February 2019, Week 3, Ready, Set, Go? Or, No Go?

5 years ago

This weather is making me crazy. How are y'all doing?

It is only mid-February, but with the way that persistently cold weather, with a little wintery precip mixed in, keeps cycling around every few days, the weather still feels a bit too unsettled for me to begin planting just yet. Still, I feel like I am inching closer and closer to putting something in the ground---perhaps before the end of this week, or perhaps next week. We have been fortunate, so far, that the freezing fog, freezing drizzle, freezing rain, snow flurries or whatever else has hit and is hitting various areas has missed us, but it isn't missing everyone, I guess.

Our soil temperatures aren't too bad but our air temperatures are a bit cooler than I'd like. It hasn't rained here in the last 3 or 4 days so I'm hoping to see puddles drying up and, after that, perhaps the soil even will dry up a bit.

Normally by now I'd at least either have onions in the ground or be on the verge of putting them in the ground, but if I did that now with the cold wet soil, they might rot. I'm having to think hard about where to put them because I want them in the bed that drains the best so that's probably going to be the raised bed where I grew tomatoes, peppers and green beans (as well as various herbs and flowers) last year. I had planned to grow flowers in that bed this year just as a means of rotation, but I think the onions are a hugher priority.

I might plant potatoes this week, though, since their raised bed is 22" above grade level and drains exceptionally well by design. I'd like to rotate them out of it, but that would mean planting in containers because of the voles, and at this point, all the containers are being reserved for tomato plants in case the soil stays persistently wet for the next couple of months.

This might be my week to work on cleaning up the back garden, if I can walk in it without sinking into the mud. We will be cold enough that I wouldn't have to worry about snakes, so at least there's that. I might be able to work in that back garden area by staying only on the pathways and clearing out the plants in the rows between paths. The back garden has very sandy/silty soil and it is hard to get it to hold on to any organic matter, moisture or nutrients, so it is a more challenging place to garden but my original plan was to rotate all the tomato plants back there this year, using the Earl's Hole method of amending for them. Now that I have doubts about whether it will dry out, I may just put down black plastic where the tomatoes are to be grown, and line up all the containers there. When the soil in that area is very wet, it is more like quicksand, whereas the front garden is more like clay pudding when it is very wet. So, I guess I have to decide if I want to work in quicksand this week, or work in clay pudding, or stay indoors. I know that if the sun shines, I won't want to be indoors all the time. I feel like I need to get something done outdoors because by this time next week, we'll have 4 houseguests who are going to be around for a while and I know I'll be spending more time cooking, more time with them, etc. and won't be able to plan each day solely around what gardening I intend to do.

The trees here are eager to bud, flower, leaf out, etc. We are having enough heat on the warm days that there is no stopping them now---they have that fuzzy look about them that screams they are ready to go.

When we were in Denton yesterday, we stopped at the new Duluth Trading Company store there because Tim wanted a new pair of jeans. We like their clothing because it is well-made and holds up well to lots of physical labor outdoors. So, while he tried to find the right pair of jeans, I found some gardening clothing and tools (you knew that I would find those, right?). I bought a hori-hori garden knife and the largest kneeling pad I've ever seen. It is huge and I look forward to using it this year when I'm kneeling in the pathways while working in the beds. Lillie was disappointed that Duluth only carried adult clothing, but she still enjoyed looking at everything, especially all their specialty soaps and other toiletries. She's really into the natural type things and they have a lot of that there.

The sun is shining here a little bit this morning. I don't know if that will last, or if it is just teasing us with a glimpse of sunlight, but it is good to see it. If I could have 3 or 4 days of sunlight this week (which seems unlikely when I look at the forecast), I might get into more of a gardening mood. We're at the critical point now where the tomato seedlings are growing rapidly indoors, and I know that is going to give me planting fever before too long.

I've never waited so calmly and patiently for planting time to arrive as I have this year. This has not felt like the year to try to sneak anything into the ground early, and maybe it isn't even the year to expect to plant everything at about the usual time. I doubt that planting most things a couple of weeks later than usual will matter in the long run, even if waiting makes me feel a little antsy.

Down in Denton yesterday, I saw a Bradford pear in bloom. It was in an apartment complex parking lot and likely benefits from the heat reflected off the apartment buildings' brick walls and the concrete parking lot, but it was a lone voice crying in the wilderness "Look at me! Spring is here!" There were a lot of trees leafing out though, and that surprised me a little. They've been warmer than us down there on the warm days, but almost as cold at night on the cold ones too.

I think by the end of the week, I'll likely have at least some brassicas and greens in the ground, and probably potatoes too, but I'm going to have to wait for drier soil to plant onions. I haven't even ordered onions because I cannot decide when to plant them. Normally I would have my onions ordered in December or early January. I need to get with it and order some, or I won't get them on time to plant them in any sort of a timely manner.

What's up with everyone else? Is anyone getting close to putting anything in the ground?

Dawn

Featured Answer

slowpoke_gardener

5 years ago

Well, I wasted some time. I planted a small ares ( about 2.5' x 3') in my north garden. The garden is very wet, much too wet to work. I covered the beets, lettuce, and radishes with thin clear plastic so they can rot much faster. My garden may dry out by June.

I joke about my garden drying out by June, my soil will go from soup to sidewalk in less than 2 weeks if we get a lot of sun and no rain.

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bon
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
The main garden is a wreck just like me. In this area I found the remains of some binder board (1/16" paper chip board) that had been used to blot out the sun.

I lifted the board that was lying there among the weeds like a piece of trash and the soil was glorious beneath. Only the bind weed roots remained. It covered about a 1 foot section, so it's reasonable that roots will still be persisting.

It looked more clear than this:

That hand belongs to Charles Dowding, author of No Till Gardening. Those are bindweed sprouts and they come right up. They have couch grass in the UK which is as invasive as our Bermuda. In Oklahoma, this method needs a heavy mulch. I have found using leaves the absolute best.

My back likes this idea. We still have half a ton of binder board.

My focus is potted herbs and some easy-grow summer plants, like okra, winter squash and a few pepper plants. Maybe a tomato if I find room.

Seedlings are climbing for light. I set them out this morning in the shade to start hardening them off. Carrots are ready for transplant. I may need to start them again.

I can't afford potting soil, so I'm dismantling an 2 year-old neglected hugelkulture bed where its rich soil will be added to leaf mold found around the fence lines and put into pots.

I'm doing everything I can to keep restrained and focus on creating a sustainable rich environment that is more symmetrical and easier to use so I can do well on the days when I'm an imbecile. ha

edited: 1/32" to 1/16"
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Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
I am going to check a couple places for seed potatoes and onions tomorrow, as well as potting mix and a couple more clear totes for greens. Tuesday is going to be yucky winter here, so hopefully Wednesday I can put things in the ground. I have through Wednesday off work. First time for onions, but we are drier up here than in the south, so I can go ahead and plant. Potatoes will wait a couple more weeks. Time to do some wintersowing too.
hazelinok
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
And...we are ready to start seed! Yesterday was spent cleaning up the leftover clutter from the 3rd bedroom and cleaning up/reorganizing the utility room. Everything is so tidy and that makes me happy. The utility room really needs to be cleaned every week. It's our mudroom, laundry room, dog crate home, litterbox and cat food spot. Oh and it houses our pet turtle. It hadn't been cleaned since the week of Christmas so you can imagine how filthy it was. The light shelf has been moved to a more convenient location within the utility room. I feel like I can start Garden 19 now. There's still plenty to do around here, but it's so much better. The kitchen cabinets need to be cleaned out and reorganized and stuff recycled/given away. That may be a job for those summer afternoons when it's too hot to go outdoors until the garden is shaded.

Dawn, enjoy your alone time this week. It will be nice to have your family home for awhile though. Do you still get to use the tiny house for a garden cottage? (Did all of the birds live in the tiny house?) I've never shopped at Duluth. I would have enjoyed looking at the specialty soaps with Lillie. Congrats on the new tools. It's probably time for me to get some new tools. I broke one while digging a large rock out of the front flowerbed on Thursday.

Amy, yay! on the heavy-lifting farm boy! It's always nice to have one of those around. How does your daughter eat beets?

Bon, what herbs are you growing in pots? Next year, I'm really going to focus on herbs.

