I figured today was the last good day to be outside for awhile, so I was able to get the new beds situated and started filling them. I figured out pretty quickly that I’m in winter shape, and not spring shape. I’ll be feeling it tomorrow. Lots of compost, some raised bed soil, topsoil, and landscaping mix.

So…when you’re lining the bottom of the beds with cardboard, are you trying to fit the cardboard into the bed, or do you want the bed on top of the cardboard, with it visible out the sides? I also have some old, holey grow bags that I am using under a couple beds.

I also ordered, on the advice of a friend up north, some faucet socks for the outdoor faucets. Hope they work.

Anyone ready to talk grow lists yet?

My grow list is made. Some seeds are pulled for winter sowing. I am only growing things I can eat and preserve. Except Porter tomatoes. I am growing out a few to give away and to replenish my seed stash.

Rick I am considerably south of y’all. I have row cover as well for the cold nights.

Rebecca, I'm going to try to post. We'll see if it works. (All of my posts show up for me---it's so weird). Anyway, I set my Vego beds on top of the cardboard. It doesn't look as tidy, but that's how I do it. In the kitchen garden those edge pieces are covered with woodchips in the pathways, so it's not a big deal. Around the two Vego beds in my "backyard" I won't have the woodchip pathway--just grass.

My list is in my head still. I might start working on putting it onto paper today.

A couple of first tasks will be putting down fresh woodchips in the kitchen garden and the pollinator/native garden behind the shop....in February. And setting up the Greenstalk that was purchased last year.

Kim, I'm impressed!

I'm so glad y'all are super excited and feeling good about gardening this year. I feel like it will make up for my smaller garden. Well, not smaller....just different.

We are getting good rains right now. At the end of the week it's supposed to get really cold, so I'll cover a few things. The broccoli in the hinged hoop, the lettuce and brassicas in the hoop house, and my golden beets in the KG.

Rebecca, if you want to start grow list threads, I'm sure we'll all be ready to chime in. :D

Rick

My forecast for next Monday is 9 degrees, with a few night being below 15. My microclimate can often be 5 degrees lower than the forecast. I dont feel it is safe for me to plant any vegetable, and I think that I need to go harvest a good supply of turnips, they are starting to look rough, and 9 degrees may just finish them off, I think they are the most insect damaged turnips I have ever grown anyway.

Its raining now, an a lot of chances for rain for the next 10 days, so not much garden work planned for me.

Rebecca, if you don't get the cardboard to the outside of the bed the Bermuda will come up in the crack.

I've been harvesting some of my turnips for a while now. they didn't do all that great due to being planted late back when it was so hot and dry. I got some under a low tunnel at Jennifer's. Over east I covered my collards , mustard , onions and garlic for this arctic thing we're fixin to get. . I didn't bother to cover the turnips there.They're going to be in the way later for the spring planting so I just going to let them freeze.

Rick

I had tried planting in the fall but nothing ever came up. Of it did it got chewed down. I have to trim all my trees. There is three peach, one elderberry, two desert Willow , one grapevine and two blueberries. They have looked dead since the grasshoppers took them out last year. When I was out messing around I discovered green leaves on 1 of the peach. I was so excited I almost did a backflip. These trees are five or six years old and I would hate to lose them because of grasshoppers. This year everything is getting covered. I’m ordering insect netting probably 100 foot roll. We had probably 2 inches overnight and all of my onions are standing up straight nice and the carrots didn’t get flushed out like I thought they would. Because the bed is 6 inches deep of potting soil and rabbit manure so the water just went right through it instead of puddling

I don't have a list of what I want to grow, and I doubt I will make one. I do plan on having more jalapeno peppers. I want to take better care of my plants in hopes of growing more per plant. If I get more fruit per plant, I think reduce the area of ground I have to work, and the amount of water I will have to use. I want to grow plenty of sweet potatoes and winter squash because they can easily be stored. I can remember people string peppers on thread or string and just let them hang on the wall. I was very small when I remember our neighbor doing that, there may be a certain type of pepper that you have to have to do that. Every time I have tried that the pepper just got yucky and moldy.

