Here the pattern has been to rain 3-4 days, then 2-3 days of sun. Wish I could share some of the bounty!

I’m weirded out by what survived and what didn’t. One rosebush, northwest exposure, not protected, is coming back at the base. Second one, well protected from just about anything, no sign of life yet. Random green leaves on rosemary, but no green on the trunk under the bark. Fall planted crocus, foliage but no flowers. Daffodils that haven’t bloomed in years, have buds. Last falls pansies never missed a beat. Nature is weird.

Finally getting potatoes in this weekend.

Morning glory seedlings are farther along than tomatoes.

Pecan trees have buds. Dawn always said that the pecan trees always wake up when they’re positive winter is over.

It is indeed, and I share the weirdity of crocus blooms too. Considering that I plant at least 40 a year, I had only 2 blooms from what I planted last year. The older crocus were just as spotty too. I did have a crocus that I bought in 2016 (special variety, attaching picture) that gave me a half baked bloom in 2017, but hadn't flowered since...blooming beautifully this year, after several years of no blooms.

Of course, part of that could be based on 2020 weather patterns too, I guess. Daffodils also kinda spotty.

I am trying to bust up ground to let it dry, very wet here.

I had better go, helper is here, I need to put him to work.

Crazy, Danny. I loved hearing about the 2016 one.

Yep, HJ--enjoying the weather! For real, I THINK, our friend is coming out to help today. I hope. I made a list of things to do. Adding mix to some of the raised beds, tackling day lily and Bermuda grass removal, finish clearing dead stalks from a couple beds and moving them back to the burn pile. I was laughing about the Bermuda project. YEAH.

I have no idea what hasn't survived yet, Rebecca. I don't THINK the rosemary did--it certainly shouldn't have. But we'll see. I'm hoping the lantanas survived, but again, there's no good reason why they should have. I'm hopeful about the rosemary and them, though, as their roots are well established and they had leaves covering them. Garry asked if I wanted more soil mix added to the shop raised bed and I said not now--I wanted to see what would come back from last year--and see if anything re-seeded. Looks like I have cosmos popping up--yay. I'd like to see Mexican sunflowers, but have my doubts. Have any of you had them re-seed?

I have three nice clumps of autumn joy sedum--I'm excited. Had intended to grow it for, oh, about 40 years.

The mustard was melted by the cold spell but has sprung back with a vengeance. And now the cilantro is really growing well, and I've spotted several more out there. Don't know about the little beauty berry sapling, or pawpaws. I'm going to be bummed if the pawpaws don't make it--they were expensive!

Sand cherry bushes are blooming nearby. Well, I've been putting it off long enough. I'm going to pot up a bunch of seedlings today.

Have a great week to come, everyone.

I got quite a bit of ground ready today. It is much too wet, but it is going to get wetter in a few days.

The flower beds in the wildlife garden look good, I will be planting seeds in those beds. I dont have them planned out yet, but I will have at least 1000 sq. ft. of flowers. Potatoes are the only thing I have planted so far over there this year. I dont think I will have a problem with the deer eating them. I planted about 40# of seed potatoes. I did not cut them up this year, which is a first for me. I planted all of them shallow and will place hay over them, which is also a first for me, but my days of digging are gone, just not able to do that any more.

Madge and I are just spending too much time in the Dr's office to get anything done.

Nancy what’s a sand cherry

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=prpu3

Kim--check out the link. . . having said that, yes, I misnamed it: it was a prunus gracilis. Sand cherries were all over up north. I was always confused by "sand plums" referenced in OK. There ARE sand cherries down here, but they're not natives. I'm still confused. What's new.

Close call with lemon basil. I had it densely planted in an 8 oz styrofoam cup, and had somehow not put holes in the bottom.I've been bottom-watering all the seedlings on the grow cart--noticed this morning that the lemon basil were almost dead! So I quick punched holes in the bottom and gave it big drink of water on top. It came to.