I'll be ordering onions this coming weekend and plant them maybe the first week of March. They are going where the tomatoes were planted last year. There's not many weeds in that area, but the mulch needs to be moved aside and compost / Dixondale fertilizer added. I still have fertilizer from last year. I think I forgot to use it other than at planting time. They grew in an area that was at one time a compost pile, so did pretty well regardless. Although not as well as the previous years. (this is only Year 4 for me) I bought different varieties last year, but I'm going back to Texas Legend and Red Creole this year. They didn't bolt much and lasted a LONG time into the winter. Next year I may mix it up again and try more varieties. Trying to be smart about this spring and all it holds. I do not want to stress about having too much garden (Especially moving dozens of 2 ft tall tomato/pepper/tomatillo "seedlings" outdoors for hardening off...although that has nothing to do with onions.) A facebook memory popped up and a year ago today, my onion order 2018 came in.

I've about decided to not do tomatillos this year. I'm cutting the tomatoes to 8 plants. But, will be asking questions about fall tomatoes.

I had this crazy thought a couple of days ago. What if this is a year that we have a long cool spring? I wasn't planning on doing many peas--just using up the few seeds I have. BUT, what if this is a good year for them. We love peas. I would hate to miss that opportunity. So, I'll be buying another package of peas. They aren't hard really. I like the method that y'all taught me about just letting them sprout indoors and then immediately take them outdoors to avoid the hardening off process.

I'll probably just grab a few cabbage plants from somewhere. Not doing broccoli this year. Maybe this fall, though.

This is the year for beans! It has to be! I've had the worst luck with beans. My neighbor has GOBS of them every year. The only bean that has ever done well for me, was a random plant that came up (2017) and grew all over the tomato cages. It was probably a Kentucky Wonder from the year prior OR something from the compost. I don't know where it came from. I'm trying two new varieties but can't think of their names right now.

Of course, I'm not doing any summer squash, although I will do Seminole and Butternut. Ugh...just thinking of squash bugs makes me so mad! Someday I'll do summer squash again. Haha...I found some frozen zucchini/yellow squash in the shop freezer. I went to trouble of breading it and everything. It is marked 2015. That was before the remodel. It seems like life was easier and I had more time in the summer. Ethan was just about to start HS. Maybe it will be that way again soon--easier. More time in the summer.

I'm rambling, I know. Tomorrow I'll start kale, lettuce, mustard/turnip greens, arugula, and some flowers. I feel cheerful just thinking about it.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
It was good rambling, Jennifer. I enjoyed reading it all. Partly to hear about what you're growing and not growing. And I so agree about the squash bugs! I LOVE summer squash.

Planting anything in the ground, or even putting outdoors is not even a seed in my mind. :) Must have seeds on the brain. I do, however, have a few of most of the new flowers and some herbs going on the grow cart. (Although I did order another few packets of verbena, after I had so much success with the experimental stratification. That entailed a couple days in fridge, a day or two on the dining table, back into oh, really cold, the freezer for a couple days, then on the counter for a day, back in the fridge, and so on. And I kinda had to, also, since I found the coffee filters. Right?

The only two veggies I want to grow, I've seen others have problems with, as did I. I would love carrots and beets. So once again, I will try. And I have been talked into trying okra. Who WAS it. Now see, that's the bad thing about visiting with different folks. Dawn, do you grow good beets and carrots? How? I know you all have discussed this before. . .

Congratulations on work done in the house and on getting it back in order!

I laughed at your comment on Duluth Trading Store, Dawn. I lived for 30 years in Minneapolis and never saw a Duluth Trading Store. Closest I ever got to one was the commercials for sports channels.

Our Walmart has seed potatoes, Rebecca. If OURS does, probably a certainty Walmart near you do.

Bon, I am trying to save money on raised bed soil this year. I spent a lot of money on it last year, but along with the huge load of wood chips the electric guys dumped for us last summer, and our blessings of lots and lots of oak leaves (double-mulched), We had bought a load of topsoil the first year. And each year we had a little bit of it, also. And now I've been buying alfalfa hay for two years. This year, I've only bought 6 bags of raised bed soil. Then I mix cart loads of a little bit of top soil, a bit of raised bed soil, double mulched leaves, wood chips and top it off with alfalfa hay (those bales are expensive, but one bales covers a lot of area), and then finally, a dusting of alfalfa pellets. For the beds in our yard, I prefer thick layers of double-mulched leaves. I agree it works well to disarm Bermuda. The Bermuda might crawl over the leaves, but it's super easy to pull up--right? Rich and sustainable is what I'm aiming at, too. And always, building up not down. :)

I don't think I ever hit mark all as read, Amy, because when I click on the notification, after I've gone to the post, the little green dot has always disappeared. It was odd to me that the "47" all came between November and December. Oh well.

Funny about your little one complaining about the Carmen Sandiego's voices.

And wouldn't it be the best if new boyfriend and she turn out to really fall madly in love and you can have a heavy lifter! LOL

I'm not even seriously considering getting the onions and potatoes in before March 1. But will have to get the onions in the first week in March, for sure.

I thought I'd share this info for anyone who might be growing these things-

PLANT---------------------- DAYS TO GERMINATE-------------- GENERAL PACKET GERMINATION TIMELINE

12 DAYS OF STRATIFICATION, beginning 1.28 or so: NOTE--ALL these had sprouted inside their paper towels

Mounding Verbena

Red corn poppies 2.11 10-30 days

CA poppies 2.11 10-30 days

Lemongrass 2.11

Gayfeather 2.11

Sedum 2,11 5-30 days

................................................

Asparagus fern 2.3 after soaking overnight--day 12, 1 out of 12-16

Begonia (Yawn) 2.11 Forever

Other begonia 2.11 Forever

........................................................

NO STRATIFICATION NEEDED:

African daisies 2.11 Day 6

Angelonia 2.11 Day 6 4-7

Bonfire salvia 2.11 7-21 days

Celosia 2.11 Day 6

Chamomile 2.11

Cineraria (DustyMiller) 2.11 Day 6 5-10 days

Cumin 2.11 Forever to sprout, forever to grow

Greens 2.11 Day 3

Nicotiana

Amy's screaming

peach 2.11 Day 4

Trailing petunias 2.11 Day 5

Petunias, LB 2,11

Sesame 2.11 Day 4

Some of these were huge surprises to me: SESAME! Who knew! How many of you have grown sesame? How many plants does one need to grow to have them produce a worthwhile crop.

Celosia, Angelonia, and cineraria were happy surprises, having never tried to grow them before. I have a bunch more celosia from Johnny's Seeds--look like dragon's breath--to get planted.

I planted most of my latest seeds today:

Celosia that looks

like Dragon's Breath 8-14

Mountain Snow Euphorbia 10-14

soaking overnight.

Stock (forgot to delete) 7-14

from my cart, Dawn,

and besides, it's

apricot; For Amy,

we gotta try

Mystic Marlin mallow 14-28

Didiscus 14-21

Love Lies Bleeding 3-14

Sweet Woodruff 7-21

AND I just ordered more when my new debit card got here on Friday (woo-hoo! LOL). . . hit the order buttons today. SESE and Swallowtail. After all, y'all know, it's still very cold here. An order a week keeps me out of the psychiatrist's office. Let's see, what'd we order this time?

These aren't all for me, BTW.

Coral bells (Eileen and me)

Chyrsanthemums, Eileen

Verbena x 4 mounding and trailing

Pretty and Sweet peppers, me

More lemongrass, for everyone

For me and our new volunteer school place:

Milk thistle

Marjoram

Thme

Astralagus

Echinacea

Roselle

Chamomile

Lavender

If any of you see anything on these lists that you want, let me know, I'll send some to you if I have enough. By the same token if any of you have stuff to share, let us know. Amy and Eileen and I (and Rebecca, too, if she can ever join it--here's the Rebecca complication with meeting up--not only does she have a job, she also has all those damnable health conditions. But we've learned to communicate with each other regarding our wants and needs, so are now beginning to combine orders to save on shipping costs.

