Thanks, Rick, for linking the threads, it is getting about that time. I would love to have as good of onion crop as I had last year, but I don't remember a lot of what I did last year. I think the weather was my biggest friend early last year. I don't remember what kind of plants I planted, I just picked up what I thought was good looking plants. I do remember that the selection was not as good as it had been in the past, and I found no Dixondale plants, that alone took some of the wind out of my sails, but I used all Bonnie plants, but picked some of smaller ones. I had remembered Dawn saying not to use any larger than a pencil, so I went by size, and healthy looking plants rather the name on the box, and had my best ever onion year in 2022.

I don't think I will buy any seed potatoes this year, because my neighbor says he has 600 pounds of seed potatoes coming, and wants to plant them in my wildlife garden. We also plan on using some of the space in the pasture to plant food. I am expecting that this year may be as tough as last year was, but I hope to be in a better condition as far as watering goes.

Got my old tiller over east started up and running but it don't hardly have any wheels , they're all worn and wallowed out. Tilling with it is like holding up a mule a going. Had to stop and catch my breath every round or two. Maybe I can find some parts for it online.

Rick

Rick, I am glad you have your tiller going. I have not worked on mine yet. I feel sure it has a valve stuck, or burnt. I would like to get at least another year or two out of it because I feel that may be all the gardening time I have left. I don't think that there is anyone left in my family that will try growing a garden, unless they are starving. I agree that you can buy food cheaper than you can grow if, but it may get to the point that we have no other option.

I am really going to have a critter problem this year, but I cant blame anyone other the me on that.

I am so glad for the knowledge in this group. It is nice to come to a corner where I can read all the wisdom and not sift through so much junk like in gardening groups. I like learning from y’all and hope this little group never goes away.

Kim, I enjoy this group also, and also learn here. I am going to try to learn more. My grand daughter and her boy friend came over for lunch, and I ask her if there was anything that she wanted me to grow for her in the garden, she requested ginger root, I know nothing about ginger, but it looks like I am going to have to learn what I can. If any of you on the forum can give me any pointers, I will be happy for them.

The grand daughter that came by today is the only grand daughter that I get to garden with and I am hoping to pass what little knowledge I have to her.

I could listen to your garden wisdom for 20 years and not get it all. Don’t underestimate your gift

Larry, on ginger: you CAN start store bought ginger. It needs to be fresh (not dry and wrinkled). I would lay it pieces on top of pottingsoil. (it has "eyes" kind of like potatoes, usually the end of a finger will sprout) keep soil moist, let it get indirect light. When it has sprouted, bury lightly. I have had roots I brought for cooking sprout. I've not been successful growing them, but it's more about my neglect than ginger being difficult. I have been successful ordering little starts from companion plants. I think full sun in Oklahoma (and maybe where you are) is too much. I put in pots on the north side of my house. The growth will be shallow, around the original piece. You'll want good drainage but enough water. The longer it grows, the more you get.

I caved & started peppers, eggplant, and broccoli this weekend. I've never really tried eggplant, but yet I wound up with a dozen varieties from all my swaps, so I guess this is the year to find out if I like it lol. My shelves are inside the grow tent HJ gave me. Since it's unheated I've been leaving the light on all the time. The thermometer shows it hasn't gotten below freezing but it's close.

Amy, thanks. I like the idea about growing on the north side of the house, I have an area I want to try. I really think I need to try growing it in different areas. I think I can plant some ginger in the flats like I do sweet potatoes, I have enough heat mats to start seeds, sweet potatoes, and ginger, but I will have to transfer a lot of plants to neighbors greenhouse,because we plan on starting a lot of plants.

I need to get up out of this recliner and work on my seed starting area. Neighbor and I have a ton of work ahead of us but the weather in not working with us. We are trying to have freezing rain now.

The weather is terrible here. I did not know it was supposed to get this bad. I miss my mom. She always knew and would warn me.

The weather is not nice here either. We have had freezing rain and we are being attacked by Cardinals and other smaller birds. Madge has placed bird seed on a large plastic folding table, and along the railing on the front porch and the birds are having a party.

It has been too cold and nasty to get out and feed the deer for a couple of day, and I feed guilty. I have the RTV parked at the foot of the handicap ramp, and corn and cattle cubes on the back poach, but the RTV is covered in a layer of ice, and the diesel engine may be a little slow to start in the 26 degree temp. When it is this cold I try to stay off the tractors and the RTV, my hands and feet are cold all the time anyway.

