April 2019, Week 2, Spring and Not Winter, Right?

5 years ago

This should be such a lovely week with lots of places in OK expecting high temperatures in the 80s for a day or two or three. What could be lovelier than that so early in April? It is unfortunate that a couple of cold fronts will try to push the temperatures way down low again. We really don't need more cold.

Is anyone holding off and not planting anything while waiting to see just how cold the weather turns as we near the end of this week? Or, as we begin next week? I don't think I am deliberately not planting anything, but rather, just haven't had time the last few days to plant much. This week it has been all about the grandkids and helping them and the kids get the house finished.

Last week I got another two dozen tomato plants in the ground and 8 jalapeno pepper plants. I need to plant more peppers, but that was all that I had time to do.

There's a lot going on in the garden, not that I can remember what it is right now. My brain might not be awake at 2 a.m., even though my body is. I'll have to try to find time to walk through the garden in a day or so and see what else has come alive that I'm not thinking of. Oh, one thing I keep forgetting to mention is the annual appearance of tent caterpillars in the fruit trees. It seems early, but it probably isn't. Craneflies are out and the first June bugs as well, so it shouldn't be surprising to see the tent caterpillars too. I think I first noticed them around March 30 or 31. And, the irises are blooming. So, see there's two things I had noticed and kept forgetting to mention.

We need to mow this week, and by we, I mean me. Tim doesn't get home in time to mow before dark and I am home all day, so it is my job. I hate to sacrifice any gardening time to mowing. It probably will be too wet to mow for another day or two, or even longer if we get rain today or tonight.

There's more hummingbirds and more monarchs every single day. Most of the monarchs I've been seeing are new, but yesterday there was an old faded one visiting the wildflowers near the driveway gate. The old faded ones at this time of year likely overwintered in Mexico and are migrating northward, so it always is exciting to see them....even as the old, faded, tattered appearance reminds you that their life is nearing its end. Most old, faded monarchs that overwintered in Mexico won't make it any later than the end of April, if they live that long, so seeing them at this time of the year is very bittersweet.

I haven't really seen much of anything that resembles garden pests yet---in particular, no cucumber beetles and no grasshoppers. Usually I start seeing them prior to April, so not seeing them yet is a great sign. My catnip and lemon balm are hole-free, and it is pretty much guaranteed that when little holes start showing up in their foliage, little grasshopper nymphs are present in the garden.

Have a great week everyone and keep an eye on the two coming cold fronts. Also, watch the wind on Wednesday. It is expected to be brutally strong in some parts of the state, particularly out west. and will push fire danger pretty high for this late in April. I'm more worried about how the Wed wind gusts will affect younger, smaller seedlings.

Dawn

Featured Answer

hazelinok

5 years ago

Our neighbor found 300 of these and shared with us. I have no idea what to do with them.

Will catch up tomorrow.

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Comments (45)

Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
If you believe the OKC tv stations, SF may be in the 40s
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
5 years ago
Well it's hot now!

I probably sunburned my left side today potting up. We got only a few sprinkles out our supposed storms, so I did a water on direct sowed stuff. Just enough to dampen the soil. I have lot's of spinach seedlings. Some tiny lettuce seedlings. Beet and chard and a few carrots.

I potted up today. First day I haven't coughed much! Between benadril, claritin and flonaz maybe I'm holding my own. Been fighting vertigo. So working outside for 3 hours was quite lovely.

Tomorrow is a Bartlesville day. Tues Tomato Man's Daughter opens. Don't know if I'll make it opening day. We'll see.

My pansies/violas put on new blooms and the mum I stuck in that pot last fall is greening up. Where will I put coleus? Will coleus bother the viola roots? Will they survive the summer? I can't even remember if they're perennials or annuals. I'm tired. Brain's not functioning.

Have a good week.
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Megan, I am so concerned about everyone in Nebraska---of course, I think the farmers and ranchers are getting the worst of it, but then there's all the local businesses whose livelihood depend on the farmers and ranchers too. It is so heartbreaking and so devastating and really, simply stunning, when you read the first-hand reports and see the videos and photos. My mind is boggled. 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Even small hard-plastic 4' x 6' greenhouses are hard to regulate (I had a neighbor with one and an uncle with one) temperature-wise. I know folks who have gone off to work happily, leaving their plants in their little portable soft-plastic greenhouses like this, only to come home on a hot Spring day and find the plants pretty much roasted, toasted and dead or dying because they forget to unzip the door to release heat or they chose not to unzip the door because the morning air was so cold when they left for work. A person who is home all day and who can unzip the door and open it to vent out heat might have more success with them, but there's still the issue of them not holding in heat at night. 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I can water if we are too dry, but I don't have any way to extract excess moisture from the soil. When I was planting brassicas this week, I hit standing water about 2" lower than the depth at which I was transplanting seedlings, and that is in a raised bed, albeit a raised bed at the lower, more soggy end of the garden. Sadly, that well-amended clay seems to wick moisture upward from the wetter ground beneath the raised beds. So, my brassicas may not make it and if they don't, they don't, and I'll just move on to the next thing. I am worried about what Spring rainfall will do to an already soggy garden but rainfall is one of those things over which we have no control. The sad thing is that we could use this moisture in June, July and August, but those are the months when rain can become quite rare to almost nonexistent. Jen, I am watching our forecast and thinking that the cold nights are almost done with us, so maybe you can squeak through this Spring without having to do too much more plant protection. Our soil temperatures, at least in the raised beds, are coming up pretty rapidly too. We just need for the nights to stop dipping into the 30s because that is keeping the soil from holding its nice daytime temperatures, which are in the 60s. I probably could plant tomato plants in the ground today, and certainly could plant them in containers, and feel like the soil mostly is warm up for them, but our average soil temperatures keep lagging behind our daytime soil temps because the nights are still slightly cool on some nights. We also haven't had much really strong wind....say, gusts in the 30s or higher, since the bomb cyclone moved on, so I'm hoping that March, which did come roaring in like a lion here, is now sedating departing like a lamb. This has been a pleasant change as the tomato plants are out all day long now and get enough wind to toughen them up but not so much wind that they are damaged. It is supposed to rain on and off here all day, so there's probably no hope to get in any gardening at all. At least everything that I transplanted into the ground earlier this week should get some nice light rain, and hopefully no big downpours or I'm going to have to build raised beds on top of my raised beds, which would be ridiculous. Almost "everybody" is back now....Purple Martins, hummingbirds, monarchs, etc. to add to a plethora of bees, bumble bees, wasps, yellow jackets, all kinds of moths and butterflies, craneflies, etc. This week Spring absolutely exploded into being here, not only in name, but in the reality of the flora and fauna, and it is so good to finally feel like I can start spending at least a part of every day in the garden. As long as the grandkids are still living here, it likely won't be all day every day because the 4 year old gets bored after about 4 hours of gardening time, but Chris and Jana are working on the last big project---that 14' long closet that is almost big enough to be a room and, once they finish that, they can move into their home. I'm going to miss them, and I haven't minded adapting my garden time so I can spend more time with the girls---it truly has been a gift to be able to spend so much time with all 4 of the---the big kids and the little kids---over the last month and the house undoubtedly will seem too quiet, too empty and sort of lonely once they are gone. Dawn
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Rebecca, I kinda do believe the OKC TV stations, because the forecast sure is trending colder and colder as the weekend approaches. They dropped our forecast high for our coldest night (which is early Friday morning) from 46 to 41 yesterday and then today they dropped it to 39 and I'm tremendously far south, so I'm dreading seeing how cold it falls north of the Arbuckle Mountains. The last time a cold front like this was approaching, we started out in the lower 40s or upper 30s for our coldest weekend morning and they kept dropping the forecast low about 1 degree per day, so we ended up with a forecast low of 32 and an actual low of 32 at our house and 29 at our mesonet station. I feel like I'll be covering up tomato plants on Thurs night for Fri morning at the very least, and possibly on the next couple of nights as well, out of an abundance of caution. Supposedly that early morning low on Friday will be our coldest low, but I will be watching the forecast carefully to see if it changes any.

Amy, My allergies have been the worst this year that they've ever been. It is making me crazy. I have been taking some pretty effective OTC allergy medications, but still am sicker than a dog and fighting daily to keep the constant drainage (antihistamines are slowing it down but not stopping it) from turning into allergic bronchitis. I think I'm losing the battle. I have no voice today, so the sweet four year old had to listen carefully to my hoarse almost non-existent whisper today when I needed to ask her things like what she wanted for lunch. I did nothing today---just played with her, fought to stay awake after almost no sleep last night (combination of a bad fire and being ill) and crawled into bed and slept the rest of the afternoon after Tim came home from Jana's and Chris' house late in the afternoon. There were so many garden things I should, could and would have been doing if I wasn't knocked down to the ground by the allergies. I don't see things getting better until the rest of the trees finish leafing out, and the post oaks are just beginning and the roughleaf dogwoods and pecans haven't even started yet.