Our friends came out yesterday--got the veggie raised beds ready for planting. They look GREAT.

My purple sand cherries are blooming. They survived the winter.

Since I'm new to cilantro, I'm not sure, but my cilantro that survived is bolting, I think. Its putting off some different looking stems / leaves.

The bradford pears in the neighborhood and at the park have done some odd things, they never really bloomed. They've gone straight to green leaves. Some have a few blooms in places, others none, but they've got green leaves. This winter really messed with them.

What's left of my redbud is just about to full bloom, what's left of it after the ice storm. I'm gonna give it another year to regain some shape, then decide to leave it or take it out.

What a winter that was, huh ?

I'll come back in the morning and read the comments while I'm on the treadmill. I ran across this while checking for the latest status of the polar vortex which has been responsible for our late spring freezes the last 3-4 years.

https://www.mlive.com/weather/2021/03/polar-vortex-forecast-shows-winter-is-heading-for-the-exits.html

I am getting rain again. I did get some potatoes planted, but for the most part it has been too wet to do any proper gardening. About the only thing I can do out side is feed the potatoes and try to trim up the blackberries, they had a lot of cold damage.

Travis Meyer said tonight not to plant out just yet.

So, he's thinking frost again too? Did he say when (or just wait) ?

I’m planting out tomatoes this weekend but I have the equipment to cover and this is in my large container beds (6x3x2.5) which means soil temps are already higher than ground. Lots of reasons for going early that I won’t get into but I’m very aware that I’m taking a calculated risk. We’ll see if I regret it. If I’m clamoring for tomato plants at spring fling, y’all know what happened.

Rebecca, on a limited scale I’ve seen that snow cover impacted what survived and what didn’t. I have a row of irises along my house and in one area there is a crepe myrtle that kept snow from building up underneath on the irises. The irises under it are completely zapped. The ones that were snow covered are fine. It’s yet to be seen if they’ll bloom this year. I have daffodils interplanted that already set buds when the cold hit. Those buds were destroyed even though they were protected by snow, so I only got 3 blooms from those daffs. My g’g’grandma’s daffs under a different tree are a petite variety and are a bit later to emerge. Those popped up as soon as the snow melted and bloomed gorgeously.

I felt more like a landscaper than gardener this weekend but I got TONS done. I was a little late trimming back all my native plants in my micro prairie but finally did that this weekend. It looks like most things there are going to come back. There is such limited growth habit info when growing these things in a flowerbed/ornamental setting. I made some best guesses but it’s more weedy looking than I’d like so I would have been okay if a few things didn’t return. Of course the most unruly plants are coming back with a vengeance. PSA - tall coreopsis could take over the world.

My skin definitely showed the effects of being out in the nippy winds all weekend. My cheeks were pretty chapped when I woke up yesterday.

HJ - it sounds like you and i are in a similar rain pattern. Last night was the first measurable moisture since the arctic snow.

Danny, he didn’t say why, just to wait. I do what he says, because he’s rarely wrong.

Isn‘t there something you can put on trees when you prune branches that keeps them from growing back? I need a name.

Getting the last of the potatoes in this week. Finally.

Ha! I see I have seedlings exactly like the ones in your pictures, Megan. The only thing mine could be, other than zinnias, are tithonia--and at that wee stage, they might actually be tithonia. Don't think so, though. Pretty sure they're zinnias. And I see cosmos sprouting along with them.

I have been SO much more relaxed this year with the seed planting. Started so much later, so doubt anything will be too big when it's time to get them into the ground. That makes me REALLY happy. My last batch of seeds, planted just 3/17, are coming along great--Mountain Mint, chives, statice, holy basil, and Illumination amaranth. You maybe should have one of those, Amy. lol Anyone else want any of those?

