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okiedawn1

May 2019, Week 1, If April Showers Bring May Flowers.....

Happy Maypril.


This week's rain started early at our house with a 3:30 a.m. thunderstorm that sent the dogs scurrying for their favorite hiding spots. We got about 0.60" of rain, which isn't how I wanted to start the week considering today was supposed to be the good, rain-free day, we intended to use to work in the yard and garden all day before the heavy rain period begins. So much for well-laid plans....


If this is the good rain-free day, I dread the next three days.


The ground remains heavily saturated with high soil moisture levels. I have some plants that are not happy at all....including onions (planted late, and enduring far too much muddy soil even in their raised bed), sugar snap peas (also too wet and just stunted and stalled for no apparent reason except the perpetual mud and rain) and everything planted at grade level as compared to those plants in raised beds or containers. The grade level plants probably won't survive this week's rainfall if we get the amount of rain they have forecast for us, but I expect the raised bed plants will survive. I am worried about the fate of the corn seed and bean seed if we get 3-4" of rain over three days. So far, I'm not willing to compare the rainfall since September to that of 2015, but this spring does remind me of the very wet, often flooding, years of 2010, 2007 and 2004. I think 2004 eventually became a good garden year in mid-summer after the spring rainfall finally ended....and, then, as Oklahoma weather often does, it became too dry by late summer.


Good things are occurring in the garden, despite the excess moisture. Both the lettuce and the Swiss Chard are huge and being harvested using the cut-and-come-again method. A lot of the flowers look great. The herbs are happy. The tomato plants are growing well, blooming and fruiting and enjoying the mild weather. The same is true of the pepper plants. The garden is full of lots of beneficial insects, and very few bad ones. It isn't a bad gardening year---it is just that the rain makes it a very challenging one. It is hard to keep up on the mowing and edging when the grass stays too wet to mow so much of the time.


In not so great news, we have a bumper crop of skeeters.


I have no idea what this week will be like, in terms of getting things done in the garden. I was hoping to plant and weed today in advance of the rain, which foiled things by sneaking in early this morning. Then, I am planning to spend time in between rain showers getting the back garden ready to plant. That is tricky, though, as the silty-sandy soil back there where all planting is done at grade level turns into quicksand like stuff with heavy rain....so it has been that way since last fall, making it impossible to work in there at all. I'm in trouble if it doesn't dry out back there because that is where all the heat-loving summer crops are supposed to grow. As gardeners, we all know we need rain and appreciate getting it, but when too much of it falls for months on end, it becomes just another garden problem.


What are y'all planning to do this week? Whatever it is, I hope the weather allows you to do it.


Dawn

Comments (43)

  • luvncannin
    4 years ago

    My goal this week and next week is to get all my Spring Fling babies in big new pots with lots of soil so they will be happy until I move and then I start digging massive quantities of irises

  • hazelinok
    4 years ago

    Hi Everyone. I've sorta been following along at all the different threads and FB groups etc., but decided to just post here to check in.


    Had a short but great time yesterday. Thank you all for the plant gifts. Some of them are already planted. The peppers from Bruce. The Heidi (from Bruce) and the Juliet (from Dawn). It was funny trying to find a place to squeeze in a spot for them. I didn't plan on more than 10 tomatoes AND Dixondale sent very generous bundles of onions, so I have onions tucked into all empty spots. It's all good though...got it figured out. In fact, I should have grabbed a couple more. LOL!


    The large sage clump is planted too...that is all so far.

    I will let some of them get some size to them before planting. Super excited about them all!

    The bronze fennel, Nancy. What can you tell me about it? Trying to decide where to put it. My herb beds are full. I might have to build another one! Some of my herbs didn't die back over the winter and are good sized, like the tansy, oregano, and burnet. Then in the other herb bed; lemon balm and the large lavender which is coming back strong. The cilantro is plentiful and huge, but it will soon be a goner. I do have some other questions about the items gifted to me, but I'll save them for another time.


    The pole beans are all up and I couldn't be happier with them...well, I could and will if they actually produce well for me. The bush beans aren't up yet.

    The garden really is starting to look pretty. <3


    My garden needs a bit of rain. Not too much...just an inch or so would be good. If we can put a request in...I'm asking for a slow steady rain of an inch or so.


    Other than gardening...

    I worked until noon and came home to cook lunch, which was very good btw. Our nephew and his wife have a garden and want chickens so I gave them a tour. Then, we went grocery shopping for the week and walked the dogs. I got about half an hour in the garden and loved it even though the wind is awful.


    I have no idea what this week brings. I'm almost numb. Maybe after a good nights sleep, I can think clearly.

    I'm pretty sure girls still receive corsages for proms, so must check into that. Next weekend is full and I'm sorta dreading it even though it's all good stuff. But what is weird...I can't even remember what the time between right NOW and next weekend

    involves. I know there is a huge list of stuff, but I can't remember a single thing.


    Okay...let's all hope for just the right amount of rain for each of us.

    :)


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  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago

    Dawn has sent out warnings about fennel. . . It's a (ANOTHER) very happy and exuberant plant. But I like having all the re-seeded ones, since the Swallowtail butterflies LOVE it. Mine's in a lot of shade--actually pretty heavily dappled shade--but so is the parsley, lemon balm, oregano and spearmint and it doesn't seem to thwart any of them much.

    Dawn or someone else could probably tell you more about it. I love it--it's lovely--until the caterpillars have stripped it.



  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    4 years ago

    Dawn, will fennel grow in full sun? Duke it out with tansy? I had plans for it back in Jan. I've slept since then.

    It was good to see you all Sat. I was too aggravated from the trip too visit with everyone. I heard Megan behind me before and during the door prize. I meant to get over and talk to you. Missed H/J all together. I blame it all on the GPS.

    I am reading Dorothy's book "Keep Your Fingers In The Dirt". I'm enjoying it so much!

    I can't decide weather to put everything in the ground now before rain or wait a week. I think Dawn's tomatoes should be in the ground. I want to plant tomatoes today. Maybe stick bean seeds in the ground.

    I am supposed to go to TMD with friends this week. And they're planning a birthday lunch for me too. Add in a trip to Bartlesville. Sigh. I did nothing yesterday except read.

    I hope none of you get TOO much rain. The last 2 rain events have missed me. If it doesn't rain tonight I'll have to water!

    XOXO

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    4 years ago

    Little black caterpillars eating radish leaves and something ate the leaves off all the carrots on the tub table. WTH! And the first asparagus beetle I have seen. Grrr.

  • robert_higgins_okc
    4 years ago

    " The pole beans are all up and I couldn't be happier with them...well, I could and will if they actually produce well for me. The bush beans aren't up yet. "


    Yayyyyy Hazel, so glad that you got some better germination. One problem solved :)

  • dbarron
    4 years ago

    It's amazing how fast things are growing after such a late/cold spring. I have asiatic lilies with buds visible, as well as other summer flowers.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Kim, I got about 75% of my Spring Fling plants in the ground today and expect to finish up tomorrow morning, but I didn't have nearly as many to plant as you do.

    I was really productive and got a lot done in the garden today (it is amazing how hard you can work when you know that the forecast is full of rain and you're trying to get everything done ahead of the rain).

    Jennifer, Put your fennel in the back of a bed or in some sort of out of the way place because it can get quite large.

    I hope you can get a good night's sleep and recharge your body and your mind. Then I bet your forgotten list will be easy to remember again.

    Amy, Fennel will grow anywhere. Full sun. Full shade. Anything in between. One year it reseeded into the lawn outside the garden. Tim mowed it down every week. It just regrew. You cannot keep fennel down. It will hold its own against tansy.

    Pests always are worse in wet springs. So, just prepare yourself. We were really rainy in 2010 and had the worst caterpillar year ever. I sprayed my entire garden, especially the brassicas, potatoes and tomatoes, with BTk weekly because climbing cutworms were literally destroying every single plant in the garden. You couldn't even find Bt in any store....not in big box stores, not in farm stores, not in nurseries. It was backordered or sold out everywhere on line. We checked at every store around....from here to Dallas and back every week until we finally were in a farm store one day as they were unloading that week's delivery and we bought 2 of the 6 bottles of Btk they'd just received. I didn't feel guilty about buying 2 bottle either. I had a garden to save. The birds are eating caterpillars in my garden. I hope they are getting them all.

