I've linked a thread below from last year that covers the planting of cool-season crops. For each crop, I've tried to give the temperature range during which they perform the best. Between the info in it and the info in the Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide, you should be able to figure out when to plant indoors or out in your part of the state. If you have any questions after reading it, just post them and we'll try to answer. Linked within that old thread is a link to Tom Clothier's vegetable seed germination data base. When you look at it, you will notice that each variety has a temperature at which optimal germination occurs. It is very helpful data, but because our weather often goes from 'too cold' to 'too hot' seemingly overnight, you cannot wait for the optimal germination conditions for all cool-season crops or you'll be putting the seed into the ground too late. If you so choose, you can start virtually anything and everything indoors. However, root crops are not real crazy about being transplanted, so with those, if you start them indoors, you should use a plantable pot of some sort. You can use soil blocks (Carol can tell you about them if you have questions), peat pellets, coir pellets, peat pots, cowpots (made from cow manure) or paper cups with the bottoms cut out (this allows the root crop to grow right down through the bottom of the cup without having to fight its way through the paper portion) or cardboard tubes, like those you get with rolled paper products like paper towels, wrapping paper and toilet paper. Keep in mind that starting seeds successfully indoors generally requires a light shelf, although some people may have sunny windows with a southern exposure that allows for seeds to be started on the window sill. Also, everything started indoors is not exposed to wind and sun, so must be very carefully hardened off before being planted in the ground, and that can be a labor-intensive process. Also, in our climate we often are hardening-off indoor-raised seedlings just when are winter and spring winds are at their highest levels, and it is difficult at times to shelter the plants well enough that they survive being hardened off. Here's what I usually do with the crops you listed: BEETS: Direct sow in the ground in early February' BASIL: Start seeds indoors around or shortly after the time I start tomato and pepper seeds, which usually is Super Bowl weekend. Transplant into the ground in April. BROCCOLI: I usually start the seeds indoors in late Feb. or early March and transplant into the ground when the plants are almost 5 weeks old, but the timing varies depending on how cold it is outside. With broccoli, I have better luck planting it just a tiny bit late, and almost no luck if I plant too early, but that might be because of my extra-cold microclimate. CANTALOUPE: Start seeds inside in April and put into ground when soil temps are at the right range for them, which means early May most years. CUCUMBERS: Start seeds inside in March or direct sow in April CARROTS: These can be quite vexing. I usually direct sow them in March or April, but it varies a lot from year to year depending on what the soil temps are. I have started them inside both in cardboard tubes and bottomless paper cups and transplanted them out, but didn't get an earlier crop of a larger crop despite that, so am not sure it is helpful. CHIVES: Are perennial here in our garden, so once you plant them, you'll likely have them forever. The first year I planted them, I sowed seed directly into the ground in January and the plants sprouted almost immediately. They are ridiculously easy to grow and I am careful to not allow them to go to seed, or the volunteers will pop up everywhere in large numbers. DILL: I direct sow this in February or March. It is another one that is ridiculously easy. Just plant the seed and it will grow, and it does better in the cool season than the hot season. LETTUCE: I start inside in January and transplant outside in February. I hope to sow seeds of lettuce into a flat tomorrow while it is raining here. Lettuce is very easy, and I transplant the plants out while they are still very tiny--just a few days old. OKRA: A true heat lover that will germinate very slowly in cold soil, if at all. I usually start okra seed inside in plantable pots in April and transplant outside after the soil is good and warm and all danger of a late frost is past, which for me means about the end of the first week of May. ONIONS, COOKING: I usually plant them no later than mid-February. I am hoping to plant my onions today. ONIONS, GREEN: Like chives, are ridiculously easy from seed. You can plant them inside in flats in early January or direct sow them in January or February. Either way works just fine. SUGAR SNAP PEAS: I am careful with these because there's no point in planting them too early if late freezes are going to set them