I agreed to grow half a dozen Midnight Fire peppers for a friend, so she can put them at the edge of her deck. . . and I thought that was a good idea, so am growing about that many for me--and then for the school. I decided I'll put some of the more picturesque peppers in containers here, like the Thunder Mountain Longhorns and Ros de Mallorca and Chinese 5-color.

I remembered you saying you had trouble with Egg Yolks germinating, Megan. Mine were very slow--but in one pot I have a kazillion, and in the other pot, 2. What that's about, no idea. I'll tease the crowded ones apart one of these days when they get a little bigger.

We got a nice rain last night--little over half an inch.

We had the exterminator out today. We were afraid we had termites. He did a thorough check and no evidence of termites, he said. We DO have carpenter ants and carpenter bees. We knew about the bees. And as good as they are for the environment, not so much for log houses. And the dagnabbed carpenter ants, I'll deal with. But here's a question for the rest of you. Have any of you had trouble with termites? The young gentleman was encouraging us to get on their preventive plan with Sentricon stations.

I've done the Sentricon stations and am very skeptical. We had termites, I called Terminex and they put bait stations on the wall near the termite activity. The termites take the bait back to the colony and kills the whole bunch out. It worked.

But they also installed the Sentricon system. They put wooden sticks in the ground at about 6 ft intervals all around the house. The idea being, that the termites would find the sticks, then they replace the sticks with bait and kill out the termite colony. I forgot how much I paid for this, I think it was near $1,000 per year. The total bill was near $2,000 for the bait stations and the Sentricon system, but I think that was only for one year ( this was around year 2000, so my memory is not good )

Well, they come around once a month and check the stations. After a couple years of this, I began to doubt this was effective. I talked to some people, I talked to the State agency that regulates these people. It was 50/50 whether it was a farce or effective. I got out of the contract and had them remove the stations. I think the odds of termites finding those sticks, is remote.

While this was happening, I found termites eating on a fence picket at the back of my property. I called them, said bring the bait, we can kill out a colony. They said it was too far from my house and they weren't liable.

I'm taking my chances now. I know what to look for and where to look for termite activity. I can do it as well as they can. The bait works very well. The Sentricon thing, I think that's dubious.

Also, I had carpenter ants last summer. I talked to an exterminator. He wanted to upsell me to a termite treatment. He would take a liquid bait called Taurus S/C, dig a ditch around the house, and pour a diluted mix of this chemical in the ditch. Where concrete was up against the foundation, they would drill holes every two feet and inject the Taurus. He said this would offer 5 years protection. He said for the ants, he would use Taurus S/C also and spray the eaves of the roof and around the base of the outside walls. I declined his services. Bought the Taurus S/C and sprayed the house myself. After one treatment I never saw another carpenter ant, or any ant, for that matter. That stuff really works. I bet it works great on termites also and there's YT vids on how to apply it. It can be found on the internet for about $50 a quart, but that will go a long way. It is expensive, as that kind of thing goes.

I agree with Lynn. we discontinued pest control after my gardens were sprayed with neonicotinoid. I was doing edible landscaping around the exterior and they basically said that if they skipped spraying the garden areas there was no point in doing the rest of the house.

We asked around and were told that those stations only tell you that you have termites in that exact spot. Like Lynn, we discovered termites elsewhere in the yard - eating one of my wood raised beds - and they were too far away to be a concern to the pest control company.

After that, we contacted a different service who does an annual inspection and that’s it. They can do full treatments, but if all you want is an inspection they do that and warranty your house against termites for a year. When I told them about the termites in the garden they said congratulations. They’re not attacking your house (tongue in cheek). Followed that with everyone in Oklahoma has termites underground, they just don’t see them. They also said that the only real treatment is the trenching process Lynn described which is why they don’t spray, they just inspect and treat if there is evidence.

Ive since read that the oil in cedar is actually poisonous to termites, so I spring for cedar mulch around the house. I know there’s little oil left in the mulch, but it makes me feel better. Termites also like cardboard which is why there are so many recommendations to avoid boxes for storage in homes. That prompted me to never layer cardboard in my beds along the house. If I was getting chemical treatments, I could do that, but I’d rather skip chemicals and just use the cardboard in beds further from the house.