GRRRRR. Tabs don't work when typing up posts, so I spaced over on germination dates and then what packets say estimated germination days are. The spaces didn't carry over. I guess my post above may not make sense to you. I am SORRY. GRRR.
bon
5 years ago
HJ

I feel cheerful just thinking about it. That's what I think it's all about! I'm glad you've gotten a lot done. Wow! I'm with you on the stress. I just don't want to be stressed over too many plants. I'm dreading the squash bugs, too. Came to recall I'm near an Ag center and, well, they occasionally grow tons of squash and, well, that just might be why I have a squash convention every year. I'm thinking the exact same thing about peas. So easy, why not? I won't do onions again until I have neat raised beds with covers atop. I enjoyed reading your post. Don't hesitate.

Nancy -

Dawn might disagree and you should listen to her if she writes otherwise, but I just discovered that beets don't have tap roots and can be sewn indoors. I'm going to try that this spring, actually. Mr. Dowding even suggests they prefer to grow in clumps and he reminded me that more than one beet can come from one seed. I'm really looking forward to experimenting with beets. I'm going to grow them in pots, tho. I have trouble in my heavy clay.

There is one amendment that i can JUSTIFY but only when I have raised beds to fill and the budget: cocoa coir

I remember going "all out" in expense one year and spent about 20 bucks (lol) on ordering some coco coir. They came in these compressed discs that expand hugely when hydrated. I bought the course chipped kind and thought it would be too bulky. I was aiming for potting soil-type stuff (I didn't know what I was doing). BUT WOW. The plants LOVED it in that heavy clay. Leaves do the same thing, but they take a little longer and it's work.

Bermuda comes up easily in well amended soils. It really doesn't like a compsty rich environment tho it still tries sometimes.
jlhart76
5 years ago
2 years ago I got 4 huge bags of chopped leaves from my church. The guy who did the lawns was happy to have me haul them away, he's in his 80s so hauling anything is difficult. But he retired from doing the yardwork around the church, so we had 3 other step up to take over for him (it takes 3 guys in their 50s to replace one 80 year old). They didn't bag the leaves like the other guy did, so no leaves for the garden. What a shame.

Sounds like the Tulsa troupe has figured out how to maximize their seed ordering. Smart thinking!

Car issues so I sat home today instead of going to church and running errands. Got some seeds organized, played with the pups, and almost finished taxes. We have 2 guests left. They'll go home tomorrow and since it's a holiday I'll get some house cleaning done. With our 4, 3 guests, my brother's 2 and his girlfriend's 2, it smells like dog in here.
Macmex
5 years ago
I grew sesame around 1983. Can't remember how many plants you would need. It did quite well for me in a hot Indiana summer (not hot compared to here) and sandy soil.

I'm with Dawn on holding off and feeling reticent about planting. Can hardly stop working with firewood to stay warm, long enough to think about starting seeds. I did start parsnips back around Christmas. They're not up yet.

Larry, my friend Ron Cook swears by winter peas for a cover crop. I need to try them.

I am going to start, perhaps two tomato plants today. The rest will wait, as I simply don't have enough warmth and light for starting warm weather crops yet. It's hard to believe that in about 3 weeks I'll be starting all my sweet potato slips, Just doesn't feel right for it yet.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
I typed out a long response and then lost it to the Garden Web gnomes, so am starting over and will keep this one somewhat shorter.

Larry, The deer here are increasingly hungry and checking out the yard for something to eat quite often nowadays. If I ever forget to close the garden gate at this time of the year, they' will venture inside it. I can imagine they will go after anything you can get to sprout this early. You always keep my laughing. I am hoping the plastic helps your stuff sprout quickly and not rot. I can tell our soil is somewhat drier but a lot of rain is in our forecast for the end of the week, so I doubt it will dry out much more this week. When I checked the soil moisture on my fire map, we've dropped from 99% moisture to 96%. Of course, that still is too wet, but at least it shows we're drying up a little bit. Like you, I'm concerned we won't dry out until June.

Amy, Hmmm. That new farm boy boyfriend of your daughter's might be a great gardening partner-in-crime who's willing to do the heavy lifting. Wouldn't that be awesome?

dbarron, This weather is making me crazy. I know that my instincts to slow down and not get too far ahead of the weather are the correct instincts and I should obey them, but with every part of my being I want to sow everything now and get it growing now. Patience is a virtue, but my supply of patience is running out. This winter's weather reminds me exactly of 2002, 2004 and 2010, three years in which we had a delightfully long, cool and wet spring so my brain keeps screaming at me to slow down, slow down, slow down....and I do not like it one bit, but I'm doing it.

bon, My experience is not the same as yours. Bermuda grass adores compost-rich soil here. I have a devil of a time just keeping it out of my compost piles, even in winter....if you dig down enough into the pile, you'll find bermuda at the ground level creeping around at the bottom of the pile and attempting to grow up through it, even though the bermuda grass in the yard is fully dormant because of the cold. It is easier to remove bermuda from any soil well-amended with compost, but it has no problem growing in it or taking over it if left to its own devices. What bermuda doesn't like is too much shade, but I'd rather not have a compost pile in the shade, and of course, all my compost goes to enrich pretty much full-sun beds where veggies will grow. I always stop, drop everything and dig out bermuda when I find it anywhere in the garden no matter how small it is when I see it, because if you ignore it for a minute, it will invade all those compost-enriched beds and run about a mile a minute. I have weedblock fabric in the pathways, but the bermuda is sneaky and will grow beneath the fabric so it can run from one bed to another. I have to watch very carefully for it because it grows even faster than usual when it hits the well-enriched, compost-rich soil.

I do not disagree with you about beets. They are easy to start indoors and transplanted, but need to be transplanted young and properly thinned or you'll get thin stringy beets that lack the proper form. And, whoever mentioned carrots....you can start them indoors and transplant them too, but they are just like beets---must be transplanted incredibly young and properly thinned very early in their lives. The thing about beets and carrots that frustrate most gardeners is that they are very slow to sprout in cold soils, but make their best growth in cool weather. So, we need to work a bit harder to get them to germinate while the soil is still really cold in order for them to be able to make great growth in the cool weather so they can mature at the proper time. Beets get woody if left in the ground too long, so harvesting early and often works best with them, and carrots lose their supremely sweet flavor if allowed to grow in too much heat. I grow them both some years, and ignore them in other years. It just depends on how long I think the cool Spring weather will stay cool enough for them (or, conversely, not stay cool for long at all). This weather ought to be great for beets and carrots, if a person can get the balky seed to sprout.

Jennifer, The tiny house remains mine to be used eventually as a garden house/craft house or whatever. I probably won't have time to do anything at all with it until heat and snakes drive me from the garden in late summer, but it sits there, empty and waiting.

While Chris and Jana love the idea of minimalist living in a tiny house, they have accepted the reality of how much space you need with two children and a lot of pets. There will be no tiny house living for them....maybe someday after they retire a few decades from now, though I'm willing to bet that by then, they'll have grandkids and won't want to live in a smaller space. In fact, the house they're buying is slightly larger than our house, so the concept of tiny house living is dead and gone for them. While staying with us, everyone will be living in our home, which has room for everyone with nobody being relegated to the tiny house. I am going to move the dogs' (and Tim's) recliners out of the office so that the tropical bird cages can be lined up in that big bay window so the birds will have a nice view. I miss having the birds here (but not enough to go out and buy tropical birds for us) so it will be nice to have them visiting for a few weeks.

Chris never finished the tiny house. When he began seeing Jana, he still didn't have the electricity or plumbing done, and that has not changed. He thought he'd come back and finish up those things on a day off here and there, but he never did. I don't care if we never get electricity or plumbing run down to that house.....I'll just use it as a fair weather place to hang out with plants, sort of like a glorified potting shed (albeit one with incredibly nice acacia flooring that I don't want to ruin) and maybe as a place to work on craft projects.

When Chris lived at home with us while he was working perpetually on that tiny house, the birds lived in the sunroom and adored it because it always has such good light and is toasty warm in winter thanks to the greenhouse effect. I'm not going to kick the cats out of what has become their room in the sunroom, so the birds will be in the office, which has great morning sun for them at least, and a nice view of the adjacent woodland so they can do a lot of birdwatching themselves.

A long cool spring and a great season for cool-season crops is what I would expect in an El Nino year, and it is what we usually get, but with this being a very weak El Nino, there's no way to know for certain how long it will continue to affect our weather. I'm planting cool-season crops as if I expect a long cool-season, but as in any other year, I'll be quick to yank them out and replace them with warm-season plants whenever the heat arrives. They expect El Nino conditions to persist throughout the spring months, so at least there's that. Except. Oklahoma. Enough said. The tough thing about growing anything here is that our weather often does exactly the opposite of what it is expected to do.

