Question for y'all. Have you ever had to make the decision on which seedling to keep (of course you have) and clipped the unchosen one to discard BUT then decided to put it in a cup of water to make roots? Hope that makes sense. Bruce brought a hot pepper plant to me. It had two seedlings in it. Both very healthy with blossoms. They could not be separated, so I clipped one (so hard!) but then decided to put it in a cup of water. It's not made roots yet, but it is blooming. Anyone have success with that?

I found the yucky sour smell in my house--bath mats! (Like y'all need to know that). I'm spending the day cleaning. I want to be outside weeding, but will force myself to stay indoors and deep clean the house.

I might clean the old coop tonight and put the broodies in it just to see what happens. I have so many questions about this process.

Those of you with chickens, have your Momma Hens been tolerant of one another...and tolerant of each others chicks? Last year, Dolly and Rosa were separated from each other and from the flock once their babies hatched. I don't want to deal with as much moving around and hovering like I did last year. The broodies this year are: Stormy (not even a year), Blossom (14 months) and Buttercup (almost 2).

If I move them, I'll need to figure out nesting boxes for them. Any suggestions? I'm not going to spend a lot of money here. Anyway, I just don't think I can hold them off until June 17.

And...guess what? The Easter décor is still up. I need to find my early summer wreath and remove the easter egg wreath at the very least.

I had a thought...I realize this is a garden forum not a chicken forum, but I just had this thought. We are going to rework the coop, especially the roost bars. What if I wait to change the layout of the coop until I bring the broodies back to the main flock. It will be "new" to everyone then and maybe there would be less fussing. Maybe?

Dawn, my chickens have a very nice chicken yard to range in. It's about 120 feet long and 20 feet wide. However, Rosslyn Kaye finds her way out of the coop. I've repaired all the holes in the fence, so I think she is flying over. It's very annoying. And Finbar "stalks" her and upsets her so WHY is she flying over.

Time to get back to work....

Hope everyone has a good day and doesn't get rain unless you want it or need it. We are good without rain for a week or so. BUT, we'll take what comes. Because what choice do we have. (We'll be begging for rain at some point, right?)

Oh, one more thing. Jen, how are you doing? Thinking about you...

Hazel why would you 'clip' one? Why not carefully separate and repot each into two different containers? Why go to the effort of rooting?

dbarron, I tried. They were too intertwined and I didn't want to risk losing both of them. I'm very passionate about not wasting plants...these two were larger seedlings and mingled together. Perhaps, I could have spent more time, but time is precious in my life right now.

Also, I hate to thin seedlings which is a chore that needs to be done with the carrots. Soon.

Both bathrooms and all bedrooms are cleaned now. I feel so much better. Now, the utility room. I am dreading it. The light shelf is a mess. All plants are outdoors now, so it needs to be tidied up and used for other things. The dog crates are a mess. The cat box needs cleaned, the turtle tank needs cleaned. The washer and dryer need cleaned. The cat dishes need cleaned. There's a lot in that little space.

I'm so happy to have a day off from work. So happy. And nothing to do tonight! :D

I think I’m losing all my lettuce to rain.

Understood, sometimes I guess it's close to impossible unless you swish them in water to remove the soil. And yes, I *hate* to thin rows and throw away young plants :(

I noticed yesterday that a lot of my seed has rotted (due to constant wet).

H/J, I may bet tarred and feathered for saying this, but if there are 2 healthy seedlings in a cup, they stay that way and get planted together. I will separate babies first time I pot up, but I almost always leave 2 in each cup. I figure when a tomato or pepper falls to the ground, all the seeds are together. I just think of it as a bushier plant with 2 stems.

I planted Foster bush beans yesterday. I'm wondering if I could go poke more beans into the mud today.

I had just started hardening my pepper seedlings and they were outside last night. Bad storm. I wasn't expecting it. About 3" of water in their tub this morning. (I've been putting seedlings in tall tubs with opaque hinged lids. I then partially close the lid to supply shade to the seedlings.) The dogs didn't like the storm either. I slept in my chair a while to keep them calmer.

Rebecca, so sorry about your seed box.

I got another half inch of rain out of last nights storm.

Some lettuce has bolted, but a lot of it just wilted, turned dark, and got slimy. Figure it has to be the rain. Started some summer crisp seeds where they will be shaded by tomato plants, with clear plastic cup cloches. I’ll put more seeds out after the next storm.

I think most most of the seeds are ok, just haven’t had time to check my garden scissors or pruning snips that were in the box. I know I lost a Sharpie. And of course, the box is toast, but it was just a cheap Sterilite shoe box that I can replace for a few dollars at Wal Mart. It just held my current seeds, it wasn’t my big storage box from Container Store.

I still have things to plant, but necessary overtime at work this week, then next weekend we are in Fort Worth for Mothers Day.

Sorry about the overtime, Rebecca. Hopefully you'l get overtime pay and you can buy more seeds and plants! :)

Is summer crisp a lettuce variety? Sounds like something I should check out. So far my lettuce and greens are looking okay other than some insect damage. I just check them carefully, wash, spin and eat. The arugula is flowering. It's the only one so far. My salad garden is under a tree so gets quite a bit of shade in the afternoon.

Amy, I will be trying your "two seedling" method.

Several containers that I got at SF had two plants. Some I separated out, some I planted together. I'm seriously out of room, so doubling up is my only option. But I can't bear intentionally murdering a helpless seedling, not when I commit accidental plantslaughter on a regular basis.

Peas finally started blooming, right when I was about to pull them and plant beans. So now to figure out where to plant beans, or wait and plant them in a few more weeks.

My husband was being helpful. I showed him what was planted, what was growing to leave alone, etc. He really likes to take a 3 claw tool and just dig up the soil. I don't want the soil disturbed that much, and heaven knows I always loose more than weeds when he helps. Didn't occur to me he would mess with the tub table. There were carrots that the caterpillars had eaten down to the stem (Little seedlings) and they were starting to come back, untill Mr. Claw decided they were weeds. Sigh. Should have seen the look on his face. They weren't growing well anyway. The soil he put in the tubs must have been depleted.

Sigh, re helpful husbands and others. I’d ordered two red coral honeysuckles for the school and planted them with about 1 1/2 foot circles of weeded up lawn—they were clearly visible. But it was the first time Garry had used the big rototiller; he was helping by rototilling a path next to the fence so I could plant the other many vining plants, and said he finished the row and then stood back to look at it and thought, “Now where did that other plant go?” Then he found it in bits and pieces amongst the tilled soil. Too funny. Easy come, easy go, right?

I have the I-Pad out here and the big computer‘s inside. I keep starting posts on one or the other and then forgetting when I’m surprised I don;t see my posts (because I hadn’t yet finished them.

Jennifer, Yes, I have rooted plants in water and in soil because I couldn't bear to part with one, but....it is almost pointless for me to do that because my garden always is so jam-packed that I find myself with an extra plant and no place to plant it. Peppers are a lot slower to root than tomatoes, and I have had better success with them rooting in soil than in water. Also, I'd pinch off the bloom. Right now, the plant is expending energy on the bloom and it needs to be expending energy on making roots.

You could clip your chicken's wings to keep her in, but it is best done after molting season and all, so that wouldn't help you now.

Our hens always have tolerated one another's chicks really well, but that's not always true of all chickens. Some hens may kill chicks that aren't theirs. We often have had two chickens, or even three, share a nest---all laying their eggs in it and then taking turns setting on the eggs. Sometimes two chickens set on the nest together, which is sort of amusing to watch. After the chickens begin hatching out, they raise them communally. I am not sure if each chicken even knows which specific chicks are hers--they hover over them all and protect them all the same.