Time to get off the treadmill, so with all my termite advice, I gotta jet.

We bought a house with termites. At closing we were told they would send us the termite certificate. Yeah right. MIL loaned us the money for treatment. Still had them in the bathroom wall. Eventually Ron and a friend took out that wall. The friend had some creosote (banned by then) and they treated the wood. That ended the bathroom problem. Can't sell the house because of the damage to the "addition" (they did it themslves) would cost more to fix than the house is worth. The roof leaked in the addition for years. Any way, terminix inspects it annually.

I have no real advice. Lynn's info sounds the best.

Dad's memorial service was accomplished, appartment is empty, bills paid. Death certs to insurance. Discovered I don't have Pay on Death on Dad's bank account. BTW power of attorney ENDS on death. Now the wedding. SIL is staying with us. I don't clean. Haven't been physically able to do much for several years. Clearing the room for her is my trauma for the week. Someday maybe I can plant something.

I lost my post today. AGGH. Try to catch up tomorrow. XOXOXO

If not for next Wednesday night, I would put my tomatoes in the ground. I planted seed on Feb 17 and the plants are ready to go in the ground now. I think next year I wait till last week of Feb. to plant seed.

I've yet to find a correlation between when I put the plants in the ground and when I get my first tomato. One year, I had a lot of fruit set early, but it took them a long time to mature. IIRC, that May was a bit cooler. But other than that, I don't think planting early helps. Its just a matter of managing these tall leggy plants indoors and taking them in and out of the house, when possible.

Thoughts with you, Amy. You have so many things to worry about right now, and garden therapy is definitely in order, but finding the time can be the hardest part of gardening sometimes.

I had my first hail storm of the season last night. I took the dogs out before bed and saw some lightning to the south. We pulled the cars into the garage, went to bed, checked radar which made it look like everything was passing far to our east, and started to fall asleep. About 10 minutes later we heard what sounded like a sudden downpour but then we realized we heard the ping, ping, ping that accompanies hail hitting the windows. Looked out and it was ALL hail. Our patio and grass looked like it was covered in snow. I didn’t go out to look closely but from the window it appeared to be pea sized.

This morning it looks like plants are fine. Most of my stuff is covered with wire trashcans from the dollar store. That was a much faster solution than making more of my lampshade cloche. I could see a little bruising on leaves that weren’t covered, but nothing that will kill the plants.

Treadmill time is wrapping up again, so I’ll be back tmrw morning.

Do you live in Edmond, Megan, you get so much hail! My brother had to put a hail proof roof on his house because it lowered his insurance (and hopeully will prevent roof damage.) Wire trashcans are a brilliant idea. Pinned down well they should repel rabbits and squirrels too.

My friend in Minnesota posted about hearing peepers. Little frogs that predict spring. He says they're 2 weeks early, so he's STARTING his tomato seeds now. The difference 500 miles makes.

Fitting for mother of the bride outfit yesterday. It sheds gold glitter. It was a long day cleaning, washing my hair (Nancy will get that), fitting and then we went to Cheesecake Factory. The appointment was for 4:30...on 71st street, if you know Tulsa, you know the traffic there. And they have 169 down to single lane near Owasso. And just soooo many cars and cops with lights and sirens going somewhere. 169 was actually best at 71st, which is strange. Anyway we figured 5 o'clock traffic made eating down there a good idea. The Cheesecake Factory however must have been where all those people were going!! No handicapped parking left. Waiter was a basket case. (We were there before 5). Food was good.

I better go, I'm going to lose this.

Yes, I’m in Edmond. Something happened 3 years ago and we get so much hail now. Of course, I’ve only been here for about 6 years so maybe this is normal and my first few years were the anomaly.

