The heat switch has been turned to the on position in central Oklahoma. All my plants are in at this point. Glad that I put some tomatoes in early (3/21) as it looks like, as usual, the time for flower and fruit formation may not be long. It's nice to be all planted, but I do miss the daily routine of seedling care. Of course my garden is a lot smaller than many of you, so feel free to think I have lost my mind on that point.. Either way good luck with your plants going forward. Let's hope no severe weather is out there to spoil our plans and effort.

Well, I am dragging around and griping as usual. I only have 20 tomatoes planted, with 38 to go. My wife and I did not do well in school, we say 12 tomatoes is plenty tomatoes every year, we are never sure when we reach 12, and keep planting. Step daughter, grand daughter and 2 great grand daughters well be here today, maybe we can con them into taking some plants home with them, but we did the same thing 13 days ago when step daughter was here and I doubt that those plants have been planted yet.

Neighbor has been going out of state to bowling tournaments on the weekend, and I have been trying to care for the greenhouse, we don't have any shade cloth up and it really gets hot in the greenhouse.

Lynn, we have fruit set on Arkansas Traveler. and Sunglow only, and it looks like stress may some times be a factor in fruit set, the plants are only 12-14 inches tall, and look like they need some nitrogen. I will feed the tomatoes today and see if they start looking better. Nearly all of our tomato plants look stressed.

I don't think I will try growing all the garden stuff that we have planted now for next year, it is just too much work.

Got my okra planted in since weather boy says it's going to get hot and humid .

Perfect conditions for okra. Cowpeas too. And peppers.... not done planting yet.

Wish I didn't have to mow the lawn while I'm at it. (PITA , I do the ol school push mower)

I hate lawn work cause it get in the way of the gardening, especially at planting time. It can take me all day just to mow the lawn and till out the garden, with a precious couple of hours to plant stuff out.

Rick

Jen, my garden is growing mostly pretty well. There's some mess ups and disappointments, but it's mostly good.

I will remember to plant out the eggplant and roselle with the peppers next year and not try to rush them.

I feel like most of the tomatoes (in all of the beds) are doing well. I've lost some. There's only one healthy Dr. Wyches left. I planted 3. Hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be able to do some pruning on them--on the bottom limbs. I like Lynn's set up with his tomatoes, but it's doubtful I'll have the time to do that.

What I'm currently harvesting:

Asparagus every single day. No complaints. It's a great treat to have for a couple months a year. It's hard to preserve it in a way that we enjoy,...so we just eat it a lot for those months each year. I promise you can almost see it growing....and could probably harvest it twice a day.

Greens and lettuce for my salads each day.

Broccoli. Whatever variety I planted in the hoop house isn't the traditional type, but it tastes great. Rick brought over a couple of nice "heads" (is that what you call them???) from his O garden...and some radishes too. Yay! I'll steam the ones he brought because they're more traditional. I'll use the ones in the hoop house for my salads.

Other than some of Rick's fall onions that are in the SG and herbs...that's it for now.

I've been having fun planting herbs and flowers here and there. But, I'm not done yet. And I still need to find places for "Dawn's" tomatoes.

I picked up a fig from Moni and need to put it in a large pot until I decide where to plant it.

Can you believe I already have onions bolting?! Mostly just the Red Creole. Six of those and one of the Italian one (can't think of the name.) The long day variety has no bolters so far.

My shopping list at the OKC Flower and Garden Fest is simple: an Arp Rosemary, some native things from Lia (Bluestar, Blue Mist, Missouri Primerose, Obedient plant, and Shrubby St. Johns Wart)

I'm sure I'll buy more. Prices are usually really good, tho.

Y'all. I finally found an Oakleaf Hydrangea locally and spent WAY too much for it, so now I'm being weird about it--trying to find a perfect spot where it won't die. I can't afford for it to die. I'm not a wealthy person.

We'll be heading to Oregan mid June. At least it won't be in the heat of the summer, although it will be hot. We haven't made arrangements yet, but will very soon. This week. As soon as I find out if my niece will come stay at our house to take care of our many special needs animals. But, there's rental car, airline tickets, hotel, etc. to plan for this week.

When we get back, we'll probably add a few chicks to our flock.