I'm glad you got so much cleaning done and it took a load off your mind. Animals are a lot of extra work.

Rebecca, My lettuce is in containers in a soil-less mix that drains well and I feel the same way---just too much moisture keeps hitting all at once and then the plants never really get to dry up before it rains again. It is not often we have a Spring that's too wet for lettuce, but every now and then it does happen. I have some that looks like it is trying to rot off right at the point where the plant emerges from the soil-less mix. I've been harvesting using the cut-and-come again method, but don't think the lettuce will last much longer. Our Emergency Mgmt Asst Director just sent us a message a few minutes ago to expect about 3" of rain over a widespread area in our county from now through Thursday. If that happens, I don't think my lettuce is going to survive it. Now, y'all know that I am thinking about it like a gardener thinss....while other people in our county first responder group are worrying about the spillway overflowing and shutting down Scenic Hwy-77 again or worrying about the traditional low water crossings, or roads damaged last week....I'm just worrying about lettuce. Usually we're too hot and dry for lettuce to last long here, and this year, instead, we're too cool and wet.

dbarron, I'm sorry your seeds are rotting. I've lost some bean seeds (no big surprise there, but I put 2 in each hole, hoping one would make it even if the other one didn't). That's mostly worked out, but I also planted them too closely so that if several rotted altogether, I'd still have plenty. So far that seems like it is working, but most bean plants have been really slow to sprout so we only have cotyledons on most of them and just the tiny emerging first leaf. It remains to be seen if this week's 3" of rain, if it falls, will allow them to live or if it will rot them all off at the ground. Corn is about in the same boat, and is in less well-draining soil. If I don't have a good stand of corn within the next week, I may just yank out what there is and replant something else there in that spot once it is dry enough.

Amy, I do that sometimes too, and there is a fancy name for it among the small farmer/market grower crowd that does it routinely. Multiplanting, maybe? Didn't Eliot Coleman popularize this multi planting technique in his book Four Seasons Gardening? I believe he did. I think he only used it originally with beets (which sprout multiple plants per fruit/seed anyway), but others have done it with all sorts of stuff, including onions. In good soil, there is little downside as long as a person has fertile soil that will support two plants instead of one and as long as there is good enough air flow to keep diseases at bay.

Those storms surprised me. I didn't know that anyone was going to have them, and then stuff started popping up on the radar, and watches and warnings, and I was asking myself where did that all come from?

Right now, it looks like west Texas, especially in the panhandle, has all the action going on with big hail and tornadoes. Let's hope those things run out of steam before they move too deeply into OK.

Rebecca, Your poor lettuce. I do think the rain has been too much for it. I hope the overtime is voluntary and that you're excited about the extra money. It isn't nearly as cool as mandatory overtime if that's the case. Have a great trip to Fort Worth.

Jennifer, Summercrisp is a type of lettuce, and it comes in a bunch of varieties. A more traditional name for these types of lettuce is Batavia or French crisp. These varieties produce well here and are relatively tolerant of our heat in May and June. It is interesting to watch them grow. At first they are pretty loose, kinda like romaine. Then, as they continue to grow, they begin to form into a head or at least a very heavy, dense, compact ball of loose leaves. They aren't as tightly formed into heads as iceberg, for example. I like leaf lettuce, Tim likes iceberg, so Summercrisp varieties are a perfect compromise for us. Some of the summercrisp varieties I've grown include Cherokee, Nevada, Cardinale, Mottistone, Magenta, Concept and Red Ball Jets. I think there was one with Freckles in its name but cannot remember the name now.

You can get seeds for them from almost any place that sells seeds, but I got most of mine from either Swallowtail Garden Seeds, High Mowing Seeds or Johnny's Selected Seeds.

My cilantro is flowering but it is the only thing bolting so far. The broccoli heads try to bolt while small, so I harvest them small as soon as I see the tight broc head is loosening up to bolt. I blame the weather, of course.

Jen, Are your peas trellised? I usually plant peas on the south side of the trellis that runs east-west, just a couple of inches from the trellis. Once the peas are about hip high, I sow the bean seeds on the north side of the trellis, about 4-6" away so they cannot climb it too early. The bean seeds will sprout and grow, albeit slowly because they are in the shade of the pea plants. That is fine---it is just what I want. By the time the peas are playing out in the heat, the beans are more than ready to take their place. I carefully remove the pea plants without damaging the bean plants too badly, and then the beans take over the trellis. This is the best way I have found to get two crops in very close succession on a trellis. Sometimes instead of beans, I use other climbing crops---cucumbers, gourds, icebox melons, etc. Sometimes it is tricky to get the timing right, but I've done it so long I can guess at it and get it right most of the time. Right now I'm more worried about the peas rotting off at grade level than anything else. Heavy rain this week likely will get them. The ground slopes away from where they are planted, but it is so wet everywhere.....

Amy, I am sure Ron meant well, bless his heart. Tim pretty much stays out of the garden because he and I both KNOW that things die when he comes in there. His presence in the garden scares both of us. lol. When I need him to do something in there, I almost have to drag him in because he knows he'll accidentally kill something, and he cannot get out of there quickly enough to suit him.

Nancy, A similar thing happened with the two coral honeysuckles I originally planted in our garden around 2002 to cover a cedar entry arbor Tim and Chris had built for me for Mother's Day. I planted one on either side of the arbor. They both are still there, sort of. The one on the right side of the arbor as you enter is a huge monster and is breathtakingly beautiful when in bloom. I have to prune it back hard in wet springs to keep it from taking over the entry way beneath the arbor. The one on the left side of the arbor? (sigh) When the plant was a couple of years old, it was doing fine but some trash tree came up in the middle of it and Tim came into the garden with the chain saw to cut it out. I fussed and fidgeted and said couldn't he cut it with the hand saw. Nope, he was sure he could cut down only the tree and not the honeysuckle. He cut down the tree and the honeysuckle...right at the ground. That honeysuckle plant never has recovered well and to this day it is maybe 1/20th the size of the other one. It cannot catch up no matter how hard it tries because the other plant completely shades it. I'm surprised it still is alive.

I came indoors to cool off when the temperature here hit 85 with a heat index of 88. I've been inside far too long and my body still doesn't want to go back out. I have to go out at least long enough to put up all the tools in the shed. Dinner is in the crockpot, so I cannot even use cooking dinner as an excuse to stay inn.

I am watching The Weather Channel as big thunderstorms are throwing off some large hail and tornadoes in the TX panhandle, moving into the OK panhandle. I could watch the weather and let that be my excuse for staying inside.

Tomorrow's forecast for OK looks so much better today than it did yesterday. They had us in the Enhanced Risk area and hinted it might be upgraded to a Moderate Risk (4th highest level out of 5) by Wednesday. Nope. This morning they had moved the Enhanced Risk area way down near the Austin TX area and now we only are in the Slight Risk area. I am happy for us, though I wouldn't wish that Enhanced Risk on anybody. We still are supposed to get quite a lot of rain on already saturated ground though. That seems to be the story of our gardening lives this year.

Dawn

I don't have to worry about the rooting pepper seedling. Some brat pulled it off the window sill and all that is left are some leaves and the blossom. The stem is completely missing. Well, that's that.