When we last replaced the roof, we put on one with impact (hail) resistance. There are different grades of that and springing for the top grade wasn’t ever going to pay for itself, even with the insurance deduction. We sprung for the next highest grade which still reduced our insurance but was also likely to pay for itself.

I worked for MetLife‘s auto and home marketing team for several years before moving back to Oklahoma. They have a very big market in Texas and were always stunned by the thought that an asphalt shingle roof would only last an average of 8 years. They’re in RI where these roofs last for nearly as long as you own your house, 20-25 years!

Wow, Lynn--Wed AND Thurs. That is so funny, waiting til last week in Feb. After having tomatoes and peppers that were WAY too big 3 years in a row, this year I swore not to plant any tomatoes until after Mar. 1. And didn't. I began planting peppers 2/26, and finished 3/17 with the late arrival of some. And I changed horses midstream with tomatoes and ordered a bunch of Dwarfs that didn't arrive until 3/8, so got the latecomers in on 3/9. They're growing great--and should be in fine shape by 4/15, which will be perfect.

Kim, Lillie is SO stinkin' cute! How fun--what a blessing, eh?

Food at SF. . .it all always sounds so good. But we get there and it's nearly a chore eating it, as I'm so busy talking! lol And I had to laugh at myself, asking Bruce and Jen for peppers--5 in all. WHAT is going on with me! I planted 28 varieties. Pepper party happenin' here this year. However, my hot ones aren't germinating yet. There are four of them. So maybe they will and maybe they won't. Doesn't matter a bit to me, as I no doubt won't have the courage to actually taste them.

Poor Amy. Won't you be so glad when this is over, too? Funny about the gold glitter, too. You talk about Cheesecake Factory and I want to go there. Hmm. I think maybe GDW and I DID go there once. Is it kind of fancy inside with columns and tables set up with nice cloth napkins? Have you ever been to the Santa Fe Cattle Company? Friend was telling us they had great NY strip steaks.

We got another 3/4" rain between last night and now--it has finally quit. I'm glad your plants were okay, Megan--yes this hail business has been nasty for you!

I spent yesterday researching termites and other nasty wood-boring insects, and then spent an hour trying to find a new shirt jacket for GDW. We hate the fleece-lined ones, both of us, but nearly impossible to find flannel-lined ones nowadays. I think we'll go with the Taurus SC on a limited basis. Thanks for mentioning it, Lynn. And just on the house. I don't think we're in a high risk area, since our house is on rock. (And in fact, I began laughing when I tried to envision anyone putting bait stations, which are 10" long, in OUR ground. Impossible. Garry got a kick out of that when I mentioned it to him.) So the house is on rock, it isn't clay, so water doesn't stick around, and in fact since the yard slopes down to the east and south, the runoff is heavy. Since the house was built in 2006 and there hasn't been any termites, we'll just keep an eye out. There is SOMETHING that has been making holes, though, hence the Taurus SC.

Okay. . . gotta run. Take care, all.

As for the Sentricon system, it was introduced in 1995. When I got the system in year 2000, relatively speaking, I was what they now call, " early adapters " . I could not find anyone with experience with the system. I would not do it again. I would do the chemical treatment even if it was only 5 years protection.

Spotting termite activity doesn't really take a trained eye. If they're in the walls, they will bore through the sheetrock until they're completely through. They don't like light, so when they come through the wall, they will cover up the hole they make with termite mud. This leaves a little brown dot on the wall, maybe the size of the head of a small nail. And most likely, there will be several of them. And for some reason I can't recall, they're most likely to be on the wall near the ceiling. They will work all the way up the wall before they go through the wall.

If further advanced, and in rooms where there's not a lot of human activity, they will make a mud tube. That's what we had, it was in a bedroom after our daughter had moved out and had been empty for a while. This tube stood out maybe 3" from the wall. IDK why they make the tube, but Terminex knocked the tube off and put a bait station over that hole.