I feel like I’ve been missing in action for months. It’s been a long journey although it’s only been a few weeks. I went to the hospital with a fever I had strep throat UTI and pneumonia. Besides my lung condition I was pretty sick. While they had me captive and under the influence they decided to remove the tumor that was in my lung it had been growing. It was a long and sketchy surgery but I came out OK with a 9 inch scar and bragging rights. I am now recuperating my daughters surrounded by grandchildren and beautiful scenery gardens trees etc. I am planning a workday at my house for my kids they are going to get my yard and house ready for me to move home soon

Kim, I am glad you are doing well, I know how you must want to get back to digging in the dirt. Al though I cant dig like I use to, I still like to get out and try.

I went over to the green house and picked up some plants to plant this morning. So far that will bring the home plants up to 33 tomatoes, 3 egg plants, 2 jalapeno peppers 3 bell peppers. We are still trying to cut back on plants, but not doing a very good job at it.

I have been spending some time trying to get some places in the pasture smoother, after which I will plant something that will be good for the wildlife and cattle.

We are running so far behind it is unreal. We have a train load of squash and pumpkin planted. I think we have more stuff planted than we can care for.

Kim, it's good to see you posting. Glad you're recuperating with your family....and happy they're going to get your home cleaned up and ready for you. I'm sure it will feel good to get back to your own space....and hopefully plant a few things.

A couple of years ago, you gave me a cutting. I can't remember what it is. It was the 2021 SF. My plant ID app says Beauty Berry, but a few people have said that is not it. And it has also given me Bushy Lippia. But, the leaves aren't sweet tasting. It's not flowered at all yet. I am at a loss. I love gift plants so want to keep it, but have no idea what it is or where to plant it. It's still in a large pot.

Larry, my first lil pumpkin popped up. It's the Thai variety that I linked here last week. I guess no one here has tried it. It is a C. Moschata, but the description says it's "thin skinned" so I don't know what that will mean for borers. I have had borers bore into the skin of squash and pumpkins. I've also got Seminole in the back garden and Rick put butternut in the SG. Not many, tho. I only bought a small packet of the Botanical Interests brand. I do love butternut. I really love all the winter squashes.

Oh, and there's a couple of volunteer squash/pumpkins in the back garden too. Last year I was able to get a fine Jack o lantern type of pumpkin from a volunteer. Only one. And it was harvested in July. It did make a couple of quarts of pumpkin puree.

The only things left to plant are the sweet potatoes. Rick ordered some and I have some from Moni too.

I actually have a day off from work. The next two weeks there will be no days off except for Saturday.

I've watered the houseplants, finished the laundry, cleaned the cat boxes--all the typical "day off" chores. The onions got fertilized this morning as well. They haven't been fertilized since planting. It's hard to believe they'll probably be harvested in about a month. I'm hoping they can hold on until I get back from Oregon.

It just hit me--why am I growing so much food? We'll be a household of two in a month. Just talking about the pumpkin puree made me realize I won't have a boy here who loves my pumpkin bread and other breads. There's still 21 jars of diced tomatoes in the pantry that I canned last summer--all 2022 tomatoes. We won't use near as many jars because our cooking will change a lot. My kids like my food and eat a lot of most everything I cook....but neither will be here.

Things to think about....

Let's see....I'm also working on doing a second ferment of kombucha right now. Waiting on the tea to cool down before adding the SCOBY.

And...cucumbers are popping up. And one of the Karjari melons. And a few sunflowers and marigolds.

Still working on planting out the flower pots. About half done. Oh, and did decide on a place for the oakleaf hydrangea. Has anyone taken cuttings from those and had success? I would love to bless all y'all and everyone with some of these if it's possible.

Back to chores. Have a good day, Friends.

Gardening is not for sissies. I have not kept my gardens amended the past few years, I have added compost, but there was never enough, and now that so much of my equipment is broken down, gardening is even harder. When I was young I never minded gardening the hard way.

I went to neighbor's garden today and disc up a place where he wants to plant 400 sweet potatoes ( if I can grow that many slips ), we had 200 in the ground, and another 200 ready to plant when I left today, and he was still planting bell peppers, I am not sure if he got started on the second 200 sweet potatoes, and the third 200 slips I have not even started pulling yet. We are going be disappointed, I don't think we can care for all these plants, watering will be a big, expensive job.

That's a lot of plants. Y'all will be eating well this year.

I'm already thinking about having things in place as I age....as far as the garden is concerned. I'll always want to garden, but need to set up systems now to make that easier with aging.

And possibly gardening alone at some point in my life. Obviously, I hope that is very far away.

I remember asking Dawn about gardening alone--what will her garden look like if Tim passes first vs if she passes first. She said he would let the garden go back to a meadow. I wonder if he has done that. Tom would, I think.