    The last two times they have forecast big rainfall (3-4" on the 7 day QPF), it mostly missed us. I am hopeful it will miss us again. My soil is still very saturated and, of course, we had that rain yesterday morning so any dryingof the soil we had achieved is gone again. There's puddles sitting on the ground, so I'd say the soil here is 100% saturated. The last two days, the heavier rainfall amounts have shifted away from us. I'm excited about that.

    Today one of our firefighters reported seeing 7 storm chaser trucks in Burneyville around 11 a.m. I was just laughing about that, sure it was not a sign of anything. We aren't forecast to get any severe weather today, so I am assuming they were gathering there and then were going to head west and south into the higher risk area in TX or OK by crossing over the Taovayas Indian Bridge.

    dbarron, It sounds like your temperatures are in the zone now and your plants must be incredibly happy. Enjoy all that rapid growth. I love it when Spring starts busting out all over.

    The temperatures in the mid-80s here now are pushing things along too quickly. The cilantro is bolting. The lettuce is not far behind, and the broccoli is looking sort of suspicious as well. I'm not ready for all this. If we'll stay cloudy the rest of this week, which is what our forecast predicts, we'll only be in the upper 70s so maybe the cool-season plants can calm down a little.

    I'm trying to remember if there's anything new to report in the garden today. The cool-season crops look great except for the ones that are trying to bolt. Usually, for us, the beginning of May is the beginning of the end for the cool-season crops so this is just about typical.

    The tomatoes on the early plants look fine, but we've been cloudy too long and will not, for the first time in a decade, be eating our first ripe home-grown tomato in April. Oh well, we've had a good run. There's two tomatoes on a Bush Early Girl that are right on the verge of breaking color and I've been watching them, but with so little sunshine this Spring, they just are being extra pokey. Maybe we'll be eating the first BLT sandwiches by the weekend or by next week.

    I observed very light herbicide damage on catnip at the far SW corner of the garden today. So far that is the only herbicide damage I've observed in recent days. Catnip is pretty sensitive to herbicide drift so I was not surprised to see this.

    Our soil is still very, very wet so I did what I could, but that meant mostly working at the drier upper end of the garden and not at the lower wetter end. I got a lot of planting done and quite a lot of weeding and miscellaneous chores completed. Now, if only the rest of this week's rain would miss us. It won't.


    Dawn

  • Lisa_H OK
    4 years ago

    The best part of tranplanting before a rain is the rain will water everything in soooo much better than I ever will!


  • hazelinok
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Hey Y'all.

    Thanks for the fennel advice.

    Robert, I know. It's so exciting to see the pole beans. Thanks to everyone for all that advice, too.

    I'm freaked out because I've just learned that I'm needed to work extra hours this week because of...reasons...well, it's helping someone out. I really am depressed about this. I just...am so anxious about it. Why now?

    Was going to charge forward and plant the okra today. Except I can't find the okra seed! Jen sent Stewart's Zeebest seed...and I can't find it! Ugh!!!

    If y'all pray, please pray for me...Pray that I get through this week. My face and head feel numb from anxiety. I don't normally get like this.

    Picked up a few flowers today to put in the front porch pots. And went to the cemetery. Lane would be 21 today. Do you ever feel like you're in the past, present and future? As I was thinking about 21 years ago which seems like now, in some ways, I flashed 21 years to the future--I was looking out my kitchen window and there was a man standing in my back garden doing some sort of work or chore.

    Off to take the dogs out and bath and bed.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago

    I thought we only had about 10 tomatoes here still sitting on the deck. I took six huge ones to the pastor's porch today and still had 13 left on the deck. Spose the little suckers are multiplying!

    Are we all decompressing from getting ready for SF and then actual SF? We left OKC and got home about 6 or so. . .

    Sunday was another just-as-much-fun day. Larry and Eileen came over, GDW and Larry went fishing, Eileen and I had a marathon talk fest session. All her questions about American life make my head hurt. She tells me she's confused about how America works, and every time we get into one of these talk fests I end up telling her at the end that I am also confused! LOLOL She is very good work for me. Makes my brain try to work. AND by the way, I wish you all could hear about Singapore! What an amazing city/nation. Lifelong learning is such a wonderful thing. I have had so many gifts in the form of people in OKGW, and Eileen is certainly one of them! I admire her and love her lifelong learning desire. Not only that, but Larry loves to fish! A couples match made in heaven, in some important ways. And besides that, they actually don't mind driving around! LOL And besides that, they aren't age bigots, nor are we.

    HJ, so Lane died on the 29th? Russ died on April 23. For all of those who have lost loved ones. . . blessings and prayers. I am still smarting mightily 2 years later for losing my brother David, who gave me the giant grow cart, and who was one of my very best friends. We adored each other and I miss him every gardening day. (So like most of a year.) Can't begin to tell you all how often I think, "Oh how I wish David was a phone call away. . " We talked plants constantly and gardening and all things plant-like.

    I got almost all of the SF things in today, plus many of my own. I always groan, knowing there will be a significant rearrangement later. I still have a lot of the "school's" plants in.

    I also groaned at all the beds I gotta work on getting the $%^&*(Bermuda out of. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Bermuda.

    I'm with Dawn on the onions. . . probably a no-show.

    Much more to report on but fading fast here. XOXO




  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Lisa, I agree. I hope to finish planting a lot of stuff before the rain arrives today so it can benefit from the rainfall.

    Jennifer, Well, with tons and tons of rain in the forecast, the extra time at work might not be so painful since you probably couldn't be out in the rainy garden? I hope working the extra hours won't make it too hard to prepare for and attend all of Ethan's senior year school activities.

    I will pray for you and hope the anxiety fades. Got lavender or lavender essential oil? I always find the scent of lavender extremely soothing.

    I know that Lane's birthday must be difficult--joyful, of course, because it is the anniversary of his birth, and yet also incredibly painful because he is no longer here on this earth with you. No wonder you are feeling the way that you are, and yes, I have experienced feeling the past, present and future all at the same time---often when thinking of dearly beloved family members and friends who no longer are here. Lately a lot of our younger friends have been losing their dads and it has stirred up all my memories of losing my dad 15 years ago---you would think that after all those years, remembering his death and thinking about all the years we have had here without him wouldn't be so painful, and yet it is. In a way, the depth of the pain this many years later surprises me. I am sure that is even more true for you with Lane because each of us expect our parents will pass away before we do, but none of us expect our child will. Perhaps seeing that man tending your yard 21 years in the future is just your heart's way of reminding you that Lane always will be with you in your heart, mind and soul.....tending the garden along with you, metaphorically speaking, even if you cannot physically see him. You know, I feel strongly that the people who leave us are still with us in a spiritual way because they are a part of who we are.

    Nancy, I am thinking I might set the record for smallest onions ever grown in my garden. My pitiful onions only have 7 leaves, and normally they'd have 10 or 12 by now, headed for 15 leaves before harvest. Since leaf count and leaf size influences bulb size, my harvest will be nothing to get excited about this year, especially with the short day varieties but then, when I planted them late in what still was incredibly wet soil, I knew this was likely. That's why I just went to Atwood's and bought cheap onions (still were Dixondale's though...just old and dried out) instead of ordering the nice ones fresh from Dixondale. I did toy with the idea of not planting any at all, which might have been the smarter choice. The leaves on my onions aren't especially large either---they look pitifully small and the chives loom over them like huge giants. Maybe I'm going to harvest pearl onions this year instead of baseball to softball sized onions. Oh well, it is what it is. We get the weather we get. Some years, it has rained so much at once (and our soil likely was not yet as well-improved as it is now) that onions have just flat rotted in the garden and we had no onion harvest, so I am not going to complain if all we get is small onions because at least we'll still have them. There is a little nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me the onions are a waste of space this year and I should have planted something else there. Oh well, I'm not going to yank them out now. Of course, if large hail pummeled them into a pulpy mess, I would yank them out, throw them on the compost pile and put something else there in their space. We are in the hatched space for large (2" or greater diameter hail) hail today, so it could happen.....