And if its a heavy infestation, in the spring of the year they will swarm inside the house. A big swarm will be noticeable. But smaller ones will show up as dead termites on window sills.

Outside, they like soft wet soil, obviously, its easy for them to bore through. Which is why its best to drain roof runoff well away from the foundation. Don't let water stand around the house.

I THINK in OK they're supposed to treat the ground under concrete slabs before pouring. They're attracted to concrete and make the tubes up to the wood. My folks neighbor had a split level and they built a tube all the way up the side (concrete) of the lower level to get to the wood. They made tubes behind picture frames on the wall in our house and in the bathroom if you left a wet wash cloth on the side of the tub there would be rice looking larva under it. It was horrible.

More cleaning today. I've almost got all the stuff from Dad's appartment cleared off my dining room table.

Blankets and chair throws washed. When this is over I'm going to go live in the spare room where it's clean. I just have to keep the cat out of there or she'll shed all over the bed.

The cheesecake Factory is in front of Woodland Hills Mall right off 71st, Nancy. Kind of fancy and cloth napkins. Long menu. I've never eaten at that steakhouse. In the olden days, (before we had kids) there was an all you could eat steak house. Ron would go and stuff himself. But they had fabulous salads to fill you up AND French onion soup. I never had room for extra steak. I was trying to make it the restaurant you mentioned, but Ron says it was Cattle Rustlers. Steak and Ale is gone, too.

Y’all are gunna start wishing I would start walking the dog again instead of walking on the treadmill and posting in here every morning.

Im having an internal debate on whether or not I’ll go ahead with plans to plant tomatoes this weekend. When the forecast low for Wednesday was 39, I was comfortable, knowing that I’d just cover with my Dewitt +10 frost blanket. Now with the weather channel saying that low will be 35 and local weather saying it will be Thursday not Wednesday, I’m leaning toward it being a better idea to wait it out. It is just a few days after all.

What a past 24 hours. I think I have pink eye (never had it before). Yesterday was just bloodshot eyes and mild to medium pain to look at bright things (thank goodness it was rainy all day..but even that was painful to look at window).

Then after bed, it started tearing till my CPAP mask was like a leaky drain. By 4 am, it was throbbing and I couldn't hardly see (everything still kinda blurry). By 8 am this morning though, I'm pretty much back to where I was yesterday, which is a WHOLE lot better than it was.

Of course this would happen when I had things scheduled. I am suppossed to join something morel hunting tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if I'll be able to take outside brightness and see things..but there's hope.

Then Sunday, I lost a filling and have an appt Monday to replace it. Then Tuesday, I have the first COVID shot.

At 4 am, I was like..there's no way I can drive...I'll have to cancel everything. Glad I didn't yet though..because it may be blown over by then.

Anyway, glad to see the sun (despite probably being more comfortable if it was cloudy again).

Happy Weekend everyone.

Sorry about the pinkeye, Danny. I trust you've looked up how to treat it, and hope it clears up soon. I've had it a couple times--aggravating. A friend was talking about hellebores. I've never grown them because they're so expensive--and look difficult to start from seed. I was thinking you grow them, is that right? If so, where do you get them? I may go ahead and get some this year since I've pretty much run out of room to grow or plant anything else.

My tomatoes aren't even ready to go out. I am so happy. lol I have a bunch of tithonia that are getting bigger than I'd like--or will be by the time it's okay to put them out. Reddish-orange AND yellow--that oughtta be a riot of color.

Amy, yes, it was the Cheesecake Factory we went to. As I remember, it was rather expensive! I went online to see pictures--and yep, those are the columns I remembered, and the entryway. I used to travel to Denver for work occasionally, for a week and a time or so. I loved the downtown restaurants--usually blew my per diem on dinner. Didn't eat breakfast or lunch, and paid for my own wine. Cheesecake Factory was one of them--my boss loved it, so that's where we went when she was in Denver, too. It was a fun place.