Dawn was already scaling back on her veggie gardens....and had planned to scale back more. If y'all remember she was collecting things to landscape their backyard and planning for infrastructure for that as well. I do remember some of those plans were delayed due to weather...lots of rain specifically. And possibly supply issues in 2020.

Not a great topic, but something I think about occasionally.

Last night I peeked at the KG after Pilates and all of the cukes and Kajari melons are up. As well as the KG okra.

Larry, maybe y'all will get consistent rain this year to help with all the watererIng that will be needed. We can always hope and pray for those things, right?

I went over to neighbor's shop to pick up my seed supply this afternoon, he and I both have a large supply of seed. I took my containers of seeds to him when we had company for a week, thinking he could keep starting seed while I visited with company.

We have ground ready for watermelon, but he has no watermelon seeds. I will dig out my Charleston gray, and Crimson sweet melon seeds, along with sunflower and zinnia seeds to plant tomorrow ( we got rained out today ).

Jennifer I ran an underground electric line, and water line to both gardens when I was younger. I wanted to prepare for gardening with an electric tiller, ( thank God I have not had to use an electric tiller yet ). But I am widening my trellises out to 9 or 10 feet apart so I can get my largest tractor between them. Madge can easily have one of her sons use my tractors and equipment and turn the gardens back into lawn if she wants to.

I doubt that Madge will want to garden after I am gone, but I am trying to set things up to where she can have that option. I am also setting up mineral tubs on a rack along the deck, Madge has some plants in those tubs now.

Well, I'm not gonna complain about the broccoli. Well yeah, I will. They are a bit tough to get them through spring here with the wind and rabbits, but it sure does taste good with some butter.

Gopher or mole hast taken under a couple of tomatoes in the same spot several times, but things are looking pretty good so far.

Tornado sirens going off all evening long in the OKC area.

Hail ( HELLLL!!!).

Rick

Yep...fortunately nothing huge so far, but i'm watching one now running through Noble. This one may be a larger one...and at night they can be a mess. Hope all is well over there.

Hwy20, the broccoli looks great.

I am sorry for you guy's weather threats, nothing other than rain has made it this far east.

Madge and I have worked most of the day trying to help a friend, he needs to be in a nursing home, and does not know who his doctor is.

I did not do much garden wise other than pulling and potting 100 sweet potato slips, we may even beat that 600 count goal June 1. We still have about 100 tomatoes to plant.

I did not get to plant watermelons today, it is too wet, we really have a problem getting ground ready on time.

HELLLL!!!!

Preacher could lose his voice in this kind of weather.

Rick

Glad to see you posting Kim! And happy that you're on the mend.

Lynn, sounds like a good experiment. I've know old timers who used old coffee cans for a similar reason, then just left them on all season.

That's a lot of cilantro! Mine is barely 4" high & starting to bolt. I planted it and the chamomile on the east side of the shed, hoping that the afternoon shade would keep them going longer. Maybe I can get it to reseed and come back again next year.

I've been tracking temps and rainfall since the beginning of the year, then comparing that to what the average is. So far we've had about 5" more rain than average. We've also been a bit cooler than average, though only a few degrees. Maybe that trend will continue this year?

I've been trying to plan the garden with old age in mind. I want my beds high enough I can weed standing up, but also with enough of an edge that I can sit down if needed too. At some point I may not be able to get out to the garden; when that comes I'll likely move the garden to large containers and put them inside the fenced yard.

This weekend's agenda is to mow (again) and hopefully get the cucumbers planted. Maybe squash, if I can figure out where to put them. And I need to mulch. That should take up all of tomorrow, right?

I need to work on the container rack that I made for Madge. The 10 mineral tubs of dirt are too heavy and are pulling the boards away from the deck. I need to repair the deck anyway, the treated lumber is rotting out.

Here is the last tomatoes we put in, these are cherry and roma, we did not need this many cherry, or roma, but I left my seed stash with my neighbor, and he went wild.

This is the second bunch of tomatoes we planted.

We have a lot of fruit set on the Arkansas Travelers, but the plants are small.

This is the first of the 3 groups of tomatoes we put out.

We have quite a bit of different types of squash blooming, and we have been planting seeds about every week of two.

This has been a pretty good year for us, but we always fight a wet spring because of the low area we live in.

I need to work on the container rack that I made for Madge, the 10 mineral tubs of soil are too heavy and pulling the boards away from the deck.

