so if they get attached to a rub spot they've made on one of your trees, they can be drawn back to it over and over again. We rarely see wallowing spots, but sometimes see them in low spots near the creeks. They must be wallowing on our neighbors' land and then coming into our woods to rub. There's a couple of places near us, but not on our property, where I most often see them or run into them while walking one of our dogs. I have no idea why they favor one spot over another, but I'm glad they are not especially fond of our place.

The part-time neighbor who lives behind us must have been up for Christmas this weekend, either that or some of his relatives are back there shooting guns at his place all day. I'm not sure what they're hunting, but I hope they are shooting hogs. His place really is the last home between us and the river, and he's not up here all that often any more. For a while, I think his plan was to retire up here, but then he lost his wife fairly young and now I don't think he'll ever move here. I think it would be too lonely without her there.

If you have a lot of rocks in your soil, the hogs usually move on to someplace else where the soil is sandier, softer and rock-free, so at least there's that. It might be that the presence of deer hunters has been dislodging them from places where they usually hang out. Or, maybe they are having food supply issues and have to move around more now. My safety strategy for wild hogs is to keep a good sturdy fence between myself and them if I encounter any, and to be able to quickly climb a tree to get away from them if I must. I refuse to think about what that would look like! I tend to hear them more than I see them, but hearing them isn't good because it does mean they are pretty close and also that they are smart enough to try to avoid being seen.

When we see people out walking the road this time of year, they're usually searching for a missing pet, I am sorry to say. It is just one of the hazards of living in a rural area with lots of wildlife....sometimes pets or young farm animals turn up missing because something has grabbed them. I try to keep a good mental list going of who's looking for which kind of animal because it seems like someone is always out looking for a missing pet. This is why ours are trained to be in by dark, although occasionally one of the cats pushes the limits. Really, our cats usually know when a predator is around before we do, and they tell us by coming indoors and refusing to go back out. That's pretty smart!

About the only time I see coyotes, bobcats and foxes out hunting in daylight is in the winter when desperation for a meal pushes them to abandon the safety of darkness.
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I suppose if I stopped irrigating the fenced garden, the flowers in there would dry up and wither and the pollinators would have to go elsewhere to look for food, so I always try to at least keep the herbs and flowers going in the fenced garden, even if I stop watering the veggies in drought and let them go. Nothing attracts more bees and other pollinators nearly so much as any/every herb when in bloom, so I mostly grow the herbs for the butterflies, bees and pollinators and let them all bloom and go to seed. At times the fenced garden is simply overrun with herbs in bloom taking over everything else, but I let them all stay because the little wild things need them. The comfrey, though it is immensely popular with the bumblebees, is pushing its luck by invading pathways and other beds. I'll never get rid of it, but am seriously considering digging up all of it and moving it outside the fenced garden. Maybe it could shade out the Bermuda and Johnson grass outside the fenceline since it spreads so thickly. Comfrey has been invading the asparagus bed for three or four years now and I've been letting them slug it out. I think the comfrey is winning in that corner of the asparagus bed. When we first moved here, I spent 2 or 3 years walking around our almost 15 acres with guide books and a notebook in hand, trying first just to ID all the existing plants, and then after that was done, removing some non-native, highly invasive stuff while trying to leave the natives or the well-adapted but non-invasive plants alone. It took me years to ID it all. It was a very instructive exercise because I was able to see what thrived under different conditions and in different soils, and it gave me a great understanding of what we had here that would feed everything....not just pollinators, butterflies and birds, but also all the animals, whether mammals, reptiles, amphibians or marsupials. (I didn't even know possums were marsupials before we moved here!) In my quest to figure out all the plants, I learned a lot about our wildlife as I worked my way along--for example, when we moved here, I didn't know we had ring-tailed cats here, or beavers either, though we do have both (the beavers come and go---last spring they were here, but I don't think we've seen them this winter). Poor Tim suffered through it all, with me telling him he could not mow this or that or prune this or that because it was useful to some living creature for food or shelter. His lawn mowing dreams suffered terribly because I didn't want him taking out anything that was useful to something living. Of course, we have to mow the grass around the house to keep snakes away...or at least visible....but the abandoned pastures, which I should more correctly call meadows now since no animals are pastured on them and have not been since 1998, don't get mowed much at all any more...once or twice a year, with the timing orchestrated to allow plants to self-seed before we mow. Maintaining your property for the benefit of wildlife is a wonderful thing to do, but it is hard on a man who likes everything mowed all neat and tidy. Jennifer, I do not follow Drinking With Chickens but her account of taking down the tree sounds hilarious. You're so busy! We've been the opposite this weekend---just hanging out with Lillie, enjoying her company, chilling and taking it easy. Of course, that did involve watching football, so we suffered through the LSU-OU game, and rooted for Clemson to beat Ohio State. At least we were happy with the outcome of one game, and Lillie learned a lot about football. She goes back home today so she can spend quality time with Chris and her mom. There's nothing wrong with thinking about your garden and planning it in your head. I think it is natural for our minds to turn to gardening after the holidays since the planting season does start so early here in Oklahoma. Here we are---the last few days of 2019 are winding down and we're looking ahead to 2020, and I think that is exactly how it ought to be, and of course our gardens are a huge part of that. Dawn
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Week-end Music (FNM): Happy 4th of July + Canada Day Holiday Pt II
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Comments (19)
Haven't seen the others so hope this wasn't duplicated...something so powerful about this melody... "Then I see a land Where children can run free"
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Happy Christmas Eve, everybody. I know you're all busy getting ready for Christmas. Since we had Christmas on Saturday, I'm not busy getting ready. I am tired and recovering. : )

I thought about taking down the Christmas tree today, but decided I could wait another day or two. The sooner the better, though, or I'll start putting it off and never get it done.

Today's mail brought the final two batches of seeds I ordered last week. I"m amazed that all three orders (Tomato Growers Supply Company, Victory Seeds and Diane's Seeds) arrived in time for Christmas as I didn't expect they would, nor was it necessary that they do so. I ordered them one week ago tomorrow.