What were you working on outside, Dawn? It is muggy here too. I glanced at my garden when I went out to check on the chickens and feed the dogs. I did move the 3 over to the old coop and they didn't appreciate it. They aren't sitting on the nests I made for them. So either they'll accept it OR maybe it will break their broodiness. As much as I love baby chicks, I don't need them this year. I would rather everyone NOT be broody this year because they are all laying well. And I am selling lots of eggs. I have a nice little savings. They are paying for their own feed now plus. Hopefully the "plus" will last through the winter. However, I'm down three layers because of their broodiness. We will see...

I'm off to a kindergarten program. Tom is finishing mowing. I'll be in before dark and will do my first pea harvest of the year. And harvest MORE asparagus. The asparagus beetles have disappeared. I'm not complaining. I checked them multiple times a day and squished them. Maybe I should start selling the asparagus too! lol I'm giving it away right now...and am happy to share, of course. Next year, I'll freeze it. I wonder what life will be like in a year. No school things...except my work related things.

Hoping for the best weather-wise.

What's everyone working on today?

Gardening news I scored 5 Peach seedlings and they are doing really well I kept them in the house one night after transplanting it was so windy and it gave him a good start they are getting rain water that I have saved and jugs all over the house

I went to Denton last weekend Saturday Sunday Monday to deal with mother and wore myself smooth out

I did find out about the cabin it is a derksen lofted cabin it has lolofloftlofts on front and back and it will be either 10 or 12 by 20 and I don't have to have a huge down payment just enough money to electricity and Plumbing insulation and hopefully walls.

I'm pretty excited about the cabin part but the actual packing and moving again part is not thrilling to me

I will probably have to have a separate U-Haul just for my plants

Has she cut many of them for flower vases? They're gorgeous, Madge! I don't know what the bottom ones are, Larry--are they lupine?

I just said to Garry, "First time in four years the peonies have lasted more than 3 days." If tomorrow does them in, they still will have lasted 7 days.

Kim, I must have missed something or not heard the conversation at SF maybe? I love those Derksen cabins! There is a dealer near Wagoner. They had a greenhouse for the longest time. I drooled every time we drove past but never said anything to Garry about it. Then when it disappeared, Garry said to me, "That's too bad. Did you ever see a greenhouse sitting there? I was thinking maybe we should get it." I gave him a long sideways look. I am still not sure whether he was just trying to get me riled up or was serious. And I just said, "It really was pretty, wasn't it?"

I am so proud of us. We both got SO much done today. I ran into town this morning to visit with friend John at BFF (Brighter Futures) (the School) just about gardening fun and ideas, and to do a couple putzy things. So far we have the enormous circle garden-- app. 700 sq. ft; four 4x15 ft raised concrete block beds; one 8x8 foot bed with a canopy; and four small either 3x5 or 4x6 foot beds on legs. And as of yesterday, the beds are full. Soil prep; concrete block beds built, and plants in all. Also the guys tilled a 3' wide path along the fence behind all the beds for about oh 50-60 feet; we planted the vining okra along a third of it and all my vining plants the rest of the say. (I ended up with 31 vining plants and the two coral honeysuckle I bought.)

I am laughing the most about the vining plants. I can't WAIT to see whether it's going to be really cool or really ugly. But it makes me laugh just in anticipation. And I even didn't get around to planting any blue morning glories. . . OR purple ones. I had every intention of doing it!

I'm certainly having fun there, being able to plant all the stuff I can't have here! LOL. There--full sun mostly; clay that we're amending. no rocks. Much windier. John and Garry and I have done most of the work with a lot also being done by two other guys. And John is such a hard worker. And by the time he's all us old people's age, Dawn and Bruce and Amy and some of the rest of you in that group, he is going to know a lot.

But today, I didn't do much there. Just weeding.

I have a big question for all of you folks who have clay. At the school, the back part of it. . . probably 1/2 acre, is flat. Clay soil, but not impossible clay soil; low spots get standing water. And so our giant 700 sq ft bed has standing water at the far 1/3 part. BUT. We got 3 inches of rain several days ago, then another 1/2 inch and another 1/2 inch in the days from then until now. It was standing still yesterday, in maybe 1/2-1 inch of water. Today when I got there, it was wet and soggy but no standing water. John is kinda freaking out and thinks he needs to put in a French drain. Other thoughts from both of us are to raise that bed this fall with more mulch/compost, etc. Thoughts? And finally, I am thinking that it's really not that much of a problem from hearing what others of you are going through. Thoughts? Thank you.

Next thoughts. Garry stayed home to split wood for our neighbor, whose oaks down a certain path of his yard are dying. Makes me sick. His across-the street neighbor cut down four oaks who died. THEIR explanation to us was that the oaks were dying because of excess water--either from a water line or from a drainage area. Any suggestions on how to figure out what's going on--I certainly would be upset if this were an environmental disaster. . .

Next. . . I am wondering and trying to educate myself on pests. Researched Japanese beetles. Best way to combat? Is milky spore good? I spread it out today--is it too late? And do I need to put it out a couple more times this summer? And will it really be okay and no damage to environment? My neighbor 1/2 mile away has never been bothered by them. AAGHH. And what other okay weapons are okay to use? (I try to pick them off but am usually too slow.)

Finally, y'all. Why did you not emphasize to me that actually everything that reseeds IS a thug.!!!???

Everything in my yard that reseeds does not reseed politely. I was out weeding today and was horrified/delighted. Here in this yard, re-seeds is equal to invasive. I was laughing so so so hard today while weeding.

Tomatoes are zooming up with flowers. . . I MUST find the best cheapest way of containing them. Peppers, nada but all are healthy and will take off soon. . . and since they don't take up that much room, I just plunked em in everywhere. Potato above-the-ground parts are domineering!

I tell you. I bought into the good soil stuff. And because my husband is not a big gardening fan, I've tried so hard to do it on the cheap.

When I put all my tomato seedlings, potatoes, pepper seedlings, garlic and onion and now beans into the imaginative pretend dirt/soil, 3 years ago that was built with what was on hand as much as possible: rotting wood at the base (rotting firewood), lots of mowed oak leaves, LOTS, grass clippings, bales of alfalfa, a bit of top soil, peat moss, wood chips.

Okay, I am sorry I took over with my questions. . . But please respond with your wisdom. Love ya all.

Not everything that reseeds is invasive. Maybe everything that reseeds with excessive gusto though.

Case in point, I've had a plant of callirhoe bushii (a mallow) for 5 years in one spot. This is the first year I've noticed any seedlings (and I found two). I'm thrilled because it's a care free native that blooms pretty much all summer with vivid magenta flowers.

I should probably try to dig them up today and site them farther from the parent plant, they're pretty big and will be somewhat competitive.

Nancy I am sure we all missed a lot of conversations at the Spring Fling it's hard to be an all the corners at once

Dawn, I have the peas on one of those cheapy wire fences (like the wire tomato cages are made from). It's not very high so they're mostly going horizontal. Spacing is limited but I may try putting a few beans along the other side & see how that works.

H/J, sorry, I missed your comment to me earlier. Doing ok, still looking for my old man before I remember he's not going to be there anymore. After 17 years, it's going to be an adjustment.

I spent most of yesterday in the garden or at the nursing home. I got to bed about 6:00 this morning. Mom died at 3:45 this morning, I had her for over 75 wonderful years.

Most of my onions have rotted, and some of the other plants look bad. I cant remember it being do wet for so long. I did plant peas, okra, and sweet potatoes yesterday, but they may rot also. Even though my grain planting for the wildlife last fall was pretty much a flop, I still have a lot of grain for the critters. The red and white clover is still blooming, along with the winter peas and hairy vetch. The turnips have set good seed heads, but not dried yet. All in all every thing is going as good as can be expected.