I got sunburned last week while spending too many hours planting and weeding without a hat. You'd think I would know better. I hope to have enough energy tomorrow to plant the rest of the tomato plants, and to cage all the ones I planted late last week and wrap those cages with plastic to get them ready for the two approaching cold fronts. I'm hoping the strong winds on Wed stay west of us, but expect they won't merely because I have a lot of young plants in the ground that don't need to be wind-whipped all day long. I have a bunch of lilies and daylilies to plant, and glads. There's not enough hours in the day.

Have fun in Bartlesville. I hope you dad is doing well. I would love to visit TMD one of these years, but really need to stay away---the last thing I ever need is more varieties of tomato plants to cram into an already jam-packed garden.

Most violas either perennialize here or function as reseeding annuals. At least mine do. I don't think the coleus would hurt them. I always grow impatiens and other things at the feet of coleus plants.

Are all of y'all expecting days in the 80s this week? Our local TV met said tonight he expects most of Texoma to hit 80 tomorrow, 86 on Tuesday and maybe 84 or so on Weds. I'm so not ready for this. Once we hit the 80s, the weeds and pests just go berserk, and it doesn't matter if we cool back down (as we will beginning Thurs), because the hot ship already has sailed and let the genies out of the bottle....specifically the snakes, especially the copperheads. I'm not ready for this. Oh, and I am expecting all our herbicide-loving neighbors to start spraying any day now so they can kill as many of my garden plants as possible. I'd like to wrap my entire garden in plastic for protection, but that's not feasible.

Jennifer, Those are the highly-prized morels. People around here will kill you if you reveal the location of their "secret" morel mushroom site. You have a very kind and generous neighbor indeed because most people would rather cut off their right arm than to give away any of their morel mushrooms.

Here's some morel mushroom recipes from Midwest Living:

Morel Mushroom Recipes

We had a big fire scare last night. First, I couldn't sleep because of all the allergy-related coughing, so I finally went to bed around 2:30 a.m. this morning, and our fire pagers went off about 15 minutes later just as I had begun to dose off. They didn't give an address at first, just said it was a fully engulfed home....on Fred's road. There's only two houses on Fred's road, so I was in a full-blown panic thinking he was inside a burning house. Tim told me I was sick and to stay home, and I knew he was right, but it was killing me to watch him walk out the door without me. As soon as he went down our driveway to the road, he called me and said he could see the glow of the fire in the sky and that it was nowhere near Fred's road, that it was east of I-35 a little bit NE of us, so that calmed me down a lot. He was right, and I won't bore y'all with a lot of details, but he was out all night and didn't get up until after 8 a.m. The house had a metal roof which didn't help once it collapsed onto burning debris beneath it. Anyhow, there are suspicious circumstances so the state fire marshall is coming to investigate tomorrow. How or why anyone called it in so very incorrectly in terms of location is completely maddening....it was a mile or two from Fred's house so I was all worried about him for nothing. I'm guessing maybe someone saw it from either Hwy 77 or I-35 and called it in while guestimating the actual location from afar. I stayed awake (not necessarily on purpose, just coughing too much to sleep) most of the night and ended up with about 2 hours of sleep, which contributed to me being worthless today. I didn't accomplish anything except keeping the 4 year old fed and entertained.

Tim worked all afternoon on the kids' plumbing because it seemed the drains beneath all three sinks were leaking, and he and Chris (who hates plumbing work) got all that repaired. Then when they tried to hook up something else---either the washing machine or dishwasher---they didn't have water lines where needed or something, so have a real plumber coming tomorrow to deal with that. Other than the personal belongings here at our house, all their stuff is now moved into the new house. They still need to unpack it all as they said their very large living room now is filled with boxes of stuff, set up the beds, etc. but they are getting closer all the time. Chris works tomorrow and Jana works the next day, so they'll just be at the house unpacking and putting everything in place whenever their work schedule allows. I expect that one day this week they'll pack up their stuff here and move it to their new house. I think they are frustrated at how long it took them to get stuff done, but I keep reminding them that they still were working full time and getting the girls to all their various activities and they really have accomplished a lot in a short time.

Lately we are turning our attention to their landscape, which needs to be redone completely, including putting in a new lawn because right now they mostly have scraggly weeds. They do have a lovely huge rose bush/tree that is almost as tall as the house outside one of the MB windows, and we're all eager to see it bloom so we can figure out what kind of rose it is. Beyond that, each of the 4 of them has very specific ideas of what they want to plant in the flower beds on the west (front) and south side of the house, so we'll have to take their ideas and try to integrate them in a pleasing manner so everyone gets to have some plants that are important to them. Jana wants roses, Lillie wants lilies (big surprise there) and Aurora wants some sort of little round flower whose name Chris and Jana couldn't remember. lol. I think Chris wants low-maintenance shrubs. Everyone in their neighborhood seems to be very into having nice landscapes which is so lovely and I love seeing how they landscape around homes that are, in some cases, well over 100 years old. My favorite house in their neighborhood so far is an old Queen Anne Victorian built in the 1870s I believe. There's tons of huge trees everywhere, so a lot of the nearby houses have shade gardens. I cannot wait to see what plants continue to show themselves as we move more deeply into Spring. And, don't even get me started on historic old neighborhoods that were not developed by a developer....there are irregular property lines all over the place that are just crazy, and a lot of the homes have no driveway whatsoever, so street parking is all they have. The driveways and some of the existing garages must have been built for Model Ts or something, as they aren't wide enough at all for modern day cars. We joke that the kids can park their bicycles in their garage, because it isn't even wide enough to park a car inside it. I love this neighborhood but it has some real quirky features too.

I am going to attempt to dig and divide our humongous crinum lily this week so I can give them some of it. Well, unless I start digging around it and find a snake. The area the crinum lily is in seems very popular with rattlesnakes and copperheads...I think because all the plants there are so dense and thick and it is nicely shady in summer. I wanted to dig it last year, divide it and replant it all alongside the new garden shed and never got around to doing it, so if I am going to do it this year, it needs to be done ASAP. One nice thing about the crinum lily is that its use as a landscape plant dates back to the era (and even further back) when their neighborhood was built, so it would be period-correct landscaping. I'm probably the only person who cares about period-correct landscaping. Oh, and we found out Saturday that the most long-lived residents in their neighborhood have lived there since 1937. Can you imagine? I think that is awesome....and that lovely couple must be very, very old as well. (grin) I could spend forever just walking the sidewalks in their neighborhood and looking at the landscaping for ideas, and I hope to do that one day soon....after all the trees have stopped shedding enough pollen to kill me three times over.

Dawn
slowpoke_gardener
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

I have my cool season stuff planted, 35 tomatoes ready for the garden and 45 more back up plants that are only 2 inches tatall

The weather really has me behind.

Most of the north garden is ready for planting, but I have not started on anything else.

I start getting cataract surgery today,I am sure ready to see better.
hazelinok
5 years ago
I'm caught up! And, as usual, enjoyed reading y'all's posts very much, although there's not many on this thread yet.

Dawn, I hope you feel better soon. I'm sure mine was a cold and not allergies, but I had the same symptoms as you...except extreme coughing (thank goodness I've dodged that so far). I feel SO much better. Echinacea and fire cider. I did take a dose of Nyquil Friday night. I felt so bad that night.

I'm back though!

I've forced myself to stay indoors this morning. Both bathrooms are cleaned, bedrooms dusted and vacuumed, kitchen tidied up, and most of the laundry done. I think I've earned going outdoors now, don't you?

I'm going to plant the vitex, Jane, fig, and remaining elderberry. Maybe clean out the tomato bed--get that ready. One of the beds doesn't have weeds, but the other does. Difference is the weed-free bed has a ton of mulch on it. There is a couple of pieces of Bermuda peeking up that will need to be dealt with.

It's starting to look spring-like outside. Things are getting green. I've harvested asparagus and will do the second harvest today. The first harvest is always so tasty.

Okay, I'll try to ignore the filthy utility room as I walk outdoors.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Larry, I hope your cataract surgery goes well. My mother was so impressed with how much her eyesight improved after her surgery years ago. Your garden looks great. I know you must feel frustrated about being behind, but it isn't just you---the excess moisture and late cold has slowed down everyone. My biggest fear is that we'll go from too cold/too wet to too hot/too dry just about overnight. I hate the years when that happens.

Jennifer, I spent the first week hoping it was only a cold, but it has gone on forever and I know it is allergies....I've had them all my life, and they usually peaked in Texas in early March, but here it is more common for them to peak in early April, so I'm hoping the worst is about over. I do think I am starting to feel better, or I am so medicated that I am fooling myself.

One advantage of being home alone today (not counting the whole menagerie of pets) is there's nobody to talk to, so I am resting my voice which might mean I'll be able to speak tonight when everyone gets home. Normally I talk to the animals a lot, but with my voice reduced to a croaking whisper, I'm staying quiet.

Yes, you've earned outdoor time and I hope you are outdoors now, enjoying it.