back. I start them indoors in early March and transplant them outside in mid- through late-March in a warm winter, or in late-March through early April in a colder winter. Getting an early start when possible is nice, but temps below freezing can freeze back the growing tips or knock the blossoms off the plants even after they've been in the ground a month or more, so I am careful not to put them out too early. To get the best harvest possible here, I need to be harvesting them in May before the onset of serious heat in June. I usually pull them out in June and replace them with something else. PEPPERS: I start their seed indoors along with tomatoes on Super Bowl Sunday in an average year. Since this is a warmer than average winter, I hope to sow pepper seeds into flats tomorrow. I started tomato seeds in flats (some of them, I still have others to do) over the weekend, and already have tiny plant sprouts emerging from the soil. While tomatoes tolerate cold air temps right down close to freezing, peppers are not as cold-tolerant, so I usually put tomato plants into the ground in March or early April and then plant pepper plants from 2 to 4 weeks later depending on what my soil temps and air temps are doing outside. Peppers, and especially hot peppers, that are exposed to temperatures that are too cold for their liking will not necessarily die, but often remain stunted and unproductive for months, so I don't transplant them early. PINTO BEANS: Cannot tolerate cold soil temps or air temps so plant these only after the danger of frost is past, usually in April. POTATOES: Very cold hardy while underground, but tender foliage can be frozen back repeatedly by late frosts. I usually plant these in a deep trench in the ground in February, filling in the trench gradually as the plants grow, mulch them very well to keep the ground warm in cold weather and add more mulch as hotter weather approaches, and always have floating row cover on hand to cover up potato plants if freezing temps are forecast. Last year we had a hard freeze the first week of May and my potato plants were from 18-36" tall. I have no doubt they would have frozen back to the ground had I not covered them up. You will get the best production from potatoes planted at the time recommended in the planning guide, but you can get away with planting later as long as you mulch the beds well to keep the soil cooler. The drawback to planting potatoes late is that you're already digging them in pretty hot weather even if you plant on time, so if you plant them later than recommended, you'll be digging them in really hot temps, which is no fun at all. Radishes: Direct-sow beginning in late January or early February, and sow new crops every week or two. It is better to sow a handful of seeds weekly for a staggered harvest than to sow 200 radish seeds at once, and then have to eat all those radishes in a very short time. Most people plant radish seed too close together and then wait too late to thin them. If you thin radish seed too late, they won't form radishes...just fibrous roots. You should thin the radishes when they are just barely out of the ground. SPINACH: In our erratic spring weather, I often do not get a good spinach crop because we get too hot too early. I direct-seed it in March, or save it for a fall planting. SWEET POTATOES: If you are raising your own slips inside in sand, you can start in February or March depending on your confidence level, and have slips to plant in late April or early May. You can plant them even later, but it is best to get them in the ground in southern OK no later than mid-May for optimal production. If you are buying slips, you probably won't see them in stores until April or early May. TOMATO: These can be started indoors in February to be transplanted into the ground in late March or early April. If you want larger plants at transplanting time, start your seed in January. We often have late cold spells around Easter, and occasional frosts as late as the first week in May, so be prepared to cover them up on any night when a freeze might be possible. I have had my tomato plants freeze back to the ground on a night when the forecast was for a low of 50 and the actual low hit 32, so take your forecasts with a grain of salt. I always look at my temperature shortly before sunset once I have tomato plants in the ground and if it seems lower than it ought to be at sunset, I run outside and throw row covers over the plants. I should be able to put tomato plants in the ground here the last week in March, but because of our low-lying area and its tendency to go colder than expected, I often wait until the first or second week of April. Some people who are much farther north than I am likely can plant in late March if they are not in a low-lying area. If you will watch this forum, you'll see many of us 'announcing' things like "I planted my peas outside today" or whatever, and you can use that as your guide. When the folks down south are putting seeds or transplants in the ground, that's a clue to those farther north that their planting time is rapidly approaching. Keep in mind too that portions of eastern OK warm up about the same time as southern OK, so gardeners there sometimes can plant a bit earlier than a southern gardener in a low-lying area where the cold hangs on a little bit. You just have to experiement and see what works best for you. Hope this helps, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Tips on Planting Cool Season Crops