Rebecca, I hope you get nice weather on Wednesday so you can get some things done on your day off. Our best weather of the week might have been yesterday as the rest of our forecast appears to be deteriorating. Oh well, it still is February so rain

and wintery mixes are just a part of life, especially this year.

Jen, I bet your weekend was incredibly busy. I love dogs, but get frustrated with the dog smells. Still, I'd rather have dogs than not have them.

Yesterday was mostly an errand-running and shopping day, and then we spent part of it shopping for appliances with Chris and Jana. It is fun watching them look for the appliances and furniture they'll use to turn their house into a home. I suspect that by the time they sign the papers to close on the house, they'll have all their appliances, at least, purchased and sitting here in storage waiting for moving day. Today I'll have the 4 year old with me for a few hours and I'm looking forward to that since she was at her dad's house for the weekend and missed out on all the fun here.

I'm prepared to have 4 more people in the house, with a fully-stocked freezer, pantry and closets. I tried to stock up on everything we possibly could need because 6 people will use up stuff much more quickly than just the 2 of us do, and I hate running out of things. I bought a lot more kid-friendly meals and snacks than usual. Now, if only I can keep Tim from eating the things meant for the kids (cause he is just a big kid at heart). They are planning to move in this coming weekend, which gives them time to move their own furniture and stuff into storage, and clean up their rental thoroughly before they vacate it at the end of the month.

Our weather forecast for tomorrow has a wintery mix back in it....which is something that has popped in and out of that forecast for days, and they've cranked up the chances for rain later in the week. I think yesterday might have been our best weather day (unless today is sunny and bright and warm) of the week.

When we were en route to meet the kids at a store where they were looking at appliances, we drove through Flower Mound (south of Denton) and found Spring busting out all over there. They had even more trees leafing out there than what we had seen in Denton, and large median plantings in a divided roadway had forsythia and flowering quince in bloom. The forsythia was fully in bloom, and the flowering quince was just beginning. It delighted me to see both. Neither forsythia or quince is blooming here yet, but it probably will be blooming in the next week or two. We usually don't run too far behind the northern cities of the DFW metro area, but we will get a bit colder especially at night even after they are warming up quite a bit. For example, last week we had a day where it hit 80 or 81 here, but it hit 87 down there.......so seeing their trees leafing out and their late winter bloomers being in bloom isn't shocking. It likely would have been more shocking if the two recent rounds of warm weather had not set off a big round of late winter activity on the part of the plants.

I tried to stay focus on my shopping list yesterday, and the only garden-related thing on it was to buy a big package of Solo cups at CostCo to use when I am doing the next round of potting up tomato plants. I had every other size of cup in my garden shed, from 3 oz. to 28 oz., but didn't have anything in the middle sizes, like 18 or 20-oz, hence the purchase of the Solo Cups. I ignored all the bare root fruit trees, shrubs and perennials, as well as all the bags of tubers, corms and bulbs---not because I didn't want to look at them and buy some, but because I didn't know where I'd put them in our increasingly more crowded house. This spring our house is going to be filled with too many people for me to have too many plants. I'm really going to have to exercise some self-discipline.

The problem with staying focused is that I missed the fun of prowling the garden center aisles to see what I could find. On the other hand, by staying focused on the task at hand, Chris and Jana found a refrigerator and dishwasher and we were there to help them with that, so guess what soon will be sitting in Tim's overstuffed garage/workshop while awaiting Moving Day? I believe Tim will have to clean up some of his pack rat mess to make some space for those appliances. I'm all in favor of anything that makes him tackle any of his clutter in there.

All week long last week I fought a persistent sore throat that wouldn't quit. It isn't the flu or strep throat or anything serious. Maybe it is a run of the mill cold, but really I think it most likely is allergies related to tree pollen (especially cedar). It seems like it got worse over the weekend, but then I spent a lot of weekend time down in the DFW metro where there's really a lot of pollen right now, so that even makes some sort of sense.

I want warmth and woke up to really cold air and even colder wind chills. Bah, humbug. Where is spring?

Dawn
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Cotton burr compost?
hazelinok
5 years ago
I've never used it, Rebecca. I've used cotton seed hull as a mulch for the flowerbed.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I worry about using anything cotton related in my gardens because of the chemicals used in cotton growing. In a dedicated ornamental bed, it might be okay but I wonder about leaching and runoff.

I'm procrastinating. I had one thing to do today and it is 8:45 pm and has not been done. But in the not doing, I started seeds, mostly dwarf tomatoes but I went ahead and got poblanos started too and some greens. I typically direct sow greens, but there's that part of me that's worried that the weather will quickly go from cold to hot and I want a backup plan. Meanwhile, the winter weather is apparently shaping up for us for tomorrow and I'm watching school closing crawl across the screen already. I told the hubs that it's his turn to stay home but if they close tomorrow, they'll close on Wednesday too, and we'll have to draw straws for who stays home for that one.

Quick question - I saw these Roo aprons today and wondering if anyone has an opinion on them or if there is something similar but better on the market. Here's a link:
Roo Aprons
I think I like the "joey" apron better because their traditional apron looks like it would get hot in the summer.
hazelinok
5 years ago
Nice apron, Megan. And some cute t-shirts too.

I've wondered about cotton products and chemicals. Maybe three years ago someone gave me a bag of the cotton seed hull and I did mulch tomatoes with it. Luckily, it turned out okay. The tomatoes did GREAT that year. However, I've been a little nervous to use it on anything other than my flowerbeds since. I like it as mulch. Supposed to not attract termites like some wood type of mulches can.

I started seeds too, Megan.

Mustard, turnip, collard, 4 different lettuces, 2 types of kale, impatien, and coleus.

What is your daughters' school district. Ours have cancelled already. This means a day off for me too. I'll probably clean house OR clean out the kitchen cabinets.

Oh! I just saw that Edmond just cancelled too!

Anyway...everyone stay warm and safe if you're driving tomorrow afternoon.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Stringer’s had plenty of seed potatoes. Got Red Norland, Yellow Finn, and a yellow French fingerling that’s escaping me right now, and the bag is in the garage. New gloves and a handful of seed packets ( of course ). Potting mix on sale. I need to prep some milk jugs tomorrow in case I can get a few done Wednesday. I refuse to bring that mess indoors, so it has to be warm enough out to do it. They didn’t have onion plants yet, probably later this week, Plenty of sets, though. Remind me why those don’t do well here? They had a ton.

Gotta get the holes drilled in the salad totes tomorrow.

No cancellations tonight, yet, but we are always right on the dividing line.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Parsley still alive...

Spinach...

Sage...
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Whoops...sage...

Hyacinths...
dbarron
5 years ago
My sage doesn't look nearly that good, and my hyacinths were blasted in the 11F last week.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
The hyacinths are covered in a nice layer of dead leaves, so they have some protection. And everything else is in an area protected by the house.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
HJ - there are a lot of misconceptions about wood mulch. I learned a lot about it when I went through the neonic mess last summer as we weighed the pros and cons of different pest control/termite services or just abandoning those services. What I learned is anything that keeps the ground cool and moist will draw the exploratory termites, so if you're mulching with anything - even tire mulch or cotton hulls - near your house, you're creating an environment they like. I also learned that they don't eat mulch, even when they're found under woodchip mulch it's not because they're there to pig out. The conditions are good for exploring so they're out looking for the food sources they like - railroad ties, timbers/lumber to create garden edges or raised beds, etc. So really, as long as the mulch is lower than the foundation line, it shouldn't be a problem. Cedar oil is actually poisonous to termites so using cedar mulch will typically deter them. For about $100 on Amazon, you can buy cedar oil to spray on cedar mulch to "re-charge" it or along your foundation to discourage them from getting too close. That's what we're opting to do. We have a service that inspects for termites every year and if they certify us one year and they come back the next and we have termite damage - all the labor to remedy the problem is free. We just pay for the chemicals - so if anyone had an incentive to encourage us to use chemicals or get rid of the wood mulch, it was them and they were totally on board with our cedar mulch/cedar oil plan.