I don't like the freezing rain, its only been about a week since we were without power for a couple of days. We have a gas cook stove, but we cant lite the oven when the power is off, plus we had rather not use an unvented flame to try to heat the house, but a couple of the burner on top will keep the house livable.

Kim, I can relate to having someone warning you about the weather. Dawn seen to always know what my weather was going to do and was always giving me a "heads up", I miss Dawn, she was a special person, I wish I could have met her.

20 degrees with a wind chill of 7 here in the OKC area.

Had round 1 of heavy sleet yesterday that was almost like a hail storm.

Just had round 2 of sleet this morning, probably heading on over your way Larry.

Round 3 is tomorrow with the worst of the freezing rain , ice and sleet.

Should clear out by Thursday morning.

Rick

It looks like Wed. could be a rough day for freezing rain, maybe after that the temp will be above freezing for a while. This is a tough time of the gardening year for me because it stays too cool for the ground to dry enough to plant, or even work, being in a low area does not help either because I get a lot of extra water that runs down into the valley.

The last time I looked outside the sleeting had stopped, but at 27 degrees not much ice is going to melt off the electric lines or tree limbs. We live on an electric line that runs off a more maintained electric line to our west, we can be without power, and the people across the highway still have power, but I can understand how the electric company wants to keep the lines going that have the most customers.

Larry I am hoping and praying that the weather forecast is right for Friday. I need this to melt off so I can run to Lubbock. It is so slippery out there even my dog could not get a good footing. I just walked super slow and got all the animal chores done

I had no clue that I got the manual labor done right at the perfect time. I tilled as deep as the yardmax would go on Sat in about 55 deg. Then dumped a couple yards of goat goodness for the boxes & containers on Sun in about 22 deg. It was cooooold.

Now there is sleet on top of everything, but at least the tilling is done and I can sit back and look instead of doing in this weather.

Broccoli/Cauliflower & cabbage is about the only thing we have started. Might try some peas again, but won't worry about fencing. They just haven't been worth the work the past couple of years. It's almost onion time again...then off we go!

Kim, Lubbock is a long haul, at least it is from where I live. I hope you do have good weather. I think that the chances of ice will be less that far south.

Hwy20, it sounds like you are about ready for planting onions. The chances are good that I may have to till more, at least I have to till early in the year just to turn the soil to help to dry it.

I did get out today and put out some feed for the deer. I don't normally get out in this type of weather for fear of falling, but having the feed on the back porch I was able to fill a container and just drive along and dump it on the ice covered snow as I drove through the pasture.

You guys, get something like this to use on ice!!!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=snow+and+ice+cleats+for+boots&adgrpid=116841427837&gclid=CjwKCAiAuOieBhAIEiwAgjCvcnoG1jGdyQCnG4er0HxeWxDJS98bHzrCe7q4eTPp6LxReN_2G944whoCsg8QAvD_BwE&hvadid=492953731151&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9026521&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5462885243061221077&hvtargid=kwd-354478546971&hydadcr=23590_9936443&tag=hydsma-20&ref=pd_sl_7eve1zstos_e

I broke my ankle on ice in 1979 and have been terrified ever since. And Kim, you've already fallen. Make sure you have your phone when you go out.

Raining ice all day. I am nice and cozy. Heater finally caught up. Dreaming about planting.

Well, I really cant say I am cozy, we turned our thermostat back because our electric bill was almost $400.00, which is high for us. I normally can stand the cold better than Madge, but I have been a little cool, Madge uses an electric cover and stays toasty.

I have not been dreaming of gardening, I am having trouble getting interested in anything other than warmer weather.

I have not even been outside today. The closest I got to going outside was sitting at the table at lunch watching the birds on the front porch. We even had a woodpecker come in to eat seeds. It was sorta funny watching the woodpecker, it sit low on the table, like they do when they land on the side of a tree, it was having a hard time picking up the seeds with its long beak and would lay its head down on the table on the front porch and pick up the seeds with the side of its beak, I don't ever recall seeing that before.

Poor woodpecker. I went out and fell on the ice. Third fall was not a charm for sure. I am not hurt just jarred. Took Tylenol and in bed already. No dreaming tonight. Just a headache. That ice Is serious

Kim, I sort of felt sorry for the woodpecker too, at first I though that it may have been hurt by the way to squatted down and turned its head sideways, but it may have just been hungry and lowering its standards on diet because everything has been covered with ice.