Also in the mail were three more gardening catalogs: Burpee, Territorial Seeds and Jung Seeds and Plants. So, I can spend most of Christmas Eve (after dinner) curled up on the sofa in front of the fireplace with the lights twinkling on the tree and the mantle, looking through the catalogs and figuring out if they have anything that I want and/or need. To me, that's a pretty nice Christmas Eve. I will say that looking at the Burpee catalog is an exercise in frustration for me because they have priced themselves right out of my price range---I refuse to pay $6.99 or $7.29 for a packet of flower or veggie seeds period. It would take something awfully, awfully special to change my mind about that and I am not sure what it would be that even would compel me to pay their price, but I'll look through the catalog anyway and then complain to Tim that the prices are as bad as I expected they would be. Undoubtedly Tim will be working at his desk with some movie on the TV in the office.

There's an undeniable quiet and calm in the house on Christmas Eve when you already have had your Christmas celebration. I'm kind of liking the late afternoon quietness. Tim just came in from work and said the roads from Dallas to here were surprisingly calm and quiet (yay) so everyone must already be in Christmas Eve mode. We are assuming there will be no Christmas Eve fire calls, and hoping our assumptions are correct. It has been very, very quiet today and I hope that continues.

Right now we are watching a cheesy Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel because....why not?

I hope you all have a pleasant Christmas Eve and that, if a sound awakens you during the night, it is the sound of each little hoof, prancing and pawing as Santa's sleigh lands on your roof.

Dawn
jlhart76
5 years ago
Houseful of puppies (11 tonight, then 2 go home and one more comes tomorrow) and the only noise is my husband on his video game. And then we find a little chihuahua running loose, no collar, and looks to be a recent escapee. He's chilling out in our kennel (big enough for a great dane so I think it's plenty big for him) while we hope his owners contact us. Because once you have 11 dogs, what's one more, right?

Merry Christmas!
Patti Johnston
5 years ago
I went over to the Guthrie Wal-Mart for some items for Christmas dinner and turned a corner in the food section and OMG! There was Valentine Candy on the shelves! I couldn't believe my eyes!! I envy you Dawn - your Christmas craziness is over and mine is still ahead. Christmas dinner #1 will be tomorrow with eight and then daughter from Des Moines are driving in on Saturday - that will be 16. Saturday is also our son's birthday AND OU plays football that evening. I'm trying to plan an easy no-cook dinner that is vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free (two diabetics). I don't want to be stuck in the kitchen while the game is on. The family will be with us for 2-3 sleeps. I miss them living just down the road from us. IL has 2 1/2 years of residency before they will even entertain the thought of returning to Oklahoma.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Patti, I kid you not---I told Tim yesterday that I expected the Valentine's Day candy would be in stores this week---but I don't think I really thought it would happen until at least December 26th. So, I think you win the prize for finding it first! Our granddaughter found girls bathing suits on the rack in Walmart about a month ago while we were shopping for coats. I jokingly told her that early December was too late to shop for coats (we had one style available, in 3 colors, so making up your mind didn't take long) and apparently the perfect time to shop for bathing suits. How do you even explain the crazy, mixed-up world of retail and marketing to a 9 year old and a 4 year old? And, of course, the 4 year old promptly suggested I buy her a bathing suit instead of a coat because she wanted to go swimming.......It sort of made me laugh because it reminded me of the way that some people (generally lacking in first-hand gardening experience) will buy tomato or pepper plants whenever they show up in the stores, even if it is the third week in January. I always wonder if they understand that just because the plants are in the stores, well, that doesn't mean it is time to buy them, just like bathing suits and Valentine's Day candy in December.

It is oddly quiet with Christmas being over before Christmas Day arrives, but I am not complaining. We had great fun on Saturday and I was so exhausted by the time it all was done. We also had had a Christmas party on the previous Saturday, and on the one before that. I think three Saturdays of Christmas was enough. I hope y'all have a wonderful gathering tomorrow and then again on Saturday. I know it is going to feel so good to have everyone there at home with y'all, and then the OU game on Saturday is just a bonus. Good luck with the vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free menu. That seems like it would be very complicated. I bet the next couple of years will fly by and then maybe they'll move back to OK and be closer geographically once again. At least they're going to be home with you this week.

I know this will be hard to believe, but so far I haven't found anything in the Territorial Seed, Burpee or Jung seed catalogs that I want or need. I haven't even seen anything that really tempts me. I need to try harder, I guess. : )

I still have a cheesy Hallmark Channel Christmas movie on the TV, but I've already seen it so I'm not really paying attention to it. I just have it on for background noise, although it is nice now and then to glance up at the TV and see snow falling there....because it sure is't going to be falling here for Christmas. I guess the rain will follow soon enough though.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
Hahaha, Dawn. Re trying harder. I got all the same catalogs today that you did. But guess what I haven't gotten. SESE. I ordered almost all of my stuff from them last year. WAAAA. I best let em know.

Eileen and Larry have no idea what tickled me the very very most this Christmas. Eileen had her friend teach her how to make beautiful wreaths. She shared a picture of the one she made, and I loved it. So I got a message from her saying if I'd like to learn how to make them, Larry and she would come over on Christmas Eve to show us. I responded saying that would be WONDERFUL, but that I had to be an usher at candlelight services at 5 for our church, so if Larry and she would come over and go with us, then we could do the wreaths afterward.

So drum roll everyone. . . they DID. They came and we went to church together and then afterward we had chili and then Eileen taught me how to make the wreaths. And Larry and GDW watched Midsomer Murders (not good Christmas Eve fare. . .?) while Eileen taught me how to make a wreath.

So this evening with Eileen and Larry going to church with us was what tickled me the most. Thank you, Sweetie and Larry. I love these guys!! AND as I told them. This was the very first thing I ever made in the crafts arena that actually turned out! :)

A blessed Christmas to you all.
slowpoke_gardener
5 years ago
Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone has a good meal and a good visit with friends and family. We had our Christmas last night at my daughters house. We will meet again today at the nursing home and have dinner with mom. My daughter, granddaughter and ex-wife will go help meals on wheels or some org. that helps with the homeless. Madge has gone to Mena to make a meal for her sister, who has had a stroke. I am home looking after a sick dog, but will take time out to go see mom.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Jen, I didn't see your post earlier, even though I saw Patti's. This forum is just weird that way sometimes.

I tried to count dogs in your video and was sure I counted at least 9. I cannot remember if I counted the dog on the sofa, or if I noticed that one after I had counted to 9. lol. You sure do have a house full of dogs, so what is one more? I hope you can help the chihuahua reconnect with his family.

Nancy, Sometimes catalogs arrive so erratically---and sometimes I think it is because maybe they mail out by zip code or something or maybe just the USPS is slow. There's been plenty of times when everyone else received their SESE catalog, but I haven't received mine, and then one day it shows up.