My concern with cotton by-products is the same concern I have with coco coir. On the surface, it seems like a great, renewable use for what would otherwise be disposed of. But when you consider the human/animal health impact and environmental impact of these products - especially the cleaning process to make them marketable in this form - I really don't know if they're a good idea. And don't get me started on those paper towels made from sugarcane!

The kiddo got a snow day, but I didn't so I need to get off my soapbox and head to a meeting.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
I have a couple bags of cedar mulch that have been sitting outside for a couple years. Might use those as this years mulch. The cotton burr compost question came up because the nursery yesterday had bales of it on display. I’ll skip it.
bon
5 years ago
Ooh. I didn't realize this garden forum has been relegated to the elite Oklahomans! Nice job Meghan.
bon
5 years ago
Love you guys. Take care.
hazelinok
5 years ago
Dawn, hope you're feeling well.

I worked hard today--and am so thankful for another day off. All the kitchen cabinets have been gone through and organized. I'll probably sit for the rest of the night.

I'm skipping Pilates tonight. Seems like the roads are okay, but just in case.

Thanks for the mulch info, Megan. So far we haven't had issues with termites at this house, but did at the last house and had the same type of deal going with a pest control company. They put traps in the lawn around the home too.

I think if we all just do what we can to help Mother Earth, that's a step in the right direction. I can get overwhelmed and OCD when trying to be perfect with it. There's lots of things to do...and I try to do many of those. But, it's had to do everything all the time. I'm super careful of the food/hair/body products that we use, but haven't made that move into clothing. There's SO many things to be mindful of, right?

Nice pictures, Rebecca. It's always nice to see a little bit of green on crummy weather days.

Who are the elite Oklahomans, Bon? I'm confused. LOL. I usually am.

Don't have any garden news. Ready for bed. haha!
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Should I wintersow morning glories now, so they have plenty of time?
Patti Johnston
5 years ago
Good Evening All-

Well, once again the weathermen called for a terrible snow storm that didn't happen - at least in Logan County. We just got a dusting of snow. Didn't even cover the grass. It looks like it might be worse on the SW side of Oklahoma City - one school district has already cancelled classes for Wednesday. I just worry that one of these days they will give a forecast and people won't pay attention and it will be a disaster.

Went to another funeral this afternoon - a retired fireman. Larry served almost 20 years with Clinton. He had been battling cancer for several years. We seem to be attending a lot more funerals these days - it's almost a social event, you see people you haven't seen for months. I miss the kids playing ball and visiting with other parents and now, grandparents. But yeah! Our 5 year old grandson signed up for t-ball, so we'll have to break out the folding chairs.

My mom celebrated her 93rd birthday yesterday. She didn't want any fuss, so I took her some supper and some warm chocolate brownies. I take her tomorrow to another doctor's appointment in Edmond. Lots of those these days too. Between her, Larry or me, there is hardly a week without an appointment. But, that's the rewards of aging.

I'm reading everyone's posts about when to start seeds and plant in the ground. I'm itching like everyone else. I did get a new toy. Larry bought me an electric leaf shredder and it's wonderful!!! I've got about 80 bags of leaves we raked helping the elderly at church and they were just going to put them in the dumpster. Oh heck no I said!!! They've been sitting for over a year and I've go some delicious leaf mold already. The machine says it will reduce 16 bags of leaves down to 1 bag. It only uses weed eater line that goes really fast:-).

Everyone have a nice warm evening and sweet dreams of a bug-free garden.

Patti Johnston
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
I’ve just spent the past hour and a half going through seeds and organizing (holy heck, my flower seeds were a mess), and making decisions about what seeds to start. Spent an hour prepping jugs and yogurt cups and bottle cloches. It’s supposed to make the mid-40s tomorrow, so I should take advantage of that. My next day off is Saturday, and they’re calling for rain. Right now, anyway.

I may be bringing a zillion tons of flowers to SF.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Rebecca, I would not hesitate to use certain brands of cotton burr compost--namely the ones that come out of west Texas (Back to Nature and Back to Earth brands, for example). While cotton has a history of being raised with heavy levels of chemicals, a lot has changed in the last decade or two. Nowadays, the chemicals used on cotton are required to be those that biodegrade within 2 weeks, so as long as you are getting properly composted cotton burr compost, there should be no problems with it.

I'm glad some of you and your kids, if you have kids, got a snow day. A day off in the middle of the week is always so nice. No snow days down here because all we were expecting was rain and all we got was rain.

Onion sets generally underperform here. One reason is that they normally are long day-length types that are a mismatch for our number of hours of daylight per day which sort of leads to the second issue, which is that they generally only produce green scallions, not bulbing onions.

Jennifer, I am feeling better, thank you, but whatever thing I've had now has hit Tim. I still think it is only allergies. I never ran a fever, never had aches and pains, etc., just a sore throat and, eventually, a little congestion and coughing but it all is going away now.

Rebecca, I've never winter sown MGs, but since they won't sprout until the weather is warm enough, why not go ahead and do it? It isn't like the seeds will rot or anything. That hard outer shell on the seeds protects them well and my MGs have been reseeding here for two decades, so even in our dense red clay soil the seeds survive cold, wet winter weather without a problem.

Patti, I never know how much of any given forecast to believe any more because they seem to be wrong as often as they are right, or perhaps they are wrong more often than they are right. I saw the list of school closings on News 9's website last night and was completely astonished at how many schools were cancelling classes well in advance of a single drop of anything falling from the sky. I kept asking myself 'what if the forecasts are wrong and all those schools cancel classes for nothing?"

I am sorry about your friend. Cancer is such a tough way to go. We are almost at the same point with funerals in our lives. I guess we always knew it would happen because we were the "young kids" (39 and 41 years old when we moved here) who moved into a ranching and farming community where most of our neighbors were in the 60s-70s when we moved here, and the surviving ones are in the 80s-90s now. Added to that, of course, is that we've lost so many of our older relatives since moving here---basically our parents, their siblings, their siblings' spouses, and even a few of our cousins) etc. It seems like all we ever do any more is to get together for funerals.

My mom is 90 and in poor health, but still has two sisters in law left, both also in very poor health, and there's none of our aunts and uncles left on my dad's side, or on Tim's side. I don't feel like we are old enough to have lost so many precious loved ones, but apparently we are. Yes, it is a blessing to still be here though, even with all the aches and pains and illnesses that seem to target us all as we get older.

Rebecca, It sounds like your forecast is a lot like ours, with an occasional dry day sandwiched in between the wet ones. I'd be happy if the wet days would disappear for a while, but it doesn't seem likely to happen.

The only garden-related thing I did today was to move the light shelf and all the plants downstairs in order to make room for Ace's and Princess' dog beds in our bedroom as they're being kicked out of Tim's office to make room for Chris' tropical birds. The dogs were confused by all the activity involved in moving various things from one room to another, but it all will become clear to them in a couple of days when our son's family moves in temporarily.

Chris starts moving furniture and most of their possessions into the rented storage unit tomorrow, and will move the rest of their personal stuff, including the 7 tropical birds, here to our home tomorrow and Thursday in an effort to get ahead of the rain that is in the weekend forecast. So, they are coming a few days earlier than expected but we are ready for them, so that's okay.

He thinks that after they close on the house, they'll need 1-2 weeks to make a couple of very minor repairs and to paint the entire interior of the house. Well, maybe not the kitchen. He may have told me they are not painting the kitchen...or at least are undecided about whether to paint it or not. I cannot remember now. So, I don't think they'll really be here very long---maybe 3 weeks if all goes well and they don't discover any surprises while painting or whatever. They are welcome to stay longer, of course, but are very eager to get into their new home, which I completely understand.

We had light rain throughout the day, all day long....and only got maybe a third of an inch at most. I'm so glad it was only a small amount of rain since we really don't need any more moisture.

I've noticed that the stores here, for once, are very in sync with the weather and are not rushing warm-season plants into the garden centers. This is interesting because usually they get the warm-season plants too early, leave them outdoors and let them freeze. I suppose they get a gold star this year for not doing that so far. Really, since most of them carry Bonnie Plants and it is BP who decides when the plants come and go, maybe it is BP who gets the gold star. After all, if the plants freeze and die, the loss is borne by BP and not the stores.