I've strung up Caynenne peppers. It worked pretty well for a while.

I let them turn red first.

The humidity at the time may have something to do with it.

Rick

Rick, I think Cayenne peppers was what I saw hanging on the wall. I don't think I was even school age yet, all I can remember about them was that they were long and red, and the only reason I remember that is because their son got me to smell one, so I took a big whiff that fried my brain. I have never grown Cayenne peppers, I am not even sure if I have ever picked one up, that one time made a believer out of me. I may try growing Cayenne this year because it sounds like they may fit in with my goal of growing things that store easily.

Don’t hang peppers in the kitchen or laundry. It’s too humid.

Thanks, Kim, I had not thought of that.

Years ago I grew Carnivale Cayenne. I strung them up and hung them in my kitchen. It was more of a decor really. Those plants were super productive and really pretty--green, purple, red, yellow.

Can someone let me know if my posts are showing up?

Jennifer, I can see the Carnivale Cayenne post.

Conditions in the OKC area :

27 degrees , wind chill 11 degrees , wind gusts 35-40 mph out of the NW ,

a dusting to an inch of light blowing snow.

Multiple accidents , icing on bridges , overpasses , jacked knifed semi's and such.

https://www.news9.com/story/64de0dd5b95e10088537cebe/slick-roads-cause-dozens-of-crashes-tuesday-morning-oklahoma-winter-update

And this is only the beginning.

Rick

So, only the cayenne post shows up? I can see both. So odd. I'll try again with another post. At some point, I might give up.

Luckily I get to stay home today because it's Tuesday--my day off. But,that doesn't mean I get to stay inside. There's animals to care for. I am making the shop cats stay in the shop. And the chickens stay in their coop and attached pen. But, they still need fed and watered and their droppings board cleaned. I just finished those tasks and now I'm letting the waterer thaw. I didn't plan ahead for that last night.

Unfortunately, the roof blew off that one little coop AGAIN. That's the fourth time in 7 months. Prior to that, it blew off once in 2020. It's time to retire that coop situation. The roof is sitting on the fence, which will now need to be repaired. But, the chickens are staying in their coop/pen today anyway. Tomorrow we'll get that roof off the fence. I can't lift it myself and Tom is at work and it's too windy to deal with anyway.

We've had a neighbors' rooster hang out on our property. Long story of catching him, returning him to his house. (They don't really care for their animals well so all of their hens were killed by predators. They let their animals roam the neighborhood) He's been coming over coaxing my young hens to jump the fence and hang out with him. He's a good boy, but I don't want him doing that. So....I was able to trap him in our little coop and I'm just gonna leave him there for now. It's at least shelter for this extremely cold weather coming up. Not great shelter because it's a little drafty but better than the tree he's been roosting in at night.

I'm not going to take the time listing out my seeds for 2024, just in case this post only shows for me.

Rick, send it back, I don't think anyone down here wants it. I just checked our forecast, the low for Monday has been changed from 9 down to 0. We have a light dusting of Ice pellets now, but not enough to bother traffic.

Jennifer, on my screen I see the post of your's timed at 2 hours ago, and it shows up on my screen as the first post after Amy started the thread, and then I see a post marked "yesterday", starting with "Rebecca, I will try to post again". Those are the only post of yours I see on this thread. I dont know why your last post showed at the second post, then again just above, it was not like that before. Houzz and I both may be messed up.

Larry , wish I could send it back to Sibera.

I'm going to shop around for an Eskimo suit in case I gotta be out in it.

Might even need a pair of snow shoes.

Rick

All right , time for some thread bumps , since we're going to be sitting through the worst of the winter, wind howling and all that:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6225933/another-dawn-bump#n=0

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6225925/dawn-bump-on-seed-starting#n=1

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6225960/cool-season-dawn-bumps#n=1

Any more .... feel free.