It sounds like y'all had a really nice Christmas Eve, and now here we are on Christmas Day and blessed with decent weather for all those traveling on the roadways.

It looks like Tiny is ruling over his own Christmas kingdom. Our cats got catnip for Christmas, so they've been crazy all day. I'm grateful it is nice outdoors and they can run around and burn off the catnip craziness. There's also a small catnip volunteer that is about 2" tall near our back steps, and the cats haven't found it and destroyed it yet though I'm expecting that to happen any day now.

Larry, Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope you have a lovely visit with your mom.

Since we had Christmas on Saturday, today was super quiet, but we went up the road a couple of miles to visit with our dear friends whose son, DIL and new grandson (about 8 months old now I guess) were in town. It is so much fun to watch a young baby explore the Christmas tree and all his presents. He was busy, busy, busy and just so cute. We hadn't seen him since Halloween and he has grown so much since then. Our son and his girlfriend are dropping by here in a few minutes as they head out of town themselves, so we'll have a brief visit with them.

Tim's day started with a fire call to a motor vehicle accident on the Red River bridge. I just cannot believe how many of these there have been there over the last couple of weeks, and not even when it is raining or anything. Fortunately there haven't been any house fires---usually we have some right around Christmas linked to a chimney fire or Christmas tree fire or whatever, but not this year, knock on wood, so it is a pretty good Christmas for our community. Perhaps it helps that we've been abnormally warm and the fireplaces and heating systems are not being used as much as usual. Right now, it is a glorious 66 degrees and cloudy, but we had sunshine earlier. For Christmas Day, 66 degrees is pretty awesome.

The double white amaryllis that has been blooming for some time now is fading quickly. It has put out a ton of blooms and they have been so gorgeous. I'm going to miss them as they continue to fade and fall from the stalk. The good news is that the red amaryllis is opening its first bloom today. You cannot ask for any better timing than that. The pink amaryllis has buds that are enlarging but probably are 5-7 days from blooming. The Christmas cacti is in almost full bloom now. I feel like I've been waiting forever for the buds on this plant to hurry up, enlarge and blossom. So, for at least this week, we have a nice little indoor garden in bloom.

I'm really finding it hard to stay focused on seeds for anything other than tomatoes. Y'all understand that, right? After cutting back sharply in how many tomatoes I have grown for 2 years straight, I'm obsessed with growing a ton more this year. We are down to only a handful of jars of canned tomato products in the pantry, and a few ziplock bags of tomatoes in the freezer, so I need to can and freeze a lot of them in 2019. It doesn't matter that I have my tomato grow list more or less figured out and seeds ordered....I just keep wanting to add more and more.

I hope the rest of everybody's Christmas Day is wonderful---filled with joy, family, fun, and all other good things.

Dawn
jlhart76
5 years ago
You have a quick eye! There were 9 in the video, including the old man on the couch. The other 2 are a pair of sisters who are a little hesitant around all the others (owner is an older woman who said they haven't been around many other pups. So we have them in the front hallway, away from the chaos.

Husband got me a new laptop so I've been setting it up. He's getting his xBox up and running. In other words, a typical Christmas day with children.

Merry Christmas y'all!
hazelinok
5 years ago
Merry Christmas!

I've read everyone's posts. :)

It's been a whirlwind of activity around here. All good, but not relaxing. Relaxing tonight. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow 8 to 5. Then I'll mostly be off for the next couple of weeks.

I did start thinking about tomatoes today...well, really yesterday. Or maybe the day before. ANYway, I know that I'll grow SunGold and Early Girl...but I would like to try two more varieties. Last year, it was Eva Purple Ball and Arkansas Traveler. They did okay...but never really got off to the best start. For many reasons I won't go into at this moment.

I'm only going to grow around 8 plants (also won't go into the reasons)...but would like to order seed anyway (I'll save it for 2020). Any suggestions? Probably just slicer types.

Nancy, what was the pimento pepper that you shared with me at SF? It was my favorite. I will grow those too. Also, any suggestions on a larger jalapeno? I've always had good luck with the smaller fruited jalapenos but would like to grow the larger ones. That's all the peppers for 2019 too--pimentos and jalapenos...well, and bells of course.

I do want to grow winter squash. I have some AMAZING winter squash soup recipes.

Look at me being all gardeny.

Not even talking about holiday stuff...or the fact that this is the last holiday that Ethan will be a "child". Maybe I'll cry later. It's been a really nice time--the past few days...I am grateful for that.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Jen, I loved watching the dogs. It made me want to run out and adopt a dozen dogs, but I won't. God always sends us a stray in need of a home when he thinks we need one so I'll be patient and wait. I was very impressed with how well they peacefully coexisted like a big family with no barking or growling or anything. I think they probably were better behaved than some human families were today.

Husbands are big kids. The earlier in life we wives accept that premise, the happier we are because at least we know what we are dealing with. Your big kid behaves better than mine because at least he waited until Christmas. I bought something for Tim and was going to wrap it 4 days before our Christmas gathering on Saturday. While I was in another room grabbing the wrapping paper, scissors and tape, he cut into the packaging and removed a part of the gift that he wanted to start using right away. Really? He couldn't wait four days. (sigh) Boys will be boys, and so will men.

Enjoy your new laptop!

Jennifer, You know, the whole whirlwind of holiday activity, everything from decorating to shopping to planning activities and carrying them out seems to fall more unevenly on the woman's shoulders than on the man's. I don't know why that is, but it is true. I think all women should get a whole week off after Christmas just to recover. I just hate that you have to work tomorrow, but at least you'll have time off after that.

If production is one of your main tomato goals and you want red hybrids, then you cannot go wrong with Jet Star and/or Supersonic. They are older hybrids that were developed back when good flavor and texture still were the goals of tomato breeders. I like Big Beef and Beefmaster almost as much. Today, the focus seems to be more on breeding tomatoes that are square-ish (so they can fit better into shipping boxes), last forever on store shelves and have disease tolerance (important, but to me it is not more important than flavor and texture), and the newer hybrids tend to be lacking in flavor so if I am going to grow a limited number of hybrids, I tend to go with the older ones like those I listed above. If you like heirloom types and want a reliable producer, you cannot go wrong with Cherokee Carbon, which is a hybrid red from heirlooms, as it has the outstanding flavor of Cherokee Purple combined with the higher productivity of Carbon. If you need a good producer for the hottest weather, Sioux is a top notch choice, but other good options are Homestead 24, Marion and Super Fantastic. If you need a great pink tomato, Big Brandy (a hybrid cross between Brandywine and Costoluto Genovese) is great. If you don't mind tomatoes about the size of a pink pong ball or just slightly larger, you cannot go wrong with the orange variety Jaune Flammee. It produces well even in the heat and has superb flavor. If you want paste tomatoes, Heidi is the best. If you want tomatoes for drying into sun-dried tomatoes, Principe' Borghese. If you want a bicolor tomato that produces large fruit, produces well in the heat and has great flavor, there's Chocolate Stripes. If you prefer the sweet yet tangy flavor of old-fashioned tomatoes from the 1970s and earlier, then there's Ramapo and Moreton. They have the classic flavor of a Jersey tomato. If, if, if.....I could go on all day because there's so many great varieties.