We are trying to have a heatwave now, it is up to 31 degrees now, the highest in several days, and thundering. We have rain in the forecast, but I hope the temp climbs a little before it starts. The snow would have no problem sticking to the ice that already has everything covered.

I was wanting to take Madge out to eat today. I think the wise thing is to would be saving our money, but at our age and medical conditions I had rather do all I can to have a good time with the sweetest woman I know.

Kim, I have to be very careful about falling also. When I had my shoulders repaired, The doctor cautioned me very strongly about falling because of the type of joint he had to install in my right shoulder. The left shoulder was just repaired with adding new parts, but the right shoulder has a Delta Reverse joint in it, which is very difficult to repair. At the time I had this joint installed it was pretty new to the U. S. A.. My doctor told me that he does not use this joint any more, but still uses a newer version of it, but anyway, it is the joint I have and must take care of it. I had to change my life style because I was being too hard on the joint.

So, so sorry you fell Kim, and you may have more ice coming.

Larry, that woodpecker would love some peanut butter or bacon grease. You can take a small log and spread it in the bark, or they sell suet cakes already made.

Amy that’s what I wanted to do with some of this lard I have. I rendered about 30 pints and some did not set up that great.

Looks like the groundhog saw his shadow. Let's just get the 6 weeks over and get into spring. I'm okay with that as long as after the 6 weeks, it's all spring all the time.

But, that's not how it works in Oklahoma.

I thought I was going to work today, but am not. I won't give the boring details of why....but it is mostly weather related.

Also, was supposed to pick up a piece of art that was done for our son, Lane. A very sweet and special gift. Rescheduled for next week.

Kim! I'm so sorry. I hope you're not sore this morning.

Amy, I need those for my boots!

hwy20, looks like you're about ready to start gardening. I'm sure you're so happy to have gotten the tilling and amending done already.

Larry, gas and electric bills have become crazy high! I've noticed increases on Netflix, Cox, and about everything else too!

Jen, I'm trying fairy tale eggplant this year. We bought some at the farmer's market and enjoyed it. So, bought some seed. I really wanted to grow icicle eggplant this year, but chose the fairy tale. Maybe I'll do both next year.

How's the grow tent doing?

Rick, thanks for starting the thread and posting all the onion and potato threads too.

Because I have a day at home, I'm trying to figure out how to be the most productive. I have had broth in the crockpot for 48 hours, so will get that jarred up.

The cabinet under my kitchen sink and the hall bathroom sink could use some attention, so might take care of that.

I would like to bake a cake....but eggs! The one I wanted to bake is a traditional "imbolc" cake, but it calls for 6 eggs. Natural Grocers had NO eggs yesterday, and I'm still only getting 1 to 4 each day. Tom eats at least 2 a day and Ethan can't eat fewer than 5 at a time.

The girls need to get with it.

My little bantam easter egger hen disappeared on Sunday night. She is naughty and slips under the gate, so I figured a hawk got her. She's very small--barely a lb. But, she showed up 2 days later. She was probably hiding in the shop. She did that once before a couple of years ago.

I came home yesterday after work and found my bantam roo down. Actually Ethan noticed him first from the dining room window. I really thought he was dead, but he was still alive, although barely. I brought him in and wrapped him in a towel and put him in a box. Tried to give him water in a dropper, but he was too far gone. I took a couple of his feathers. It's always so hard to watch things die when you've cared for them. It was so cold where he was lying, so I'm glad I got to him and let him pass in a warmer and softer place.

I don't know what happened to him. The night before, he wasn't on the roost and came up to me when I was tucking them all in. He's never not been on the roost. He's one of the early-to-bed chickens. It was dark in the coop, but I put him on the roost. He ate yesterday with the others. I just don't know. Maybe he fell? or someone pecked him hard on the head. They really are fragile. He had no marks on him, though. He was the lowest in the pecking order....maybe he didn't go to the waterers when I brought them out twice a day during this cold spell? Dehydration? He was about 3 and a half. Yesterday, I had a FB memory (3 years ago) of him being lost...what a coincidence. He was found across the horse pasture to our west.

Poor little Benjamin Sisko. I'm down to 25 chickens now.