Here is a picture if the 3rd group of tomatoes we planted. These are in the wildlife garden. These are all cherry and roma. No body needs that many roma and cherry, but I left my seed stash with neighbor and he went wild.

This is the 2nd group of tomatoes we planted. We have a lot of fruit set on the Arkansas Travelers, but the plants are small. We also need to install the trellises.

The following is a picture of the first group of tomatoes we planted. We have the trellises installed, but no plants attached yet. We also have many pumpkins and squash. We started the first ones in the greenhouse, but have been planting seeds about every week or two to try to extend the harvest, but squash bugs most often put a stop to the harvest.

Slow, you guys should charge people to tour the gardens. Y'all are full on LARGE market gardeners! Maybe put up a stand like that guy on hwy 45, a little north of you.

Larry , that outdoes me by a 100 miles.

Still trying to finish my spring planting over east.

Looks like I'm going to have to fight a too wet spring too ,

starting with even driving over to it.

I hate it when weather hangs me up on things. Grrrrr.....

Rick

Hwy20, I expect you are talking about Flat Belly Farms. I have been by there many times, but never stopped.

Neighbor does have a small produce operation, "Diffy Mountain Produce". Neighbor will take some of his produce and trade it with other vendors to keep a longer list of produce he can sell.

Rick, we cheat, we have more equipment than a lot of you guys have. We could not plant this much ground without tractors and plows.

Rick, we have a couple of gardens about 1/4 mile east of here that we are going to try to water from a pond and a well. We also have a pond up on the hill in the last picture, we plan to siphon water from that pond to the gardens below. By the time we have to siphon water we will only be trying to grow for home use.

I can't imagine working that much ground with just a front end tiller and a mantis.

One of these days I'll need to get a small tractor and such.

Rick

Impressive, Larry!

Once again, I love how everyone has different gardening goals and reasons for gardening. All reasons are good.

I would probably enjoy that large type of gardening if it was my fulltime job--and the produce was going to market. I'm not sure how any individual would have time to preserve all of that. Or even eat it all if they didn't have a large family. It IS impressive, tho.

Jen, you do have a full day tomorrow. Our butternut squash and pumpkins and cucumbers have just popped up, so you're probably right on time for planting squash and cukes.

I had some time this evening to keep clearing out the hoop house, which basically means inventing places to put things. The only things remaining are a couple of borage, Dawn's zinnias, one cup of basil from Rebecca and the basil from Megan. Oh, and a Heinz tomato-just one.

As soon as I pull the lettuce and broccoli out of the hoop house beds, I'll put that Heinz in the hoop house. It's a determinate.

I put Dawn's tomatoes at the end of the butternut squash and cantaloupe rows.

Rick has a couple of superhot peppers left as well.

Mostly things look really good. Some things are being chewed on, but I won't go into the details of that. Back in the day, this was a forum to troubleshoot with others, but not any longer. And that is okay. It's more of a conversational forum.

My dumb foot flared up. It's not been this bad in nearly 5 years. I do NOT have time for this. The only treatment is rest. There's no time to rest. But, I did learn the hard way nearly 5 years ago, that if I push it, I'll end up unable to walk and stuck sitting on the couch. That was awful. I simply couldn't stand or walk without support. It's when I discovered Roots and Refuge, being unable to walk, I watched videos.

I have been working but carefully. Asking Tom to carry things here and there to save me steps. Not exercising or walking Josi. Sitting more at my jobs.

We're all planned up for our trip in a month. Our niece was going to stay at our house, but her brother (my nephew) is graduating from boot camp (or something like that) and they'll be going to San Antonio for that. Luckily, my neighbor is going to handle our animals. Josi is so neurotic, that I'm afraid to board her anywhere even with Jen. Diana is mean, Juno is also neurotic, Finbar and Sturgeon don't get along. But, my neighbor can handle it all. She has many animals herself.

Rick will water the gardens if we don't get rain. Hopefully I won't lose any flowers in pots, etc. My Mom will come out on the days she's not at my nephew's graduation and will water those things.

We really have to downsize on animals and rethink gardening. If E stays in Oregon, we'll be making trips there obviously. The chickens are the easiest. The dog is the hardest. So...no more dogs. And only one cat. In the future.

We didn't get much rain last night. Maybe a 10th. Maybe not that much. Hoping for some rain over the next couple of days. I don't want to drag the hoses around with the stupid foot thing.

