And it's snowing. On April 20th. That is all.

looks like I posted earlier today on last weeks thread. It’s no wonder I’m mixed up with this weather! It’s a miracle I didn’t post on a February thread. Of course, in February it was so cold I could have explained away posting on a Minnesota gardening page, so there’s that. Anywho. Heres how we covered the tomato beds. I put buckets on most of my plants as backup before covering this way but two are uncovered to help me evaluate how effective this method proves to be on its own. I’ve also placed a wireless thermometer inside one and it stayed at least 5 degrees warmer than the outside air, which tracks with the protection one of the weather services tweeted earlier today.

First pic shows how the hubs left the corner posts tall on my beds for just this reason. Second shows one all bundled up.

Amy, a friend formerly from Owasso, now in Tulsa told me the same. My answer is still:

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

LOL

Moni

I crowded my plants under 5 gallon buckets , don't plan on using the Agribon though I got the hoops ready. It looks like , here in OKC, that we will be at or below freezing from about 4 am to 7 am tomorrow morning, according to the tabular forecast. But the skies are clearing here late in the day, and clear skies mean cold temps.

Tabular Forecast for OKC

We had snow....probably as much on ground as at any point in winter (because it came down heavy). I have torn jeans, blankets, leaves, plastic bags, pots, and probably other things trying to protect everything I can. 25F and 8hours of below 32.

Lynn, not only that... all the plants that are covered... got to warm... I uncovered the ones with a plastic tote. Will have to cover them again.

But at least, it got warm enough for me to head out, and dig up the yellow Iris, cause I really needed to dig out the pecan trees (that the squirrels planted and the red bud. Now, I have them all dug up and there are way more than I anticipated.

Anyone else want some?

Moni

Megan, it's probably my fault. I posted the picture of the Laura Bush petunia (?) on last week's thread and got everyone confused, I think.

Its 36 here at 10 PM. It was windy when Madge and I covered most of her flowers, so I am not sure of the frost, but I do feel sure it will be below freezing by morning. It looks as though we may see frost tomorrow night, but that should do it for the year and I will start putting plants in the ground,

I have not checked on my potatoes today, I hope the wind has not blown the hay off of them.

This should be the last frost.. Then it should be ok to plant out whatever for the summer.

HU

Mesonet says Norman low was 29* and OKC East 29*, I'm almost exactly in between those two Mesonet stations. I'm afraid I should've put the Agribon over the buckets. Had it ready to go, just did not think it necessary.

And I woke about midnight and it was 31 * , so it was below freeing for a far longer time than was predicted.

Only positive, I'm pretty sure Mesonet measures air temp 10 foot above ground , and at this late in the spring, the soil temps should be high enough to raise the air temp at ground level. Or maybe I'm reaching for something.

What's that thing , when covering with buckets , that the plant should not touch the bucket ? If there's something to that, then for sure I will have some bit back tomato plants.

Yes, Lynn, I think the clearing skies last night changed the game for us. It’s not fair to change the rules in the middle of the game! But what can we do?

The thermometer in my backyard, kept in the shady north side of my house, says it got to 32° in my yard. The thermometer I stuck in the tomato bed says 31°. If it’s accurate, I’ll have damage. I also covered most of my plants with buckets in addition to the tarp but left a couple uncovered (under the tarp) both as a comparison and to evaluate the difference in performance.

Bottom line: we’ll see.

I did have 1 win yesterday. Coming home from taking the kiddo to band, I saw the neighbor a few houses down had 2 concrete pots set on the curb. Not like they were put there on purpose but more like they’d been left behind after trash collection on Monday. I rang the bell and no answer so I left a note with my phone #. Yesterday evening I got a text saying I could have them! I see similar sized pots concrete pots on Facebook marketplace for $50 each! I’m very pleased with my find and grateful to my neighbor. I needed some new pots for fast spreading herbs I’ll get this weekend at SF, so this worked out perfectly!

WOW what a find Megan! and it looks like you have the same wagon as I. :)

It's cold out. My app said 31. I am NOT going out till later, or at least the sun is shining.

Lynn, if the plants touch the plastic, they can get freezer burn. Sorry.

Moni

Nice, Megan! That is a win!

I woke up every hour to check the temperatur.e. At my house we flirted with 32 for a couple of hours. There is some frost. The animal waterers were NOT frozen at all.

I will glance at the plants before work but here Is hoping they won’t cook under their buckets and all before I can get home to remove them.

how about everyone else? How did your plants do last night?

I know if you use plastic sheets they shouldn't touch. Not sure about heavier plastic.