I do think I need a bigger boat, maybe even an Ark.

Oh, Larry, I am SO sorry! I lost my mother last year. My deepest sympathies!

Larry, I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I send you my most profound sympathy as well. I did not know your mom, but have known you an awfully long time here and I know your mom was a rare gem because she raised a son who is one of the best people I've ever known. Yes, you were so lucky to have her for so long, but I wish you could have had her, happy and in good health, for even longer.

Dawn

My condolences to you & your family. Losing a mother is never easy, no matter the age.

Jennifer, Mostly I did a little pruning of some perennials and lots of weeding---mainly down at the low end of the garden which has been staying too wet to weed. I was trying to get that area weeded and cleaned up before more rain fell. I also brought the three new flats of seedlings I had started indoors so that when rain fell they wouldn't drown. I scouted for insect pests. Found a ton of spider mites on Malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin' and on the comfrey plants. I made sure all garden tools, the chair cushions for the two chairs in the garden, the sun umbrella from the table that goes with the chairs, etc. were put up in the shed to avoid getting soaked by rain. Just typical pre-rain work in advance of the rain they said was coming.

There is no garden work occurring here today. My main garden-related chore is to officially throw in the trowel on the idea of planting the back garden. It is going to be wet until July. Our pond near it is overflowing and the overflow pond that sits downhill from it and catches its runoff also is overflowing. The overflow from that second pond goes into a seasonal creek that is empty 90% of every year, but it has water in it now. We are just too wet and I cannot step foot in that sandy-silty quicksand-like soil when it is this wet. I'm hoping to plant the back garden beginning in July as a fall garden. A lot of things I wanted to plant there will have to wait until then because the front garden is almost full. Even the three flats of seedlings I just started were largely intended for the back garden, though some of those can be squeezed into the front garden, and I may be able to hold others in containers for a while. Those seeds are just now sprouting so there's no rush with them.

I also compared rain in 2015 through this date with rain in 2019 through this date because this non-stop rain is starting to remind me a lot of that year. What I discovered, based on our Mesonet data is this: 2019 rainfall year-to-date, including today's rainfall, 15.94". 2015 rainfall year to date through this date: 18.22". So, there's a couple of inches difference. Do I think we'll get enough rain in the rest of May 2019 to equal 2015? I hope not, because we had almost two feet of rain that May (actually, had 24" at our house, 21.5" at our Mesonet station, and flooding of the courthouse basement, among other things, in town that year). This weather is similar enough to 2015 that it makes me antsy, but I really don't expect it to stay as wet. On the other hand, one thing both years have in common is they were El Nino years. And, today I was reading back on some of NOAA's El Nino 2019 updates, trying to figure out if they think El Nino will last a while (they do) and I found this comment from March 2019: "The state of the tropical Pacific in early 2019 has some eerie similarities to that of early 2015." I did not need to read that statement.

Kim, Just the drive from your home to Denton and back again in one weekend would wear me out. I hope you mom is doing as well as can be expected. That is great news about the cabin.

Larry, Madge's flowers are beautiful. It is a shame the rain is going to hit them.

Nancy, Since all clay is not the same, y'all need to either do a perc test in several spots to see how well it drains after 24 hours (the same perc type test they do before putting in a septic tank and call Okie 811 to mark underground power lines, gas lines, and such before y'all dig. You also could do the standard jar soil test for texture to determine the percentage of clay that there actually is. Soil that is 50% clay isn't that bad at all, but soil that is 97% clay is horrible. So, your test can guide your decisions. Chris just tested the soil on 5 parts of his property and found he had mostly sand (which we could tell by looking, but he feared finding hidden clay underneath) although one area, and only one area, was 10% clay. Here's the jar soil test:

Soil Jar Test for Texture

An arborist might be able to look at the trees and tell you all what killed them. Maybe. Maybe not. Oaks normally are very long-lived and very sturdy trees, but we saw Exceptional Drought kill native oaks all across Oklahoma in 2011. Down in Texas, they have lost a lot of oaks to oak wilt. I have no idea if that disease has made it this far north yet. Here's info on it:

Oak Wilt in Texas

Milky spore powder is most effective when the JB grubs are feeding underground, and one application usually works for about 15 years. If you haven't tried beneficial nematodes, they might be better than doing a second application of milky spore.

Aggressive reseeding is a mixed blessing and can vary greatly with soil type, rainfall, etc. If there is bare soil, something is going to sprout and will have to be weeded out. So, I'd rather it be something I planted that aggressively reseeds than something Mother Nature plants that aggressively reseeds. The plants that I really, really want to reseed seldom do, and the things I don't need more of will reseed every year.

Jen, It is so hard to stop looking for a beloved pet you're so used to having around. It has been months since we lost our old man dog, and I still half-expect to see him sleeping in his favorite spot every time I walk in the door from outside.

Larry, I'm sorry about the onions rotting and all the rest of your garden issues. It is just one of those springs. I hope the summer won't be the same way.

Again, condolences on the loss of your mother.

We joke about needing an ark, but this rain is getting really worrisome. They're expecting the Red River to be out of its banks by Monday. That is even if no more rain falls, and more is predicted to fall between now and then.

Did you all see the cold front that is coming? The temperatures for the next couple of days and nights remind me a great deal of 2002 when we also had overnight lows in the 40s. That also was a wet spring, but I think the rain stopped by summer.

All the flooding--not just in OK but in surrounding states as well--is so awful. Our gardens may be soggy, but at least we're all safe and sound with none of us trapped in a vehicle in high water, none of us with high water flooding into our homes, etc. When you see all this stuff on the news, it makes you stop and count your blessings.

Dawn

Larry, I'm so sorry about your mother's passing. She was so blessed to have had you nearby, and we should all be so lucky as to have someone like you in our lives. God bless you all.

Wow. . . just checked the forecast. Yes, Dawn--a high of 58 tomorrow? Wow. Low of 44? Wow.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/climate/climate-change-flooding.html

SO much flooding, Yes, awful.

Thank you for all the helpful info, Dawn.

I know we didn't get as much rain as many of you did, and I'm so glad. . . our friends at the Marina are hurting bigtime. The lake is projected to be up 17 feet by Friday.

We spent most of the day inside and I took a really long nap earlier this afternoon--so did the cats and dog and Garry.

Nancy. The second one is 3 times bigger, but hasn’t bloomed yet.

I got another inch and a quarter last night. I hear it was loud. I didn’t notice.

Lol Rebecca.

We got over an inch and a half.

It's becoming a mess out there. It wasn't until these past two days or so. It was good until then. Real good.

Larry, so sorry about your Mom. I can tell you were an amazing son to her.

Happy to be home on this Wine Wednesday!

I got home while it was still a little light so looked over the garden real quick. It looks okay except the onions and peas. Also, this rain has made the weeds explode. I don't mind so much except in the pathways. These should have had another layer of wood chips already but there hasn't been the time to do that. UGH!

I didn't sleep well last night. I was irritated for several reasons. Maybe all the highly energetic weather people on TV. Maybe because Ethan didn't graduate as an "honor". His GPA is 3.96 as of December 2018 which is how they judge that. He will graduate with a 4.0 after his final semester. He got a little out-of-sorts when he was working at the pasta shop last year at this time. They were ridiculous in their demands of his time. I finally asked him to quit that job. I feel bad about that. Oh well. He'll wear the red robe instead of the black. I guess it's still good that his transcript will say 4.0 after this semester.