Last night, I started my first seed of 2023! I did 24 broccoli (Waltham29), 24 spinach (Bloomsdale) and 24 cabbage (6 each of Padoc, Golden Acre, Copenhagen, Early Flat Dutch).

I'm trying to take the time to journal.

Maybe it would be a good day to start some herbs.

Edited to say, that I jarred the kraut. It is SO good. Winter is a great time to make kraut. The house is cool enough....I was able to keep it going for almost 20 days, so it was nicely soured. I would have left it for the 20 days, but noticed a bit of mold on the weights.

Kim, do you have a couple of floor mats you could lay on the ice to walk on? I'm worried about you!

Amy, I like your idea about the woodpecker. I have part of a jar of peanut butter in the back of my RTV that I had planed on putting out for the deer, but, I like the woodpecker idea better.

Madge and I were talking just a few minutes ago about picked up some kind of fatty product for the birds when we go to Ft. Smith. I would like to go somewhere to check on gardening supplies also. We will have to make a list and not waste our steps, because we just don't walk as well as we use to. I often sit in the car while Madge goes into the store. That is one reason I stay away from stores that don't have a place to sit down.

+1 on the Suet cakes. I bought about 6 of them and am almost out now. Several woodpeckers and a flicker have been on the cake ALL winter long in addition to lots of other birds. We're always out of seed it seems, but I guess we are feeding a ton of birds.

I had a hawk come by and sit on the deck railing for a while, probably to see what all the fuss was about. My 4 year old got to see him up close and personal. I see him on the ridge of my shop a lot too...glad to have him around. Go get some voles, Mr. Hawk! And snakes too, when they come out.

Amy you are so sweet. I salted everything yesterday and now it’s all melting. I was going to get my niece to help me if I can’t get out there today. It should be okay later. Bunnies are good but chickens need twice a day attention. That will get fixed as soon as I can back on my feet good.

We went to a Thai place in Ft. Smith to eat lunch, then to Farmers Co-op. I bought some Hairy Vetch seeds and some seed starting flats, then to Atwoods, I did not buy much in either spot because it was too hard to get anyone to wait on me.

Madge made some peanut butter logs and covered them with bird seeds and placed then on a plate and placed them the table on the front porch. About a minute later I looked out there to see a big bird fight. I guess the birds killed each other, not really, but that was what it looked like. I had planned on buying some Suet cakes at Atwoods, I was just not able to walk any more, and just came home. I will just go to a store in Greenwood, I get good service there, I had rather shop locally anyway.

The temp is dropping, so I had better get out and take some corn to the deer. We had a high of 35 today, with rain. Most of the ice has melted, but it is already down to 33 so some of the ice will refreeze.

Got the rye grass cut down. Started using a weed eater. But then got the bright idea to put the mower on its highest height setting. It was a slow process but much better than the weed eater which , weed eater is just another name for lower back ache. I ran over it with the mower two more times, lowering the height setting each time.

I will till Monday, weather permitting. I don't see a problem with the tiller breaking up the clumps that are left .

Rye grass in late December , for a before shot. It did not grow very mucy, if anything at all, the past 6 weeks.

Lynn, you did a good job. I use to always use the mower on my cover crop also, but I wont have to this year, because the deer have kept it eaten down to mower height.

I just drove out around my south garden ( the only one that has any cover crop). I have not put the electric fence back up yet because I want to get the tractor back in there to work the soil before I start planting. The soil is much too wet to work now, matter of fact my soil everywhere on this place is too wet,I still have snow in the back of my RTV. I have been keeping my RTV parked near the end of the handicap ramp, and I told Madge as we came in from tossing out the deer feed that I needed to get a stall mat to put between the RTV and the handicap ramp, because the knobby tires on the RTV are cutting up the lawn making a mud pit.

I took wife out to eat again today, and had to stop at the Farmers Co-op again. Supplies are not getting any cheaper. I bought 2 bags of potting soil and 4 bags of fertilizer and it came to $154.++, and I have already spent more than that, but I will planting quite a bit of stuff.

I'll have to find a way to attract deer to this housing addition :) ..

Jen, when I first moved on this place 70 years ago there were tons of predators and no deer. A garden will attract animals that you probably have anyway. If you are concerned about keeping small pets, I would build protection for them whether I had a garden or not. We use to have a small yorkie and we never let him outside without a leash on, but our main concern was the highway that runs in front of the house. I think all pets deserve first class protection.