There's a lot of great larger jalapeno peppers. You can find them at all sorts of SHU levels, so if you can tell me if you like your jalapenos mild, medium or really hot, I can suggest some of the big ones in the appropriate size range.

Please don't worry about it being Ethan's last Christmas as a child. I promise you that the Christmases yet to come when he will be an adult will be just as wonderful. He will, forever and forever, be your child anyway no matter how old he gets. I've noticed that young men tend to act more like boys around Christmas anyway, almost like they are busy 'adulting' the rest of the year, but still want to be a kid at Christmas, and that's okay. We all know that the only difference, Christmas-wise, in men and boys is the price of their toys.

The rain started, albeit only very lightly, here while Tim was out on a fire call this evening. We still haven't had much rain, but just enough so far to wet the ground and the pavement.

I bet there will be more gardening catalogs in the mail tomorrow. On the day after Christmas, that's pretty much guaranteed.

Dawn
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
I did it.

I waxed poetically and eloquently and just lost the whole damned post!!!
hazelinok
5 years ago
No! So sorry, Nancy! That's SO annoying.

Okay, Jet Star and Supersonic it is! I'll try those this year. I really am trying to keep it simple...and DO want to focus on my salad garden...just because I eat so much lettuce, kale, and other greens. BUT, we need to get the hinged cover thing made so the little buggies don't eat it up. I don't want to share with them.

I suspect at some point I'll be more of a tomato geek. This year is not the year...the spring will be busy with Ethan's senior year banquets, graduation, and all. Also, just found out that Tom's sister (the one he was raised with not biological) wants to do Christmas in April. She and her husband are in California in their (fancy-worth-more-that-my-house) RV. He is a veteran and can stay in national parks for free...or be a camp host--not exactly free. ANYway, they couldn't leave to come to us for Christmas. Looks like the spring--especially April--will be busy. So...if one were to do fall tomatoes, when should they be started?

Dawn, we like heat in our jalapenos.

Pet care is so costly now. I'm so thankful for those of you who care for so many. Just with our 2 dogs and 2 cats, it's hard to keep everyone up-to-date, especially with the heartworm and flea treatments.

It rained and stormed here...practically all day.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Jennifer, I spent years searching for the best big jalapenos that also have great heat. I'm not even looking at the newer varieties any more because the last 10-12 newer varieties I tried couldn't come close to the ones I'm going to list below in terms of being the right combination of flavor, heat and size.

The best big jalapenos with heat that I have found are:

Mucho Nacho, which matures to roughly 4" long and is wider than a standard jalapeno, probably about 1.5" wide, and has a Scoville Heat Unit rating of 4500-8000. (The reason for the range is that peppers develop more heat in hotter, drier growing conditions, and less heat in cooler, wetter conditions.)

Chichemeca, which matures to roughly 4" long and 2" wide and has a Scoville Heat Unit rating of 5,000-6,000.

Goliath, which is about the same size as Mucho Nucho and slightly cooler in the heat category, maxing out around 7,000 Scoville Heat Units

I have grown Burpee's Big Guy, which got so big (about 5" long x 1" wide) that it didn't look as much like a jalapeno as the others, and it didn't have great heat in the two years I grew it. I also tried many others, but they are smaller. It seems like a lot of the more recently bred extra-large jalapenos are being bred more for size than for flavor, and that's a problem for those of us who like them really hot. I ran into the same issue when I grew Gigantea-the size was amazing, but the flavor and heat were not.

If you find a smaller pepper acceptable, the best smaller one (I usually buy its seeds from Burpee) is Biker Billy, which gets about 3.5" long by about 1.5-2" wide and is very, very hot, probably 9,000-10,000 Scoville Heat Units. I think it is the hottest jalapeno I've ever grown, when it is grown under hot, dry conditions. One advantage to BB is that it is very early and a very prolific producer. Early Jalapeno is only slightly smaller than Biker Billy, and is reasonably hot for an early jalapeno---3500 to 4500 Scoville Heat Units. Its big advantage is that it is really early.

No matter what else I grow in the pepper bed every year, I always grow Mucho Nacho and usually also Chichimeca and Biker Billy. Everything else beyond them? Just filling up space. I can use any jalapeno to can jalapeno pepper rings or candied jalapenos, but for poppers and other fresh cooking, it has to be Mucho Nacho, Chichimeca and Biker Billy.

Christmas in April every year? I don't understand why.

The rain mostly eluded us all day, and then when it finally fell in late afternoon, it was just light rain. We had tons of lightning and got as dark as night in mid-afternoon, but the rain was light. I admit to being relieved that the heavy rain kept moving from SW OK to Central OK, missing us, since we already are so wet and muddy. Finally, this evening, the big squall line hit us with strong wind, lots of lightning and heavy rainfall. Luckily it rolled through so incredibly fast (I think the squall line was moving NE at 60-65 mph when it blew through here) that I think the rain gauge still has less than 1" in it. I'm basing that on what the puddles look like from the mudroom door. More light rain has fallen since the squall line passed through, but not a lot more. At least we aren't flooding. I did hear that they were a few trees down around the area, but I didn't hear any come crashing down here.

Nancy, I absolutely hate it when that happens and it does happen pretty often, much more since Houzz bought GW than it did prior to that. It drives me nuts and usually irritates me so much that I don't bother retyping. I just wait until later when whatever little glitch in the system that does that might not be active.

Now that the big rain is moving through, we can all look ahead to the tiny chance of snow this weekend. It is a pretty small chance down here, so I doubt it will happen.