And I was irritated for other reasons too.

In good news, I found HGTV last night. I didn't realize we had that on YouTubeTV. We don't have dish, or Direct or cable any longer. we pay for You tube TV. Anyway, I found that as I was not sleeping. Why is TV watching so complicated now-a-days?

K...I'm done. Night.

YAY, Rebecca. I am LOVING the hollyhock zebrinas! (Malva sylvestris zebrina--not a hollyhock at all. You probably knew this, just repeating it in case there are folks who don't.) And hahahaha regarding the rain again meme! Directed particularly to our clay folks!

Speaking of zebrinas, I think I kind of overdid it with them. The big stand of em is right beneath the deck, so we can't see them from the deck. So I dug down and moved some to the center bed.

Yep, our rain gauge measured 1. 25 this morning. Potatoes. . . so enormous. I can hardly wait to see what is under the ground. Nicotianas will begin flowering tomorrow; rose campions began today. peppers coming on slowly. . .tomatoes look great.

I see a brug is emerging.

Nancy, I have no idea what the yellow flower is. Madge order it and forgot what it is, and I never knew. She had a blue one also, but it did not come back this year.

Thanks, everyone for the kind words, I truly am a lucky guy for having such a wonderful mother.

The yellow may be thermopsis, the picture isn't clear enough to be sure.

Nancy, You're welcome. The cold is not bad enough to worry me, but in our FB groups some people misread the wind chill map as the temperature map and freaked out a little bit. I did notice on one of the NWS-Norman graphics this morning that Woodward could drop to 38 degrees---that would make me nervous if I lived there. I do think some places in OK could set records for coldest overnight low for the date, which seems a little odd, but not entirely unexpected given how cool and cloudy we've been. I'd like to see some record cold low temperatures in June, July and August---that would be something to get excited about.

The rain here hasn't been as bad as expected, but Lake Texoma is in a world of hurt., even though the Corps of Engineers is releasing what water they can. They must be very careful to avoid flooding places downstream from the spillways as much as possible and with heavy rain in east Texas, there's no margin for error. Every day I see new messages about new areas of the parks around it closed down due to high water. It is to the point where there's nowhere much left to camp or fish. As one fishing friend said, you cannot go out on the lake if all the boat launch ramps are closed due to high water. I hope the restaurants and marinas that suffered severe damage in the flooding of 2015 are luckier this year. The lake, so far, is nowhere near as high now as it was then, but May is a long and generally wet month. They cancelled our Flood Warning for the Red River because it is going to crest 7" lower than earlier projections. That doesn't mean it won't be up and running fast and continuing to rise, but just that it is expected so far to stay in its banks. If all our rivers and lakes across the state keep taking on huge amounts of water, people won't be able to get out and enjoy lake recreation on Memorial Day weekend and that will be a huge hit for all the businesses at and around the lakes. As frustrated as we gardeners are with all this rain, at least it is not affecting our livelihood.

Rebecca, Mine are in full bloom and most are about 4' tall. If they get too lush and tall I'll just hack them back to the ground and let them regrow. They grow almost too well in this wet weather, especially the older, more well-established ones. I have a ton of them in the asparagus bed, where I hope they are doing their best to crowd out the asparagus.

Jen, Well I feel bad for Ethan too. That rule is just ridiculous. If his graduating GPA is going to be a 4.0, then they should let him wear the honor robe. How irritating! Having said that, as you noted, it will be on his transcript where it really matters. What I remember, both from once being a high school senior (Class of 1977 and yes, that sounds like it was 100 years ago) and from having a child who was a high school senior is that by the time graduation finally rolled around we just wanted to get it over with and get on with our lives. It is exciting and bittersweet and also exhausting as a person finishes such a key part of their life and moves on to the next stage.

Speaking of graduation, tonight we're going to Jana's graduation as she receives her Associate of Arts degree---earned the really hard way while attending classes part-time seemingly forever while working full-time and raising two young children. I admire her perseverance. She's been accepted into nursing school and has 2 or 2.5 years more to go before she gets her nursing degree. I believe that she'll be a full-time student during nursing school and only able to work part-time, but Chris is prepared to shoulder the heavier financial burden so she can fulfill her dream of becoming an R.N.

I try really hard to keep the weeds out of all the beds because I have noticed weedy beds have a whole lot more pest insect issues. I suppose the weeds either nurture them in some way or just give them more places to hide from the beneficial insects. I try to keep the paths weed-free so I can see any lurking snakes. I fail miserably at keeping the fencelines free of weeds though. I wish I was just the sort of person who could spray the fencelines with Round-up or something similar and just not be bothered by using it, but I am not, and I would not....because I just know the stuff would drift into adjacent garden areas and kill desirable plants. I do not know if there is enough wood mulch in Oklahoma this year to keep down all the weeds. New ones seem to sprout daily---even in the mulch, but at least they are easy to pull out of mulch.

I used to really love, love, love HGTV back when it had a lot more gardening shows and landscaping shows but now it is mostly home shows and tons of real estate type shows, and the only landscaping shows I see are for massive landscaping projects that cost tens of thousands of dollars. I still like HGTV when I want to want home design and home decorating stuff, but they really just ought to take the G out of its name because there's not much garden stuff left on it at all. We do find it vastly amusing to watch house hunters shows where every person or couple on there has a very unrealistic wish list for features in their home that cost roughly four times their allotted budget.

Nancy, Wet clay is horrible if a person hasn't planned for the wet weather. I see so many folks plant roses or veggie gardens in basically unamended clay and not in raised beds and I'm wondering if they do not understand that dense, slow-draining clay allows those plants to drown in wet years. I still like clay though because it is very fertile, so once amended into raised beds, it is awesome. My garden has no standing water in it, and that is a change that slowly has developed over just the last few years---I think the soil in the pathways finally is in such good shape that it is draining pretty well. We haven't done anything to fix the soil in the pathways, but just the act of mulching them heavily every year has resolved the issue as the mulch decomposes and fixes the soil in the pathways on its own. Now, the standing water everywhere else on the property drives me nuts, but in the garden....we just don't have the standing water so far (knock on wood). Ironically, the sandy-silty soil in the back garden is in much worse shape than in the clay garden, which defies logic. I wish we had the energy and the desire to build raised beds back there to make it as nice of a garden spot as the front garden, but we just don't.

I'm about to head out to the garden to tuck random herbs and flowers into any available space where I can cram them in among other plants. I also have volunteer flowers and herbs to dig up and move around. A cool cloudy day is perfect for this sort of job....and I've got my rain boots on.

Dawn

Well, I decided not to work in the garden. It is windy, cold and cloudy, and the temperature has has dropped 5 degrees as the cold front approaches. It should drop another 5 or 6 degrees this afternoon. I like March weather, but not in May. They did raise our overnight low for tomorrow morning from the upper 40s to the lower 50s. Maybe that is a good sign that tomorrow will be a nice day.

Oh MY! Another beautiful day here! Beautiful in that we went on an adventure. And laughed with friends.

Before I get started. . . speaking of bugs. and bug issues. YAY, I am finally seeing beneficial insect soldiers! Oh, I am so thrilled!! I saw my first lady bug 3 weeks or so ago. I was so thrilled. Now I've seen probably 10 of them. Also have seen a dozen or so dragon flies! Red wasps/wasps are good, too, right?