    Ha ha ha on the tomatoes multiplying. It does happen. I have two flats of leftover tomato plants that I am going to toss on the compost pile today. If I don't do that, I'll keep trying to squeeze more into the ground. I saved space for two plants that Bruce brought to the SF for me and for 3 others and those all go into the ground this morning. I'm tired of staring at leftover plants in flats, and I just need to move on. With all the rain that is in the forecast, the 25 or 30 tomato plants I toss onto the compost pile probably will root into it and then we'll have a big mess of a compost pile.

    I tried to decompress from the SF as I was pretty worn out, but we had stopped at Chris and Jana's on the way home, helped unloaded their new table and benches from our SUV so we could have it back, moved our plants from their SUV to ours, spent quite a lot of time discussing their front retaining wall that they are getting ready to replace (Chris is at the drawing-plans-up-on-paper stage), did the same with the plans to renovate the entire front yard, etc., and by the time we finally made it home, my brain was even more overloaded. I tried to rest on Sunday but we had to make the CostCo run as we hadn't been in several weeks, etc, and I plant shopped on the way home...bringing home 7 quart-sized perennials to plant. I did spend Sunday afternoon not gardening, resting instead while Tim mowed. Well, if you consider doing laundry and stuff resting. I guess I did do some work, but indoor stuff instead of outdoor stuff. I made up for it by gardening hard on Monday though.

    Oh, what painful memories of losing both your son and your brother. I didn't realize their deaths both were in April. I hope you are finding some comfort in your memories of them. I haven't lost either a child or a sibling, so I am sure I do not really understand the depth of the pain involved.

    Hmmm. You might have mentioned at least once or twice that you hate bermuda grass. Don't we all? When someone speaks up and defends bermuda, all I can think is that clearly they are a lawn person and not a garden person. Chris says he isn't even going to plant bermuda grass in his front yard, which right now is a weed haven for bees. He's drawing up elaborate designs for a formal front yard with shrub and perennial beds and pathways, and no grass to speak of, but will have to do the structural work....a new retaining wall, a new sidewalk and the new walkways planned to separate the different formal beds from one another.....first, so I am not sure when he'll actually get to plant. So far I haven't even seen bermuda grass in his shady front yard, so probably his yard is too shady for it. Shading it out is about the only way to get rid of it, and I've been working on that in our front yard....trying to get it shady enough that I can replace the bermuda grass with ground covers. We're aren't that shady yet.

    Today's forecast looks a little unnerving for some areas with severe weather possible over a large portion of the state. Many counties have a Flood Watch. April and May would be so much more enjoyable here if the weather would tone it down a little. I'll never forget May 3, 1999, and the tornadoes didn't even come this far south....but every single person we knew in Texas was calling us all night long, waking us from a sound sleep, to see if we just had been hit by the tornadoes (which clearly reflected the fact that they didn't realize how far from OKC we are). Since we had zero TV reception here then (we soon would change that by buying DirecTV because there is no antenna type reception in the low-lying areas here), we didn't even know there were ongoing tornadoes in the OKC area. We'd only lived here a couple of months and didn't have a tornado shelter then, but put one in the following Spring.

    I'm still not liking the large rainfall totals on the 7-day QPF, and it seems like a lot of us have a chance of rain every single day for the next week. I think the plants' sunshine shortage clearly will continue.


    Dawn

  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago

    Today is my day off to plant stuff, but the storms will probably prevent that.


    My Tropicana rose is blooming, but not the bright coral color it should be. It’s dark red. My aunt once told me the reason for this, but I’m having trouble remembering what to do about it. Help? Nancy?

  • hazelinok
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Nancy, so glad you had a good talk and time with Eileen and Larry.

    Your multiplying tomato plants? Maybe you can take them somewhere and give them away. Surely there's some place/someone who would want them. You too, Dawn. LOL stand outside of Walmart and offer them to people looking at tomato plants. I'm sure the store would love that.

    Lane's BD is April 29. I remember that your son's and my son's BDs and DDs were opposite--December and April.

    It's pouring here now. So glad it held off until today. We needed to help Tom's sister and BIL with some things regarding their RV. It had a broken part and they need to get to Dallas for doctor and vet appointments. It's been a year since they've been "home". The don't have a house there any longer. Their RV is their house.

    My onions look okay. They have 5 leaves but look healthy. Of course my onions are normally behind yours, Dawn.

    My FB memory from "Garden Monday" last year popped up this morning. The garden was further along last year. We were harvesting peas. I only have flowers right now. My cardinal vine was bigger too and it was purchased nearly the same day last year. But, the garden looks nice and healthy. OR it did. Not sure what the rain will do to it. probably depends on how much rain we end up with. Right?

    It is a weird feeling to be in 3 "times" at once. I've always done that, even as a child. I would be somewhere and know that I would be back at that time one day...and would "be in" the future too. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure y'all do it too, so you understand. The man in the back garden--I can just see the back garden through the space between the shop and coop...and could see him there. It wasn't Tom. My emotions weren't happy or sad...just contemplative then. Anyway...

    I'm sure I'll get through this week. There's a lot going on that I haven't talked about regarding my job, which is bigger than just a job. Plus the many things we have going on and my exhaustion from it. And the people who need to talk to someone and it's often me. And I can't help them, but absorb their emotions...and it's worse when I'm already tired. It's a role I don't mind normally, but there are times like now when my schedule is full and there's not enough rest to recharge. Rest includes time alone working on projects. My head is numb, which is a protection, so that is good. I'll be a robot for a couple of weeks. I just need to not forget anything important that could be dangerous if forgotten, etc.

    At twilight, Tom came in and said, "the chickens' little door was closed and locked and they were trying to get in." Hmm. I must have closed it and locked it midafternoon when I went for the eggs. Why? I have no memory of doing that.

    I think there were other things I wanted to talk about, but only made it back to Nancy's and Dawn's posts and wasted time talking about all my weirdness. I hope everyone enjoys some rest during this weather event--maybe catch up on netflix or gardening youtube channels. That's what I would be doing.

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    4 years ago

    H/J, try to rest. Know we love you (so sorry to have missed you Sat!)

    Miss Rebecca, Ron picked up a tray of orphaned tomato plants at the end of SF. Some had your initials on the cup. 2 were bigger pots and the only label is BB and BD. Were they yours? What are they?

    I sorted through my tomatoes AGAIN today. Picking the ones that will go in the ground SOMEDAY and the ones to give away to my Y girls (Wild Women of Owasso) who I'm scheduled to have lunch with Friday. ALL plants are in tubs under the "tub table" so, while they'll get wet, no hail should reach them. If I get energetic I will go out and harvest spinach before the next wave. I tried to talk myself into planting beans, but it didn't happen. I kind of want to see what this first wave of storms will bring, because so far we've only been sprinkled on AGAIN. I'm sorry, some of you are facing saturated soil and floods. I just can't figure out why the rain keeps ignoring us.

    Stay safe.

  • okoutdrsman
    4 years ago

    Amy, if they were some of mine, BB would be Big Beef. I didn’t have any that would have been BD, tho. I tried to go back and write the full name on the plants I brought, but I know I missed a few.

    I’m afraid this isn’t going to be a stellar year for onions. Most varieties are doing fairly well considering how late they were planted. Copra is an utter failure this year. Out of 2 45’ rows, I might have 2 or 3 that survived. Linda Workman Smith said hers did the same.

    Looks like the storms are going to miss Asher at least for now, so I’ll get plants loaded and delivered to the Sr Center.

  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago

    BB should be Brandy Boy. I bought my Big Beef Plants this year. Give me a bit on BD. Can’t get to my stuff to look at.


    Harvested some spinach for dinner. Provided its not storming at cooking time. Got my crown replaced today, now holed up at home watching the Official State Television Show, aka, severe weather coverage.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Rebecca, Roses can change color for several reason. It can be weather related. Sometimes cold weather intensifies pink and red colors so much that it seems like the flowers have changed, but then in more normal weather they will have their original color. Or, heat can fade roses to very pale colors, also a temporary condition. Another possibility is that grafted roses sometimes send out branches from below the graft. Then the graft branches produce what basically are root stock roses and not the named hybrids grafted onto the root stock. If your rose froze back to the graft, then root stock roses are all you'll get. If, for some reason you are getting branches from the root stock below the graft and regular branches from above the graft, you can get roses of multiple colors---your original color plus the root stock color, which normally is red. Another possibility is that, if the red roses are appearing on one branch only, then that branch is a sport, or a mutation. You can prune it out, or you can root cuttings from it if you want to keep the sport going. Some nice roses have been developed from sports.