Shockingly, no new gardening catalogs were in the mail today, so I spent the entire day taking down all the Christmas decorations that I could. I still have the pencil tree in the mudroom to take down but the big tree is undecorated, taken apart, boxed up and put away and all the tabletop trees from the other rooms are as well. I'm leaving the mantle decorated until New Year's Day is over, so it still feels slightly holiday-ish.

Here's the rainfall map so far for today, although I guess it won't show the Wed rainfall if you're looking at it after midnight.

Today's Rainfall

And, there were a lot of crazy wind gusts. Here's the max wind gust recorded at each station so far today:

Max Wind Gust for Wed

If y'all are reading this on Thursday and the maps are out of date, I'll try to link them again on Thursday. I don't know if the crazy weather all ends by midnight, or if it still will be occurring for those of you further east and north.

Dawn
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Here's the two-day rainfall map, which captures yesterday's rainfall as well as the rain that still was falling this morning after midnight. I hope everyone got the rain they needed.

Two-Day Rainfall Accumulation

As for the rest of the week, we're going to trend colder.

Down here in southcentral OK, they removed the chance of snow/rain previously in the weekend forecast, and that's okay with me. We're wet enough and muddy enough and I am sure many of you can say the same about your areas this morning.

Up in the panhandle this morning, it is snowing and windy and some roads are closed. Yesterday felt like Spring in much of the state, but then today....not so much. That is our weather all summed up though, isn't it? If you don't like the weather today, just wait a day or two or three and it will change.

I am so very ready to start seeds and it is far too early, so now the long weeks of waiting for seed-starting time to arrive begin.....the big countdown from our after Christmas dreaming and planning to the day we actually get to sow our first seeds indoors..

Dawn
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
This year certainly has been better than last year in terms of fairly regular rainfall. We ended up with right at an inch this time. AND it has been a much warmer December, overall. But yes, going to be cooler the next few days and nights. And it's windy again today.

We had a very strange but good Christmas. We were probably tracking more like you, Dawn, except we didn't have Christmas on the weekend, either. Being without lights for 90 minutes in the morning set the stage. We actually both went into deep cleaning mode. Pulled out the fridge and cleaned it and the floor. What prompted that was a breadboard slipped down between the cupboard and fridge. Then I did some serious organizing out here in the quilt/art room. It was fun. And had patty melts for Christmas dinner.

Yesterday ran into town in the am to get potting soil and Krylon paint. No potting soil, of course, so we'll have to go to Muskogee maybe tomorrow; maybe this afternoon. I'm building up quite a supply of cat litter buckets, so am going to turn them into planters and get rid of the fabric grow containers. And maybe buy a couple nice ones every year. They're so expensive!

Jennifer, those peppers were Ashe County pimentos. They were MY favorite, too.

My cilantro is still going strong. So now I know when to grow cilantro. Yay!

I enjoyed your tips on tomatoes and peppers, Dawn.
dbarron
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Actually I started some seeds requiring stratification about two weeks ago, and will be starting more next week (as they arrive in mail). It's never ending (but why would we wish it to end?). I need to clear passionflower vines off a failed trellis (and figure out what to replace fallen/broken trellis with for next year).

I have to admit, I miss burning things from my prairie in Oklahoma, and I kind of wish to just incinerate dead foliage. Can't do that though, because too many things have winter foliage. Yes, firebug am I.

I'm keeping about half my tender plants on a cool porch (probably 50s), and can't believe how much water they're going through. I figured the low heat would slow them, but they wilt frantically about every 3-5 days if I don't keep up with watering. Seriously, I think they drink more than the 70F windowsill plant in the rest of the house.

Edit: I stepped outside (it rained last night) and immediately fell into a flooded mole line, coming out all muddy. I hope that's not the tone for the day.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
Whew! I'm caught up on the posts... on this week at least, but y'all cover a lot of ground and quickly! As revenge, I'm going to write you all a novel length post. ;)

Last time I posted was around Thanksgiving, though I've had a few interactions with many of you on Facebook. I still have one Christmas to go but thankfully the cooking is over. I probably do need to think about packing some food for this weekend's trip because my bladder has been pissy (pun intended) since my surgery so the urologist has me on a very restricted diet hoping to coax it into settling down.

Anywho. I need to scramble and finish cross stitching one gift by Friday evening. I'll be a busy bee the next few evenings. My mom and grandmommy are getting the same cross stitch Christmas pillow this year and mom's was finished on time, but all the magic making of the holidays has whittled away at my time to finish the other. That's the Christmas I have left, the one with my mom's side of the family with her mom in Bartlesville this weekend, which hopefully bought me enough time to get the second one finished. I have a pic of the pillow on my phone so I'll pop over later and post it.

I have to admit I giggled tremendously at the dialog about anticipating what the weather is going to do. Why do any of us still try to do that in this state!?! This year seems to have been a back and forth of cold month followed by warm month - well summer was more like hot/not as hot - but you know what I mean. All November I kept telling the hubs how unusually cold it was with our many dips into the mid/low 20s. He was dismissive and kept telling me it was normal. I rebutted that Nov was early to see those temps already. One evening, he walked in talking about how cold it was and at the same moment I received a tweet from the National Weather Service announcing that this Nov. had been the 5th coldest on record in OKC. So there! I took great pride in my "told you so" dance as husband laughed at my expense. LOL Now Dec. has been pretty mild, and peculiarly consistent in my part of the state. I'm not used to being able to anticipate what the day will be like just because of what yesterday was like and we've had strings of days with similar weather this month which just seems out of character for Oklahoma weather. Much of the rain has missed my house this month, even a few miles south at work we've had much more moisture, but I got 2.25+ last night and saved me from dragging hoses out which was about to happen.

I had my 6-week post op appointment last week and was released to normal activity just in time to enjoy the amazing weather we had this Saturday. I hadn't been able to finish cleaning out my beds before my surgery, so I got that done. I planted some mystery garlic bulbs. My MIL had them volunteer in her bed last year and gave them to me. I suspect they're elephant garlic because she had one bloom in that area 2 years ago, but also had some other garlic there that didn't bloom, so who knows. At any rate, last year would have been the year the bulbs developed from the dropped elephant seeds, I assume. I don't know if the weather will cooperate and allow the just planted mystery garlic to come up, so I saved back enough to replant in the spring so I can maintain the mystery (maybe elephant) stock and try again in the fall. My inchelium garlic was planted at the right time and has sprouted up nicely, so I'll still have garlic to eat even if the mystery stuff doesn't perform due to my late planting.

