Richard - Saffron is a fall blooming crocus here. Not sure what it will be for you.

That is a nice looking salad Len. Lea that looks like a huge loquat tree. They grow and produce lots of fruits around here-with all those blooms you would think you would get some fruits off it-must not have a long enough season to mature

John - we barely got any rain from the storm but we got some high winds Friday and overnight. It was to the south and east of here before it intensified into the monster it became. I didn't here of any damage in Jamie's area either.

No rain in the forecast either and we could use it as it's been abnormally dry for a couple months.

I am seeing quite a few garlic popping up. Probably at least 2/3 of the 114 are up from 1/2" to 2". I may or may not mulch them. Last year I didn't mulch and had a great crop with no losses from the polar vortex -18F low.

Jack thanks for getting back to us. It's great that UR OK. I heard problems in Arkansas but it was in the north east. So probably south west TN is OK?

My garlic is up about a foot. But I cheated. I never dug up my crop of garlic. But then I hate to loose the varieties; so I pulled some bulbs that had sprouted in the ground and moved them. I don't know how they'll turn out; but I'm trying.

We were supposed to have an atmospheric river this week, but so far just a couple inches.

Richard, I have wondered how you are doing, I hope you feel well enough to do a little gardening. The loquat is big, it loves to grow here but the problem is when it blooms. It has blossoms now, but it's cold-so no bees out to pollinate it. Edit: I just looked up loquats and I see that some varieties are self-fertile and a few varieties require another tree in the area. I'd bet that there isn't another loquat anywhere even remotely near us, so ours must be a self pollinating one, except most years it just doesn't do anything.

It's just wet and cold here so I'm not doing much outside.

I have several young loquats. They grow well in my area but I am in zone 9a. The trees are in full bloom. If the temperature drops below about 27 degrees it freezes the fruit and or blossoms. And while some are mostly self sterile, most people are winters low temperature.

Our rain prediction for this weekend is getting slimmer all the time, so there's little hope for a good soaking. So far the carrots, collards, and newly planted spinach are doing ok despite the recent dry spell. Well watering is keeping things going. VgQn canned the last of the persimmons yesterday, plenty of jam for the coming year. Otherwise all is quiet in the gardens, may gear up to start some fruit tree pruning in a couple of weeks.

We survived the very high winds that swept through the plains yesterday with minimal damage. It blew hard all day. A few limbs down here and there but only one small dead tree was toppled on my property that I can see this morning. The highest gusts were reported as 85 mph. There are still a lot of power outages in the city but it only blinked off and on a couple times in my neighborhood where all of the wires are buried.

vgkg - It's the same here. Rain chances are dropping by the hour.

Jack - Glad you survived the winds. They should be here on Saturday.

We only had about 70 mph winds yesterday. It was crazy! Luckily, all our fencing and trees seemed to hold up OK. My son, who lives about 55 miles to my northeast, lost some of the roofing on his house.

Dry, dry, dry here. I checked in with the local TV meteorologist: The last time we had rain was November 12 when we got 0.09". The last significant rain was October 13th... 0.93". I've been trying to water my garden plot. I would like to rototill, but it's so dry that the ground is so very hard. I'm hoping a little water will soften things up a bit. I'm about to have the irrigation lines blown out for the winter so I'm about to lose my handy water source. I've been watering the compost bins too.

Forecasted rain did not show up yesterday and I had some help so emptied most of the deck pots and used soil to raise sunken strawberries in the pyramid. They are replanted with the crowns high so hopefully will not have to do that again! Going to cover them with straw until March.

I had enough left over cow dung mulch to put a few inches over the asparagus bed. There was a bit left so will put that on the raspberries now that they are pruned and the leaves raked out. Hopefully no fungus disease next spring after I thinned the canes.

Rain again today...

I'm glad that those of you in that storms' path in the Midwest fared ok. I saw video from western KS of dust blowing like the '30's! Of course my Dad remembered those times (he's long gone), and when we went by the family farm in SE Kansas he was upset to see the, then current, farmers ripping out the hedgerows.

garybeaumont is right, cold temps are not are not good for a loquat harvest 😆. This is what our tree looked like last Feb.

We ended up getting some rain today. Not a lot but every bit is appreciated. I was still able to grill dinner outside.