    Since we are ripe for tornadoes down here and have what appears to be our best chance (I'd personally consider it our worst chance, if you know what I mean) of having one here in years, I've got the TV on The Weather Channel. More about that at the end of this post.

    I moved the flats of stuff I am germinating for the back garden into the greenhouse in the hope that if all we get is hail or wind, they'll be safe in there. I brought Lucky indoors a little while ago once it became apparent she and I were not going to get to spend the day in the garden. She's fairly content for a cat who'd rather be outside. The semi-feral cat, Big Boy, that I feed daily is locked up in the garage with food and water to keep him safe from the storms. The garden is on its own. Everything is too big to cover up and, if we get a tornado instead of just rain, wind and hail, it won't matter, right? The extra flats of tomato plants now are composting. I have to let go of them at some point and I worry about them until I finally let them go, so it clears up my gardener's mind to not have to worry about them any more....sort of like purging useless stuff out of your cabinets, closets, etc.

    In my garden the BB could have been Brandy Boy or Big Beef this year. I don't grow any BDs but have grown NBD---New Big Dwarf in the past. If I was looking at my own BD label and wondering, I might be thinking it was Big Dwarf, Break of Day, Boondocks, or Break of Day.

    Now, the storms. I started texting Chris storm info as soon as warnings started popping up here because they were in Ada today and were headed home about the time the Tornado Warning for Pototoc and Murray counties popped up. To make a long story short, they outran the tornado---I think it was perpendicular to them--he sent me screen shots of the wall cloud and at one point said "I think I see a tornado coming down over towards Sulphur" which, in fact, was what I was watching on TV at that moment, and I sent him screen shots of the video of the tornado I was seeing from a KXII-affiliated storm chaser. Eventually they made it home safely, but it never is fun to be out on the road with a tornado and y'all known mamas worry.

    Our EOC is up and operating hours earlier than we had expected, and we have spotters out. My phone has been blowing up all morning with group chat from our various Emergency Management/First Responder and Skywarn groups. Nothing ever is going to be able to sneak up on me......lol. The conditions are in place for tornadoes along the Red River so everyone here is pretty antsy, but I think our activity is expected to be around 4-6 pm, and that one near Ada was an early outlier for some reason. Tim is in some sort of class until 5 pm and could not leave work early to beat the storms even if he wanted to, so he'll be driving home at the worst possible time....not the first time he's done it and not the last, and sometimes he has seen tornadoes while driving home or has sought shelter in a gas station or convenience store to avoid one.

    Tim had checked the tornado shelter previously and found no snakes and said it should be okay to use, but apparently didn't clean it out and air it out like he normally does. I opened it up, went down the ladder and looked and it is full of ants and spider webs, so I'd prefer to stay out of it today and then give it a good cleaning on the next day that it is not sprinkling raindrops randomly here. If I have to, I'll go in there but I won't be happy about it. I might carry a clean chair from the greenhouse with me. I want to take every single thing out of it (chairs, etc.) and give it a thorough cleaning and then spray it with orange oil to deal with the spiders and ants. It also smells very musty so probably needs to be left open for a couple of days to air out. The last time I did that, a snake moved in......

    Stay safe everyone. This looks like our worst tornado outbreak (in terms of number of warnings, but not necessarily in terms of damage or even actual tornadoes on the ground) in a few years so far. We also have to deal with strong winds, hail and potentially heavy rain---especially those of you in central through northeastern OK. And, just think, we have days of this left, so it isn't just today's issue.


    Dawn

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Exquisite iris, Larry!! I just decided this spring to check into getting more unusual ones. I haven't actually done it yet, but will.

    Thanks for the warning info Dawn. When we were supposed to have lots of rain today, and then it didn't, we assumed all was just fine and we didn't even worry about weather. We were totally ignorant of the bad weather, until Amy asked me in a PM if I'd seen the weather. Ignorance isn't always bliss.

    Yep, I'm with the rest of you onion folks. Mine aren't even as good as yours, Dawn. BUT. You're right. At least we'll have green onions. :) So glad we got many things planted at the school today. Although we haven't had much rain here, I bet they got enough to refresh the ones we got in. It is always so MUCH windier there than it is here. We must be a very sheltered area with all these trees around. I'm going to get beans in as soon as I can. And some of the Kitazawa summer squash. Otherwise I'm done with vegetables until I plant more for fall.

    And I still have three flats of seedlings to get into the ground, but many are just too little to put in. I'd lose them for sure in the jungle out there. lol SO thrilled to get all the vines into the ground at the school; what a nightmare growing vines and not being able to get them into the ground when they need to go in. Took me forever to get all of them untangled. We are going to have either the most beautiful fence there or the absolute ugliest--and we don't even have any morning glories in the mix yet. We just mixed them all up together--Hyacinth Bean vines, Thunbergia, Moonflower vines, firecracker vines, red coral honeysuckle, 38 of them! And then the Luffa/Chinese okra will be down a bit from the other vines. Now I need to more plants dug up from here and taken over--bee balm, Shasta daisies, fennel, parslen, other herbs. Stopped at Walmart and grabbed a bunch of bedding plants. . . . petunias, marigolds, Sweet Williams, Dusty Miller for the shallower beds on legs. So it was a busy morning. This afternoon, on the other hand, have accomplished hardly anything for watching weather stuff.

  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago

    I’m impressed that Travis Meyer broadcasted for almost 6 straight hours today, no break. He did what he needed to do, but I can’t imagine. I’m getting very heavy rain here right now. Today was supposed to be my planting day, but instead I did laundry and napped. I’m glad this weather front is coming through, maybe it’ll get rid of the headache I’ve had for the past few days.


    Amy, I think you got 2 Brandy Boys.

  • hazelinok
    4 years ago

    We got less than a half inch of rain. I'm okay with that.

    I think my onions will be okay. Unless something crazy goes down.


    Seems like everyone is safe. That's good. I suppose tomorrow will be like today? Moore Schools let kids be dismissed early. Everyone is very sensitive. With good reason. Children died here 6 years ago...I'm getting sad just thinking about it.


    Not much else to talk about...the garden still looks good. There's bugs on the greens. Tom didn't get the insect netting/hinged hoop made. We will still do that, but it may be a couple of weeks out. So far, the insects are leaving enough for me. I just have to triple wash and spin them all. No problem. It's worth it to have fresh greens. No worries about chemicals on these greens (just a bit of insect poo. lol)


    I'm going to go to bed early because I've got to wake up super early to do some extra work.


    It started raining again, I think. Of course the dogs need to go out.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Larry, That is a gorgeous Iris in Madge's flower bed. I hate that the weather is being so rough on the flowers. I'm sorry about your onions. After all the rain in Oklahoma today, I suspect some other folks will have the same problem if they didn't already have it before.

    Nancy, It just isn't often I hear them say "Wagoner" in connection with a tornado warning. I was hoping y'all weren't at the school garden, down on your knees planting, with no idea a storm was coming your way.

    I bet the fence will be gorgeous. The kids likely will be fascinated with the riotous mix of blooms. What could serve better to get them interested in gardening than them wanting to learn all about the plants climbing the fence? I hope the weather was kind to the garden as hard as you all have worked to get it planted.

    I have a lot more to plant....the entire back garden, but if it doesn't stop raining, I don't see how I'll ever get it done. If everything wasn't a total mudpit back there before yesterday's rain, it certainly is now. I might have to drop plans for everything that was going to be back there (most of the warm-season crops except for the tomatoes, peppers, corn and beans which are in the front garden) or seriously postpone planting them for months if this rain just keeps falling. I don't see any reason to knock myself out mudding-in seeds or plants into the back garden if it is just going to continue to rain and rain and rain. I know how that story ends....with plants literally rotting off at the ground and seeds rotting before they can sprout, so I'd just as soon not expend the time and energy if that is the fate of the back garden plantings. I had wanted to plant the tomato plants back there, but with no raised beds, it became apparent that I couldn't do that so they are in the front garden where Early Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot just lie waiting to get them in wet years. Maybe I can use the back garden for fall tomatoes if it dries up back there by late June. This means okra, squash, melons, gourds, roselle, cucumbers, southern peas and so much more are on hold until the back garden dries up enough to plant, if it even does. What if all this rain continues throughout May and into June like it often does in El Nino years? Rain is a blessing, but too much rain is a mixed blessing.