Why do I enjoy this writing stuff so much? Is it because I like twisting peoples words? Or is it the unwinding of their own words? I like to be a helper. But I just get sidetracked when I read certain things. And I have to say, women have a way of stepping in it, making it so much fun to tease the fair sex. I mean here we are discussing possibly the most universal problem of modern life, keeping the toilets in good repair. Now, after all this, our dear original poster throws her hands up in frustration and declares: "(I) Really appreciate all of the input." Well, Pomona, thats what toilets are for. I think we all appreciate that. But we have to make sure it flushes away. Do us a favor. Dont give up. If we cant help you help yourself, this forum might as well go away. To that end, I promise: no more funny business. I will try to be instructive and invite the whole readership to support this. We have to keep this ladys head above water if you dont mind my saying so. So here goes. A toilet is possibly the best invention of civilized mankind. One reason for that is that it is so simple and so efficient and so easy to maintain in virtually any household. (Although, I worked on one just yesterday that hasnt been used in five months because the handle assembly was broken. If the ladys 35-year-old son wasnt a pot-head, he could have fixed it for her.) By the way before I forget I purchased a nice Jacuzzi brand toilet yesterday for another family. I shopped at Lowes and couldnt locate the elongated model I wanted, which I would expect to be in the same bay as the round one. The nice lady showed me where to find it. Then she went and sat in a chair. But I couldnt confirm that it was the one I wanted because the box was stuck under a rack and the whole thing was printed in Spanish. Im talking Flint, Michigan, United States of America. Anyhow, I mention this because I am slowly learning Spanish because of all the stuff I buy in the Big Box Stores. And so by reading both sides of the box and comparing words, I see that the Hispanics have had to devise a word that didnt used to exist until modern times (more or less): "Inodoro." I tried to find the Latin connection having once been an altar boy (albeit a closet sinner) but I could not find one. Finally, I realized that it might mean, odor-less. You know, like when people say, "Where is the bathroom?" when you know darned-well they are planning on taking a dump, not a bath. In the tropics, they say, "Por favor, Im interested in the odorless, if you know what I mean." Now the English, in the days of Victoria, applied the old name to the new contraption. It became known as a "water closet." The English didnt want to say what they were up to, either, you see. And for that reason, we have that mysterious toilet drain elbow being called a closet bend. "Toilet" is, of course the French word, pronounced twa-lay. Well, that almost looks like a good name for a double bed. But it, too, is an oblique reference to cleanliness obviously a dishonest term, since the French have no idea what that means. "Commode" is a great word. It ac-commod-ates ones immediate needs. I like that. It says what is says. I certainly dont want to call it the stink-free. And I think Mexico could do us all a favor by coming up with a better word. After all, "the odorless" suggests that these huge cities have been formed around one gigantic outhouse maybe two. Mexico City has more than 12 million people not counting those who live in Texas and California most of the time. That is a big task to handle for the lowly toilet. Thats why they are so simple, efficient and repairable. Well, times up. Hope this helps Pinoke