About 1/4" here, so far anyways. I'm holding off on my happy dance too until it hits 2/3rds inch. That would supplement my well watering the crops and tap down the fire danger a bit. Predicted to be much cooler next week with lows ~25F for a few nights. Chances of a white Xmas went up but we'd need the magic ingredient of moisture.

It has been raining here about every other day. When I emptied the rain gauge it had 3 inches in it, but that was probably from about a week.

We've had over an 1 1/4" just since 8 PM, now it's big, wet snowflakes. It will be gone by late morning, not really cold enough to add up, at least not down here on the valley floor.

Here is why we love Facebook

Woke up to about 1/2" of rain in the gauge this morning and it's still lightly but steadily raining. We might just reach that 2/3" mark before it ends this afternoon. It's going to be a cold and dry week ahead though.

Just received my first seed order for this coming spring. All tomato varieties, of course.

I'm glad some of you are getting rain. Here...nada.

I'm helping my son and his fiancee move today. They are moving from the college town where he attended school to a outer suburb of KC about 40 miles away. We should be able to make at least 3 round trips with my truck. Might have to make a few more trips Monday as well.

Biggest Christmas present for me is no longer having to pay tuition twice a year!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

I agree with Cindy!

Jack Your Chiefs are playing the Steelers Sunday. It looks like you need to score your points in the first half as the Steelers only make an effort in the second. I'm not sure but I think Roethlisberger makes the calls in the second half and maybe changes the calls at the line of scrimage. But it's a different team in the second half.

Merry Christmas to all!

John - the Chiefs are pretty shorthanded due to several players out with Covid right now. Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are both out on offense and their kicker and punter are also out along with a few others. There's a chance some of them may test negative today and could play on Sunday.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends

Santa brought a warm Christmas with him this year, 70F today and these warm temps will continue into the new year. The carrots continue to fatten up and the collards keep pumping out the leaves. The young spinach is growing well and putting out their first true leaves. There's even a few daffodils breaking ground now. No sled riding today but maybe some bike riding later on. Wishing everyone a Special Day and may 2022 be good for us and you!!

Merry Christmas!

Todd's Seeds has 20% off today.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

They're predicting a high of 59° here for Christmas Day ! I'm trying to decide if the weather we're having here is similar to what we got in Norfolk VA when I spent a few Navy years there in the mid 1960's. Possibly warmer than normal Norfolk??

WE wish the happiest of Christmas and other holidays to all of our friends here and around the world. We have had too many years of too much stress in our lives, and yet we are so blessed not to have journeyed over mountains walking along side of wagons. So many did, and fought terrible wars to secure the prosperous and mostly peaceful we enjoy. God bless us every one!

So all of those who wanted a white Christmas here in is in Western Washington got their Wish,and it souunds like it will stay below freezing with some bitter cold nights for the next 10 days. Yikes!

Another sunny day in the lower 70's here, tonite it will dip to around 39F but that will be the lowest temp for the next week or so and it will be rather warmish thru Jan 1st.. Rainy periods are predicted ahead (hopefully) and the spring-like days will continue. Just hope our fruit trees don't wake up like some daffodils are doing.

This week I may spread some finished compost around the very young spinach plants. I usually wait until Feb but the ground is still warm and the compost may help lock it in. The spinach can take a hard freeze ok (even down to zero) but might as well spread the compost around them while it's easy to do and they're young.

Hope you all had a Very Good Christmas and are looking forward to........ 2022 being Good for We & You!

I think I see the buds on a Red Maple near the house enlarging. If so it's too late to harvest sap for Maple syrup from that tree.

I have some low chill peach and plum trees blooming, and the blueberry bushes are are starting to bloom as well. Hopefully enough buds will stay dormant to bloom later, but it is not looking good. The higher chill peaches and blooms only have an occasional bloom, so not worried about them yet.

Wow, Len you got a lot more snow than we did! Ours melted away today, but more is predicted this afternoon and tonight. Last night's low was 32 but tonight a low of 20 is predicted, so I went out to the garden to see what was there. Some tiny carrots from a late planting and, of course.....aspabroc. It has been so wet I haven't been out to pick it, there were heads gone to flower. I'm happy to have this little bit to put in a salad or a stir-fry.

Rain, snow? What is that?