Speaking of Fr onion soup--I still haven't made it yet. I got bogged down looking at recipes--there were a lot, and some differed dramatically. And if I decide to go with beef broth will have to make some. But before I make some, will have to order some soup bones. Oh well, all in good time.

How do you do the treadmill and post here, Megan? Dictating on the phone?

It is beautiful weather today, so I'll spend a good bit of time out on the deck potting up seedlings.

Hellebores are a plant that takes several years to size up, whether seeds or plants.

I've grown from seed, but if you want to try one, you would have probably wanted to hit a nursery about February (local). If you want something special, Pine Knot Nursery is a good specialist nursery.

This year I was disappointed. My earliest bloomer (January) turned green quickly. The pink lovely one (or it was last year) never really opened..I have no idea why. The standard orientalis hybrid is till blooming, but I guess warmer weather caused it to green quickly too. But...how many times have I said this was a weird year..just chalk it up to that.

Cheesecake factory never appealed to me..may have something to do with being lactose intolerant ;)

As to apparent pink eye, I'm hoping this early morning was the turning point. The watering and throbbing stopped by 8 am. Boy, the light sensitivity hasn't stopped though...and everything on the blurry side.

My daughter woke up with blurry vision this morning too. I can't imagine you getting pink eye, Danny, I think its a contagious thing and I got it from one of my kids. I told daughter it might be a form of migraine or an allergy. Hope yours is better.

I chose the cheesecake factory because it has a long menu. Last time we were there there were Asian dishes that were dairy free. I didn't see those Wed. I had a Sauted chicken breast encrusted with parmesan, herbs and...garlic? Hard cheeses like Parmesan don't have much lactose and I can usually tolerate the amount of parmesan used. Ron had a herb crusted salmon, which looked greener than my herbs, lol. They have meatloaf, and I considered fried shrimp, so there are a few things available non dairy.

We went shopping for make up today. My patient husband pushed me in the wheelchair all around Ulta. (Discount make up store for the uninitiated). I haven't worn makeup in years. I know nothing about it any more, and dang it got expensive. Then we went to target and spent more money.

We keep the baby overnight Sat night, so daughter can do bachelorette party.

I don't do makeup or cheesecake either, but I do like to go out to eat. We eat a the Olive Garden more than anywhere else, and we always get the same thing, All you can eat of soup and salad.

I am so wet here that I need some of Dawn's little boats for my plants.

I lie to my self every year. I always say that I don't need more than 12 tomato plants. Unless a lot die, I will have much more than 12.

My gardens look pretty good considering how wet it is. It will have to get much dryer for me to plant anything else.

My potatoes are starting to come up. I am not sure how my potato project will come out. I am planting on top of the ground, or very shallow. I plan on throwing hay on the potatoes as they grow. I have never done this before, but I just am not able to dig. The ones that I just placed on the ground and covered with hay, I will just pull the hay back to get the potatoes, if there are. any. The potatoes that are planted very shallow, I will try plowing them out with my tractor.

Hey Larry, do you ever watch You Tube videos? If so, Google "You Tube Ruth Stout," and they'll have her way of gardening--specifically, growing potatoes. Easy peasy with lots of straw (or hay) cover.

Thanks, Nancy, I have watched some of the videos on growing potatoes in hay. I will have to say that their hay was much better than mine, but I do expect some success, not sure how much.

I checked some of my potatoes today, the ones under the hay were not the best. I think that the potatoes that had a little compost to slightly cover them were ahead of the others. I am thinking that the dark color of the compost may have increased the heat. The potatoes that were ahead were from a 10# bag that I bought from the grocery store for $.99, but they sat in my plant stating room for weeks before planting, growing many sprouts.

The best and most productive potatoes I ever saw were grown that way in a hay pile, by accident I think (by my father). Good thing cows don't eat potato plants, it was in a stall with a bottle fed calf. Potatoes all along the stem...big, perfect potatoes.
I'm recovering from my eye affliction/infection. I dared venture to the grocery store this morning and only really experiencing problems when direct sun hit me. Due to that, my morel collection this afternoon is cancelled...don't think I can drive that far and spend that much time in the sun.