I'm very distracted by work and our life changes,, but still am excited about the gardens. But, I have to be excited in my own way. Normally I cater to everyone in all areas of my life, but there's no time to do that this year. If someone is excited about something, they can be excited and I'll support them....but I cannot be actively involved in everything that everyone is excited about. If that makes sense. I'm having to say "no" to people a lot more than normal. Don't y'all hate that?

Our daughter is currently in Venice. So pretty. Just left Tuscany--wow! There's a place to garden. So beautiful.

Tomorrow is the OKC Flower and Garden Fest. I will be going even if Tom has to carry me around. I've been looking forward to this for months. Anyone else going?

We are getting rain again. It would be nice if Amazon and Walmart would stock rain and just deliver it to you when you order it.

Jennifer, you can rent a wheelchair. Probably too late now, for your garden fest, but for other events.

Gosh, Kim, I hope you're feeling better.

Rick, I guess you were ok through the storms.

We actually got 1/4 inch last night. All the rain has skipped us.

Yeah I made it all right through the storms. The tornados were just south and east of me.

I didn't make it over east today on account of heavy rain in the forecast ( we're in a flood watch over here) , didn't want to drive in it. Hope the weeds don't get to far along.

Rick

Right, Larry? We got nearly an inch last night. It was just enough. We're good for a week. If we could order rain from Amazon, I would order an inch per/week.

Amy, that's a good idea. I'm sorry I complain so much about my feet. I know that you deal with walking all the time and I can imagine how frustrating that must be. I shouldn't complain. You don't--you're a better person.

I was able to walk slowly around the fest. My Mom is a slow walker so it worked with my limping along. Tom helped carry things.

We didn't stay long. If my feet were in good shape, we would have probably browsed more, although I don't need to spend money on pottery and stuff like that. Although I do love me some handmade pottery. Really love it.

I got most everything on my list except the Shrubby St. John's Wart, the Blue Star threadleaf, and the Missouri Primrose.

I did get the Blue Mist Flower, an Obedient plant, and a Columbine--all for the garden behind the shop.

I also picked up a couple of rosemary plants. I lost my Arp in 2021. It could take a lot, but not negative 17.

Tom wanted a spicy oregano, so we got one of those and some peppermint.

Oh! and a Beauty berry too.

Some succulents for patio pots.

Maybe a couple of other things.

I'll sit with my foot up, and nap a little--then try to muster up to go grocery shopping.

I am embarrassed, here it is 5-14, am I am just now getting my okra planted. I have no idea how old the seeds are, but I expect to get a good stand. I plant okra about 4 to 6 inches apart for about 4 or 5 seeds, then skip 2 or 3 feet and do the same thing again, this seems to always give me more plants than I need.

I still have plants that need to go into the ground. I had planned on planting sweet potatoes today, but some of Madge's kids are coming for Mothers Day. I hope to go out to eat with the kids and Madge, and be nice today. I can eat just fine, but being nice is a lot harder than eating.

I will have to say that, except for water damage all of our, "million", more or less, plants look good.

The two new garden across the creek are struggling, but they have not received a soil test or hardly any care, but we are gaining on our work here close to home, and will try to doctor the new gardens later, these gardens are more experimental now. The new gardens are the ones we want to try to siphon water to latter in the summer.

We got 3 1/2” Saturday and 1” on Friday so thst makes 4 1/2” for the week. More rain than we’ve got total in many months - such a blessing, much of it was hard runoff rain so our ponds that were nearly dry now have water again. My gardens are all raised beds so drain well and we did not get hail - some of the bigger tomatoes and the green beans have a little damage but will recover. I purchased many small cloches from Dollar Tree and they have protected the okra and squash from the elements and the rabbits. Good investment - I think i can reuse a few years

Houzz is giving me grief, will post before i lose it all. Happy Mothers day to all the mothers out there

Yeah I tried to start a new thread 3 times , houzz won't let it go through.

Glad you're getting the rain "you" need.

Rick

I must be drunk from all the tea I drank at Cheddar's in Ft. Smith, because I thought I saw Rick's post, and even posted on it. Anyway, we had a great meal, Madge and I, and 3 of her kids. I am so lucky to be part of such a sweet family.

I was about partied out by the time our company left, so have not gone out and planted anything else, hopefully tomorrow, but we are dealing with a friend that may be near the end of life, and he has ask me to transport him to the nursing home tomorrow, but the hospital has said that they would do that. When I saw my friend yesterday, he acted happier than I have seen him in years, he is a man of strong faith.

My daughter, grand daughter and her fiance came over also today, we all had a good day.

Happy Mothers day to all you mothers.