I've forced myself to stay indoors so far today too, other than carrying out flats of plants. I think staying out of the pollen in the outside air as much as possible is helping, but I really need to be out in the garden. I've been cleaning house, feeding tomato seedling plants, doing laundry, etc. but there's work in the garden that I'd rather be doing, and I intend to go outdoors in a few minutes and get some of it done. I also have wondered if all the smoke in the air from various controlled burns in our county late last week might be affecting my allergies, as I am very allergic to smoke as well. There was a large uncontrolled fire in northern Love County last week that the firefighters went out on multiple times over a two-day period. We never were paged to it, but the smoke in the air was heavy and I could smell it while working in the garden. Today there's a big one to our south. I hope people maintain control of the fires they start because I don't want for anything to come between the garden and I this afternoon. Normally I'll go to any fire and take the firefighters drinks and snacks, but this spring I've been avoiding them---either because I had grandkids with me and refuse to drag them off to a fire or because of all the allergy crud.

Ignore the filthy utility room. Enjoy the outdoors. You can clean the utility room some other day. It is Spring and the outdoors is calling, so you must go.

Our mud room almost never looks as clean as I'd like, but then on the other hand, I'm please so much of the dirt and grass clippings and such end up out there in the mudroom and don't make it into the house.....along with muddy shoes, wet umbrellas, etc. The mud room is serving its purpose, after all, and I never expect it to look as tidy as the rest of the house.

We've already hit our forecast high of 80 degrees so I expect our air temperatures are overachieving today. This roller coaster weather is getting old. The poor plants don't know if we're in the cool season or the warm season because it seems to change weekly. I've noticed the irises began blooming---they were on the verge last Thursday or Friday so likely bloomed over the weekend while I was busy away from the garden.

About 15 of the tomato plants in the garden either have set fruit or have a lot of blossoms on them, so I'm glad I got them in the ground as early as I did, though I expect to cover them Thursday afternoon out of an abundance of caution just in case the temperatures early Friday morning drop a few degrees lower than expected. I think Tim has a business conference (poor baby, it is down in Galveston so I guess he'll be forced to enjoy some great seafood in the evenings and go for walks on the beach) next week so I'll be on semi-vacation all week because I cook a lot less when he is gone. I can be happy with a dinner of just a sandwich and chips, so next week can be full-time gardening time from sunrise to sunset, other than the time spent taking care of the animals. Knowing that keeps me calmer about staying in so much this week to let my allergies improve. I read somewhere that when you are highly allergic to pollen, you should wear a mask when you go out to work in your yard and garden....yep, well, that's not happening! I'm just not going to do it.

Y'all keep watching your wind forecast for Wednesday as it seems like the winds are going to be pretty brutal. Kim is likely to win the prize for worst wind....the Lubbock office of the NWS has their area under a High Wind Watch for sustained winds of 40-50 mph with gusts up to 70 mph. Can y'all imagine what that will do to tender vegetation? I'm so grateful the winds will not be nearly so bad here although I think they will be bad enough.

Wednesday's date---April 10, 2019, makes me a wee bit uneasy. Oklahoma's worst single wildfire day ever, in the minds of many of us volunteer firefighters, was April 9, 2009. That was the day multiple wildfires across the state struck literally every county and it was a situation of every firefighter in the state being out there all day and, for some, all night, fighting the massive fires. In our county, one fire burned its way across northern Love County and it took a Herculean effort by our firefighters to save all the threatened homes. As I recall, our maximum wind gust likely was in the low 60s. However, some ranchers lost livestock, a lot lost hay, and a few lost barns and equipment. The firefighters literally ran from one house to another to hold off the fire, protecting home after home as the fires advanced. I feel uneasy knowing how similar Wednesday's conditions will be, at least in parts of NW and W Oklahoma. I do not think it will be anywhere near as bad here as April 9, 2009 was, but I think we all need to be hyper-alert and aware just in case the weather materializes with worse wind than expected.

Today in the yard I noticed more blue star grass is blooming. Irises are blooming in the garden. I put out three more hummingbird feeders to take the excess load off the 2 currently in use. There's more of everything now---more butterflies, more bees, more birds, etc. Also more pollen and more weeds because they are a part of Spring too.

Dawn
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
Well, I'm holding things until next weekend but not on purpose - it's mostly a factor of just being very far behind. When I've had time in the garden, I've been getting all the Potterville containers ready. All but 2 containers are ready to go now and I'll take advantage of the long, warm evenings tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday to get that done. I'll also have to put temporary fencing along Potterville. I came home one evening recently to discover that Jill had dug a bunch of dirt out of one. Thankfully, nothing was planted yet.

Me the one who was itching to put 'maters in the ground straight out of their starter trays in late March only has 2 tomatoes planted! My instincts are completely off this season. I spent too much time in Potterville and not enough in Tomatotown. I've decided with my gardens tucked into various nooks and crannies of my yard that I will nickname them all. I grow Tomatoes in the same area every year because it's got the perfect amount of light and shelter from the wind. Anyway, I moved some of the tubs out of there to Potterville because I wanted to replace with some that had slightly taller sides. That meant more soilless mix making but the containers were in the garage and I needed to get rid of others first to make it easier to get to them and now I'm not where I wanted to be with tomato planting.

I'm watching Thursday night/Friday morning pretty closely. I'll definitely cover my 2 lonely tomatoes even if our forecast low of 37* doesn't change. I just don't want to risk frost. I have plenty of the same Dewitt frost blanket that you use Dawn, but I have cages in place already because I interplanted garlic in the same bed and I didn't want to disturb it later in the spring. Covering AROUND the cages will be tricky so I might go ahead and pull those two. I'll be more upset about losing tomatoes than the garlic so that's a pretty easy choice.

I've been holding some of my dwarf herbs in starter pots thinking they could go straight into the garden - but I'll go ahead and up-pot them. I need to tally up how many I actually need so I can bring extras to SF this weekend.

As for Saturday temps, The Weather Channel has been closer to accurate for me most of this season and they're calling for a high of 56*. So yes, it will be chilly.

I saw my first monarch of the season while at the zoo yesterday. Seems like they get to the zoo a couple of weeks before I see any of them at my house and I'm only a few miles away. The zoo was gorgeous though with all the tulips in bloom. I don't grow tulips because they're in the same family of two plants I'm allergic too - the stem sap, not the pollen - but they were sure gorgeous and my tulip envy was kicked into high gear. Lots of local gardeners have been on Instagram posting their pics of mass plantings of tulips and they look so pretty in their yards too which already had me longing for them. Keegan spotted a painted lady in the yard and since it would be a little early for them, I assume it was one of the dozen we released last week in memory of my uncle. That made my heart smile.

On Thursday, my favorite garden shop opened up but I had to work. :( I swap plant talk with the HR Director and happened to run into her in the hallway that day. I had suggested Swallowtail Seeds as a source for some things she was having trouble finding and she stopped me to say that they were sprouting. I took the opportunity to tell her that I deserved a commendation in my employee file for being at work that day instead of the plant shop. I did make it up there on Saturday after the rain stopped which was a nice way to garden when the ground was to wet to even attempt walking across the lawn. Speaking of rain - in 4 years I've never seen our yard so saturated! I'm not looking forward to what things will be like when we get some of those April/May 4-inches-in-one-day rainfalls.

Milkweed and liatris are now tall enough that they're poking above the mulch. My Mexican Hat is so lush and pretty that I will have to make a trek up to Bustani in a few weeks to get more. I'd planned on seeding Indian Blanket and Black-eyed Susans but I'm so pleased with the Mexican Hat's foliage that I'm going to plant a bunch of them. I know I could start them from seed, but I want at least one bed in my yard that isn't a WIP any longer and this one is the closest to that so I'll buy plants. The switchgrass, big bluestem and tall coreopsis in the bed, nicknamed "Tallgrass," are waking up. There are three little bluestems and only 1 is showing signs of waking up. I knew there was a good chance two wouldn't come back, but I had my fingers crossed. Something else I'll have to pick up more of at Bustani's I guess.
hazelinok
5 years ago
It's actually hot outside. I won't complain though. (I liked yesterday's weather better. haha)

I'll come back tonight and respond to everything--if I remember!

I forgot to comment on your comment about the mushrooms, Dawn. Our neighbor is a very interesting guy. He's probably my Mom's age, a Vietnam vet, and quite an artist as well. He makes the most amazing things out of metal and...just stuff. He's made a couple of things for us...and is currently helping Tom with some metal wheels to go on an outdoor cart thing that I mentioned liking (another neighbor has one). And he's made gifts for me. Very beautiful things like necklaces, but also things I probably won't wear...but the workmanship is amazing. I put them in my office to enjoy. They both smoke meat and share food back and forth. He's the sort of neighbor who drops in and Tom loves that. They always have some joke going on back and forth about the other owing the other one money. For something that only they get really. Usually it's relating to a project that Neighbor is doing for us OR something that Tom orders for him online (he doesn't do online shopping). But it's all joking. 100%. ANYWAY, he stopped by last night while we were working outdoors and showed us the mushrooms. I did let him know that they were prized items according to the FB gardening group. He showed me a picture of the 300 mushrooms. He only brought back...maybe a quarter of that, though, and shared with us. I did ask where he found them. He actually hem-hawed around, so maybe he's been told to not speak of it. His girlfriend lives about an hour away....and I suspect it's somewhere near there, because he mentioned going out gathering them with a couple of other people.