Someone posted a link to a website for people who have personal weatherstations. There's one a few streets over from me, so I've been referencing it. Being a data geek I'm fascinated by all the info they can record. But now I want to get a weatherstation of my own lol.

https://ambientweather.net/

We had a low of 27*. with heavy frost, but back up to 31* now and the sun is melting the frost fast.

Nice pots and cart, Megan.

It was 27° at 6:30 according to my weather station. Definite frost outside. The plants left outside on shelves (winter sown natives mostly) look ok, and didn't seem to have frost on them. Ron took all other plants to the garage yesterday because he couldn't cope with the clutter on the counter. We had a fire in the fireplace yesterday. April 20. Gee whiz. We didn't go to Bartlesville yesterday, which was good, because I discovered Dad's pension payments have continued. I called them and they're going to try to take them back out this week, so I can't close the account yet.

H/J, did you go to the zoo?

I look forward to a report on Megan's frost protection efforts.

My tablet is flakey today, going to submit before I loose this.

Thank you! The cart is new this year. I haven't spent as much money on soil and amendments as I normally do this time of year, but I've made up for it buying some of the equipment I've needed. I used to borrow my MIL cart and keep it for weeks at a time. Or I would use the kiddos red flyer wagon. Neither of them were fans of my behavior but were gracious about it. Now I have my own.

Just uncovered the tomatoes. Looks good so far - even the ones that didn't have buckets over them - just the tarp. Apparently the thermometer in the bed malfunctioned at some point last night because it continues to read 31* even though the air temp is now 44.

I lost all 10 of my tomato plants. But from the looks of them, it was not from freezing. I think I jumped the gun yesterday afternoon , by putting the buckets over them too soon. When the sky cleared, and the sun hit the buckets, it fried the plants. I should've known better. They are total losses, not just some getting bit back a little.

But I've already bought 10 plants at Marcum Nursery. I went looking for my fav variety, Big Beef, and no one had them, not Home Depot, Lowes , or Ace . Neither did Marcum but they had a great price on 4" container plants, $2.25 each. Almost half what everyone else was asking. I bought some Better Boy, Beefsteak, and a new variety for me, Arkansas Traveler.

I was afraid of cooking mine... and uncovered yesterday, when the sun came out. This was a tough weather for us.

Sorry you lost yours.

Moni

Dawn is laughing at me sleeping with my plants.
Just like when I was in the camper.

I had 22 flats in the house last night. I hope they are happy I had to leave them in today too.

Y’all had it much colder than me but we did hit record lows.

I plan on taking my plants back outside, not sure if I will bring them in tonight, I will keep an eye on the forecast.

So far the only things we have lost is because of my helper getting too wild with the herbicide. He is a good fast worker, but some things are better done slow.

My daughter had ask for some outdoor furniture, she liked the last I made and wanted more. I stopped as Ace Hardware ( only place near me to buy lumber ). Treated lumber in about 2 times what I had last paid for it. How does anyone afford to build a house?

I noticed that some plants were a little cheaper, and some had not been protected well enough, and may as well be thrown away.

Sorry, Lynn. I am afraid my tomatoes might be in the same boat. I pulled the buckets off the plants in the kitchen garden and back garden before work. They look bad. I was worried about leaving buckets on them from Monday early evening until this morning. I haven't even been able to check the SG ones yet.

The cardinal climbers and other things I covered last night look fine. But they were only under the buckets over night.

It's hard to monitor this stuff when you're away from home so many hours a day.

Megan, I'm glad yours seem to be fine. Yay!

I might be begging for all of y'all's extra tomato plants at the SF.

Amy, we did go to the zoo. It was only our school and one class of teenagers from somewhere. Wind chills in the 20's. Of course, as soon as we got back around 2:30, the sun came out and it was a little warmer.

I had a Dawn moment too, Kim. Only I was crying on the way to work. I'll be back later. I need to finish up work and get home to check on everything.

34°. LOL. I didn’t think it would work on mine, Amy, but as you can see, it did.

LOL. . . I certainly went on the Week 3 one. Following like lemmings over the cliff, I guess. So I'm 3 days behind. . . almost 4. I was super busy, though, with doctor stuff. I did read through everything I missed, but am under the gun to get dinner ready and then Bible study.

Weather news here: reached a low of only 33.8 last night and under the little frost cover dome, the plants are all happy as clams.

I think I'll just bring a slew of tomato plants and peppers, and if no one takes them will toss in the garbage at the SF site--because with everything going on right now, no desire or time to mess with finding homes for a few dozen extras.