If there are deer in the area, they will find your garden if they are hungry, but I doubt that your garden will support enough wildlife to increase the predator population, but protect your pets anyway. I use an electric fence to try to control wild, and, tame animals.

Jen, when I worked on the ranch, the problem with deer was ticks. They carry them onto the property. Maybe you'll share your beginner script with us?

Oh, my 2nd week of February disappeared, too.

I had begun to think I was losing it, I thought that I had seen the new thread also, I may have even posted on it, but everything was gone when I came back to check what others has said.

I am having a hard time getting in gear for a new gardening year. My old body just does not like moving around a lot, plus I expect another bad weather year. I have no plans for giving up, but I think that giving up is not something you plan for anyway. My strongest plans are to get the kids started, but they are too old to change a lot. I think that a lot of people develop a love for gardening when they are very young and helping Granny and/or Pop, and when they start a family of their own, and wanting to feed the family healthy food.

I tilled the garden yesterday and the tiller bucked and bounced through those rye grass clumps. It was a tough slow go. I had to muscle it a whole lot more than I wanted to. There was a point I didn't think I'd was gonna get it done. And I'm either way out of phyiscal condition or just feeling my 70 years.

But its done and I'm ready to get going with 2023 gardening season.

I usually plant my tomato seed in the next week. But this year I'm putting it off a couple more weeks cuz I don't like dealing with the tall plants.

However, I normally get my first eating tomato around Memorial Day. If I put off the seed planting two more weeks, will that put off my first harvest till mid June ?

I've never understood this " days to maturity " on the seed packets. Is that from when the seed is planted or when the plants go into the ground ? I've never noticed any diff between my plants started from seed and the plants I bought at a nursery. They all seem to produce an eating tomato at the same time.

If I don't get my first tomato till mid June, then my window for the plants producing is greatly reduced. July heat and early blight will kill production in the first week or two of July.

Lynn, I have the same problem. I dont start plants as soon as I use to. Most of the time I buy a six pack or two of tomatoes to have in the ground sooner than the seeds I start. I always have problems with disease, partly because of such wet springs.

Neighbor just called, he is wanting to plant potatoes soon, and there is no way, all of our soil is mud, and no end of the rain is in sight.

Well, it is about time to go feed the deer that I will be wishing had starved to death.

I did some googling on " days to maturity " depends upon the type of plant, whether they're started from seed in the garden like my cucumbers, or whether they're started from seed indoors and then transplanted to the garden like my tomato.

So my Big Beef tomato seed says 70 days, that would be from the time I put the plants in the dirt. From what I can tell, it would not matter when the seed was planted or how big the plant was when transplanted.

So there's really no advantage to me starting my seed now or two weeks from now.

Just got me some "Red LaSota " seed potatoes. They're not much different than Red Pontiac.

Also started collecting onion bundles for later on from my local feed store . My main 4 is : Candy , Super Star , Yellow Granex and Texas Super Sweet. (1015Y). Also got my Dixondale order for Patterson , High Lander and Red River ( Dawn's favorite long days).

Rick

Jen, regarding garden drawing in deer and predators - weve owned this farm for 35+ years. When we purchased it there were trees and briars so thick you couldnt walk thru areas. We had a cow struck by lightning and couldnt find her for 2 days, we only had 147 acres but i worked days and husband worked nights plus living down the road 1/2 mile We had bobcats fox, coyotes, badgers, plus all the skunks, possum, occasional porcupine, deer owls and hawks. By the time we built s house on the farm we had cleared a great deal of the land. We had a garden here several years before we moved here, i dont think it made any difference in predators or deer - the dog made a big difference in both. So plsnt and enjoy the garden. Just be protective of pets and fence your garden

I just now saw several posts here that weren’t here yesterday. Funny stuff

Thanks for the tip! Our dogs aren't allowed out of the fenced area. Mainly because we don't want them getting into the habit of doing it, because then guests would want to and we can't have them trying to get out. If we gave up the dog sitting, I'd be more interested in a "garden buddy" to be out there with me. In some ways I'd prefer having a dog outside the fence with me, just in case something came along. Fencing the garden will have to wait at least another year, possibly two. This is the "house that Jack built", and he had Jim, Johnny and Jose helping. Once we get all the stuff fixed, then we can get fencing put up.