Dawn. . . see your good advice on beneficial nematodes! WOW is all that stuff expensive!! We'll see. Maybe I'll just try harder to catch and squish all the buggers. And hahaha, loved your not-March-in-May comment!

Larry. . . . tell Madge she needs to remember what those flowers are! You are going to miss your Mom so much, I'm sure. My Mom died just about the same time Amy's died in Oct/hers in Nov. Several times a week I'm thinking it's time to call Mom. . . she lived a rich and blessed 97 years. Can't really say I'm in deep grief. . . just miss her.

I gasped when I did my walk-around an hour or so ago. Seemed that despite the cool temps today, all the plants had shot up 3 inches or more. It is positively lush out there in my Emerald Forest. It reminds me of when I visited Machu Picchu, as a guest of my brother and sister-in-law in 2013. Perhaps you all know that when it was first revealed in the early 20th century (if not actually discovered), it was covered with vegetation, nearly completely hidden. The resort where we stayed near the site had huts nearby whose roofs were covered by vegetation. Our wonderful guide explained to us they had to get up and clear them every year; that they could completely be hidden within 3-4 years. Our yard reminds me of that.

And when we walk out our back door, it is truly a wall of lush green we walk into. I love it; so glad my favorite color is green. LOL I know there are great limitations on what we can grow in such a shady property, but I have learned to love it, nonetheless.

I also get a chuckle out of our lawn. . .gotta love all those ruffian weeds, crab grass, Bermuda, fescue. Just squint your eyes and gallop by at 20 mph and you'll see a beautiful lawn.

Other than the rampant green growth, not that much happening in the yard. But I'm loving seeing seeds popping up everywhere. Gonna be so much fun! And my compost is a mini-garden in itself. Six tomatoes, 3-4 peppers, zinnias, petunias, garlic. . . LOL. I haven't the heart yet to pull any out.

I had to run into town this morning to help with a church project--had a blast and met two new friends. . . another Nancy, who recognized me from Brighter Futures, and Rose, whose father is Hank and they belong to Green Country Seed Savers. What a deal! What were the chances of THAT! I told her I knew George, but not in person yet. Then I got home and suggested to GDW that we take a drive to look at the water everywhere. We went up to Mazie's (17 miles away), then Rocky Point (5 miles away), then Whitehorn Marina. Lottawatta.

This is not nearly as bad. . . well, nearly, but not AS bad as 2015. Yet. But May's still got 20 or so days. . . could get ugly. We won't be fishing for a while, Larry and Eileen. Not in the boat, anyway.

Okay. . . have a good evening, friends!

Dawn, congratulations to Jana. That is an accomplishment!

I've been watching HGTV since the mid 90's. It's changed a lot. I still like it, though. I do miss the decorating type of shows that was the majority of HGTV's content. I'm just thrilled that I have it. Not that I watch a lot of TV during the warmer months. But good grief! It was so chilly today.

We bought my other cattle panel tonight and got it installed. Now, I just need for the cucumbers to feel safe enough to sprout. I'm sure they are scared of this cold day...and all of the rain of the past days.

I will plant more cucumbers once I get the other side (new bed) filled with soil. It's half full of composty items. Just need to top it off with a few bags of soil.

No sign of okra sprouts either.

But, everything looks really good still. So far. The peas are yellowing probably are too wet.

Nancy, I love your mini compost garden! I have stuff sprouting in mine too, but haven't taken the time to identify them all yet.

Honestly, I don't mind the cooler spring, although today was too cool.

In chicken news, the 3 hens moved to the other coop to "brood" are not brooding. Maybe...just maybe this will break them from it. After a week or so, I'll put them back with the flock and they'll be back to normal. If nothing else, maybe it will buy me some more time until I can get back from Colorado and let them set in the main coop. It's not what I want. Really, really would like to keep them separate. But, we may have to do it like we did it last year if they persist.

Hope everyone is staying warm tonight. It will be too hot before we know it.

Wow, Jennifer--you are getting quite the education in having chickens! I am impressed!

Nancy, I relate to the wall of green as well as the rampant vegetation on Machu Picchu---I always look at the forest looming over my garden now---it has advanced about 15' towards my garden just since 2015 and now is literally coming through the fence---and think to myself that the issue here is not getting things to grow---it is getting them to stop growing where they aren't wanted. Tim and I need to spend a part of next winter on the north side of the garden hacking back the jungle from the garden fence as much as possible. I'd like to do it right now, but if any trees or tree limbs are going to come down onto the garden, I'd rather it be in winter when there's not so many plants to crush. We won't even discuss pastures so lush with grass and wildflowers that mowing them is going to be impossible. It is a Catch-22. If you leave the wildflowers to set seeds and then you eventually mow them down, everything is going to be too tall to mow. If you don't leave them to set seeds, there might not be as many wildflowers in the future. Either way, the pastures are beyond mowing with the riding mower now, so when we do the first mowing, it will have to be by hand using the string trimmer, which will make for a very long weekend. That's a month or two away---we try to get that first pasture cutting done sometime after most spring wildflowers have gone to seed and before the summer wildflowers get too huge. I'm not sure that's gonna work this year as the summer wildflowers are coming on strong and the spring wildflowers are slow to go to seed.

We saw high water yesterday too, but not on purpose. Driving to Tishomingo a couple of counties away for Jana's graduation took us on a bridge over the Washita River, which carries water from some southeastern counties to Lake Texoma. We saw the overflow from the river alongside the highway for quite a while before we reached the river, which has a lovely new bridge courtesy of the flooding of 2015....not that you want to get a new bridge because the old one washed out or was severely damaged in flooding, but it is what it is. The river was high, but not alarmingly so. I am hoping for a change in the weather. Since most of us have already had our average monthly rainfall for May or are close to it, maybe the rain will back off a bit and give us a break. That's what I am hoping for and kinda, sorta, half-way expecting. I might be expecting it only because it is what I am hoping for---I have refused this week to go look at the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks because if a lot of rain is in the forecast, I don't want to know it.

I did look at rainfall projections for today/tomorrow and it looks like most of us, at most, can expect up to a half-inch. That's not bad considering what it has been like lately.

My big compost pile is a mini-garden too and I've just ignored it. I might ignore it and let everything there just stay. Sooner or later one wild thing or another will eat the plants growing in the pile.

I hate seeing the water as high as it is in your photos. These flooding events used to be much more spread out---you know---few and far between. When Lake Texoma hit an elevation of 640' and started going over the spillway in 2015, it was for only the 4th time ever (1957, 1990, 2007 and then in 2015) and people flocked to the spillway for days to just stand and stare at the mighty rushing water---with some of them talking about seeing it happen when they were children, so they wanted to come see it again in case it never happened again in their lifetime. I'm thinking most of them were remembering 1957 or 1990 and had forgotten about 2007. Then it happened a second time in 2015 just a few weeks later, the first time in May and the second in June I think, so, if it happens now, it won't seem so special any more, will it? I hope the rain here just stops so that the damage already done this year doesn't get worse. I think every lake in OK probably is flooding now, and some of the photos are horrific. I don't know how lakeside businesses rebuilt time after time after time.

Jennifer, Thanks. We are really proud of her, and also proud of Chris because when she's in school, he does virtually all the household chores, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning etc. and does his best to do all the stuff he can with the girls so Jana can study when she's not in class or at work. Seeing her walk across that stage last night reminded me she didn't do it alone---she has a great support group including her grandparents and her dad, all of whom pitch in with the kids on days she and Chris both are tied up with work or school. Her dad was just beaming last night. I believe she is the first in her family to ever earn a college degree of any type, so he really was bursting with pride. I know the next couple of years of nursing school will be tough but she's got all of us to help her with everything else so she can focus on her education. I hope seeing some of the R.N. graduates last night walk that stage further inspired here to keep on going. Really, going to school as she is and working full-time is only possible because she works at a hospital and they work closely with her on her work schedule to make sure it never interferes with her classes.