A few days after surgery I covered my kale because temps were predicted into the low 20s overnight and that act was too much activity too soon so I had decided to let the kale succumb to the weather. So of course, it's gone gangbusters! Not that I'm complaining. I'll eat it. I have a cilantro plant in a hanging basket that is fighting back against my neglect so I'll have to start paying more attention to it. Otherwise, that's all I have growing right now. After pulling back on the fall gardening knowing that I wouldn't be allowed to care for things after my surgery, I'm now reconsidering how much I really need to grow in the fall after all. Like the rest of us, I always want to grow all the things, but I often handcraft Christmas gifts which I also enjoy tremendously and not having the garden competing with those projects this year has been nice. But like my husband says... we'll see.

I got grow lights and gardening gloves for Christmas so I'm itching to start some seeds. So far I haven't ordered the egg yolk tomato seeds I mentioned on Facebook, but I have decided I will. I'm just trying to decide what other seeds I need before I pull the trigger. Here's a link to the transcription of Margaret Roach's interview with Craig LeHoullier where the egg yolks are mentioned if anyone is curious. He lists a lot of tomato varieties and it makes me want to try them all but egg yolks are the one to have really piqued my interest since cherry types perform so much better in my containers.

Several more seed catalogs arrived yesterday as they did for many of you. As I was thumbing through them before bed, my husband said one of the sexiest things ever - "Are you ready to rent a sod cutter." <Purrrrr> LOL I think I mentioned around Thanksgiving that I was expanding my veggie garden which means removing quite a bit of bermuda. We'll also need to adjust the grade to prevent routine watering from creating a marsh so I told him I anticipate a lot of manual labor to get it right and to actually remove the bermuda instead of just shaving off the top. It was still special that he was ready to bring out the big guns to help. The planned expansion is mostly container gardening because I have to worry about chemical runoff from the HOA playground behind us. I'll still dig out bermuda and correct drainage, but I can work to a point, stage my containers for the growing season, garden, then continue working on the area underneath when the growing season is over. Once that is done, there is another area that I'll be able to amend since the chemical runoff will be redirected around it. I sketched my concept a while back. I'll come back and post a pic of it as well.

Before I go, I have some questions about starting things that need stratification. I want a little more control than just dropping seeds in the beds and seeing what comes up, so I want to start them in trays. Can I stick the trays outside to let nature run it's course, or would I be smarter to stratify between paper towels in the fridge? I'm sure fridge is will result in more consistent germination, but fridge space is at a premium and seeds are likely to be manhandled, accidentally tossed, etc. What say ye?
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
Pictures as promised.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
Winter-sowing's a good way to stratify, Megan, especially for those seeds that need alternating freeze/thaw cycles. I sure enjoyed doing it for my first time last year; that's how I got the verbena bonariensis and lavender. But I also did some with putting them inside damp paper towels in baggies in the fridge.

Love the Xmas pillow! and the garden sketch!
hazelinok
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Hey Megan. Good to see you post. Your pillows are adorable. Your post was fun to read. You should do novel sized ones more often. ;)

So...today I shopped. For clothes. It was fun and reminded me of the old days when I cared a lot about my clothes. Because I work outside of the house and garden, I need some non-tacky clothes. And my clothes have become pretty crappy really. So...I went to a couple of places that were having 75% OFF. Seriously GOOD deals. Purchased 5 new tops and 2 new jeans and some new black boots.

I do like nice clothes, but who wants to wear nice clothes while they're gardening or cleaning a coop? And my crappy clothes are so comfortable...and I can't WAIT to put them on when I get home from work. However, I am happy to have some new stuff...cause I really do care...

Can we ALL just be thankful that low-rise pants are on their way OUT and high rise are back in. Thank you! Thank YOU!

I'll probably do a Chicken Friday post on FB tomorrow because I'm pretty sure that baby Stormy laid her first egg. It is a weird shape and green. My Easter Eggers do a blue-green egg, but this egg is green. Unless my EE hens have changed their egg color, it has to be Stormy's egg. She hatched from a blue-green egg. Her bio mom is an EE and her "Dad" is a Delaware. I was hoping for an olive egg from her...but this green is pretty.

My chickens look so rough right now. I want to give them all a bath and scrub down their coop. It all seems so dirty and muddy.

Other than that, I've been working on genealogy stuff--contacting/being contacted by people who are genetically related to me--trying to figure out how we are related. Tom too.

Tomorrow, I'll start the holiday décor removal and clean up. Sad. Seems like just last week it was brought out and put up.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
dbarron, I hope stepping in the flooded mole run was not an indicator of what sort of day you would have. I hope the rest of the day is better.

Stratification can be quite vexing, but if you're trying to grow things that need it, then you've got to do it, right? I kept our son's little dorm refrigerator after he finished college so I could cold-stratify the things that needed it without having to put them in our big fridge.

Megan, Unless you have some seeds that need very exact temperatures for very exact periods of time in order to achieve stratification, I agree that winter sowing fits the bill. Just be sure your winter-sown containers are protected from the wind. At our house, varmints will get into winter-sown containers at night looking for a meal (in cold weather, anything green appears to be fair game) but you probably don't have the extreme wildlife issues that I have out here in the sticks close to the Red River.

I'm glad your life is getting back a bit more to normal now, and it sounds like you're off to a great start on your plans to enlarge your garden for 2019.

I loved the pillows by the way.

I used to do tons of cross-stitching, but as our cat family grew, my ability to sit and stitch dramatically decreased because of the cats' love for needle and thread.....

I try very hard to anticipate the weather because our weather is so variable, and everything, including my plant spacing, hinges on whether we're expected to be very hot and dry, or milder and somewhat wet or cool and constantly wet. You know, it is impossible to foretell the weather, but I do things one way if we're expecting drought conditions like we had in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (also 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, etc) and a different way if we're expecting flooding, like we had in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2015 and 2016. With clay soil that does not drain as well as I'd like in wet years even in raised beds with well-amended clay, I have to guess the weather correctly to get great results, and I learned that the hard way in our early years here. Getting a good harvest in a year with 19 or 23 inches of rain is very different from getting a good harvest in a year with 30-50 inches, or more, of rain. Guessing the weather correctly in advance helps me get a great harvest almost every year because I've adapted that year's plans to what the weather is expected to do. I will note that in 2011 we did not have a great year no matter what I tried, but it didn't even matter because our whole county was on fire the whole summer and I spent all my days and many of my nights out at fires, and the garden eventually was just abandoned. All I really remember about that summer was how ill the heat made us when we were out at fires, and that we never slept more than a couple of hours at a time. It wouldn't have mattered if I had been home 24/7 though, because you cannot get great results when the temperatures stay over 100 for 90 days straight and no rain is falling. Our daily max temps that summer were in the 108-115 range which also does not lend itself well to growing tomatoes no matter what sort of soil, spacing or watering techniques you use. If I had it all to do over again (hindsight is 20-20, after all), I wouldn't have wasted time planting a garden in 2011 if I'd known what sort of weather we'd have by May. (Hitting 100 degrees during Easter week should have been a clue, but I was hoping it was a weird anomaly. It wasn't.)