Moni, I have a wagon just like yours. I now have 3 garden carts/wagons, and then Garry has his big wheelbarrow.

Over to Muskogee tomorrow for a couple tests/more x-rays. This is funny. The lady at St. Francis in Broken Arrow told me the soonest I could get in at either St. Francis location was late June or July. That didn't work. So I went back into patient portal and noted there was a Muskogee option, too. Clicked on it and Voila! So then left a message with Dr's office for the nurse practitioner asking if I could just get my x-ray at Muskogee also, and she said yes, but there weren't any openings. I'm quick learning that these people at the doc's office have no idea where I live--that Muskogee is closer than BA AND Tulsa--and definitely having no idea that I HATE traveling here and there. So I called the Muskogee branch, and they said, "No problem, but it's in the main hospital next door, not the Xavier building. " DUH. So just one trip tomorrow.

Oops, had to leave to fix dinner. Be back. :)

I forgot i had planted a tomato in one of the buckets so it's pretty much a goner. Everything else got moved into the garage & seems ok. I gave it all a drink & we'll see how they look tomorrow.

I went over to the wildlife garden to check on my potatoes. The wind must have blown a lot of the hay covering off, had lots of damage. I will just have to wait and see what comes back.

Looks all I lost were marigolds... and I have more... so, no loss. So darn lucky.

Moni

Everything lived except the tomatoes in the back garden and kitchen garden. Well, one tomato lived in the back garden.

These tomatoes were Dawn's tribute tomatoes. (except the one that is still living in the back garden which was not Dawn's tomato. I didn't even start it from seed. It was a purchased plant)

I knew they were goners when the buckets came off--I could tell...even though I didn't have time to do more than pull off the buckets and glance at them.

EVERYthing lived except Dawn's tomatoes. They were the most beautiful tomatoes too!

As I was driving to work, I thought about this and realized it is okay. They were Dawn's tomatoes after all. Started just for her....a tribute to her. Then, I had the beautiful image of Dawn caring for these tomatoes in the afterlife. These plants' spirits went to her and she took them and is caring for them now. I am one of those weird people who talks to plants and truly cares for them...so much that it is difficult to just give them to anyone. If I give you a plant that I've cared for from seed....you are special to me in some way.

Right after that image/thought, a song played--Down in the Garden.

It was an emotional drive.

I know all the science minded people will "fact" away any of my thoughts. "There's a reason why these tomatoes in two separate gardens died even though they were covered."

But, other things that are equally frost tender survived with only a bucket covering them. Also, the animals' waterers were not frozen.

If you have an inkling of spiritualness--regardless of your belief "system", you can appreciate this.

Also, if you were at Dawn's memorial service you saw the large Monarch butterfly that just hung out during the service...even sitting on the grass for moments at a time just "watching".

And, if you knew Dawn, you know that she believed in these things.

Anyway...

I am thrilled that the SG tomatoes are alive! I was really worried they would get too hot under all the plastic and frost cloth, but they look good. They were a little limp when I first opened up the low tunnel and crawled in and pulled off the buckets. Once they got a breeze of fresh air, they perked up and look great!

I am looking for 8 plants to replace Dawn's. I'll head over to the SF plant trade thread and check out what everyone is offering.

Rick came over and double checked everything. His super hot peppers in the greenhouse had an aphid issue, so we took care of that--spraying each plant. I think they'll be okay.

I'm super happy that the blackberries bloomed today. The elders and raspberry also have buds.

I'm sure there's more to talk about, but that is all for now. I did read everyone's posts. <3

Hi HJ. . . I'll make a list tomorrow of all the extra tomatoes I'm bringing. I hadn't put down ANY initially.

My list is up. Most are only 3" or so tall. I'm still working out how to get the insanely huge plants y'all get, but these are some of the better ones I've grown.

It was 32° here at 6:30 this am (Thurs). Plants were put in the garage last night, too.

Ron about did himself in cutting down the wisteria. He cut it to the roots and is going to try the drill holes in the stump and add Epsom salts to kill the roots. Alternatively he can put a charcoal chimney on the stump and cook it. We'll see. He's sad about the bees that loved it. But now we have to fix the fence.

I stuck the Rusty Blackhaw in dirt yesterday without much hope, but who knows. I think it was outside during the freeze so I don't have much hope.

I thought I ordered plants from Tulsa county master gardeners to be picked up today, but I can't find any record of it. Otherwise I guess we can start planting today.

H/J, what a lovely vision of Dawn tending your tomatoes.