He borrowed my dehydrator. Maybe he's going to dehydrate some?

Thanks for sharing the recipe link.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
I broke down and turned on the AC. It was 75 in the house.

I have warm season plants begging to be put in the ground, but I’m thinking about the low temps later this week. I’ve been working on getting beds and pots ready, but honestly things just want to grow. My warm season plants are way ahead of my cool season ones.
dbarron
5 years ago
AC? at 75? why not open the windows and feel the breezes? :) We gotta have at least two weeks of open window weather, right ?
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Nope! Allergies mean windows stay closed.
jlhart76
5 years ago
My allergies are miserable, but I prefer the windows. Besides, this place needs a good airing out. Winter with all these dogs means peee-eeewww!
hazelinok
5 years ago
Rain and snow chances on Saturday? I'm watching the weather right now. Really? Of all days. Maybe they'll push it back a day.

Larry, my Mom just had cataract surgery last week. She's doing very well. Just disappointed that she's supposed to take it easy for awhile and she want to be out working in her yard.

I thought I had more to say...but bed is calling for me.
jlhart76
5 years ago
All of my weather apps say 50s and rain in the afternoon. Hopefully that holds true for the next 5 days.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Megan, Some years my instincts waffle back and forth---telling me one thing one day and another thing another day. Instincts are not always 100% correct, and I'm not surprised when they are 'off' either.

It is harder covering caged tomato plants and I dread doing it, but I am not going to skip that step on Thursday evening even if they raise our forecast high into the 40s. There's too much at risk now that so many tomato plants are setting fruit. It just takes me longer when I have to cover taller cages, but I do it anyway. There was one awful year when our forecast low (may have been May of 2007 or 2008) was expected to be 50 and instead it dropped to 32 and everything froze. I couldn't even believe it happened. I've used row covers ever since....and, a year or two later, George (MacMex) had the same exact temperature issue and his tomato plants froze too. We never were able to really understand how a forecast low could be off by 18 degrees, but it happened. I don't cover my plants at 50 degrees, but I'll cover them at 39 or 40.

Jennifer, Maybe he is going to dehydrate some mushrooms. I know it can be done, but I've never done it.

It was hot out there---84 degrees here (the forecast was for 80) so I think that both tomorrow and Wednesday also might get hotter than forecast. I had to laugh at myself at one point...slaving away in the heat and sunshine while the tropical birds, fish, dogs and most cats were inside in air conditioned comfort. There were tons and tons of bees and butterflies in the garden because there's a lot in bloom now, and every now and then a hummingbird came zipping through. They all are really loving the comfrey flowers right now.

My Spanish lavender is blooming now, after showing buds for about a week or so. The culinary sage is a day or two away from blooming.

It is late and I need sleep.

Dawn
slowpoke_gardener
5 years ago
Dawn, and Hazel, I did no get the surgery today, it will be done Thur. morn.., more testing and measuring was done today. I have also been told to take it easy, which I am not fond of. The Doctor told Madge to make me sit in my recliner the rest of the day,Thur., even if she has to hold a gun on me, which does not bother me because she can use a gun about like I can fly a plane.

I installed new carburetors on both of my tillers and they are running good I still want to go no-till, but have not figured how I can do it where I am growing sweet potatoes because I am not man enough to dig them by hand.

I have three areas that still has winter peas growing and I have been wandering if I could use the peas as a living mulch. I am afraid they will be to tall and will need to be mowed or trimmed---any ideas or comments?

I am afraid mine and Madge's gardening days are winding down, our bodies just don't handle it anymore.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
Larry - I'm laughing hard at your description of Madge with a gun. Hopefully, she finds a way to get you to rest even though it will be difficult. And your mom too, HJ. I guess the cold front will work in Madge's favor but HJ, you might have your work cut out if it's up to you to get your mom to rest when it is THIS gorgeous outside.

I don't remember what our high was yesterday but it was gorgeous when I got off work - around 81-82*. I opened the sunroof and windows, cranked up some Tom Petty and rolled home singing and drumming the steering wheel and not caring what people around me thought. Made me miss the 80s when that's what everyone did and you'd hear a song you liked coming from someone else's car and you'd have to scroll through the stations to find it before it ended. Wow! Things are so different. I was the only person with my windows down and singing and people looked at me like I was a loon. If they only knew what they were missing.

Like the rest of you, I do have the windows at the house closed up and the AC on due to allergies and ants. The ant issue is getting better but I was too successful at running them out of the kitchen. They keep turning up everywhere in the house now. FYI - run a bead of peppermint oil along where they're coming in and they'll stop coming in there, but I can't guarantee that they'll stop altogether. In my case, their new spots have been a bigger nuisance. As for opening the windows - we typically get some nice days after the tree pollen lowers - particularly after the Bradfords and other fruit trees stop which seems to affect my family more than other pollens. My favorite days to open the doors are when we have a gentle rain, not only because it smells and sounds amazing, but the rain does a fantastic job of knocking all the dust and pollen down. We don't get enough days like that in OK. I get homesick for St. Louis for a short stretch every spring and fall when the OK weather teases us with a couple days of amazingly beautiful spring/fall weather - the type of thing that lasts a few weeks up there.

I'm starting to watch Saturday night/Sunday morning more closely too. Looks like another dip into the 30s for me. Yesterday the forecast low was somewhere in the 40s so I wasn't looking too much but then last night I noticed one of my weather apps was forecasting a low of 34 on Saturday night/Sunday morning, which is actually colder than Thursday night/Friday morning. As of this morning, the other weather apps are starting to come around too and The Weather Channel - which has been closest for me all season - is calling for 38* on Saturday/Sunday.

My lettuce is the only cool season doing much of anything and I should be getting some harvestable size leaves - via cut and come again method - soon if these weather swings don't send it to bolt. My kale is doing okay but took more of a beating in the hail storm and is just starting to forgive me/Mother Nature. My snow peas were a complete loss to the hail storm and my radish seeds were old so only 3 germinated. I keep saying I'll sow more because we eat lots of radishes as a substitute for onions but I'm not following through on it. My spinach germination was spotty but I think that was because I planted them in the wrong place, then the seedlings were beaten by the hail. I could see ahead on the forecast that high temps were coming so I didn't bother reseeding since they're in a container. A sort of side project to the rain garden will produce what I hope will be the perfect spot for lettuce next year. I'm really ready to be eating some stuff from my gardens and it just isn't happening for me yet.

A week or two ago, I ordered hostas from Holland Bulb Farm. The box came late last week and I neglected it but last night the hubs pushed me to open it - mostly because he wanted the box off the table. The T-Rex hosta was already sprouting, so I planted it last night. It goes in a shadier, higher spot on the leading edge of the rain garden so I planted it by putting it on top of the bare clay soil and topped it with potting mix - similar in concept to planting daffodils under straw. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it just to make sure that dogs or rain don't tamper with it. We'll see how it goes.

I was supposed to have definitive answers on what was happening with BIL's dogs by late last week - or yesterday in an absolute worst case scenario. Still don't know and can't get answers to any of the questions that could serve as indicators - which drives my control-freak nature absolutely batty. Hubby and I came up with a viable vacation alternative that I feel better about than no vacation but will still leave us enough budget to do the fencing, so we'll probably just do that regardless. Hubby is managing to pull back so that he isn't enabling any more than he feels like he has to in order to maintain a clear conscience. He had a visit with his brother over the weekend that really cemented what he had the foresight to recognize but was having trouble accepting - that a soft landing isn't going to help his brother one bit. Dawn, I know you mentioned that's what it took to get your dramatic relatives to change their ways, and it seems like Ben is coming around to a pretty darn tough, tough-love plan. Wish us luck!

T-minus 4 days!!! Can't wait to see everyone.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Larry, You know what? It happens. Aging bodies force us gardeners to make changes. Maybe you could adapt and have just a couple of containers (I use cattle feed tubs) with your favorite veggies sitting up close to the house. I like growing lots of things in cattle feed tubs and most veggies produce well in them. Tomato plants are my fave, but I've grown peppers, strawberries, lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bush beans, pole beans and okra in them. My friend, Fred, gave up growing tomatoes in the ground while still in his late 70s or early 80s because he had back, knee and hip issues and bending over was getting too hard for him. He put molasses feed tubs up on stands to make them waist high, filled them with a soil-less mix, and has happily grown tomatoes in them for about 15 or 16 years now. His son has taken over the big garden for the last several years, but at least he still has his tubs on tables for his own plants. He is 97 (I think) and still going strong...just at a slower pace and at a somewhat reduced level. He used to grow enough food to feed everyone he knew but has to grow less now.