This year I'm having a hard time guess what our weather will be. We ought to be having El Nino conditions but since the atmosphere has not responded normally to the El Nino sea surface temperatures, we don't have a declared El Nino and that makes it harder to know what to expect. Still, at our house, with about 25" of rain since Sept 1, and most of that fell in Sept-Oct with much less since then, it feels like El Nino because of the perpetual puddles and mud, not to mention full ponds and creeks. As the climate continues to change, it is getting harder and harder to guess which sort of weather to expect during the growing season, but I still mostly plan for drought.

It is cold here this morning. I don't like cold. We have about a million birds out there feeding, as they don't care for the cold either and eat like maniacs when it is cold. When I walk outside every morning to put out their food, the birds sing and carry on, getting louder and louder the longer I'm out. It is pretty awesome to witness. And, if I let a finch feeder get empty, I'll soon have finches near the kitchen window, staring at me, as if to will me to come outdoors and refill their feeders. That is pretty amazing---and I've noticed hummingbirds to the same thing in summer. It is bad enough that our cats, dogs and chickens (they beg for salad greens in winter) are spoiled, but our wildlife appears equally spoiled and demanding as well.

Dawn
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Thanks Dawn and Nancy for the thoughts on stratifying. I'm stratifying natives and anything native here has to be used to fluctuations, so I think I'll do it outdoors given the space I have (or more accurately, don't have) indoors.

HJ, I bet you're having fun with the genealogy. I dabble with that from time-to-time. I grew up being told that my grandmother was part Comanche but then a child she put up for adoption was found and his DNA test didn't show any Native American ancestry! Sort of like the show Finding Your Roots - where the host says every African American has stories of a Native American ancestor but then none of it shows up in the DNA. I think that's also true of most okies. On the other hand, I grew up being told that my grandfather on that same side of the family was Native American but "Don't you dare ever ask him about it!" Researching that family, I've found some strong evidence to support his mother being a Cherokee who was either kidnapped or adopted. It would be fascinating to know her truth, but I might never for sure.

Dawn, as I would expect, you're much more strategic in your planning and planting than I am. I might get there someday or I might just chose to continue spitting at the ground when Mother Nature makes things challenging! And as your recollection of 2011 points out, there are some years where the only thing hitting the ground is those of us spitting at the conditions we and our plants are suffering through.

Question about bird feeders - I currently don't put them out because I know they can draw skunks and mice this time of year and being in suburbia there isn't a space in my yard that's a safe distance from my house to prevent them from getting too close. Added to that is we have some undeveloped land around our neighborhood, so both skunks and mice are a very real worry, and to complicate matters further, we're developed enough that their predators have long since fled. Are there certain feeders that mitigate those problems? I know they make the squirrel-resistant (HA) kind but the problem is from the seeds that are dropped on the ground, right? Is there a simple way to get around that? I know skunks and mice are pretty indiscriminate eaters, so I probably know the answer but I'll ask.... are there bird seed types they don't eat? I hate that I don't feel like it's a good idea for me to put feeders out because for the most part, birds, toads and invertebrates are the only wildlife I can enjoy. Stupid skunks. Stupid mice. Stupid man-made food chain issues.
jlhart76
5 years ago
Genealogy can become as time consuming as scrolling garden forums. My mom did our family, and I've taken over since she died. And yes, everyone in Oklahoma has an "Indian princess" in their family history.
dbarron
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Yep, though most NA clans (or I'm not aware of even one) didn't have any concept of royalty. Cherokee society was matrilineal. The chief was usually elected by the tribe.

I happen to have an ancestor of Sarah Ross, the sister of the first white-appointed principal chief of the western cherokee, John Ross. That may be almost an insult rather than royalty, but it is what it is ;0 And I do have half-blood cousins that are officially recognized that attend family reunions.
hazelinok
5 years ago
Y'all are so right. All my life I was told we were Cherokee...and my GGGrandma was "the" Cherokee. The story was that her Cherokee mother allowed her to marry at age 14 (to my GGGrandfather who was 30 btw) IF he would keep her off the rolls. Even with black and white photos, I can see that her eyes were blue. AND, I've researched her mother's family and they are not native. The only thing I can think of...is perhaps a spouse somewhere along the line was Native--like maybe one of her grandparents.

However, 0 Native American showed up in my DNA ancestry. 23 and Me results only pick up Native American 5 generations back...so it's possible, I suppose. I, however, have African (an ancestor born in the 1800's predicted) and a trace of South Asian (India, Bangladesh, etc. ) Mostly European though--all sorts of European, but mostly Irish and English.

And, you're also right about genealogy taking SO much time. It's fun because it's like putting a puzzle together, but the hours can pass so quickly. What is interesting is that although I might reach a dead end as far as documents go (when it comes to a particular family line), DNA connects me with others in the same line...but the frustrating thing is...we can't find that missing link--that name/person that connects us all. For instance William Ward--no idea who his parents are/no records. BUT, he probably had a brother who had offspring and I am connected to those offspring too. But we don't know because we don't have a brother's name. AND the connected ones don't have William's name...and no one has their parent's names. BUT we know we are related.

Rambling.

In gardening news...there's not really much. I did talk to Tom about building the hinged hoop for my salad bed and about adding a couple of more raised beds to the garden this spring. That's exciting to think about.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
I’m back! Still cleaning up my laboratory from the holiday baking spree. But, like everyone else, my mailbox was stuffed with seed catalogs on Christmas Eve. Finally now I get to curl up in bed with the fuzzy blanket, cat, cup of tea, Christmas iPad, and seed catalogs.

Dawn, I hear you on Burpee. Unfortunately, this year I have a ton of stuff I want from them. I’ll check out the seed rack for them when they appear, but I do need fresh Brandy Boy seed, so they may get an order.