I'm hoping for sunshine sometime this week. I don't care which day, but can't we at least have one day without heavy gray clouds?
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
Dawn, in OKC at least your sunshiny day wish has been granted and temps are warmer than forecast so that's a plus - unless you're stuck indoors like I am. You also piqued my curiosity and I went to look at where Bonnie is, wondering if that might be part of the reason they're holding shipments and was surprised to discover they have a plant farm in far eastern Oklahoma north of Heavner and one not far from you between Gainsville and Whitesboro, TX. Maybe those locations are just like us and running behind given the conditions?
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Megan, that’s interesting about Bonnie farms. I wonder how many of us get local-ish plants because of that?

I have 3 clear Sterilite totes drilled and ready to go. The $15 ones from Home Depot seem to have better fitting lids than the $9 Target ones, other than that they seem pretty much the same. The Target ones may degrade faster, though.

Ready to start wintersowing. Of course, the sunny warmer days are the ones I have to work, then it’s cold when I’m off. May have to set up shop in the garage. Still have the trellis to build that I didn’t get to last year, and more cleanup. I’m trading tomato and pepper seedlings to a friend for jugs.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
We had a little sunshine, Megan, but then the clouds came back pretty quickly---probably before noon. We also were a little warmer than expected, and certainly this day's weather was a big improvement over yesterday's. The sunshine was nice while it lasted but I was hoping it would last longer.

I am pretty sure the BP greenhouses near us are heated because for years I've seen tomato plants hit the stores here in January, a long time before our average last frost date. I just think maybe they're tired of repeatedly having a ton of plants freeze because they were shipped to stores too early.

I saw on FB that Redenta's Garden in Dallas received a shipment of tomato plants this week, but I doubt they are BP plants. In the past, I think Redenta's raised their own so I imagine they still do, and this early in the year, the tomato plants were in the nursery's greenhouses so they were protected from late cold even after arriving at the nurseries. It did my heart good to know somebody will be buying tomato plants this week. Dallas is way ahead of us in terms of Spring, so I am sure folks won't be shy about buying the plants. It is a touch too early, but lots of folks probably will buy them and either hold them indoors or transplant and protect them from the late cold. If only Redenta's wasn't so far away.......if the Arlington store, which closed last year, still were there, I could come up with a reasonable excuse (native plants!) to visit it. The one in Dallas is much further away than we'd ever drive from here.

No gardening here today. We're back to puddles everywhere from the rain, but I did fill up all the bird feeders, which seems like a small thing but it is big to the birds. The first purple martin scouts were here last week, and that's a nice sign spring is creeping up on us. There's nothing new in the plant world here.

Dawn
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago

Audrey is no help with seed sorting.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
We're having one, Dawn!!! Yay. Sunshine! Yesterday was SO dark and gray. And rainy. We got nearly .75" of rain.

The only garden-related things I did today were watering seeds and seedlings; and spending most of the rest of the day looking at more flowers or plants that I need. :)

It's Amy's fault this time. She nearly as bad as you are, Dawn. She introduced me to the Sample Seed Store. There I went, right down the rabbit hole. We decided we should begin selling seeds. That could be our excuse for buying seeds; plus she can use them as an excuse for getting the greenhouse. I was only planning to use 3 of the 4 shelves on the grow cart, because not sure how untrusty Tiny will be (pretty untrustworthy, I think). I think you can see what a bad influence Amy is, along with so many others of you.

Well, Dawn, you'll be in for some fun and excitement. That will be a nice break from all this dreary weather.

Tiny's newest favorite thing is to have ice cubes in his drinking water. He is mystified and intrigued. We just have to keep ourselves entertained with winter.

Patti, I hope you love your leaf mulcher. And yes, I'm so sorry about your friend, too.

Thanks for the tip on beets, Bon. . . forward I'll go. I'll plant a whole big bunch and worry about where to put them all later.

HJ, laughed. I actually live in the state of Confusion.

Ooooo, looks like 50s for the next five days. I can do that. Later, all.
slowpoke_gardener
5 years ago
I have been by the Bonnie houses near Heavner and best I can remember, they are heated. I was talking to one of their local drivers a couple of weeks ago and was told that the weather has not been working with them. There was a lot of Bonnie plants lost here a few year ago and it seems as tho they are setting their warm season plants out a little later.

Bonnie use to be my last choice in plants, now they are about my only choice, but they seem to be doing a much better job than they were years ago. It looks as if they have taken about all the business in western AR and eastern OK, at least my local areas. I felt that I got a better value from Red Dirt and Dixondale, but they seem harder to find around here now.

It looks as tho most of sprouting seeds have been eaten by the birds or killed by the cold weather. I went out about a week ago and there was a bunch of hungry birds in the garden, so i tossed out a good supply of chops for them to eat on, I expect they must like radish seeds as well as chops.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Rebecca, Audrey is just being her usual cat self. None of my cats are crazy about gardening activity, indoors or out, unless they can find a way to make it all about them. This means no seeds or flats are safe if a cat is feeling the need to act out in order to get attention.

Nancy, How have we not gotten you to go to SSS website before? Remy has tons of interesting stuff and always ships promptly. I've purchased quite a few flower seeds and O-P tomato seeds from her. She's a long-time member of Garden Web.

Days with highs in the 50s sound nice, but what would sound even nicer would be nights in the 50s and days in the 60s. That's just a dream at this point. However, even as the cold continues to hang on, I see our lows rising slightly each week and not getting quite as cold as the week before so that feels like some sort of progress.

Life certainly is going to get louder, I bet. They will finish moving in today, I believe, if our son can get everything loaded up. He spent most of yesterday either throwing stuff away that they don't want to take with them to the new house (I told him junk and clutter breed when we aren't watching) and moving furniture and big things to their storage unit. Then he brought one load here, including the 9 year old's aquarium and fish. He got a phone call that they close on the new house next Tuesday, which is a week or two earlier than he had expected. Our dogs are excited---they love having more people around.

Tiny is silly and always so entertaining. We have had dogs who adore ice cubes and will fish them out of a bowl of water so they can carry them around and chew on them, but our cats just ignore ice cubes. There's never a dull moment in a house full of pets, and our house is about to be full of not just dogs and cats, but fish and tropical birds. I may need ear plugs.

Larry, It is true that BP plants have taken over the retail world. I have nothing against them, but wish we had more diversity. I have noticed that the local Home Depot carries some regionally-grown plants (grown not too far from those Bonnie Plants greenhouses in north Texas, oddly enough) and I shop at a handful of nurseries in Texas that have their own greenhouses and still raise their own plants. Places like that are becoming few and far between though. All the local feed and seed stores and farm stores, except Atwoods, now carry Bonnie Plants. Atwoods carries Red Dirt plants and I always look there first if I want to buy herbs, flowers or veggies that I don't grow from seed myself. Really, thanks to BP, I don't have to look as hard for plants---all the local stores have exactly the same things (except for Atwood's), so if I don't like what I see at one store, I can skip all the other stores that carry Bonnie Plants because they'll have the very same stuff. That saves me a lot of time I guess.

The deer are increasingly hungry and anxiously waiting for deer corn every day. I'm sure they are as eager as we are to see the new green shoots of Spring. We still have tons and tons of goldfinches here. Normally they leave around this part of February and head further north, so we'll see how they feel about the weather by observing how long they stall and stay here in the slightly warmer south part of the state.

Dawn
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I saw this sign of spring this morning while squeezing in a quick run to the hardware store. It’s the parking lot where they set up their “garden center” every year. They will carry mostly Red Dirt plants - I don’t think I have ever seen BP there. They do carry another variety - mostly perennials which includes popular natives like butterfly weed and yarrows - but can’t remember the name. I discovered this morning that they open at 7:30 a.m. - which is convenient to grab something in the morning when I still have energy but could spell trouble if I decide I need a plant to pick me up before I try adulting for the day! LOL

After posting the pic, I realize it's difficult to see exactly what it is. They have caution tape between the shopping carts and up the row where the red truck is parked. In the opposite side of the picture where the forklift is, they've already started setting up the shelving for flats.
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
5 years ago
For those of you tempted to follow Nancy's lead, it is The Sample Seed SHOP. Yes, I was surprised she had not been to SSS before, surely I mentioned it? LOL, she wanted columbine seeds. I was afraid she would go order from someplace expensive. So, I saved her money and she spent it on MORE seeds. Who'd have thought?