Lynn, in late summer, when all other tomatoes are cracked, catfaced and bug damaged, you will pull a perfectly flawless tomato off Arkansas Traveler and just be amazed. It's a "pink", but it's almost red when ripe. I grow them every year.

Have a good day everyone.

Well, I uncovered things and everything I had covered was fine. Most things I didn't/couldn't cover were also fine. The 'bites the dust' (well the new growth) were fringe tree, chitalpa, and indigo bush. All natives or well kinda native (chitalpa being catalpa x desert willow). Strangely, 3 foot high asiatic lilies that usually turn to mush didn't care.

I then start carrying things out from the back porch. I figured that was all for the day, but then I started planting and got nearly 1/2 of my backlogged ordered plants planted in the ground.
I decided since I let myself impulse buy at Bustani, I am having a couple of specimen planters (purple ground cherry, and a 3 gallon pot of lemon beebalm, dakota vervain, and blue sea holly, also an australian silk oak (grevillea), Having never been the container grower, I guess it's my turn. Teach me to buy things that can't grow in the wet soil.

Depending on when and how much rain we get, I will probably continue tomorrow and see how far I can go. Probably can plant everything that's not so small I would lose it (those might be kept potted a few weeks to put on some size).

Donna have me sparkleberry (ilex verticillata) male and female that I have to figure out where they go. Tempted to hide the male in the backyard since it won't have berries. Also bought a serviceberry yesterday (a. stolonifera...a running one) and it probably needs to have a hole dug too.

Putting all the trays of seedlings back in their places was exhausting. Tomorrow I have a nice long drive to rest.

I think my zinnias may be ok, just breaking through the ground. I cant get down low enough to look at them, but they still have a little color on the leaves.

My neighbor came down for a couple gallons of fertilizer. His potatoes were frozen also, but put out fertilizer and will wait for the rain tonight. He planted 150# of potatoes, I only planted about 40#.

All my plants are outside tonight, I would like to bring them back inside, but that is a lot of work.

The last container of sweet potatoes finally started making slips. I will be planting Red Wine Velvet, Oklahoma Red, and Covington sweet potatoes this year, I am growing slips for 3 other people this year.

EDIT

past container was changed to LAST container.

I did order plants from the master gardeners sale! Liatris...was one. The others are natives I think. I'll find the paper in a minute. After we picked up we went to Knotty Pig for lunch. (Owners previously had the Knotty Pine for old time Tulsa people.) There's no ambiance but great BBQ and home made fries that took me back to the truck stop in college that sold a huge plate of French fries and cream gravy for .50. I enjoyed the pulled pork but the fries took me back. (And I'm not a big FF eater.)

Tomorrow is Spring Fling! Yay!

Plants I bought were pineapple sage, liatris-purple, salvia (merleau blue), scarlet sage, and mountain mint. Sadly there is no further description on the packing list and I don't remember the full descriptions.

Have a good Friday!

You figured out the liatris is native, right? We started it last year at Lincoln. Such a pretty plant.

Danny, last year John and Garry and I talked about going into the catalpa tree-selling business. We had a whole forest of catalpa saplings in the raised beds. Eventually I realized I didn't have the desire to go back to work, so we pulled them all.

How big is/was your fringe tree? I am so excited about having one. Do you have yours in full sun? The best I'll be able to give it is sun maybe 3 hrs a day.

My fringe tree is about 7 feet high..we just sacrificed the buds, it'll be fine.

Yes, full sun...I feel that with enough water, it grows faster. And fringe tree needs *all* the help it can get since it's strictly one growth cycle a year (slow).

I'm making further planting progress..but most of what's left needs to grow a couple more weeks or they'll get lost if planted.

Edit: You should see my front yard...becoming a bamboo marker forest as I plug plants into my lawn. I should see my front yard when I have to mow around it....till I kill the darn grass.

Just posting this warning. I've never fallen on my face before. Did it this evening. So glad my face and not my right hip! LOL

Faceplant leaving the marina after dinner. It was SO slippery. And BOOM! Both GDW and I were amazed at how fast Jordan's cousin, Brian, was there to pick me up. I am SO thankful I landed how I did instead of on my hip! Didn't even break my glasses. Will have a goose egg on my forehead, scratch on my nose. Although my face will have some bruises and scratches, a very lucky fall indeed. Thanks again to Brian (and GDW).

Just a heads up to you all. . . lol.

wow, Nancy ..... gotta watch those steps. Mrs Dollar fell in the house the other day, she miss judged a step. She came out of it with a small scrape, but as you say, be careful.

Sorry, Nancy!