Family just left tonight. Kids got hoverboards. I gave them both visa gift cards, which niece spent at the Lulu Lemon clearance sale, and nephew at the LEGO place. We built some kind of bird from Star Wars out of LEGO. My first foray into homemade marshmallows was a success. Mom and I gave each other Michelle Obamas book. I’m finally getting ready to send out my secret Santa gift in my food group. Just found out she’s a gardener, so of course I’m running out to grab a few seed packs to include.

I need y’all to recommend an okra variety that will do well in a 15 or 20 gallon grow bag. Considering Jambalaya. Baby Bubba was too small. Just need a couple plants.

I think the only veggies I’m winter sowing are tomatoes and okra. The rest will be direct seeded or purchased (like peppers). But tons of flowers. Going to try to get a few jugs of hollyhocks set out soon so they might bloom this summer.
hazelinok
5 years ago
Hey Rebecca! Hope you enjoyed your cozy time with the fuzzy blankie, tea, cat, and seed magazines! Sounds lovely.

I have actually chilled quite a bit these last few days. The Haunting of Hill House! Oh my. I've never understood binge watching shows...even if I like a certain series...but this one? Yes. I could binge watch it, but haven't. Just because I want to watch it with Ethan. We are on episode 7.

Remember last year when I was so excited about my fancy planner? I still haven't purchased one this year. I'm going to get a simple one that doesn't overwhelm me at some point....maybe tomorrow. I have a gift card to Target. I did buy my daughter a planner/journal from Danielle LaPorte. I want one next year.

After Tuesday, I'll start planning for the garden.

It was cold today, but thankfully it was sunny and no wind. That makes all the difference. Decided to replace the pine shavings in the coop. It smells so nice with fresh shavings. How do y'all (who have chickens) keep the walls clean?? How do they get poop on the walls? Yuck.

Went grocery shopping tonight. It's so annoying to buy veggies. I just miss garden veggies so much. Luckily, I have frozen chopped onions and peppers. I least I have that. But they're still not the same as fresh.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Megan, I don't really know of any bird feeders that can prevent the issue of dropped seed---it isn't a problem here because our free-ranging chickens scour the ground beneath the feeders searching for dropped seed. I don't suppose you can have free-range chickens there? Actually, there are some seed trays that you can attach beneath feeders that supposedly will catch dropped seed, but I've always wondered what stops birds from kicking seeds out of the dropped seed trays? One year, I put a piece of plywood on the ground all winter beneath the feeders so I could sweep up seed that fell to the ground and landed on the plywood. That works, but it gets tedious.....although I noticed the chickens policed the plywood for me most days.

When you live in an area as rural as ours, for the most part, the existing wildlife takes care of the other wildlife. I'm mostly referring to rodents....everything eats them....snakes, owls, coyotes, bobcats, ring-tailed cats, etc., so they are not as big of a problem here as one might imagine. During the day, our own cats will hunt them, especially Pumpkin who is the youngest and considers himself to be the Great Hunter, but our pet cats are locked up indoors at night, because pet cats that stay outdoors at night usually don't last long around here.

Jen, I'm laughing about the Indian princess comment. It is so true.

dbarron, Your connection to John Ross is fascinating. I've read quite a bit about him. He lived a very interesting life to say the least.

Jennifer, You can get bogged down in that genealogy stuff, and I just do not even want to go there and get started on that so I stay away from it. I know if I ever started it, I would be obsessed with it and would drive myself crazy.

It is exciting to think about plans for the 2019 garden.

Rebecca, I do have some Burpee exclusives that I like to grow , like Brandy Boy tomatoes and Biker Billy peppers, so I have to order from them occasionally, but I try to only order once every 3-5 years and to just be sure I order enough seeds to last a few years. Their seed prices have gotten so ridiculous and before I order anything from them, I make sure they are the sole source for it. (I have found that sometimes a seed company will claim to be the exclusive source for a specific variety and they are not, so I always search for another source to see if they really are the sole source.)

I think Jambalaya could be a good one for you, but I haven't grown it myself. It is supposed to bear early and often, so at least on paper it sounds good. Cajun Jewel is fairly dwarf as well but bigger than Baby Bubba, and Jade and Lee are two other varieties suitable for containers. Shumway's has Pink French Quarter and Red French Quarter this year and they both are dwarf, and look good in the photos online, but I haven't grown either of them yet since they are new. Last year my Stewart's Zeebest plants produced so much okra I couldn't keep up with the harvesting, so I want to grow smaller, less productive plants this year. I know that sounds crazy, but not being able to stay caught up on harvesting and using all the okra drove me nuts.

Jennifer, It was cold. It felt worse, I think, because it mostly stayed cloudy. We got a little sunshine late in the day. This coming week's weather doesn't look too great. Oh well, it is winter time and I guess we just have to deal with it.

To clean chicken (or any sort of bird) poop off anything, you need Poop-Off. You generally can find it in farm supply stores, feed stores, and in most pet stores in the bird section. Or, you can order it online. I'm sure Amazon.com has it.

Here is what it looks like:

Poop-Off

It really does work, but if the poop has been there a while and has dried out long-term, you may have to go through several rounds of spraying and scrubbing to get all of it removed. Wear gloves and a respirator type mask---not because of the Poop Off spray but because of the possible pathogens that can be found in bird poop.

I hate buying veggies too. That's why I try to fill up 2 or 3 deep freezes every summer, but still, they are things we don't grow or that cannot be preserved long-term (like lettuce, for example), so I just try to buy organic and still must remind myself that purchased produce never will have the freshness or quality of home-grown. Going to Central Market for produce helps---their produce is superb in quality and quantity and going through the produce section for me is like a trip to Disney. I have a good time. However, being a gardener, I'm always tell Tim when we are there that it still kills me to buy produce, even when it is theirs.

We still have fresh onions from the 2018 harvest, but some of them are starting to sprout now so I don't know how much longer they'll last. I do have a ton of them already chopped and frozen. It isn't the same, I agree, but I'd rather take my own frozen produce out of the freezer and cook it in winter than buy it at a store. I have enough frozen tomatoes to last us another year, and they smell garden fresh when I thaw them out and have them cooking away in a pot on the stove so I can make soup or chili or whatever. It is about to be chili type weather again, I believe, based on our forecast.

It is time to go start next week's thread for all of us to post on. I cannot decide whether to make it December week 5, or January week 1. lol lol lol. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Dawn

December 2018, Week 4, Happy Holidays

Nancy RW (zone 7)

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