Mid-April Cold Spell 2020
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years ago
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Lynn Dollar
4 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Daily Support Mon. April 18th thru Sun. April 24th
Comments (28)HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY, DONNA!!!!! We love you! Check in and tell us how your BIG day was!!!! :-) NHSuzanne: Hilarious video! Thanks for the laugh! If we had TV like THAT, maybe I would consider cable again! LOL! Bummer about your fence. This is the first year that we haven't lost a tree or two on our property. We've had some REAL windy days, but nothing took out our trees, thank goodness. Your garden beds look ready to go! I have to haul dirt and turn it into my hay/worm bin castings and spread it. Then I, too, shall be ready! Easter...I am getting the 2-three year olds again (they are becoming very special to me!) this weekend, Saturday at 11am and overnight for Easter! I LOVE HAVING KIDS ON HOLIDAYS! And, my DD got laid off, so she is here for a week. She's looking for jobs online, and she can do that anywhere. So, it's a perfect weekend! MIL arrives in 6 days for a week-long stay, but without FIL, so that should go easy. Remember, FIL has Asperger Sydrome, so it takes a lot of energy to have fun with him. DeeMarie: CPAP! It's a lifesaver! So glad you're doing this for you, your loved ones, and US!, my love! Peg: Good attitude! As far as caustic family members go, I think many of us have one or two of those. We deal, but it is painful to have family members that we can't just "be" with. :-) Since you asked, projects OUT of the kitchen are many and they are getting accomplished! It feels so good! I feel like I am FINALLY getting things under control. I need to tackle my yard and garage and just get it STARTED! Okay, back to scanning and filing paperwork for me!...See MoreVeggie Tales - April 2020
Comments (640)It's a very rainy last day of April here in the DC area. In between the Zoom meetings I had today, I managed to take some time out for the balcony garden. I transplanted a few Yellow Spanish Onion seedlings into their own cups.. I plan to eventually plant them with my tomato plants when I put them in their permanent pots. I also thinned out my pepper seedlings. Sadly, once again, it looks like the tomato seedlings I started myself won't make it again. This same thing happened last year... they get a few true leaves and then they die off. I don't understand what the issue is. If there's some secret I'm missing to starting tomatoes please let me know! However, I do have one Brandywine seedling that's hanging on. I also did a fresh round of seeds last weekend (cukes, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, basil, oregano, dill), and as of this morning at least one of each variety has germinated. Other goings-on on the balcony... A few of the onion seedlings I transplanted Cilantro (used some last night in a homeade mango habanero salsa!) Habaneros were frozen from last years garden.. Garlic still going strong... hardnecks on the left which are doing way better than the softnecks on the right.. Peppers (that I thinned out after this was taken), squash, and (dying) tomato seedlings hardening off Cherokee Purple and San Marzano tomato I bought from local nursery...See MoreApril 2020, Week 1
Comments (70)HJ, I’m ok. Just busy and tired. Working and getting the garden in order. Work is stressful right now. Plus, a coworker‘s father is in hospice, and we don’t know when she will need to be out for an extended period of time. Did my mom’s grocery shopping at Reasor’s this morning. Most people were alone, wearing masks, and social distancing well. I can’t find Minute rice for her anywhere, but other than that, things were mostly stocked. I picked up a few things for me at the Walmart pickup. Part of it was potting mix, and I didn’t have to lift it. I can stay on budget better when I don’t go in. However, I need to go in Lowe’s tomorrow after work for clear lawn bags to wrap tomato cages in the next few nights. I thought I had more than I do. Unless white ones will work. I just need something to put over the tops of the cages, they’re already wrapped. I wrapped the cages to protect the little ones from the wind. Or do I need to cover the tops? Our lowest prediction is 30, but the 3 stations I watch are all over the place. I bought the potting mix mix for the lettuce bins, because the weather made my lettuce bolt and I felt the soil needed to be replaced. However, right now I need those bins to hold seedlings the next few nights. Funny how things work out. When this is over I’ll fill the bins with summer lettuce. I also raided mom’s house for old sheets, for more coverage if I need it. Lilies are too tall to cover. Should I cover the peony?...See MoreApril 2020, Week 3
Comments (92)Kim, Thanks for the info, but with all due respect, we are avoiding the entire DFW metro area like the plague and staying closer to home since there's over 6,000 coronavirus cases down there. Up here where we shop, we have or have had 2 cases in Carter County, 2 cases in Love County, 4 or 5 in Cooke County, TX, 4 or 5 in Montague County, TX and a few dozen in Grayson County, TX, so we're staying close to home until the case load falls significantly in the DFW metro.....and I think that is why I'm going stir-crazy. You know that almost all my favorite places to shop are down there, not up here. Nancy, I'll have to give the full report later, but we went to the meat market in Muenster TX on Saturday very early and then hit Wal-Mart in Gainesville to get a few things. We were home by 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. which is pretty good because Muenster is a far drive and most of our time was just spent on the road. Then, on Sunday we hit Home Depot as soon as they opened and breezed right in and out, and then ran over to the Sam's in Sherman, largely because I wanted to buy a couple of new water hoses and we like their 120' long ones since our gardening spots are so far from the house. We were at Sam's Club when it opened, and there was quite a line to get in, but by the time we parked and walked to the door, the line was gone, so we walked right in without waiting. Sherman was a real experience, and not necessarily a calm, soothing one. More about that later. I hope your shopping trip was successful. Now that I've been out and relieved the cabin fever and