    Rebecca, Was Travis getting hoarse from non-stop broadcasting? I've noticed our local TV mets' voices all start getting a bit raspy and hoarse after being on the air for so long. We had two of them tag-teaming in the afternoon and evening, and they still were going strong during the 10 pm news as we had a couple of tornado-warned storms, still producing damage, even that late in the evening. I think they were going to go off the air when the 10 pm news ended because the tornado-warned cells were exiting the Texoma viewing area by then. Our local CBS station, KXII, has its own Doppler radar and does a superb job of covering the weather for a huge area on both sides of the Red River and I know they must have been exhausted by the time they finished up last night. Today they'll get to do it all over again.

    Jennifer, I cannot believe all that rain found a way to miss you. I gladly would have sent you some of ours if I could...and if you need rain. Maybe you're fine without it? There's rain in the OK forecast for the next 7 days, so undoubtedly some of us will get more rain.

    I think Moore always will be extra-sensitive to weather threats and to people's desire to get their kids early on days when the weather is threatening around school dismissal time. How could they not be so sensitive in a community that has suffered so greatly from tornadoes? If there is any community in this country that has suffered too much from the destruction, deaths and injuries caused by tornadoes, it is Moore. I guess we'd automatically have to group Joplin and Tuscaloosa in the same category too. I cannot even imagine what it feels like for survivors of the storms to have new tornado warnings stir up all their fears and feelings and such. Surely some people who went through the OKC and Moore (and other) tornadoes must suffer PTSD that is triggered by more storms. When May rolls around and it seems like some part of Oklahoma is at risk of severe weather pretty much every day, I always think of OKC, Moore and the other parts of central OK that have suffered so much at the hands of tornadoes in the last 20 or so years. I think every school building in our area (not that we have very many of them) that has been built or significantly remodeled since the Moore tornadoes have included safe rooms or tornado shelters in some shape, form or fashion. If taxpayers were not willing to vote for bond elections that included tornado protection before the Moore schools were hit, they certainly are willing to vote for those bonds now and pay the higher taxes to ensure the kids are safer. I think that is the legacy (and a sad legacy it is) of the Moore tornadoes---kids in many other areas also are safer now after everyone saw what the Moore school children, teachers, staff and parents went through just a few years ago. I personally think state law should require tornado safe rooms and/or shelters in every school built. In fact, even if it couldn't be applied retroactively, I think the OK building code should require tornado safe rooms or tornado shelters in every new residential building. There weren't many homes in our neighborhood with tornado shelters when we moved here and put ours in. Now they pop up in yards like mushrooms, and I think that is a good thing. It used to be that your neighbors knew they could come to your house to your tornado shelter if needed, but now that isn't really necessary because everyone has put in their own.

    Our dogs are so crazy. While thunderstorms scare them in general, the minute it starts raining they want to go outside even if they've been outside all day and I just called them in right before the rain hit. Last night they wanted to go out while there still was plenty of lightning and I just told them that they had to wait. I've already let them out this morning, around 4 a.m., but they didn't want to stay out long because it is so wet and muddy---and also really humid for so early in the day.

    Dawn

  • Megan Huntley
    4 years ago

    I'm behind and will hopefully find time to come back to read up comment and post more but wanted to drop in for a drive by....

    As of today, I have an 11-year-old. And just like the day she came into this world, I'm tired.

    Saturday after SF I worked into the dark with a lantern to get everything planted and thought I did. Yesterday, I discovered that the bee balm Nancy gave me is still in the cardboard box in the front flowerbed. It's doing fine though! Tough little bugger. Good thing I knew what I was getting myself into.

    I intentionally grabbed a few tomato plants at SF for a coworker - who also chipped in some cash for the pavilion rental - and she was super excited to get them. Who brought the Sioux? Anywho - the co-worker is of Cherokee descent and I teased her about growing Sioux tomatoes. We both got a chuckle. I did find one Cherokee Purple in the mix and gave it to her as well. The rest will go to a friend who owns a sitter service for older adults. She has found them a good home at a senior community.

    Birthday party on Saturday so probably not much time in the garden until after that. Too muddy anyway.

    Take care and have a great week.

  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago

    Megan, I had a couple Super Sioux.


    There was just over 3.5” in my rain gauge this afternoon. That’s a 24 hour total.

  • hazelinok
    4 years ago

    Hey Everyone. Just checking in. I'm not sure how much rain we've had because I can't remember if I emptied the rain gauge last time I checked. LOL. Anyway...we've had enough. It's very wet out there, but not awful (like 2015 when I could literally feel my plants drowning. It was so stressful.)

    The chicken pen has that smell that happens when there's a lot of rain. We were sent home from work because of potential bad weather...so I left by 7. Went to Sprouts to pick up my fav frozen pizza (Sweet Earth) and came home. No bad weather, though.

    I really should have harvested the asparagus, but didn't. I'll make myself get up extra EXTRA early to do that tomorrow. Just need to get through two more days...then maybe I can relax. Maybe. Or maybe 3 more days. Need to get through the Prom and the "goodbye" party for a coworker. Yes. 3 more days and then it will be better and I can sleep at night because I won't wake up every hour in a panic. Yes...3 more days.

    I think I have 2 broody hens now. I will let them sit on eggs soon. Maybe next week.


  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago

    Today really backfired on me. I didn't do much this morning--two loads of laundry, planted a few more seedlings. I had planned to go to the school, but it's FAR too wet. Our rain gauge had 2.8". and here, it's really okay to plant since it runs off or soaks in. What a vast difference in our soils. At any rate, when Garry decided he needed to go to Lowe's in Muskogee for lawnmower parts and weed whipper parts, I waffled before deciding I'd go, too, in case I spied a plant I needed. Not only did I not find such a plant, Garry didn't find his parts, either! So we went to nearby repair and new tools place, and I sat in the truck and waited. And waited, and waited some more. For almost an hour. I went in once and saw them all trying to figure it out. What a waste of MY day. He, however, got his parts. Finally. So just to say I did SOMETHING, I made a grocery list on the way back from Muskogee and we stopped in Wagoner and got groceries, and then I put them away when we got here. And made dinner.

    Then went out and planted all the garlic chives. Now Amy tells me that it too multiplies heavily. I have my regular chives in a mostly shady spot and it has NOT. Anyone?

    I'm beginnng to think I must plant all my herbs in shade! LOL

    I've been ripping out lemon balm and 4 o'clocks. AGGHH. I had only the fuschia 4 o'clocks in one large area. Now I'm putting in Don Pedro ones among them. Think I need another packet of them.


  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    If April showers bring May flowers, then our property will be flooded with flowers soon.

    Megan, Your 11-year-old mini-me is just so cute and precious, and I know that being a mother is exhausting. I hope y'all will have had a fun birthday party with her on Saturday. You're right, it is going to be too muddy to garden anyhow.

    I think that several of us brought Sioux as it is a great producer in our heat.

    Rebecca, That's a lot of rain for one day. We're up to 4.3" for the week so far with another 0.5-1.0" expected today and 1-2" more tomorrow. This rain is getting old quickly. We're already flooded---so now the question is how much more flooded we will be.

    I need to start building an ark so I can save two plants of every kind.

    Nancy, I just hate making trips like that where you drive all that distance and then they don't even have what you want and need. For those of us who live close to nothing and who must drive long distances to get to anything, that sort of shopping can take a huge chunk out of a day and it is frustrating when it is a non-productive trip. At least Garry finally got the parts he needed and you got to buy groceries (even though that isn't as much fun as buying plants).

    In my garden both garlic chives (white flowers) and onion chives (purple flowers) spread heavily. I grow my onion chives as an edging alongside the northern edge of one long raised bed. From the road, people can see the purple flowers just clearly enough to think I am growing lavender. It tricks them every time and they want to know what lavender grows well in our awful clay---I tell them the answer is none and that those purple flowers are chives. I do grow lavender, but in a tall raised bed that cannot be seen from the road, and it struggles in rainy, humid years so it certainly is nothing to get excited about here. I have dozens of onion chive plants and 2 lavender plants....and probably will lose those two within the next couple of weeks because they just cannot handle this constant moisture. It certainly isn't hard to see which of the two is more suited to our soil and climate.