I already know that at some point in the future, I'll be doing all my garden as a container garden. It just seems inevitable. I've already begun the slow transition to that by beginning to convert all the beds along all 4 sides of the garden perimeter to perennial beds. Eventually as those beds fill in, I won't be able to sneak herbs and veggies into them so will have to start growing less and less of the edible crops as the veggie part of the garden shrinks.

I am about as skilled with a gun as Madge is. I can hit things up close though.

Take it easy as ordered so Madge won't have to call for someone to come over and shoot you for her.

Y'all, I am so mad, and you don't see me really angry that often. I am spending today removing and replacing the rest of two dozen tomato plants that got hit by glyphosate drift about 8-10 days ago. On a few plants, the damage was readily apparent and massive, and I promptly removed and replaced those. With the rest, I tried to remain calm and patient and wait for signs the plants would outgrow the less massive damage. It just isn't happening. Some have steadily worsened and others still look the same with absolute no change for better or worse. Whatever fool sprayed in such a careless manner that the drift traveled through the air to my garden took out the whole southernmost two rows of tomato plants. I am so beyond irritated. A few other non-tomato plants show damage, but are likely to recover. It is just that tomato plants are more sensitive to glyphosate damage than most other plants. It is too hot to be doing this today and my allergies are so awful once again (perhaps because all the woodland trees are raining down pollen on the garden and I), but I need to get the replacement plants in the ground ASAP so I can move on to other stuff.

In other garden news: our forecast high is 84. As of 11:50 a.m., we have hit our forecast high. I think we may be making a run for 90 degrees. Thankfully that sort of heat won't last long because it is dangerously close to the sort of temperatures that shuts down fruit set. Fortunately the nights still are cool.

In pest news: on my way indoors for lunch, I found and killed a southern green stink bug. The most amusing part of this is that it wasn't in the garden---it was in the mudroom, on the wall, at about eye level, so I couldn't have missed seeing it even if I was trying. I didn't want to smash a stink bug in there since they, well, stink....so I got the lint roller, rolled it over the pest, tore off that part of the lint roller, wrapped it around the stuck stink bug and tossed it into the trash. Today's Score: Dawn 1, Stink Bugs 0. It is so early that I am not sure what stink bugs are eating now, but then on the other hand, they do like tomato fruit and I have tomatoes on a few plants so maybe I just answered my own question. Now I think I need to check the plants that have fruit and see if there's any stink bugs or stink bug eggs there now. At least the stink bug eggs are pretty easy to ID.

In his heat the garden is full of wasps, bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. For a long time now---maybe about 3 weeks, we've had single hummingbirds flitting around here and there. As the migration has picked up, I have had to put out more feeders so a couple of males couldn't protect individual feeders and prevent others from feeding. Now there's 5 feeders, and yet the hummingbird wars continue. Why can't everyone just get along?

Because of the ridiculously early heat and despite the fact that our soil is plenty wet, most of the plants in the garden, regardless of age, are wilting now...including the comfrey, chamomile, lemon balm, sage and all the annual flowers. It isn't that they need to be watered, but just that they are respirating moisture out via their leaves more quickly than their roots can take up more. This usually is more of an issue in July and August with large-leaves plants like pumpkins and squash than in April with perennial herbs, perennial flowers or annual flowers. I feel slightly baffled by what I am seeing, but know it is a common occurrence when the weather goes much hotter than usual very suddenly. I just hope it isn't a bad omen to be seeing this sort of heat so early.

Another side effect of this week's heat? Every single cool-season weed in the yard, pastures and garden now is setting seed. Any that once had pretty flowers, even just as recently as a day or two ago, suddenly have faded and gone to seed. I need to carefully check the garden today for any weeds I haven't found and pulled so I can get them out of there before they sow seeds.

On the other hand, some wildflowers, like my beloved Texas bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, are putting out new flowers at a rapid rate now that we are so warm. I like that. The heat also abruptly woke up the crape myrtles.

Another downside to the heat is that garden pests that do not emerge until we reach a certain heat level probably will start emerging now.

The high wind and fire danger risk remain high for tomorrow. Keep your eyes on the skies, report smoke, and protect your plants from the strong wind gusts expected in the afternoon and overnight into Thursday morning.

Have a good afternoon everyone.

Dawn
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
We made it up to 89 degrees, so our weather overachieved by 5 degrees.

It also seemed quite a bit windier than they had forecast but I'm sure that tomorrow will be a whole lot worse.

The autumn sage started blooming today. That's about all that is new.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
We also reached 89 today which was 4-5 degrees above the forecast. Tomorrow is forecast with a high of 89 so I fully expect to cross 90*. So frustrating to not have tomatoes planted and getting well established in this weather, but I keep telling myself I’ll be glad when I wake up Friday morning.

Gorgeous sunset here tonight.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Megan, Your weather was almost exactly the same as ours yesterday and may be the same today. They raised our forecast high from 89 to 90. That's true about your tomato plants. Mine are doing fine, except for the herbicide drift, but I might be covering them up Thursday night if our forecast low heads even one degree lower than they're showing right now. For folks significantly further north, the soil temperatures are fine now, but the forecast is iffy.

This week's weather reminds me of the very same week in 2011 when it hit the 90s while I still was putting tomato plants in the ground. I don't like comparing those two, but it is what it is. That doesn't mean I think this summer will be like 2011, because I certainly do not. I think this summer will be decent since El Nino is expected to continue, and we didn't have that in 2011. I think that when I looked at the 6-10 day outlook yesterday it looked fantastic, but then the 8-14 day one hinted at another cool front. I'll be watching that one carefully.

Today's wind will be brutal in some places, but they've dropped our wind forecast all the way from max gusts of 44 mph at the start of the week to 33 mph this morning. Tim says that when they do that, we usually get the higher wind gusts anyway and I think he is right. Still, my plants are fairly well-protected. The heat is more of a threat to them than the wind.

I saw the first zinnia volunteers popping up out of the ground yesterday. It was only 3, but it gave me hope there will be more. I've really mulched very heavily the last two years and it has cut the number of volunteers by about 90%. I might actually need to back off and mulch a little less in order to get enough volunteers of the plants we love. I finally have one basil volunteer, and only the cotyledons are visible right now, but I am pretty sure it is basil.

I have our four year old granddaughter today, and it is awfully windy, and our allergies are awful, so I've declared it a day to stay indoors. I've never spent as much of the Spring indoors as I have this year, but the whole allergy thing is so out of control that it is necessary. I'll be glad when the tree pollen levels start falling.

Dawn
AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
5 years ago
Radish as substitute for onion, Megan? Raw or cooked? I had read radishes were good roasted, I have them growing with my carrots. We don't care for them raw.

The last two days I've had a patio umbrella over tomatoes to mitigate their being out all day. Had to take that down due to wind. Trying to decide if they can take the sun and wind for the rest of the day or what. They're nearly fully hardened. POed that the weather will be cold again. Will probably have to start over on hardening off. Don't really have room in the house for them and greenhouse has never been assembled. Sigh.

Larry, I've had both lenses replaced for cataracts. I now buy reading glasses to use for reading, but no longer need prescription glasses. They did tell me I have dry eyes, so I use an over the counter ointment at night and occasionally moisturizing drops. Do be careful for a few days, your vision is too important to gamble with.

My youngest son is getting married the 26th!

I have to go to Bartlesville again today.

TTFN
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Amy, Y'all are having a bunch of weddings lately. That's terrific.

I hate this weather too. I do think it has an effect on garden plants....the cool-season ones surely are not liking temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s and the warm-season ones aren't going to like nights in the 30s and 40s. I bet none of them have liked these winds, so I guess everyone just will have to be unhappy together. Weather whiplash is what we're getting this week, and I think the rain is just one more aggravating factor.

I didn't spend enough time outside today to notice if there was anything new compared to yesterday. Apparently there is still a ton of tree pollen in the air though.

The kids worked on the house today, mostly unpacking boxes and putting things away (they said they have 85% of that done), all the appliances hooked up and the security system up and working. I know they are relieved to have crossed off so many items on their To Do list today. Both of them work long shifts tomorrow and then on Friday the plumber is coming to fix the plumbing problem that Tim and Chris couldn't fix over last weekend. Apparently it is something to do with where their plumbing connects to the water main. After that, I think the kids can move in, possibly on Saturday although the cold and rain might make it a bit hard to move the tropical birds and fish. It won't be my problem (grin) because we'll be at the Spring Fling. I'm sure they'll find a way to do it.

We ate dinner early and Tim is outside mowing the lawn now. It tripled in height the last 3 days, which I blame on the hot weather. It clouded up this afternoon so we didn't break 90 degrees--but made it all the way up to 89 for the second day in a row. The winds weren't that bad today really, only in the 30s, but on the 6 pm news our local TV met said he expects the winds tonight to be stronger than they were today. We had no fires in our county today, so apparently the wind and heat scared everyone and they were on their best behavior. Yay! I am thinking that April weather is trying to be crazier than March weather this year, and it probably is succeeding. Do we dare to start hoping for better weather in May? April weather seems like a lost cause.