Well here at Rain Central, we're thinking about Dawn's small boats again. Darn, will it give us 3 or 4 days of no rain? Just three would do....

Nancy, we gotta be careful. I've never worried (before a year or two ago) about falling, but now I get dizzy when I get out of bed (momentarily) and occassionally putting on shoes tends to cause an instant of it too (esp when standing to do that).

Yes, we had plenty:. I’m thankful it quit about 8 am, just in time for me to load plants onto the truck!

Nancy, we were talking about comfrey today. Here's a couple articles on it, but the gist is comfrey is good for pain relief & inflammation, as well as being a beneficial fertilizer for gardens. Historically it has been used to help knit bones back togther, and a couple studies seem to support the use if it for treating sprains and fractures. There's some controversy whether it should be ingested; some sources report it's carcinogenic and can cause lung and liver damage when taken internally.

https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/comfrey-ancient-and-modern-uses

https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/comfrey-leaves-zmaz74zhol

Thanks, Jen—I look forward to reading them this evening. We’re 5 minutes away from home— the critters will be telling us they’re starving!

Come to find out, I had the beginning of two black eyes at SF today. I had no idea. They're more "black eyes" this evening. Another first in my long life! I have black eyes! Kinda cool.

To Rebecca: I was NOT going to pick up any iris for you, because I have a whole darned yard of them you could choose from. But Moni gathered up all the leftovers and put them in the back of our truck. We stopped at one point when I'd been looking at my Iphone and realized Garry overshot our road north to I-40, so we stopped to ask some friendly-looking folks who were having a plant sale. Well, we really stopped to try to give them your iris, but she said she had a million iris. So they gave us directions to get back up to I40 and well laughed and blessed each other! LOL

Larry---we need to work on talking Moni and Kim to take a road trip to come see you and then circle up to me.

This makes me think of quilting and MN. Many, if not most, states, have state quilt shop hops once a year. One signs up for the bus, and the bus then picks everyone up at designated meeting places, and they tour the state. Wouldn't it be fun to have a gardening hop tour??? YEAH!

XOXOXO to you all, and here's to Dawn.

Nancy, did you say quilting ? That's all Mrs Dollar thinks about is quilting. 24/7 .

Nancy, I know the Tulsa Garden Center used to do a garden tour. You got a map with like half a dozen addresses. You got to go meet homeowners & see how they had their gardens set up. Most were like mini urban farms, with chickens, ducks, rabbits, & other small animals.

Lynn.............................I have 3 creative passions: gardening, painting, quilting. Gardening has been taking up so much time haven't had time for painting or quilting the past 3 years. The third one is a queen-king-sized one. Just finally got it finished this past year. Began it about 10 years ago. Here are a couple more. First a double bed size for granddaughter; second, a wall hanging. Does Mrs. Dollar do FB? Any quilt guilds or FB groups?

Hi Nancy, this is Renee (Mrs. Dollar). I am very impressed with your quilts. You are very talented!. I have been quilting since 2006 and the very first quilt I made was for my parents 50 wedding anniversary. I printed pictures of them and the family, incorporated them within quilt. I have a group of ladies that I quilt with at Lake Texoma twice a year. I have learned a lot from them and just bought a Brother Dream Machine 2 from one of the ladies. I am not part of any quilt guild, but just joined a FB group for my machine. I am quilting my lap and twin size quilts on my embroidery machine. It has been fun. I am currently working on a Hunter's Star king size quilt for our bed and am down to the borders. I have been working on it since June of last year. One of the ladies I quilt with has an AccuQuilt Go cutter and I used it to cut out all of my pieces. Man that was amazing how accurate and quick it was to cut out ALL those pieces. I will have Lynn send you a few pics of my work, but I warn you, they will not live up to your work. I especially like the last one. I think the pattern is called sail's trail? Not sure but I have eyed that one several times.

Thank you for your interest and look forward to talking again.

Yes--it's a snail's trail. Thank you for the kind words. I got started in 2002. A friend in Utah talked me into it. (I said I hated sewing and she said, "Oh, Nancy, it's not sewing!" LOL! Later I came to tell everyone it was a blood sport, after bleeding fingers from hand-quilting, running over my index finger with the sewing foot. . . ) Good for you, quilting your own. I always have until that big snails trail one. I finally caved and sent it out last fall. Yes--let's visit more! (I use my Juki TL 98E for quilting); have two other good machines--I'm giving the Babylock Decorator's Choice to niece; and then I have a Janome Gem Platinum 760 that has never been used. My Mom decided she had to have it. haha)