My dog likes to bat ice cubes around the floor. The cat ADORES pony tail elastics. And those plastic tabs they use to close bread bags. She completely ignores purchased toys unless they involve cat nip. She did enjoy the heating pad I had on my lap. I think she's as cold as I am.

A lady from Tulsa who (whom?) I follow on Facebook had a post about direct sowing now (in the next 2 weeks). It looked like she might have had a cold frome cover for her bed. I am considering it for brassica, which I haven't started. And lettuce. I need to do the clear tote thing with lettuce. She mentioned spinach, peas, kale, lettuce, collards, mustard, onions, beets, turnips, kohlrabi, parsnips, carrots, radishes, and fava beans. She planted onion seeds. I was surprised at that! She, of course, mentioned Oklahoma weather might not cooperate. On the other hand, I've had many of those things volunteer, so direct seeding would work, even if it's cold. Better if it's cold, I guess, so they don't sprout and then freeze.

I made my last (famous last words?) seed order yesterday, and spent the day updating my spread sheet. I think my Almost Eden order is set to come next week. Hope it isn't during the cold! Companion plants is scheduled for mid March. I should have done that with AE, too.

Dawn, you are going to be one busy lady. It will be a shock to the system to suddenly have so much activity in your house. Good luck!

Downhill side of the week, y'all, enjoy.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
Random thought - there was some conversation about InstaPots the other day... could an instapot be used as a pressure canner or is a pressure cooker specifically labeled as a pressure canner required?
hazelinok
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Sprouts! I have sprouts at my house! I'm glad some varieties germinate quickly and easily. It's helps one keep patience with the slower ones. Once again, arugula is the winner in "quickest to sprout". Next is collards and rainbow lacinato kale.

Rebecca, so far my kitties aren't messing with my light shelf. It looks cluttered and they are used to that look. However, once the plants get some size, I'm afraid that will change.

I have a BD party for a friend tonight. I do not want to go. I love her, but I do not want to drive back into town for this event. I'm just dreading it so much.

Anyway...I've been summoned for a work task. Gotta go. Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine today.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
I was assured that the Instapots cannot be used as pressure canners, Megan. But that was last year. Just checked: this--https://www.cnet.com/news/instant-pot-max-home-canning-safety/

Amy--care to make a friendly wager re your "last order"? :) Also, bet Almost Eden would be happy to postpone your order for you if you send them an email.

Haha re SSS. Don't know how I missed them! Well, they're on my radar now! I really enjoyed Remy's running commentary. Very entertaining--and it reminded me of you, Dawn.

YES, it certainly will get a lot noisier!

I really get that hating to get out for the BD party, HJ. It's always even more difficult in cold weather.

I've avoided buying BP, Larry. I do agree, however that the quality seems to have improved.

How old is Audrey, Rebecca? She seems awfully playful, which is always cute. Did you get a lot of stuff winter-sown?

I am planting so many brand new things this year--How fun. I tried many new things last year, too, and many did not make it onto the must-have list. But the un-fun part is that I haven't been keeping up to speed with the spreadsheet, so now have to read through all those seed packet and find out which ones I need to research for growing info.

So. I bet get on with it.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Nancy, Audrey is almost 3, around June 1. Yes, she is very playful and energetic, also a fierce huntress, and a hardcore sun worshiper. A very sweet brat.

I’ll never say never on seed orders, but I think I can get everything else I need locally. My current plan is to clear out most of my tomato seed stash via growing plants for people, and drop a little more money on some newer varieties with the most disease resistance I can find. So this year I’ll have plenty for myself, SF, the friend who’s saving me jugs, another friend, and the guy who gardens and sells the produce for charity.

Ive gotta start seeds. Just Saturday will be rainy and then super windy, then my next day off on Wednesday will be cold and rainy.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Megan, Only pressure canners are safe for use as pressure canners. Pressure cookers are not safe for pressure canning. Instapots (regardless of what the manufacturer may claim in their marketing material) are not safe for use as pressure canners. People have to be extremely careful with pressure canning because any mistake can result in botulism---and there are no telltale signs to alert you that your food is contaminated---it won't look spoiled, it won't smell bad, but if you eat that contaminated food, it can kill you---and in a very painful, slow manner with much suffering involved. When and if the NCHFP tests Instapots and finds them safe for pressure canning, they will say so in writing on their website. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen. The NCHFP is painstakingly cautious and careful, and for good reason---proper food preservation is serious business. The kind of testing they do is very thorough and can take years and years, and with big budget cuts over the last decade or more, they have to be careful about where they choose to invest their time and their research dollars. I've been canning my entire life because my dad loved canning, and I am ultra cautious and never take unnecessary risks because that is what I was taught (and correctly taught).

Jennifer, I hate having to go to a party when I'd rather stay home, and I almost never commit to go anywhere if it involves leaving our neighborhood. The older I get, the more of a hermit I become....and I don't care. I spent a lot of my life doing what I was taught a good daughter, wife, mother, employee, neighbor, friend, etc. "should" do, and I'm at the point now where I'm going to do what I want to do. Time is precious, and I try to use mine wisely, which for me means choosing to do the things I like to do and want to do, and not just things I feel obligated to do. I hope you didn't find attending your friend's BD party to be too tortuous. Congrats on the sprouting plants---they always make late winter feel more like early spring.

Nancy, Our first evening with a full house was pretty calm. The adult kids were moving stuff in, unpacking, etc. while I made dinner with the 9 year old in and out of the kitchen checking on its progress (I believe she was hungry!), and somehow Tim arrived home about a half-hour early so he was able to eat with the rest of us. I think he slipped out of work a little early after a very trying day---he may have worked through lunch. We ate dinner together and then everyone headed off in different directions to do things. It was just a whirlwind of activity for a few hours. While I've gotten used to quieter evenings, I didn't mind the whirlwind at all.

Rebecca, Audrey is at such a perfect age. Pumpkin still is pretty playful and youthful, but I think he is 4 now and is starting to be slightly less kittenish. He likes to start things with the other cats, so he isn't a calm old man yet, though.

I'm long past the seed acquisition stage. If I don't have it ordered and on hand by now, I'll live without it. At some point we have to stop buying more seeds (grin) and just plant the ones we have.

I'm dreading the wind on Saturday, and we won't even get the worst of it, which is expected to remain a few counties west of us (where a High Wind Warning is in effect). I think our max wind gusts expected here are only in the upper 40s, but that's bad enough.

I have no garden-specific plans today, other than just watering the seedlings. This is the longest. slowest start to the gardening season in ages, and the weather isn't looking much better for the foreseeable future either.

Dawn
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
LOL. . . yes, won't be holding my breath for NCHFP to okay them, Dawn.

https://www.cnet.com/news/instant-pot-max-home-canning-safety/

Oh, we were talking about orange cats being big. Is Pumpkin big?

Another gray rainy day here. I will plant a few more seeds for the grow cart, I think. Yes, it's fun to be seeing little green growing plants in the middle of all this gray. It's slow starting here, of course, too, but by planting a few things every few days, it gives me some fun and so I still don't have TOO many things on the cart yet.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago

Victory garden 2019 lifts off...
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Ok, now the list...

Back tote is spinach - Bloomsdale

Front totes: Rouge d’Hiver, Grand Rapids, Salad Bowl, New Red Fire, Outredgeous, Jericho

Tomatoes: Fourth of July, SS 100, Super Sioux, Jet Star, Early Girl, Juliet, Big Beef, Creole, Brandywine Sudduth (pipe dream, lol)

Flowers: calendula, hollyhock, carnation, coneflower, cosmos, foxg, marigolds, snapdragons, cup and saucer vine, cardinal climber, bachelor buttons

Only stopped when I ran out of potting mix.