Dawn
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
Pollen...
luvncannin
5 years ago
We don't have that herhere rebecca. We have dirt the wind wawas ridiculous yesterday. Cars were flipping over. I fell asleep choking on dirt blowing in the windows.

My rhubarb is blooming. I am going to let it soo I can harvest the seed. Next year I will harvest more rhubarb and not let the flower stay.

My dessert willows have come back. Wasn't sure if they would make it in pots another ccold winter. My mobile garden is shaping up.
hazelinok
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
That is crazy, Kim! I'm watching the news right now and it's showing snow storms up north....and potential flooding.

I am exhausted. I was feeling really good until Tuesday. That zoo trip nearly killed me...for a variety of reasons that all worked evilly together. And then yesterday--two events that got me home after 9, I think.

Did anyone cover anything? The only thing I had the energy to cover was my columnar trees. I left the giant tomato cages around them, so just put the sheets over them. Still haven't planted the fig tree, so will put it in the shop. It's showing a low of 36 in Norman so we should be fine.

There's a garden (and home) down Indian Hills a couple of miles that I noticed when we first moved in. Every year like clockwork the gardener tills up his garden the second week of April, and plants a couple of weeks later. He was out today...an older man. He has a tidy home and property and I enjoy watching his garden grow.

My own plants have stayed indoors the past two days. I wasn't home yesterday to keep an eye on them. When I work late, I hate leaving them out. Then today after work, I took Ethan to get his tux for prom. They could still go out for a bit, but I'm too tired. I will finish potting up the coleus. Several people asked for my extras and I need to get them ready for the SF. They are mostly ready. They look good.

The asparagus. I forgot about it because I haven't been home. Wow. It has gone nuts. I have a big harvest and plan on eating it for dinner. Tom went to Hollywood Corners with some friends to see the hot rods. I like going there to listen to live music (often we can hear it in our backyard), but it's too cold tonight. Anyway, I'm not cooking dinner. Tom grilled some pork chops before he left and Ethan ate those.

There's really not much in gardening news. Everything is coming along nicely. This stupid weather on Saturday, though. We've had rain before--2 years ago. That was my second year and first full day year. It was fun still. I had a thought, depending on how many are coming to SF. Does anyone have an idea?
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Rebecca, Our pollen matches your pollen! Tim washed our vehicles...to remove the pollen. I just laughed. You know they had pollen back on them almost immediately.

Kim, They showed photos of dirty snow in Minneapolis on The Weather Channel, with the local reporter blaming the Texas dust and dirt for dirtying their snow. lol. Y'all need to stop exporting your airborne soil to people who don't appreciate it.

Someone here in OK was complaining about their rhubarb blooming too. Well it got hot, so yeah....it blooms.

I'm glad your desert willows came back. They are a lot tougher than most people think.

Jennifer, I covered up tomato and pepper plants as all are in bloom, but I was home all afternoon, so had the time to do it. At the time I began covering, they said we'd drop to 38 by morning. Well, in my cold microclimate we often drop 4-8 degrees colder than our forecast lows at this time of the year, so I had to assume that could happen (I don't necessarily think it will) and cover up stuff just in case.

We've had other rainy SFs back in the far past---maybe the mid to late 2000s. The first one Tim and I attended, which was at Will Rogers Park, was rainy, but we were mostly underneath a pavilion and it wasn't too bad. So, what's your idea?

Dawn
hazelinok
5 years ago
My idea is that if we have 20 people or less, we could eat at our house. Our house is very small, but we could fit 20 people indoors. We could swap plants and door prizes at the lake and then come to our house to eat. That's not as much fun...but if it's pouring rain and cold and windy...

BUT, we really can't hold more than 20 comfortably. 10 to 12 is most comfortable.

Sounds like there's a plan to make the pavilion more sheltered with side tarps (or something), so it should be fine.

The only other issue with our house is parking, but we could probably make it work. If it's raining we can't park along the edges of the property without fear of getting stuck...but we could probably use neighbors' drives. Our 5 year plan has better parking and a drive to our shop, but that's not helpful right now.

I think it will be so much fun regardless of the weather, though. Looking forward to it. :D
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
22 for sure, maybe, HJ. LOL I'm gonna guess 30-35. Of course with the weather, maybe 20 or 18 or 16!
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Did I jinx us by saying that this week was Spring and not Winter? Oh good Lord, we have weather whiplash so bad this week.

I don't have a good feel for this year's attendance, but think a lot of people might not want to get out and drive in tomorrow's rain/snow, which is (at least rain-wise), expected to cover a large portion of the state. The addition of a 20% chance of snow to the central OK weather forecast is making me slightly nuts. My brain says there is no way the snow will happen, but then y'all know OK weather---it likes to give us exactly the worst possible option at the worst possible time.

Jennifer, That is so kind and generous of you to offer to host it at your home. I am afraid we might have too many people and also worried about the mud and parking. When I looked at the QPF, it was showing roughly 1.5-1.75" of rain up there on Fri-Sat. I don't know what that much rain would do to your place, but it would make our clay into a sort of pudding-like mud that cars get stuck in.

Y'all can go to the Spring Fling thread for updates. Bruce is leaning strongly towards postponing due to weather. I support him 100% whether he lea

ves it as scheduled or postpones. One thing about him dragging a propane heater, propane tank and a bunch of tarps up there to try to fashion a windscreen and keep us warm is that would be a lot of stuff to haul (plus plants, plus food) and likely would take 2-3 hours to unload and set up in windy, rainy weather. I hate to expect him/ask him to do that. I honestly was sort of dreading the cold rain and the strong wind, and now that a slim chance of snow is in the forecast, I just feel....almost ill over it. I want for us to be able to laugh and chat and enjoy each other's company while swapping plants and eating all the usual wonderful foods, and I don't see how that happens in this weather. If he leaves it scheduled for tomorrow, of course Tim and I will be there.

I need to go out and uncover plants. I am glad I covered them. Our forecast was for 38. Our Mesonet station's low was 32. Ours here at the house was 37 but the garden usually drops about 3 degrees colder, so I am guessing the thermometer down there will show a Minimum Temp of 34-ish. I have to cover again on Sat evening, or maybe Sat all day since we have a slim chance of tornadoes, and a stronger chance of hail and strong tstorms. This April weather is making me nuts. Tim has a business trip next week....to Galveston! I just want to strangle him. He should be stuck here at home suffering in whatever weather Mother Nature throws at us....not down there at the Gulf Coast attending meetings (cough, cough) and probably finding time to go to the beach and to eat wonderful seafood.

In good (or bad) garden news, the 89 degree days woke up all the plants like crazy so that they can risk freezing or being demolished by hail. April has become the cruelest month for the second year in a row.
luvncannin
5 years ago
Was wondering how the plants would fare in cold windy ugly weather. Hope whichever weekend you choose its it's beautiful and sunny.
slowpoke_gardener
5 years ago
I just carried out close to a hundred plants. I usually place newspaper in the bottom of the pots before I pot them up, but I didn't this year and I have enough potting soil in the utility

room floor to plant my spring garden indoors.

Our forecast calls for a low of 41 for the nest few days so I will carry the plants in a few more times because my micro-climate will some times let me have frost when it is 41 in Fort Smith. The rain has given me more problems this year than anything else, to this point. I have over 50 plants ready to go in the ground, and no place to put them. I may have to do as I have done in the past, which is plant them with post hole diggers and then clean the garden around them as weather permits. Most of my gardening life I have had to deal with wet soil, I should have been a rice farmer.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Kim, We're hoping for better weather, but it is Oklahoma, so who knows?

Larry, At least y'all are staying above freezing, and I hope you'll stay frostfree. We are expecting a lot of rain tomorrow and some parts of OK might experience flooding....because that is the last thing we need. I can related to you about being a rice farmer. Our rain only seems to fall in two amounts---far too much or far too little.

Ok y'all, here's the 6-10 day temperature outlook. Note it shows below-average temperatures.

6-10 Day Temperature Outlook

And, to carry us nearly to the end of the month, here's the 8-14 day temperature:

8-14 Day Temperature Outlook

We still can have average to above average temperatures on days within these ranges, but the overall trend still is for cooler than average temperatures.
Rebecca (7a)
5 years ago
I’m starting plant out Sunday afternoon, weather or not! Plastic to wrap around cages will be standing by. Lots of flowers are outgrowing their jugs.

Saturday is Sand Springs herb festival, rain or shine. Debating going to that, because plants. And Cherry Street, because they have plants too. And Lowe’s, because I need compost.

Should probably pay bills sometime too.
Megan Huntley
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Dawn, from your descriptions it sounds like my weather has been almost identical to yours all week. Wednesday didn't pass 90 but it was steadily at 88 most of the day and did hit 89 briefly but some light clouds rolled in around 4:30 which I think was just enough to keep us from crossing the 90* threshold. The wind that night, when I took the dogs out for their bedtime constitutionals, was also much higher than it was when I left work at 5 p.m. And it sounds like last night was about the same as yours too. I had a forecast low of 37* and it was 34* at 6 a.m. It's atypical for me to drop below the forecast low - though it has happened 2x in the last few weeks.