And, as a way of squeezing in garden talk, Tishomingo was windy, cloudy and cold last night, and of course it was an outdoor graduation, but everything was green and lush and the southern magnolia trees have just begun to bloom so they were lovely---and so huge. We never see the huge ones here like they have there and in Durant as well. The sun broke through the clouds as graduation was ending, but it was near sunset so we only got to enjoy it for a couple of minutes. I also could see the difference in the wildflowers further east---they have wildflowers there that we only rarely if ever see here.

I'm afraid of how chilly it is going to be today. I want to work in the garden. I hate being cold. So probably I'll wait until after lunch time, at least, so it can warm up a bit. I noticed yesterday that I have cypress vine seedlings coming up everywhere. There's a part of me who rues the day I ever planted cypress vine and morning glories because they reseed almost as much as bindweed does, and all over the garden too, not just where I grow the plants, but then when I see how much the hummingbirds love their flowers each year, I'm glad I leave a few to climb the fence and bloom.

My peas are yellowing at the bottom too and I have no doubt they are too wet, but they are blooming and producing, so at least there's that. They undoubtedly will not last long once the heat arrives and along with it will come the powdery mildew, so we'll just enjoy them while they last. I am betting they will not last long.

We only have one broody hen this spring so the other hens just lay the eggs in her nest and then run off to free-range.

I hope the heat doesn't come too soon. Our plants will suffer from such severe weather whiplash if conditions change too quickly. Other than being too wet, I think the plants have been enjoying being cooler and wetter for so long.

Dawn

Dawn, Chris and Jana seem like a great team...along with their supporting families. With kids and jobs, "getting" an RN can be hard, but will be so worth it.

I have a questions about strawberries. My berry plants seem to be growing up more, rather than spreading out. Do you think they are reaching/looking for the sun?

I just realized that I do not have a dress for the band banquet and really don't feel like shopping for one.

Our heater came on this morning.

Jennifer, I do feel like they are a good team. This morning they both woke up raring to go and were out buying paint and continuing to work on trying to paint the exterior of the house. They got lucky and we had no rain yet today so they were able to get a lot done.

How old are the strawberry plants? Often they will put out more growth in the crown area first and it will go upward, and then later they spread out sideways by producing more runners. If they aren't looking for/stretching for the sun, they should be! I think your plants are like everyone else's---deprived of sunlight and searching for it. I think that once we start getting more than 3 minutes of sunshine per week, they'll be fine and spread outwards more instead of upwards.

Oops. I hate dress shopping too. Hmmm. Are you and Mason about the same size? Would she maybe have something hanging in her closet that you could borrow?

Our heater came on too and I was glad. The house felt a touch chilly, but we didn't get horrifically cold outside---only 46 degrees. I felt like the air did feel cool and chilly outdoors all day though.

I saw the NWS-Norman tornado report for all the tornadoes they've confirmed in the Norman weather office coverage area since April 30th just a few minutes ago and they confirmed three tornadoes occurred in our county last week when I was running back and forth from the tornado shelter to the house. They were weak (two EF-0s and one EF-1) but, of course, if it is your house that it hits, they seem big and strong to you. I only know of one home that was destroyed. We don't get many confirmed tornadoes on the ground here---historically, maybe one every three years, and they often hit in lightly populated rural areas, so three in one day was kinda a big deal. I have seen video of at least two of them. I'm just grateful they were small ones that didn't hit many homes.

I know some of y'all have gotten rain today and others are getting it right now. It hasn't hit us yet, but we're expecting it. Next week's weather looks better with lower rain chances, lower forecast rainfall amounts and some chances of partly sunny or sunny skies. It cannot happen soon enough.

Dawn

Our heater came on last night, Jennifer, and this morning.

Oh you have dresses, don't you? Of course you do. LOL

The strawberries at school are stretching up, too. I ran in this morning to see how things looked (wet in the low spot, but great everywhere else. And then back here to mow, and then weeded a bit. But on days that I mow, I mostly don't do a lot of other stuff. And sometimes NOTHING else.

Garry had to get under the deck and put a cinder block under the steps supporting beam, as the steps had sunk some on one side. That was just about an all day project. Now we need to go get a couple pieces of lattice. And I need him to get the deck power-washed so I can get to painting.

I am shocked--rain tonight and in the morning? Wow.

I had a BUNCH of petunias coming up in the wheelbarrow. This morning I noticed they were all stripped to the stems. What is odd is that I have larger petunias in many other containers and they are untouched. I sure hope they STAY untouched! Do any of you have any idea what could have stripped those?

It was a great day for mowing, but every time I went out just to sit, too chilly, so then I'd have to go walk around. There's not much action in terms of color. Stuff is happening very slowly. Verbena bonariensis, spider wort, hollyhock zebrinas are filling in, and the nicotiana, petunias, astilbes, and rose campion are JUST beginning. The hydrangeas are enormous, but taking their sweet time to bloom. Since they've been here (this is their fifth year), this is the latest they've been; usually by now they're in full bloom. I'm kinda liking this. I was looking at photos from 2 yrs ago. We are a couple weeks behind we were then. All's good out in the vegetable beds.

I am a little freaked out with the flower beds. Remember, I panted SO many things last year. Sort of knew this could happen. . . . I see stuff coming up. Not remembering what I planted. Being fairly certain what's weeds and what's not. BUT just because I realize something is not a weed, doesn't really mean I have any idea what it is! There's a clumping plant out there--an obvious member of the mint faily (wow! Way to narrow it down, right? LOL) But it has no scent whatsoever. Rule out most herbs, right? The tiny worrisome part is that it is also sprouting in the veggie raised beds. . . What did you do now, Nancy! I know I have hyssop out there, several basils, but what else, no idea. No excuse for being in this position. Oh, wait. I have a list of stuff I planted out there in all the beds. I will have to retrieve and figure it out maybe.

THIS year I was very careful to plant the labels with the plants. And then got the green beans mixed up with the okra, and now I'm not sure which is which. No matter--they're in styrofoam cups. I expect they'll let me know who is who. I soaked them all first, so they're sprouting up in record time--like 3 day was the earliest.

I had ordered five aster tataricus from this obscure (obscure to US in OK--might be famous as all get-out in northern CA) nursery called Digging Dog Nursery. I ordered them in February. When I researched them and searched for sellers, this was the first one I found after much time looking. So it was a complete crap shoot. Then my debit card had a couple unathorized charges in Feb/March, so ordered a new one. Got an email from DD that my number didn't work; didn't see the email until maybe 7-10 days after they sent it. So called them frantically with new number. Then nothing.. . . 7-10 days later, got a voice mail from them saying perhaps they got the number wrong, could I call them. Well it was in the middle of a bunch of other stuff--plants for the school, phone calls from church people, and some family stuff. I totally forgot. But when the plant didn't arrive about when they should have, I called the nursery and wondered what the status was. She reminded me she'd left me a voice mail.

I tell ya, friends, I am losing it!! BUT!! My plants arrived two days ago. They look healthy and perky. Do you all remember when I SO wanted my burn weed (which Jason identified correctly, of course) to be the aster tataricus. Well. At least the burn weed led me to the aster. I'm excited to see how it does. https://www.finegardening.com/plant/tatarian-aster-aster-tataricus

Isn't it a riot to see the pains we all go through to get the plant of our dreams!! And of course, it's a toss of the dice.