Anyone heard about the fire in downtown Guthrie?
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Nancy, Pumpkin is getting bigger every year, so I guess now he qualifies as big. When Chris found him, he was only about 2 or 2.5 weeks old, sitting in our bar ditch meowing at 4 a.m. He literally fit inside a coffee cup at that point. We never knew where he came from but always suspected he might have climbed up inside a car engine at his original home and maybe tumbled out into the roadway as the car drove down our road. He had massive stomach problems and the vet worked closely with us for about 3 months before we could keep any food down inside him for any length of time. It was touch and go for a very long time. He had to be on such strong medication (a sedative type drug to keep him from having stomach spasms that made him throw up everything he ate and drank, including water) that he seemed to hover between life and death---just was almost a total zombie---for that first couple of months.He was super slow to gain weight, so I felt like he stayed extra skinny for that first couple of years, but he has made up for it since then. His favorite place to sleep was sitting on top of a person's chest, right on top of their heart, and he wanted to be there 24/7. If he couldn't be on top of a person, he slept inside a Puffs tissue box---the little square ones, not the longer rectangular ones. He had such a rough start, but he is a nice size now, very playful and just hell on wheels from the time he wakes up until he falls asleep. He's the only cat we have who will climb the garden's 8' tall fence to get into it if the gate is closed and he wants inside.

Rebecca, It looks like you got a lot done.

I saw the Guthrie fire on my FB feed when it was less than an hour old. Western Oklahoma Weather Warriors linked video of it, and I shared it on FB so all my FF friends could see it----we were expecting fires to be bad in SW OK yesterday, but really hadn't expected anything like what Guthrie had. I hate that two businesses were wiped out, and thought the firefighters had a really tough time fighting fire in those windy conditions---they did a great job. That sort of fire in an old downtown area can wipe out entire blocks if it begins jumping across roadways, which they kept it from doing. It wouldn't surprise me if a few firefighters were out all night, monitoring the smoldering remains of the building and making sure none of the embers flared up and started burning again.

We had sunshine yesterday and made it all the way up to 67 degrees, so it sounded nice on paper, but the wind gusted as high as 50 mph here so the wind chill made it feel surprisingly cold. We were busy all day with the youngest granddaughter (older one was at a birthday party in the afternoon) and spent some time with her at her favorite playground at her favorite park. The wind made it feel pretty chilly, but she didn't care. We went to the annual Boy Scout blue-and-gold banquet with the 4 of them last night to see Lillie cross over from being a 1st year Webelos Scout to being a 2nd-year Webelos scout. It was really nice, and then when it was over, she headed off to spend the night with a friend. We saw more of her when she wasn't living here. (grin)

Our forecast for this week looks half decent, so I hope to spend some time out in the garden. We still have a ton of mud of course, and I'm beginning to think it will stay with us until summer arrives and the rain completely stops.

Dawn
farmgardener
5 years ago
Rebecca,

Many years ago (20+), we used cotton gin trash from a gin in Guthrie. It was magnificen! Rotted down into black gold compost and was a perfect mulch in the process. Last Spring we bought a dump truck load of cotton burr hulls from the gin in Minco and put it on gardens, flowerbeds, and even around roses and fruit trees. I will never do that again. It looked the same but was a serious mistake at least in the garden and some of the flower beds. My vegetables seemed to be stunted almost like they had been exposed to herbicide. Dawn mentioned later that a lot of the cotton nowadays is heavily sprayed - I’m thinking that was the problem. I raked most of it off the raised garden beds and hope there won’t be enough residual damage to harm this years plants. I don’t have the energy to empty those beds and refill with fresh dirt. Perhaps the packaged products won’t be the same, but I would caution you to try a little bit first - don’t make the mistake i did.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
farmgardener, I am sorry to hear that the cotton burr hulls harmed your plants, but I also am not surprised. I've always been wary of bringing in anything that is so heavily sprayed. Supposedly the herbicides used on cotton nowadays are "required" to break down in soil in 14 days or less, but even when I read those words, I don't believe them. After all, they come from the same agricultural industry (including the so-called government entities that supposedly regulate such things) that has given us the persistent herbicides in Grazon and other similar products that persist in manure and compost for several years, even surviving livestocks' intestinal tract, destroying many gardens in the process. I used to get so much free mulch hay from friends who ranch, but stopped accepting any (or any manure either) in 2010 because I was seeing so many people end up with dying gardens because of the herbicide carryover just in the hay or manure. Once they come up with chemicals that are that persistent, it is hard to imagine we ever can bring in 'imported' stuff into our gardens again. Nowadays about the only thing I bring onto our property is either bagged wood mulch or alfalfa hay, and it wouldn't surprise me if the chemical industry finds a way to ruin both of those too.

Dawn
farmgardener
5 years ago
Dawn, our neighbor raises alfalfa. Because it has to be “perfect” for the horse people that purchase it - he sprays at least 4 different chemicals before each cutting. Even if I could afford it i wouldn’t feed it to my animals simply due to all the chemicals, and I would NEVER add it to my garden mulch. . We sprayed our fields for weeds twice in the 30 years we’ve owned this farm and decided then it wasn’t worth the risk, instead my husband brushhogs relentlessly before weeds go to seed and we’ve added all the clovers and lespedeza we can and add manure from our own cattle. I’m not saying we use no chemicals- we still use Roundup to keep the fencerows clear and control thistles or sandburs on dams and areas we can’t reach to mow. Yes, I know the dangers associated with Roundup too. Sometimes you just have to make choices.
slowpoke_gardener
5 years ago
I got some hay that I think had been sprayer some years ago, The tomato in that bed looked deformed and only produced a few tomatoes, all deformed. I get hay most of the time for free. I always ask if it has been sprayed, it it has I wont take it.

I have had a good past 2 days. My daughter is downsizing and planing to move over on this place. Her husband died a little over 4 years ago. They were both pack rats and have more " Stuff " than 10 families need. She had a stack of sheet iron that she was going throw in the scrap iron dumpster. I told her that I wanted to dig through the pile and try to find enough metal to build a potting shed. I only want one that is about 10 x 10, with the south, and part of the east and west wall cleat plastic. I will also have a door on the east and west side for ventilation. It was a little rough going through the sheets because that had been on the ground for a few years and the bermuda grass had grown through it. My doctors, wife and daughter have been on me, telling me that my days of lifting and climbing are over. I calculated the size of material I will need and cut the metal to fit while I removed it from the stack. Most of the steel was just under 30' long so I was able to cut the sheets to the length I needed. I will assemble everything on the ground and lift it into position with my tractor. I am hoping this will keep my loved ones happy. I was able to glean 850 + sq ft of steel from the pile, with that steel, plus what I already have I can build 2 buildings, but I will have to wait and see how this " one man" project works.

I have not started any seeds indoors yet, I feel like I am running late, but I really don't have a good spot in the house to start and grow young plants. The radishes that I got to sprout in the garden are gone, I think the birds are eating them because after I removed the plastic that covered them they were gone within two days.

It is still very wet here, I get stuck when I drive into the lawn or pasture. I have a lot of lawn and pasture repair to do if the weather ever clears up.

I still have not cleaned the south garden or the wildlife garden.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
farmgardener, I agree that sometimes we just have to make choices. I don't like Roundup and haven't used it in probably at least 15 years, but I'm not saying we might not encounter a situation where we might choose to use it. You just never know what sort of issues will arise that might make using Roundup sort of the lesser of two evils.

Larry, I miss all the free hay I used to get, but feel like so many people spray nowadays that it is too risky. Even if my friends don't spray their hay field, for example, the folks raising hay right next to them do spray and that makes me worry that some of the herbicide will drift onto my friends' unsprayed hay.

Have fun building your shed, and for heaven's sake, don't hurt yourself or you'll never hear the end of it! We have a lot of older gentlemen (and some gentlewoman as well) here whose spouses, children and doctors tell them to stop working the cattle, climbing the ladders, getting up on the roof, driving the tractor, riding the horses, etc., and they don't do it.....not until a horse throws them and they break a hip or their pelvis or something. Does it end there? No way. As soon as they are healed up and finished with rehab, they're back out there working outdoors the same as before. I understand exactly how they feel and why it matters to them to remain active and engaged in doing the things they love to do and the things they want to do. I don't think anyone who is used to staying busy is going to be happy sitting on the porch and just watching the world go by. What I have noticed here is that the folks who stay the most active in the 70s, 80s and 90s seem to live the longest and are the happiest, so it is hard to think that they should be forced to slow down before they're ready to make that choice themselves.

It is rainy and drizzly here this morning and I think the next few days will be about the same. It is so boring being stuck indoors, but we get whatever weather we get and just have to deal with it.

Dawn