I did cover plants last night and waited until the sun was up to uncover so I would have some confidence that frost wouldn't slip in at the last moment. Thankfully all my co-workers know I'm a crazy garden lady so they weren't surprised when I texted to say that I would be a few minutes late getting to work because I had to uncover my plants. I only have 2 tomatoes planted and one of them got a little squished but it should recover. Nothing was broken. Now to keep my eyes on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Forecast has held for a couple of days calling for 37* low but we all know that in Oklahoma they could wait until 10 p.m. on Saturday to change that. I know I'll cover my plants, but I'm really curious about what it will do. MIL had an outdoor painting thing scheduled for Saturday that was postponed for Sunday. Obviously, a good idea to postpone but I think they'll all wake up Sunday morning and decide it is too cold even if the rain has stopped. They're supposed to start painting around 8 a.m. and I don't know how they'd do that with thick gloves on. I'm laughing thinking about it and want to see pictures if it does happen.

I am a little relieved the SF has been postponed. I would have toughed it out but it might have been the shortest SF in history with everyone getting cold and being ready to leave in a very short time. I couldn't help but think about a few weeks ago when I took the dogs for a walk and it was in the upper 40s but very windy - as is forecast for tomorrow - and it was bone penetratingly cold even walking at a good enough clip to get the heart rate elevated. We can do 3 miles in 45-50 minutes. In contrast, I took them a few days later when it was 38* with still winds and that felt warm by comparison. Neither of those days had rain or snow flurries added to the equation.

I've dallied enough. Back to work.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
Rebecca, I don't blame you. The planting I've done prior to this point is all that has saved my sanity.

I was wondering if you might go to the Sand Springs Herbal Affair after the SF was postponed.

I am hoping that after Sat night/Sun morning we are home free and clear as far as cold nights.

Megan, I did notice that our temperatures from here right up through your area and north of it were remarkably consistent with one another this past week. I hope that is a good sign that the roller coaster weather is going to start leveling out after Sunday morning.

I woke up early this morning, like around 4 or 5 am and looked at my phone to see how cold temps were on the OK Mesonet map. Then I looked at our forecast because I saw some colder temperatures than what had been forecast, and noticed that 12 counties had a Frost Advisory issued at something like 3:40 am. Sure, that helps everyone....issue a Frost Advisory at 3:40 a.m. thru 9:00 a.m. while everyone is sleeping and cannot run out and cover up tender vegetation. I suppose that temperatures and dewpoints met in the middle in the right way and, somewhat unexpectedly, they realized frost was going to happen....but issuing those things while we sleep basically helps nobody and seems pointless. I felt sorry for anyone who maybe trusted their forecast, didn't cover up plants, and then maybe awakened to a Frost Advisory and frost on their plants.

I felt relieved about the SF too. I had begun to fear we'd be out there with shivering bodies and rushing to get done, not because we didn't want to be together, but because we were so freaking cold. Let's hope the 27th doesn't let us down.

Our weather down here looks a little dismal for tonight and tomorrow. We have a chance of severe weather overnight with hail. Because, you know, hail is good and having it once isn't enough....more must follow. I am getting phone alerts in our Fire group from our Asst EMS Director (he's a big weather geek) and they say we (along with a lot of you) could get up to 2" of rain in a short period of time and could experience flooding (again, the same applies to a lot of you). They even had to cancel tomorrow morning's Medal of Honor parade scheduled for tomorrow morning, just across the river from us in Gainesville, TX. The parade is probably the public highlight of Medal of Honor weekend, and I believe 17 Medal of Honor recipients flew in for this year's Medal of Honor weekend and now they won't get to be in their own parade. I just hate that, but the risk of lightning and hail tomorrow morning were too strong, so in consultation with NWS-Fort Worth the Medal of Honor Board and the City of Gainesville cancelled the parade, only the second time it has been cancelled, I believe, in almost 20 years. So, the darned weather isn't only affecting us! Thankfully, Medal of Honor weekend has a jam-packed 3 or 4 days of activities and all the rest are indoors and will proceed as scheduled.

New things are blooming in my garden but now I cannot remember what they are. Age-related memory loss is real. Tomorrow I'll look at the garden, see them, and tell y'all. Oh, one of them is Pink Evening Primrose (not that I planted it there) that is blooming in the fenceline this morning. Soon I'll be sharing that plant with several of y'all. I do love how pretty they are when in bloom, but hate how they aggressively reseed everywhere.

Gotta go. The kids are loading up my grand-birds and I need to tell the birds (and kids) good-bye.

Dawn
dbarron
5 years ago
I hope you managed to get the grand-birds off ;)

I managed to skip by on the frost, though the magical top of the car had it, it didn't touch the ground or plants. I always wondered why cars were super-conductive of temperatues?

Finally, even late bud breakers like Fringe Tree and the infamously invasive albizzia are break buds. Sounds like spring?
hazelinok
5 years ago
I'm pretty sure it didn't frost here over night. It was cold this morning, but the wind was calm and the sun was out...so it was somewhat pleasant. I did cover the columnar apples trees as I mentioned before. They are still covered.

After work, I finished potting up the coleus and my tomatoes.

There are blooms on my Ashe County pimentos.

My cats have chewed on a zinnia and a pepper. So annoying. We've avoided this so far.

I'm so ready to spend a day outside. Tomorrow won't be it.

I think I'll fix soup tomorrow and maybe watch TV. I haven't done that in a while. Maybe catch up on my YouTube channels.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
dbarron, I did! The birds and humans were positively giddy and excited about jumping into their vehicles and heading home, so it was a really quick goodbye. They still have to come back tomorrow and get the final load of clothing and stuff, and two aquariums, but that won't take long. I know they are thrilled to finally be moving in. As a bonus, they had brought me a huge load (pickup bed full) of flattened boxes....moving boxes, appliance boxes, furniture boxes, etc. for the compost pile so the big compost pile is going to turn into an earthworm feeding and breeding factory soon. They love that cardboard. I still have the grand-fish for one more night. My sole responsibility is to turn off their aquarium lights tonight, turn them back on in the morning, and feed them. I think I can do that without messing it up. Y'all can imagine how quiet the house is tonight with our four human guests and their 7 tropical birds gone from our home. The dogs already have looked around for their little girls, couldn't find them, and now are moping and sulking. I think it will feel much too quiet for a while, but it is peak gardening season, so I'll be out in the garden all the time anyway.

I'm glad that your plants escaped frost. I've wondered that about vehicles and frost myself but never have researched it.

Yes, I noticed our mimosas are breaking buds too, and so are the pecan trees, which are usually about the last thing here. I also saw the first blooms on the rough-leaf dogwoods, which tend to be later than other Spring bloomers. I was just looking at the lovely spring green of all the tree foliage tonight and remarking to Tim that the light spring green will turn that darker summer green all too soon now. I love the light spring green, but it sure doesn't last long.

For us, the last somewhat worrisome night appears to be Sat night/Sun morning. It is supposed to be 39, so could be anywhere from 32 to 37 like it was last night. After that, maybe we are home free. We already are more than two weeks past our average last freeze date, so with every day that passes now, the odds of a last freeze drop a bit.

Jennifer, Today was really pretty weather. I wish tomorrow could have had today's weather.

Our storm predictor/tracker thing says our heavy rain starts in the overnight hours, but we might get a little break in the rain around 4 pm. I could run out then and cover up plants, or I might just decide to risk it. The bigger threat, especially for tornadoes, if much further to the south and east.

Here's tomorrow's Convective Outlook in case any of you have friends or relatives in the danger zone:

Day 2 Convective Outlook

If you are looking at the Day 2 Convective Outlook on Friday up to a certain point early Saturday, you'll see the Saturday Convective Outlook. At a certain point, though, Saturday becomes the Day 1 C. O. Please note the red area, which is the 'moderate' risk area. With this particular map, moderate is the second highest risk area, so that's the area most likely to have trouble.

Some areas have a TorCon of 7 for tomorrow. I didn't think it would be quite that high, but admittedly I was more focused on the cold weather we were expecting for the Spring Fling. I don't know why I am surprised. On any given April Saturday that we are having the Spring Fling, somebody in the south (usually Alabama or Mississippi) has a TorCon of 7, 8 or 9. Here's the map:

TorCon for Sat

Well, I don't think we've even aired out our tornado shelter yet. I guess we'll do that in the morning. It seems likely we'll escape the worst of it so I'll be watching areas further east.....like Louisiana, for example. I was going to leave the tomato plants out on the table tonight in the open air, but the risk of overnight severe weather changed my mind.

Dawn
jlhart76
5 years ago
Saw this & thought of your pollen pic, Rebecca.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
I'm hoping today's rain knocks down the pollen for a day or two.

We have had band after band of little thunderstorms and rain come through here. It is rainy, windy and cold but we haven't had hail and, so far at least, our strongest winds have only been in the upper 30s. We only have had about an inch of rain here so far, but out at our Mesonet station they've had almost 2". It is expected to rain all day and into the night. The thunder has sent the dogs hurrying, scurrying and hiding. They are not fond of thunder.