A tomato plant followed me home from Walmart this morning.

My justification for keeping it is that I need at least one Big Beef and none of my seeds germinated this year.

Sorry not Sorry.

I've turned into a gardening Nazi. Came out onto the deck and there was smoke from 5 separate leaf-burning fires next door. Ticked me off. And then when they get out there with the weed sprays, that's fun, too. I asked them 3 years ago if they'd be careful not to spray when it's windy, and also to try and stay away from our back yard. And neighbor has been respectful of that. I like the neighbors a lot, just not their style of yard maintenance. The back of our property isn't yard--it's forest. It's that time of year when everything is turning green, but the yard is a mess with clover, dead nettle, hen bit, and others. What are those pretty little white ones? I know Dawn told us a couple years ago. I forgot.

The Kerria japonica is in bloom and looks pretty--but I think we'll take it out once it quits blooming. It's not mentioned as an invasive here (yet), but is in other US places.

I ordered and planted hairy mountain mint (pycnanthemum pilosum). I'm tickled to have it--but was laughing at Missouri Botanical Garden's description. Said most gardeners don't consider it to have "sufficient ornamental merit" to have a prominent position in the garden. Brutal.

Paw paw saplings, American beauty berry, Vitex still don't show signs of life.Rosemary's toast and that's fine with me. I didn't like it taking up so much room in the veggie beds anyway.

Must be an off year for you and me and "beef" tomatoes, Rebecca. I planted Beefsteak and had one lone seed germinate.

"We" went shopping for make-up? AND--since it has been so long, will you be able to apply it by yourself? LOL

We've been sitting outside all day. Me, purportedly to pot up stuff. Actually, to mostly just enjoy the 76-ish weather. Now, though, I am suddenly sleepy so have come back to the computer room. Garry will probably not find me and will think I've been raptured. He should know better than THAT!

Don't worry, I doubt *any* of us are going to tell you to take it back! :)

I had germination problems this year also. I have plenty of plants, but low germination rates, I did not use the heat mat this year, but when checking the temp it was showing 100 to 110*, I must have too many lights on, or my laser thermometer was wrong. I am going in to start more seeds, I need to start peppers and Florida Cranberries (cant think of other name). I put some sweet potatoes on the light shelf yesterday and planted a few more Irish potatoes today, they were not in great shape and may rot because it is so wet here. I have started carrying my plants in and out now, I dont like all the walking.

I had super germination with everything EXCEPT a couple tomatoes. How very weird, I thought. (Well, and 3-4 hot peppers are going to take forever to germinate--I've been warned.)

I am so pleased you said the oakleaf hydrangeas are hard to establish, Danny. I thought it was dead a couple months ago. Just one dried stick. Look at it! I'm excited. Plus it has 3 new shoots at the bottom.

And, HJ--took this one just for you! :) They're all over the yard. Once I learned they're the host plant for the gorgeous Diana fritillary, I've learned to love them.

Just a PSA. Reminder to isolate and check plants coming in from big box and grocery. I lost 50+ tomato plants one year due to one plant from store. Before I knew what was going on they were done.

I put my seedlings outdoors again today. They got to stay longer, since it was not as windy, besides, from the north and they were on the south side. I also walked around at the myrad gardens and scissor tail park. The tulips and daffs were gorgeous.

Who wouldn't love violets, Nancy? :)

Nice tulips and daffs Moni.

I think that makes week 4 a wrap (it's almost midnight)...I'll probably go to bed now though (vs start next week thread).

I just put this on my FB cover. . . thought I'd share it with you all. It's not really gardening on the earth, but I consider it to be part of God's great art projects--nebulas. I'll do more flower likenesses this year. I do love painting, as well as gardening.