    I did a quick walk-through of the garden this morning and it looks good considering it has had 4.3" of rain this week. There's not much standing water, which is a great thing, but this May is starting to feel like 2015 all over again and I don't like that. The month is young and things could change, but I don't think they will. I think we'll continue getting a lot of rain and sunshine will be rare.

    I harvested the first tomato yesterday. It had gone from green to the turning stage in 2 days, which is unusual. I normally harvest at the breaker stage, but never even saw this one at the breaker stage. When they are ready, they're ready, so I picked it and brought it indoors. Now if only some of its brothers and sisters would hurry up and break color too. It is from a Bush Early Girl plant that had flowers and possibly small fruit on her when I put her in the ground in late April. Normally we would have had fruit at least a week earlier, but the lack of sunshine and heat is slowing down everything.

    Here's the USDA tomato color/ripening chart that shows the difference between the different stages.


    USDA Tomato Ripeness Chart

    Some of the jalapeno pepper plants have fruit that is about an inch long already. The onions and peas continue to sulk and complain about two much rain and too little sunshine, but the potatoes seem happy. The lettuce and Swiss Chard are huge monsters thanks to all the rain, but if this heavy rain keeps up, the lettuce will start to rot at the base. All the flowers look great. The chamomile has been in bloom a long time and is starting to fade now. I could deadhead them and get more bloom out of them, but I probably won't. I usually just yank them out to make room for warm season plants that sprout and grow in the same area. Yesterday I noticed one lone Indian Paintbrush had sprouted in the asparagus bed. I think I'll leave it there. I'm still cutting back the asparagus hard to keep it from ferning out---not to be able to continue to harvest it, but because I'm in the second year of my ongoing battle to kill it so I can grow something in that space that will produce something for the entire growing season instead of just for a couple of months. After 10 years of asparagus and all the room it takes up with no one but me to eat it, I'm just completely over it.

    The pill bug and sow bug population in all the mulched beds is huge and they are starting to climb tomato plants and eat leaves. I don't know why they do this when there's tons of organic matter for them to eat. They are known as decomposers, but I have found they are opportunists who will eat anything they can find. If we ever can get a day where it isn't raining, I'll put SlugGo Plus in the tomato beds to rein in their population.

    I had to clean acrobat ants out of the mailbox twice this week. There were huge numbers of them in there. I assume they are climbing up into the mailbox to get out of the heavily saturated soil. I simply sprayed the inside of the mailbox with Windex to kill them, waited a couple of minutes for it to work, and wiped out the dead ants with paper towels. Then I sprayed the outside of the mailbox and the wooden post it is mounted on to kill the ones there. There were probably a couple thousand of them. When I get the mail from the mailbox this afternoon, I'll see if I need to kill ants again. It is going to be a battle to keep the ants out of places where they do not belong for as long as the rain keeps falling and the ground stays excessively wet. I try to leave ants alone (except when fire ants get into raised beds in the garden) and let them do their thing, but of course, you cannot tolerate having them come indoors or move into places like garden sheds, tornado shelters and mail boxes.

    Dawn



  • hazelinok
    4 years ago

    Well...I should have picked up a Sioux then! Next year.

    Bruce, your Heidi is coming along. I know you were sorta "worried' about it. It's looking good, though.

    My other tomatoes are too! My first tomato bloom (other than the Juliet from Dawn) will be on an Early Girl. It's almost there.


    Almost everything looks really good in my garden right now. The first small pea harvest will probably happen on Monday. There's small fruit on some of the sweet peppers. The greens are looking amazing. I'm eating them daily. Lettuce in a salad for lunch. Kale, mustard, collard greens for dinner. My body feels so much better, even with all the stress etc., when I eat like this.


    I'm getting a lot of asparagus--a harvest everyday. I still enjoy asparagus, so am happy to have it. Honestly though, I wish I would have only done one bed of asparagus. However, next year maybe I can freeze it. Does anyone freeze or can it? It would be nice to have out-of-season once in a while. Right now, I'm giving away bundles of it, but plenty of people are happy to have free asparagus. It's funny what impresses people.


    Everything is going so well in my garden, that I keep expecting a disaster. Things are looking good that have never looked good. Even the Pinkie Indian Hawthorn. It's never looked good, but does this year. Why? I have no idea. The only thing different is that I mulched that bed with cotton seed hull last year.


    Things aren't perfect though. I have quite a bit of weeding to do. The lower part of the peas are yellowing. I didn't get that bed mulched. There's a few things like that crazy salvia's volunteers, lemon balm and coneflowers that are out of CONTROL. The basil is unhappy.


    You know...my radishes never look great. They're never that big and if I leave them to get big, they crack. Anyone know why? I like radishes. I would like a better crop of them.


    Finbar went out when Tom left at 5:30 this morning as normal. He didn't come in when I went out to feed the chickens/dogs at 6:30. He wasn't in when I got home tonight. I called for him as I was looking in on the chickens and finally he showed up very dirty and very tired. And maybe a little sore. I wonder what happened to him. I've looked him over and there's no bite marks or injuries that I can see and he's not limping...and was hungry.


    Anyone grow balloon plants? I purchased one at PW and it has blooms! So adorable.


    Oh! Another thing. The columnar trees have no flowers again this year? What is the problem? The foliage is beautiful, full, and green--no flowers which means no fruit! I'm so unhappy about this! Do you--anyone?--think it's missing nutrients. Should they be fertilized?








  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Jennifer, One thing to love about rainy years is how well everything grows---I look at the rampantly growing garden in all its glory right now and reflect, ruefully, on the fact that our gardens could look this great every year if we had plentiful rainfall from September through May as we have had this year, but that's not our permanent reality. It is, however, our temporary reality in El Nino Years. So, I think we have to appreciate it while we've got it, and that sort of appreciation can be a little hard to find for the folks whose gardens have water standing in them. Fortunately, those of us with raised beds are not seeing the same issues as folks gardening at grade level right now. We're already seeing some photos of distressed tomato plants on FB and those plants aren't going to get better until the soil dries out.

    I'm glad you are getting such a wonderful harvest now and that you can feel the effect it is having on your body. I think home-grown food from an organic garden is the best thing for our bodies---we not only know what was or wasn't used in the growing of that food, but we also can harvest and use it quickly before the nutrients degrade post-harvest.

    Asparagus can be frozen, canned (using a pressure canner) or pickled. Freezing it is quick and easy. Here's the directions from the NCHFP:


    How to Freeze Asparagus


    Your Indian Hawthorn, like every single plant in our landscape, is deliriously happy because it has had plentiful moisture for months. This is typical in an El Nino year---the appearance of the plants will have us saying "they've never looked better" and it is true, until the heat and humidity arrive. At that point, we'll really have to be on the lookout for fungal diseases. Right now we have the perfect combination of really mild temperatures and plentiful rainfall (to plentiful in some areas, especially if a gardener doesn't have any raised beds). It doesn't take huge amounts of rainfall to make our plants as happy as they are now--it just takes a few more inches than they normally get from Mother Nature in an average year.

    Weeds come with the territory. Plentiful rain makes plentiful weeds, but even in drier years, spring really is the weed season. I am having a problem with them in the 20% of the garden that is not as well-mulched as I'd like for it to be, so my goal for this year is to get that part of the garden as heavily mulched as the rest----it just takes such a tremendous amount of mulch to achieve that. In the 80% of the garden that is very well-mulched, weeding doesn't take long and is much easier to do. The issue right now is just finding time to do it when rain isn't falling.

    Your radishes are cracking and splitting because they're being left in the ground too long. Most radish varieties grown in home gardens mature in roughly 25-35 days, and leaving them in the ground longer than that will not give you significantly larger radishes because they've already reached their genetically-programmed size limits. Once they have reached their normal size, their quality quickly begins to degrade if they are not harvested and one of the first signs of that is the cracking and splitting. If you want larger radishes, find a variety that will give you the size that you want.

    Hopefully Finbar was just out roaming and catting around, and not involved in anything like a fight. The cats in our neighborhood roam around looking for one another---sometimes they play together (depends on the cat), sometimes they fight and sometimes they engage in uneasy standoffs. We have at least 3 cats that aren't ours but that show up here daily. Our cats probably wander off to their houses some days as well.