The house is quiet. The garden is soaking wet. Rain continues to fall. I am bored. Maybe I'll take a nap.

The kids, grandkids, and their pets all are gone now and all their stuff is packed up and gone with them, moved into their new house. Chris cleaned up their rooms after he loaded the last load of stuff. They are thrilled to finally be in their house and we are so happy for them, but now our home feels oddly quiet. I'm sure we'll get used to it being so quiet again.

I was hoping/planning to get the entire back garden planted this week, but that seems less likely now. It is sandy-silty soil that takes on quicksand-like characteristics when wet, so I will plant when the soil says I can, not necessarily when I want to.

If the weather is nicer tomorrow like it is supposed to be, I think I'll go plant shopping just because I can. Lately I've been too busy all the time to do stuff like that and it has been driving me mad. I really need some plant shopping time and this year there's never enough hours in a day.
Nancy RW (zone 7)
5 years ago
Our plans are to go fishing tomorrow. Well, Garry's plan is for us to go fishing tomorrow. After this brrrr cold wet day, I may be reluctant to stick my head outside tomorrow. (Well, we WILL have to go to Palm Sunday church. . .)

I'm bored today, also, Dawn, but pleasantly bored. We labored far too hard this past week!

I'm sure it is VERY quiet with the kids suddenly gone. I wonder how long it will seem that way to you.

It's raining so hard out there, but is turning greener and greener! Even just with today's rain. I do love all that greenness.

Hazel, Laughed at your naughty cats. Eileen brought pandan plants to Amy and me. My cats (well, Jerry) thinks pandan is just YUMMY. I had it up on my highest shelf under my fluorescent lights in here, but then still had to put up a blockade, as he has no problem getting up to that shelf. So I have been worried about where I can put it out in the yard. Aha! I stuck it in the wheelbarrow I am betting he'll never see it there. Especially since the sweet grass is just about 3 feet away. And they ALL love the sweet grass.

I had a hard time with columbines germinating. . . I stratified them, along with verbenas, rose campion, echinacea, I did not expect much but to my extreme delight, currently have 9 of the little buggers, many many rose campions, echinaceas. And hardly any verbena--not surprised. I think there are 4 of them. I am very excited about many of the new things I'm trying this year and will be excited to see what transpires.

How many of you have grown Sweet Sultan? How about mullein phoenician? I do hope there aren't downsides to them.

Do you experts have advice or opinions on growing tropical milkweed? Here's an interesting link I see. Well at any rate, "bloodflower" looks beautiful, and the germination was probably 100% and no stratification of course, since it's tropical. https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/is-tropical-milkweed-killing-monarch-butterflies/

Not raining now. We have 1 1/4" so far.
hazelinok
5 years ago
Nancy, I'm pretty sure my naughtiest cat is Juneau. She doesn't go outside so doesn't expend energy that way... like Finbar. Luckily she only chewed on one zinnia and one pepper. They should recover. I've reshifted some plants, so hopefully that will prevent future chewing.

What a tough weather day. The dogs are miserable. The chickens are wet because they seem to be lacking sense today.

While walking Josi out (in the driving rain), I noticed that the columnar trees had fallen over! The tomato cages were being made heavy by the sheets. I quickly put Josi in the house and rain out to pull the sheets off and cut the tomato cages apart. It wasn't easy because it was all tangled up, along with clips holding the sheets to the cage. Lesson noted. I think the trees will be okay. My fingers were white with Raynaud's. Maybe next time I should get gloves and a raincoat. Maybe next time don't panic. They things we do for our plants.

Dawn, try to enjoy your quiet time...and have fun plant shopping tomorrow.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Nancy, I expect it will take a while for the house to feel normal again. We had gotten used to the screeching of the tropical birds, the sounds of a lot more feet going up and down the staircase, etc. Yesterday I came into the living room and automatically turned the TV on to Nickelodeon just out of habit because I'm so used to having it on for the kids to watch the cartoons. It was on for a minute or two before I realized there were no children here and switched it to The Weather Channel to see what was going on weatherwise. lol.

We had a lot of rain considering it rarely rained hard but was mostly just a steady light to moderate rain that came in waves as the storm rotated around the low pressure center. We're back to being a colossal mud pit again, but I have high hopes that maybe it will dry up fairly quickly in the drier, warmer weather we're expected to have for the next few days. I believe rain and the chance of severe weather return mid-week.

Centaureas in general don't like our clay, especially when it is wet, so I don't grow them much. I think I've grown Sweet Sultan only once, and it was in a very wet and cold Spring and didn't do well here. Mullein does fine but tends to be invasive when happy so, believe it or not, I avoid it because I do not want for every single plant in my garden to be an invasive one, and I have too many of those types already.

I have no issues with tropical milkweeds and think it mostly is just a pawn in some sort of power struggle between different factions in the gardening-for-monarchs segment of the gardening world. When I have grown it, the monarchs seem to ignore it for the most part---perhaps because we have fields and fields around us with wall-to-wall (or maybe I should say fence-to-fence) native milkweeds in season. The monarchs always seem to prefer the natives, so those are the ones I try to grow for them. I do love the colors of the tropical milkweeds as they seem to blend nicely with a lot of the hot-colored flowers we have in bloom in our garden in summer, including Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis), Texas lantana (Lantana horrida, a name that always makes me laugh), miscellaneous other forms of lantana, and Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans). Because of our heat, our summer plants tend towards flowers in hot summer colors of yellow, orange, red, coral, etc. I might feel differently about tropical milkweed if I lived in a coastal area where it undoubtedly is overplanted and probably in bloom far too late in the season. I can understand why it probably should be cut back near the end of their migratory period so the monarchs will keep on heading towards their overwintering grounds in Mexico. If disease builds up on it, then obviously that is an issue we don't see as much with the native milkweeds that are not as long-lasting each season.

Jennifer, Oh those cages and sheets sound like a mess! I would imagine the trees would have been fine uncovered.

Our cats finally have calmed down and stopped nibbling plants so much, but to some extent, it always has been a problem. It is just as they get older, the prefer sleeping in the sunroom to devouring my plants. When they are outdoors it is not such a big deal, maybe because there's a large area to roam and they don't focus overly much on the garden, other than coming in there meowing to find me when they need to be petted or to have their tummy rubbed or whatever. After they get a little loving attention, they run off to play again. It might help that we grow catnip, catmint and catgrass in the garden for them. I don't know. One thing they've never outgrown is nipping the bean sprouts and eating them, so when beans are sprouting I try to keep the cats away from them until they've leafed out a bit more and no longer are so appealing as cat snacks.

Our chickens lack the sense to come in out of the rain too. We combat that somewhat by only opening their door to go out into their chicken run instead of letting them free-range. They'll get bored if they aren't free-ranging and often decide to just go back into the coop after a while, thereby staying dry more of the time. Yesterday while we were covering up plants, the winds rose into the 40s and the trees were waving and the wind was sort of roaring and it scared the rooster. He started having a big fit...the sort of loud screaming he'll do when there's a coyote, a hawk or some other perceived danger. We couldn't find any reason for his distress, other than the loud wind, so Tim just herded the chickens into their coop and closed the door leading out to the chicken run so they would feel safe and sound. It was only a couple of hours earlier than they usually would put themselves up, and it probably was good for them to get inside out of the moisture.

I think the most frustrating thing yesterday was that we are so used to being outdoors and being busy on the weekends. It was really hard to stay indoors. We rarely have days like that where it literally rains all day, and I'm glad.

The weather news is just so dismal this morning. The Franklin TX tornado and the others that hit about 100 miles from Franklin killed several people and the one near Alto tore up the Caddoan Mounds museum there during some sort of festival. Then there were more tornadoes last night and this morning, all of them destructive and some of them deadly. I hate severe thunderstorm and tornado season. It doesn't even take a tornado to do massive damage---large hail stones and strong winds do a lot of damage too. The propensity for severe weather makes April and May less enjoyable, weather-wise, than they otherwise would be.

Last night's weather was odd. We were down to 40 degrees by around 9 p.m. with an overnight forecast low of 39. Then, before midnight the temperatures begin rising again and didn't drop again, so the time we spent covering plants was in essence wasted time. Oh well, that probably was it for this year and I'm glad. We just as easily could have gone colder than forecast, so it probably always is better to be safe than sorry.

Last night a cardinal was perched on a little ledge up underneath the roof of the back porch when the dogs went outdoors one last time before bedtime. Poor thing. I think it was just trying to stay warm and dry. I imagine all the songbirds would like for the cold to back off a bit too. It just seems so bizarre (yet it happens every Spring) to have highs in the upper 80s or lower 90s and lows in the 30s all in the same week.

Maybe the new week's weather will be kinder, but I do see possible severe weather in our forecast for mid-week so maybe it won't be.

Dawn

April 2019, Week 2, Spring and Not Winter, Right?

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