Sandy, you must have put this up a few minutes before I got here. Wow, I know how you feel. That is the way I felt about our "friend" who was our first contractor, who did so much wrong. I agree that the unglazed porcelain tiles will do very well on the walls AND on the floors. Our shower stall is the large porcelain Roman Salmon color (16 or 18 inch square tiles), and the floor is the same in that bathroom, and then we put in the 12x12 Roman Salmon on the sun porch. Those porcelain tiles are the hardest toughest things, and they are not slippery like the marble is. In our master closet we used the Rialto Blanco by the same Italian company. ALL OF THIS PORCELAIN TILE COMES FROM LOWES. If one store does not have it, another one will. You can order it and pick it up in the store, no shipping charges. In our master bath, we put in the 2x2 mosaic tile same color, Rialto Blanco, which was mounted on the 12x12 mesh and easy to lay. It is really fine looking, very much the casual or rustic look, of cultured marble appearance, so your DH will probably like it. I love it, and plan to use it in the bathrooms up north when it is time to do those floors. Is there a building inspector to come look at the job? If so, I'd make sure he gets there while he can see the way the sheets are pulled away from the cement board. If your DH is concerned about water penetration, they have a product called Kerdi board (not sure how to use it though), and it provides a waterproof barrier beneath the tiles. You are so right about the scratches making your gelcoat unsatisfactory. I'd not be happy with that, and I am so surprised that your DH is proceeding with things, given how he has insisted that features he wanted were the only way to go, while disapproving of what you want. I hope that this can be reconciled satisfactorily and soon. I'm sensing that you are not a happy camper. Cannot say that I blame you. When my DH put two doors in the master bedroom side by side so that the bed had to be pushed in the corner, really unbalancing the entire bedroom, I told him the door had to be moved to the other end of that wall so the bed would be centered....which was how I had the plan drawn for him. He said NO, I will NOT move the door. So I said, FINE, I will not sleep in this room, starting tonight. And I did not. I slept upstairs in the guest room. Next day we were not speaking. I heard a lot of banging and such going on in the bedroom though. I gave him till noon, without a word, then when he went outside to have his lunch, I took a peek at what he was doing. Sure enough, that door was being moved, even though he said NO I WILL NOT MOVE IT. That evening, I cooked his favorite dinner, and told him I appreciated the door being moved where it was SUPPOSED to be. He said, "What door? There is no door there." And so, we have the story of the VIRTUAL DOOR, the nonexistant door, which gives us a big laugh when we have a difference of opinion about some feature of our renovation plans. In case he forgets, I like to remind him that I am right more often than I am wrong. Just wanted to toss that little family joke into the conversation, to illustrate that all disagreements do not have to be grounds for divorce. Hope it works out for you, Sandy. Here is a photo of the 2x2 mosaic porcelain tiles (Rialto Blanco) on the floor of our bath. And here is the Roman Salmon on the walls in the shower, same stuff is on the floor in that bath and the floor of the sunporch. All unglazed Italian porcelain. The 1/2 inch mosaic porcelain on 12x12 mesh, conforms to the slope of the shower and drains perfectly. No leaks, and no slips either.

kim, yes, waterproofing is paramount w/tile showers. Most homeowners don't know anything about them and trust the people they hire to do right. a lot of those people end up on here asking, "what went wrong?" I urge people to do a bit of homework and get an idea of what's correct and what is needed. Ask you tile setter all the questions you think you need to know and see how knowledgeable they are. I tell people all the time that grout is not waterproof. sealers only buy you time before a stain sets in. a lot of people assume it makes them stain/water proof. The more you know, the more you'll know when your tile guy is a hack or not. Do you know how you want your tile layout? a good setter will do a dry set on the floor or outside to make sure his measurements are spot on you don't end up w/tile slivers. the hacks? they'll just start on the wall in a corner and do whatever. My guys spent almost 3 hours figuring out the exact measurement/placement of my herringbone accent piece. All the tiling around it and the niches are spot on and perfectly done. JB forum has a wealth of info. When I wanted to do slate tile in our kitchen (we do our own tiling) I found out about sealing them first, how to clean them, etc. ditto w/the pebble tiles and travertine. I sat and read for 4 hours and absorbed as much as I could. as for Fusion Pro, or FlexColor CQ, or Laticrete, etc, every setter has their favorites. find out what your guy likes to use. is he flexible to try other items? willing to work w/you and your questions? if he asks for half payment up front, and the rest before the grout is dry, pick someone else. final payment (usually the last 50% or so) is held until you're satisfied w/the final work. If he is picking up the tile and supplies, obviously you'll give him the money for that. If you order your own tile, tell him about it and see if he can get it at his discount or if he's willing to work like that.