    Balloon flowers are pretty. I planted them in our early years here, but they prefer a more acidic soil (and ours is strongly alkaline) and really need more shade and moisture than I can give them in an average summer, so they were only a brief experiment here. I think they are pretty, but they aren't tough enough for my location. Many flowering plants that look awesome in the Spring are in the same boat. Who doesn't want foxgloves or delphiniums, for example, when we see them in bloom in the nurseries in spring? Unfortunately, most of us here in OK cannot give them the weather they need to sail through the summer heat unscathed. I bet people in NE OK have a better chance than the rest of us. I wouldn't say balloon flowers are quite as picky as delphiniums and foxgloves about our summer heat, but they definitely need shade and some pampering in the form of lots of extra water in the hot months.

    The main reason that apple trees of any type do not bloom properly in Oklahoma is cool weather at the wrong time that can freeze the fruit buds before you even can see them. Other fruit trees have the same issues. That is why getting a fruit harvest in any given year is such a dicey proposition here in our state. We don't even have as many U-Pick fruit orchards as we used to have a few years ago because the erratic spring temperatures have wreaked havoc on them---it is hard to make a living and stay in business if the weather freezes your crop 2 or 3 years out of every 4 or 5 years.

    If your fruit trees are in the ground and are growing well, it is likely the roots are finding all the nutrients they need. I've had fruit trees the whole time we've lived here and never fertilized them. My fruit harvest or lack of such in any given year is tied directly to the weather. If they are in containers, they might need fertilized since watering leaches the nutrients out of the soil-less mixes we use in containers.

    There's nothing much new here. It rained lightly yesterday, but not as much as they said it would, so I don't think it was enough to matter much. More rain is forecast for today and tonight, then we get a couple of dry days (they originally were showing up as rainy days) before the rain starts falling again. I'm going to clean house today, although there are some things that seem pointless to clean right now---like the floors. I don't care how many times I mop the floors, the minute the dogs go out and come in again, there's muddy paw prints. For whatever reason, they are digging holes in the muddy ground and lying in them, so they come in with mud dripping off of them. I think my dogs must be turning into part pig because of all that wallowing. I suspect they're just bored because they've been stuck inside on so many rainy days. In 2015 when it rained all the time forever and ever, I broke two Swiffers in just a few months just from using them so much to clean up all the paw prints. They really need to make a heavy-duty Swiffer with a handle that won't break from such heavy use. I'd buy one.

    My beans, corn and okra are popping up so the rain hasn't deterred them. That's something to be grateful for, although of course, they still could drown if we have more weeks of rain like this past week has been. Plants, even in raised beds, can only tolerate so much. There's a ton of fennel volunteers now popping up in the onion bed, and I want to move them someplace else today. That is the bed that had a fennel and a dill volunteer pop up several times in very cold weather and then freeze back. Those early birds didn't survive, but now lots of little siblings are beginning to show up, for which I am grateful. I have a lot of dill and parsley for the swallowtails but it is good to have fennel as well.


    Dawn

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago



    Now about those pink primroses. . .I can feel like part of the conversation now. I had no idea what they were.

    I only have three flats of plants left---I've been waiting on these three because they're too little to plant yet. Well, and three large tomato plants that will be leaving tomorrow; well, and three more for the school. Two of those are bedding plants I got at Walmart--petunias, verbenas, marigolds, Sweet Williams and Dusty Millers. It's beginning to feel so manageable I had Garry get the deck paint out. (We got it clear back maybe in February.) I've been so anxious to see if anywhere close to a match of the existing color. I got enough just in case it wasn't--but yay, it is! That'll be a little less work for me.

    I ran into the school this morning to drop two other flats off and tomatoes. Didn't stay, though. I hope they got things in before the rain this afternoon. Then as soon as I got back here, I tackled the lawn. Thought of you Dawn moving so much more often when everything gets going in the spring. That time has arrived in our yard, but I will only mow once a week no matter what it looks like. And Garry can't help this time of the year because he's too busy with the weed whipper/eater/whipper snipper. I'm constantly referring to the yard (only to myself) as the Emerald Forest. I've never seen the movie. Have any of you? Is it any good? So so so green out there.

    We got the yard done, plus weeding and planting before the rain hit at 3:30. Perfect!

    Verbena bonariensis, catmint (Dawn), culinary sage, tickseed coreopsis, trandescantia, spider wort (Bruce) are all blooming, and many other things are very close, For being such a common plant, I love cat mint. I think it is highly underrated!

    The potato plants are enormous this year. Wonder if there will be any potatoes this year. I wonder if there will be any potatoes underneath.

    We worked too hard today so are going to go out to eat. . . LOL



  • hazelinok
    4 years ago

    Welp, we have standing water now. In the pea and onion beds. They are nearly at ground level, although framed. Pretty sure we've had around an inch and a half today.


    AND my 3 days of extra (and very loud and active) work is over. I made it. Maybe have lost some brain cells and my hearing might have been damaged, but I'm alive. And not insane.


    Thanks for the asparagus link, Dawn.

    The columnar tree situation is weird. I just don't think they froze. The two times that we were supposed to have an April freeze, I covered them. AND I'm not sure we made it to freezing temps. I'm so frustrated by this. Those little trees make the best apples and I want some! *stamps feet*


    I'm glad your dill, fennel, and parsley came up again, Dawn. I'm sad that chickens scratched up my dill volunteers. LOVE dill.


    Nancy, I have one flat left to plant. Like yours, they are still too small. You brought me a milkweed. I'm wondering where I should plant it...


    Okay...I'm going into Norman to pick up some tacos from Torchy's.



  • dbarron
    4 years ago

    Yes, we should have a LOT of May and June flowers...if that old rhyme were true.

  • jlhart76
    4 years ago

    I had an unexpected week off, unfortunately not because I wanted it. My old man, 17 year old poodle, died last night so I spent the week getting extra cuddles. He's been my gardening companion so he helped me one last time earlier this week. Almost done planting the SF plants, hopefully this weekend I'll finish.


    Speaking of...I picked up a few extra tomatoes and peppers because mine didn't look all that great. And of course they all doubled in size in the last week & look ready to pot up. So now I've got to figure out qhere to stick an extra 8 tomatoes and 10 peppers. I have a few more pots, then I'll have to start getting creative.

  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago

    I tried to go in back when I got home from work, to check the rain gauge and harvest some greens for dinner, and it was just too squishy. I’ll have to check tomorrow. Nothing from SF has been planted yet. My days off have rained. Tomorrow it must happen. SF plants and the rest of my WS plants have to go in. Peas seem to be thrilled with the rain.


    Nancy, my potatoes are gigantic too.


    Jen, so sorry about your baby.

  • hazelinok
    4 years ago

    Jen, I'm so sorry about your doggie baby. Hugs to you! How are you doing?


    I should have planted potatoes this year! Everyone's potatoes are huge.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Nancy, Keep an eye on that pink evening primrose. It is determined to conquer the world.

    It should be a great potato year, but only time will tell. It would be a better year for everything if only the sun would shine. All the foliage in the world isn't useful except on plants grown only for their foliage. We need sunshine to get fruiting plants to fruit.

    Jennifer, I hate to hear that about the standing water--it should drain away fairly quickly.

    You can want apples all you want, and go ahead and stamp your feet if it makes you feel better, but apples are very challenging here and do not produce reliably. (There's a reason you don't see apple orchards in Oklahoma.) I don't even bother with them because of all the frustration that comes along with them. Friends of mine who "try" to grow apples (their words, not mine) do not get a regular harvest---maybe once out of 4 years, and if you aren't spraying regularly at the right stages in the plants' reproductive cycle, then coddling moths, plum curculios and other pests infest the fruit. With a lot of the apple trees people I know have attempted to grow here, about the time the trees are old enough to bear fruit reliably, they get fire blight and begin to die.

    Are your columnar apples growing in containers? If so, that might be the problem as this would make them more prone to stress of all kind. Your apple trees didn't have to be exposed to freezing cold temperatures while in bloom in order for the fruit buds (if the tree tried to form them) to die. They can die from cold exposure before they ever even attempt to bloom. The only other things I can think of that would affect apple trees fruiting would be (a) age of the tree---too young to bear fruit reliably, (b) too much fertilizer is keeping it strongly vegetative, or (c) pruning at the wrong time---does one even prune columnar apples? No one I know grows columnar apples except for you, so I don't understand what pruning is or isn't done to them. People here also have a hard time getting their apple varieties to bloom together for cross-pollination---even after they selected apple varieties that ought to be in bloom at the same time. Trees tend to do their own thing.