I am still hoping to find out sometime soon. it’s been a super dry fall here. I just saw the 7-day forecast and there’s not a drop or flake in sight.

Wish you could have some of my rain lately.

Margi - did you not get any rain yesterday? It rained pretty good up here overnight and I got about 1/2".

We are supposed to get a few inches of snow on Saturday and then a low of NO degrees Sunday morning. Oh boy!

I need to haul my Arp Rosemary into the garage for the winter before the bottom drops out. I need to use some of the sprigs when cooking a rib roast for a holiday get together January 8.

Jack - Nope. No rain for me. Month to date: 0.01". November precip.: 0.46" officially at the airport which is about 3 miles from me.

I have my rosemary plant covered with a bucket in the garden. I should probably snip off a few branches before the frigid temps that are coming. I use it regularly in the kitchen.

I had an email from Seeds n Such a couple days ago.

"Now through Friday, the 31st, enjoy 22% Off Sitewide to bring in 2022 with a bang.

Just use promo code NEWYEAR22 at Checkout!"

I hope everybody is staying healthy!

It rained overnight here. Just shy of 1/4" of badly needed rain. Very much appreciated, too.

Our white Christmas persists. High in the low 20's yesterday and snowed a few more inches last night (sigh) Have to get out this morning and blow off path to street.

I received a Burpee's catalog which has only one variety of cabbage this year?. Also a Baker Creek catalog which includes a tomato that really impressed me for looks. That's the Black Strawberry Tomato; but I'm not going to grow it because I'm cutting back this year. Has anyone tasted it.

This will be my last post for Dec. Below is what's still growing in the garden...

4 Rows from left to right :

1 - Young Spinach row which was recently mulched with good homemade compost

2 - Carrot row which appears a bit ragged after picking a bunch yesterday

3 - Young Spinach row, not mulched with compost (will compare rows later for progress)

4 - Collards row...being picked by VgQn (she's on candid camera ;-)

Cindy like you we got some rain, a little over 1/2" and it look like more on the way over the weekend, possibly an inch more. With a dash of snow on Monday morning too?

Happy New Year's Eve to you all!!

We had a little rain overnight but it didn't even register at Dulles so it must not have been much. Right now the sun cannot decide what to do.

Making another seafood dinner tonight. Looking forward to it. Squid, clams, muscles and king crab legs. The veggies will be cooked with chopped bacon and include peppers, brussel sprouts and maybe broccoli.

Doubt I will be up by the time the new year gets here.

Happy New Year !! Hope everyone has a happy, healthy gardening year.

We've been getting lots of rain here. Weather seems to be only coming up out of the south, with lots of moisture. Glad it's not cold enough for snow, we'd have had a lot of it.

I'm trying to patch up the wires running over the top of my deer fencing. I have a bunch of old 20 foot long plastic well pipe that I want to try using to replace the rotted oak posts. I cut them to 12 feet and today went looking for J bolts to hold the wires up on the poles which I intend to wire to the fencing. Can't find them with light weight machine threads. Was hoping to get this done while the temps are high as a test. There's 4 or 5 more rotted posts all oak, that will be coming down soon.

Happy New Year's to all. It is fun to hear that some of you still have veggies in the ground.

Our garden is covered with snow and, so far, no deer hoof prints are in it. I sure hope the new fencing method is successful. I'm looking forward to germination testing some old seeds in the New Year. Some are getting quite old and it may be time to compost them.

Happy New Year to all.

Baby new year 2022 is coming in like a lion here in my area. We are in a band of freezing rain/sleet right now and then it's supposed to change to 2-4 inches of snow later as the temp falls from 27 to 3 degrees this evening. No gardening in today's plans but I do plan to winterize my Mantis and weed eater and maybe sharpen a few garden tools.

I’m late to the party but happy New Year to all.

I had been growing lettuce, bok choi, tatsoi, mizuna in my garage and finally planted them outside yesterday.

I havent decided if I’ll use greenhouse plastic or winter fleece cover yet but they‘ll be covered in time for tonight‘s freeze.

Look at those roots! Even grew over the soil surface.

The recent rains have been so welcomr, it’s been the driest fall i can remember, No rain for months.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all

Richard - new thread: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6214110/january-2022-veggie-tales#n=3