bought a few of the things I wanted, I think I can stay out of the stores again for quite a while. I know we'll be staying away from Sherman for reasons I'll explain later. Larry, I understand the feeling of being behind. I've never been this far behind in planting, and I am trying to stay calm and not be overly worried about it. Since our rain basically stopped, we are rapidly going from lakes and puddles and flooding to dry, cracked ground---you know how clay is about doing that. No rain is falling in meaningful amounts and it is getting hot fast. Our rainfall totals for April are far below normal but we're still above average for the year since January, February and March overachieved drastically in the rainfall category. I should be worried about both the early arrival of the heat and the seeming lack of rainfall over the last 3 or 4 weeks, but I'm so happy to be able to play in the dirt that I am not. I miss having cool-season crops, but had I managed to get them planted, they would have rotted anyway in the wet ground, so I just have to accept that this is how it is this year. Since it is getting so hot so fast, I'm going to plant mostly southern peas and only a small amount of green beans today. I can plant larger amounts of green beans for a fall harvest. When the rain almost totally stops in a rather abrupt manner and the temperatures spike quickly, that usually means a hot, dry, miserable summer is ahead and I don't care right now. I'm just happy the rain has stopped. Marleigh, Can you order the mower part online? That's what Tim has done lately, and the parts ordered have arrived within a few days each time. We did go to HD this weekend and he got some parts he needed for something while I bought plants. We were there shortly after the store opened and got in right away, found what we wanted and got out. By the time we were leaving, there was a line waiting to enter the store. Since we haven't been out shopping, I didn't know this was happening, and I was quite shocked. I do not think I would wait in a line to get into any store, and I hope I don't have to eat those words later if the shopping situation worsens over time instead of getting better. Nancy, I have grown legumes both with and without inoculants and I am not sure I ever could tell a difference. If you are growing beans or peas where any sort of legume has grown in recent years, you don't need the inoculants anyhow. The inoculants might be helpful in newly broken soil, but it would depend. We have lots of clovers and vetches growing here on our property, likely surviving remnants from when our place was part of a family's farm, so I haven't worried much about using inoculants over the years. Amy, There's nothing wrong with random thoughts! Was Margaret's open and did you get to have some goulash? My dad loved goulash and used to make it on the weekends when he took over cooking to give mom a break since she didn't like cooking. Rebecca, I hope nothing in your face is broken. I bet you have turned kinds of pretty colors by today. When Lillie hit that parked car while on her friend's hoverboard a couple of months ago, her face turned delightful shades of yellow, green, blue and purple. These were her first black eyes and she wore the colors proudly after she got over the shock of it all. She had swelling around her nose, but it wasn't broken. I think she was a little embarrassed to go to school with her injuries because she is quiet and shy by nature and didn't want for everyone to be staring at her, but she got over it pretty quickly, and her bruising actually faded more quickly than we had thought it would. I hope yours does too. Jennifer, I would bake my own bread (and we have stored the ingredients to bake at least several months worth of bread, so we could do this) before I'd stand in bread lines. I'm not worried this will be a reality for us though. I might be slightly more concerned that the end result of all the closures of meat-packing plants due to high infection rates of Covid-19 among their employees might result in higher meat prices or in some types of meat being temporarily in short supply. I hope Finbar is going to be alright. Chris has had to drive a couple of his birds to the vet in Dallas within the last few weeks, and his vet is not playing around with the virus. The lobby/waiting room at the vet office is closed. There are Do Not Enter signs on the door. They meet you at the car, greet you, have you fill out the paperwork there, and then they take the pet indoors to be examined while you wait in your car. This is a super busy vet practice because it is one of the few that actually sees and treats tropical birds (among other pets, not a pure bird specialist). When they are done, the return your pet to you, you pay electronically, and they give you whatever medications or supplies you need. He said the vet techs that come to the car are masked and gloved, and of course, you can speak with the vet on the phone if needed. I have to agree with dbarron that throwing up in a purse is a classic cat revenge move. Did somebody or something upset Finbar? Larry, I am glad you are able to get some things done. I hope the rain stays away this week and you can make more progress in the garden. There, it is Monday morning and I am at least caught up on last week. Now, I need to feed my pets and head out to the garden. Just to vex me, the sky is very cloudy and they threw a 20% chance of rain into the forecast. I'm just going to ignore it and carry on as long as there is no lightning. Dawn...See MoreNancy RW (zone 7)
4 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
4 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
4 years agohazelinok
4 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
4 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agohazelinok
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agohazelinok
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoHU-422368488
4 years agoMarleigh 7a/Okmulgee Co.
4 years agoLynn Dollar
4 years agoOkiedawn OK Zone 7
4 years agohazelinok
4 years agoMarleigh 7a/Okmulgee Co.
4 years agoAmyinOwasso/zone 6b
4 years agoslowpoke_gardener
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoNancy RW (zone 7)
4 years agoRebecca (7a)
4 years agoluvncannin
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoMarleigh 7a/Okmulgee Co.
4 years agoLynn Dollar
3 years ago
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Lynn Dollar