    It isn't too late to sow dill seed. I just scatter handfuls of it here or there...if you have a place where the seedlings could be protected from the chickens.

    dbarron, You're further north so flowers probably are further behind there, but all the flowers here are spectacular this year---wildflowers, cultivated garden plants, shrubs, trees, even tomato and pepper plants have set a lot of blossoms extra early....anything that has a visible flower has been the prettiest ever. We have wildflowers we seldom see, likely because we don't get enough rain for them...so they only pop up in the occasional very wet year. All my flowers are early this year but I'm not complaining. I think they'd be even more spectacular if the sun would shine on them occasionally, but we'll never know because, apparently, the sun isn't going to show its face here again. Well, it has to return at some point. I hope you will get a spectacular flower show there like we are getting here.

    Jen, I am so sorry about your beloved dog. Please accept my most sincere condolences. Losing a furbaby is so very hard. I hope you are comforted by the knowledge that your animal companion lived a long, happy life and knew how much he was loved.

    Rebecca, While I appreciate having rain (since we tend to run more towards drought here most of the time) I hate when it interferes with planting time.

    You must have gotten our Thursday-Friday rain up there, because the 1.5-2.5" they said we likely would get over those two days completely missed us. I'm not complaining. They canceled the river flood warning and everything, because without that rainfall, the Red River didn't come out of its banks although it came close. We still have other flooded areas and damaged roads, so more rain just would have made things worse than they already are. Our ground still is too wet for planting though. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. If only the sun would shine and dry up everything somewhat.

    Jennifer, We are having the sort of weather that potatoes like. Some years, by this time, we're already hitting temperatures that they don't really appreciate.

    We have the girls here today, so there won't be much time (probably no time) to garden or plant shop. We're going to take them Mother's Day shopping so they can find something to give their mom next weekend. Last night they picked out Mother's Day cards and then, when they called their mom and Chris to tell them good night, they started telling her they had bought her Mother's Day cards that they described as 'hilarious'. I think if I hadn't stopped them right then, they probably would have told her what the cards looked like and what they said. They love surprising their mom with gifts on all special occasions, but they aren't good at actual surprises and they aren't good at waiting for the holiday to actually arrive. I'm pretty sure we'll shop for gardening tools and such because Chris and Jana really are getting into gardening now that they have a yard that is their own, instead of a rental. I'll have to give the wrapped gifts to Chris to put up on a high shelf and hide until Mother's Day.

    The kids' grass seeds (a shade blend of grass seeds that tolerate shade) sprouted this past week despite heavy rainfall and Chris was excited about that. It won't be a permanent lawn as they intend to have no front lawn---just really lovely, somewhat formal plantings of evergreen shrubs and perennials---but the grass should prevent erosion until they can get their new landscape installed. There was a serious erosion issued in one area behind their old retaining wall this week, and I think there's now a structure issue (a crack in the wall) and a big gully right behind the wall. I think replacing the wall must be the major yard project for this summer. We believe their retaining wall is the original wall from the 1930s, and one of their next door neighbors kindly saved one large stone from it that had collapsed and fallen on a portion of the wall some time ago---I guess this was after the house went on the market back in winter and no one was living in it. His retaining wall is peculiar (and there are others just like it in his neighborhood) in that it isn't stacked stone. It is like they graded a slight slope into the wall, laid down flagstones that are maybe 1-1.5" thick, and mortared them together. It actually is amazing it has lasted as long as it has because there's no proper footing, no,gravel for drainage, etc. After he did his proper research to determine how to build a retaining wall, he was shocked at the apparent shoddy construction of the one they have now. I just told him that times have changed and the wall he has now likely was considered perfectly acceptable at the time it was built...and it has stood the test of time.

    They are at the planning stage now, and would rather be at the planting stage. Chris has been researching plants and has asked gazillions of questions this past week. He is big time into planning and proper soil preparation, so he's done his jar soil test (5 of them from various locations on their property), etc., and knows what kind of soil he has (sandy). Now, I need to get him to do an OSU soil fertility type test. He, Jana and Lillie all have made lists of plants they want---right down to the variety of tulips and other bulbs they each prefer--and now are working on consolidating their three separate lists into one list and cutting it down to a manageable amount to plant. I think he said their tulip list consisted of 40 varieties and needed a lot of editing. I cannot help him with reducing his variety list---I'm no good at that task. It is fun to discuss all their plans with them as they plan their work---I do love seeing an old neglected yard brought back to life with great landscaping, and I have no doubt theirs will be spectacular.


    Dawn


  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    4 years ago

    Jen, I am so sorry about your fur baby!

    Went to TMD yesterday in the middle of the rain. That should be RAIN! We don't have a rain gauge up right now, so I don't know how much we got, but judging by the mud Honey is wearing, must have been a lot. TMD did not have Grandma Suzy's Beefsteak. I hope I can get seeds from my one plant. They also didn't have any peppers I wanted. Going to Owasso's Herb Fest soon, I got peppers there last year.

    Had lunch with my Y friends (and Eileen) yesterday. It was nice!

    All my tomatoes spent a couple of days under the tub table. Everything is now sitting ON the table so they can drain better.

    The grandson's are here, today.

    XOXO

  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago

    Unmarked jug...




  • Rebecca (7a)
    4 years ago



  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    4 years ago

    You must have planted morning glories? How's everyone doing? We only got 1/2" last round with rain. BUT I posted last night. I am entirely bummed, Hazel! Remember I was going to bring a Valerian to you at SF? I didn't get it done, did I? I wish you'd say yes, but I know I didn't. Somewhere along the way, I seemed to have lost the second one or mislabeled it, because I couldn't find it. I had put the other one in my flower bed and meant to get it out and bring it to yu because I know you wanted it more than I did. So it's still small but sitting out in the flower bed.

    THEN I posted a pic on OKgardening on FB. . . Guess what my mystery plant out in the veggie beds is--Valerian, says Eileen, and yes, I did plant Valerian there last year. Thought it failed. Not only that, but there is an identical plant out in the center bed. So I have THREE Valerians. NOT fair at all, to you!!






  • Megan Huntley
    4 years ago
    Jen I’m sorry to hear of the loss of your fur baby and gardening companion. It’s so hard to lose one.

    I have all of this week’s post to catch up on but I’ll probably start fresh next week because I’m wiped out and plan to veg out for the rest of the evening. Keegans birthday party was today and we had 18 kids - I was expecting 10-12! I was glad it wasn’t at my house where I was scrambling to deal with it all on my own but it was still hectic. Plus there have been several late nights this week getting things ready.

    Oh, I saw a hummingbird moth in my backyard today. First one I’ve ever seen on my yard! :)
  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Amy, So sorry about the RAIN. I bet you are sick of it. I know I am, and we got lucky and the rain forecast for Friday missed us. Now I'm keeping a wary eye on next week to see what Mother Nature throws at all of us, particularly on Wednesday.

    Maybe Tomato Man's Daughter will have Grandma Suzy's when they reopen for fall sales in late June or early July--I cannot remember exactly when they do that.

    We had the granddaughter's yesterday, last night and part of today. I am dead. I cannot believe two children can be so exhausting...and they are great kids that give us no trouble at all, but just keeping up with their high energy level reminds me how old I am.

    Rebecca, Morning glories....in search of light and heat. (grin) I hope you meant to grow them on purpose.

    Megan, That's a lot of kids. I hope you can recover. It would take me at least a week.

    Congrats on the hummingbird moths. We have all kinds of them here, largely due to the large number of native plants (especially trees) that we have that are hosts for them. I love them all, even when their larvae stumble upon my garden and are eating plants that I didn't even know they'd eat. I simply skipped planting bat-faced cuphea 'Diablo' this year because the hornworms devastated every one of those plants last year. I'd never seen cuphea on any hornworm's list of food plants, but discovered it apparently should be on some list.

    It has been a long, hard week. I'm glad we all got a brief break from the rain before next week's roars in here and tries to flood us all out again.

    It is raining in western OK tonight/this morning so I guess everyone is safe from the rain this weekend.


    Dawn