It started raining before bedtime last night. It still is raining at breakfast time this morning. I don't think it is a lot of rain at all, just the drip drip drip of slow steady light rain. This Spring has turned into the rainy version of the movie, Groundhog Day, where every day you wake up to a rainy repeat of the day before. I am so over this weather. I like to go plant shopping on Mother's Day weekend because the stores usually have some really lovely plants in stock just for Mother's Day. This doesn't seem like it is going to be a weekend to plant shop though.

It is mind-boggling how much rain has fallen since last autumn, but I cannot get a Mesonet map that only shows rainfall since September 1st, so here's the one that shows how much rain has fallen in the last year:

Rainfall for Last 365 Days

This map below might come close to showing what we've had since rainfall returned near the end of last summer. It shows rainfall for the water year, which begins October 1st, but that means it won't include the heavy September rainfall some areas received. So, I checked the Mesonet data for our county in September 2018 and all I have to do is add the September 2018 rainfall (8.99") to the number shown below to see how much rain we have received in our county since the current monsoon season began.

Rainfall for Water Year Beginning October 1, 2018

No wonder we're all wet and soggy!

The number of mosquitoes I'm seeing is just unreal and I cannot imagine what we'll see, number-wise, as the weather heats up.

Dawn

Dawn, what is the name of the nursery in Fort Worth that you love?

I am just east of the 68.7 area, and I will guess my rainfall to be at least 50" from Aug. 1 till now, and it could be much more than that. I dont remember a wetter year. I still dont have all my garden planted. I have not even started on my wildlife garden, some of it is still under water and it is raining now.

I was taking compost over to the wildlife area ( I thought I would plant my extra tomatoes and peppers on the high spots ) and had to dump the compost because the tractor would not pull through the mud.

I am afraid my sweet potatoes will rot also, but I have saves enough potatoes to plant at a later date. I dont want to lose my Covington potatoes because I still have good potatoes from last year, they seem to keep better than the potatoes I have planted in the past.

Staying inside today. We have a houseful and the backyard is a mudpit, so we're trying to keep everyone calm and inside. They all went out earlier & the 5 fluffy puppies came in dripping with muddy water. Every towel in the house is in the wash, along with all the dog blankets.

Garden wise, the peas started producing pods and I may be close to harvesting them. Several radish put out flowers so I'm letting them go to seed. Tomatoes and peppers are doing well. All the pretty, lush tomatoes I got at SF wilted by the time I got home (seriously? how does that happen?!?!) so I wound up hacking them off before planting. They all have new growth and are almost as big as they were. Otherwise I'm almost finished planting everything out. Now to sit back (very impatiently!) and wait to start harvesting.

Oh Jen, how do you do it? The 5 fluffy muddy pups. I would lose my mind.

My peas are making pods too. I love LOVE fresh peas. I wish they lasted all summer.

Dawn, Mason and I are "about" the same size...only not really. She is quite a bit thinner than I, although it's difficult to tell that in pics because of camera angles and baggy clothing. We can share tops and some dresses, but I don't have a waist any longer and that matters in the way clothing fits. AND she lives OKC North, so it was just easier going to Ross. Their dresses are usually under $20 and there is a Ross 10 minutes from me if the traffic is good. I used to enjoy shopping for clothes a LOT and was good at it. AND quite "in style". I'm not now. I just want comfort. AND especially comfortable shoes...and shoes matter in an outfit. So, I normally look like a dork. But oh well.

I have no idea how the garden is doing. I did grab a handful of lettuce to put on my sandwich, but other than that... I hope it's surviving the extra water. I love me some rain. I love me some cooler temps. BUT we need a little sunshine and some dry days. Please!

I still have SF plants to put in. And I grabbed a lot of flowers at a nursery to put in our half whiskey barrels (on the shop porch). Finbar thinks they are litterboxes, so I'll have to come up with a plan for that...and I think I have one. But, I''m too tired to talk about it now.

Happy Mom's Day to all the Moms--of human, canine, feline or all of the above. Hugs to you!

Rebecca, Sorry, I just saw this. There are many nurseries that used to be in Fort Worth that I loved. When I tried to go to them last year, most all of them are gone completely out of business or have moved elsewhere. Mike's Garden Center on McCart in Fort Worth still is there, but I haven't been to it in a few years. The Mike's Garden Center near White's Chapel Road in Southlake is good, but never has had as many unique things as I used to find at the one on McCart ages and ages ago. I need to make a trip to southwest Fort Worth to Weston Gardens in Bloom to see how it has changed or if it has changed. I haven't been there in probably 15 years. Rendenta's Garden Center, a long time favorite, has closed down the two locations I used to go to---the one in Southlake years ago and the one in Arlington last year. Their last remaining location is in Dallas, and I haven't been there yet. Calloway's, an independent regional chain (as far as I know they are only in Texas) has multiple locations. The last one I went to last year was in Southlake on E. Southlake Blvd. I went around this time of year or slightly later and found a ton of plants I liked. The one in Denton doesn't have nearly as much space so not as many plants. I think all the smaller, local ones like Marshall Grain (there is one in Grapevine, but it just isn't like the one in Fort Worth used to be...so it is nothing special) and Green Mama's are long gone. I guess I hardly ever shop for plants down there any more because there's nothing left but the big box stores and Calloway's (and I do love Calloways but they can be a bit pricey). It was crushing when Redenta's in Arlington shut down last year, but I do like Green's Produce and Plants on Arkansas Lane---it is no Rendenta's but it isn't bad. Dallas has some outstanding nurseries, including North Haven Garden's, Redenta's, Ruibals at the Dallas Farmer's Market and Shades of Green.

Larry, I don't remember a wetter year from Sept-May either and it is scary. We drove over the Red River bridge this morning and, while the river certainly has been quite a bit higher in past years (notably in 2015 and 2007), it still was up and running really fast today.

I just watched the evening news and our local TV met said we're going to be rain-free all week and should get to dry out quite a bit. I'm so excited---and I hope he is right. We may be headed for temperatures in the mid-80s by the end of the week. The only really bad thing about that would be high heat index values. I just hope we dry out soon--there is so much I need to get done, or just give up trying. I am not inclined to give up. If it rains another 5-10" this month, though, I might just close the garden gate and walk away.

Jen, We got another half inch of rain overnight after an already very rainy week, so I only went into the garden for a minute---just to harvest some lettuce because we were having BLTs for dinner. It is so soggy in there. The plants seem happier than I would expect given how wet it has been. I don't think anything is flat out rotting or near death yet, but the plants at the low end of the garden are suffering from waterlogged roots though not enough to wilt or anything.

Our yard and our gravel driveway are an endless chain of little lakes of water. They'll dry out eventually, but until they do it is mud city around here. Same old, same old stuff as every week for ages and ages now.

Dawn

Oops, almost time for new thread. I'll just throw in that I am LOVING this wet cool spring! This is (in my mind) how it SHOULD be. My plants are SO happy. Not much flowering yet, but they are all getting so BIG and healthy and happy! Because we're on rocky land and it drains well, we're good. Not like 2015, when it rained like 4 inches every other day or more. I am sorry for all of you who can't get stuff in--and it's like that in town where the school is. But at our place, it's very good.

So amazing how different it is from county to county or town to town here, isn't it? Love to you all.