Need to put these all into an "E-book "so won't have to keep bumping the threads.

Rick

I had a whole notebook of Dawn’s posts and lost it recently. Broke my heart

Larry, the post immediately following the opening post is the "featured answer". Houzz randomly picks a comment for that.

Rick, that looks like some good reading.

I got a bit of winter sowing done before my son came to fix the faucet. It really thrilled me to plant some things that might actually grow. Lots of cabbages, a few flowers, chives, cilantro, brassicas.

I have a plant coming up in the kitchen from the seeds I planted a few days ago out of the winter squash I harvested about 15 months ago. I was expecting to get a few seeds to sprout, but so far I only have 1 of 8 coming up. I need to place them on the light shelf because it is a little too cold in the house for good germination.

I harvested some turnips this afternoon. Madge is not feeling well ,and said that some turnips sounded good, so we had a meal of fried turnips only, they were pretty good. I had planned on tossing some turnips on a little hay, then placing a lot more hay on top of them and see if I can save them from the cold we have coming in. I have too many turnips to try to save, but I want to try this and see if I can make it work. The garden is too muddy to be fooling around in, but I can easily get enough to try the hay protection. Our forecast has warmed up a little for Sun, & Mon., but with my microclimate I could still be down near 0.

I ordered me a pair of insulated coveralls and a fur trappers cap (Russian style).in case I got to be out in this , at least I'll be suited up for it.

Hope it gets here before it is -5.

Larry , I harvested some of my turnips and just put them in the frig. They'll keep for a month or more....if you got frig room. I also got an old frig sitting outside my back porch ( unplugged) that I've been using as sort of a root cellar. Got some more turnips in it now.

Rick

Rick, I had Madge put some in the fridge, and I think I will cook more tomorrow, and I told her that I may stick some in our center bedroom. Madge and I both are having some health issues, and were talking at lunch today about how lucky we were to have just a simple meal of turnips. We have other things to eat, but everyone on this earth are not so lucky. I don't know if you can freeze turnips or not, but I think we might be able to find some space in the freezer.

I don't think turnips will keep frozen ,. Just look at the turnips in the ground after they've been frozen. I would just store them in the coolest part of the house.

Rick

Good call on the insulated coveralls, Rick. I should order some too.

Larry, I think you can freeze turnips if you do the blanching thing, sorta like carrots. You might do a bit of research online.

Also got me one of these:

Rick

I think That I still have some insulated Carhartt overall and jacket. I did much better with the 2 piece out fit, that way I could pull the coat off and keep working, it really needs to be cold to work if you have all the gear on. I could move around better in the 2 piece. I would recommend the zip-up legs also. I had some tall lace up insulated boots and it was hard to get the bottoms off when it started heating up in the middle of the day. That was a long time ago and there may be better material now.

I guess you can freeze turnips but I've never done it.

I would think they would be mush when thawed , like onions. I guess it would work for recipes...soups ..

https://apps.chhs.colostate.edu/preservesmart/produce/freezing/turnips/#:~:text=Place%20chilled%2C%20well%2Ddrained%20turnips,as%20much%20air%20as%20possible.

https://www.wikihow.com/Freeze-Turnips#:~:text=Root%20vegetables%2C%20like%20turnips%20and,maintain%20their%20nutrients%20during%20storage.

https://stayhealthyhacks.com/can-you-freeze-turnips/

Rick

My main concern with all the cold weather gear is for if I get stranded on the side of the highway somewhere. Hopefully it won't happen but don't want to freeze to death if I do.

I'm going to try to stay home and off the roads if I can.

Rick

That hat reminds me of Cousin Eddie, Rick. LOL

It looks incredibly warm.

It was just lovely this afternoon. That is about to all change. I got the waterers ready, extra woodchips put in the coop, the hoses stored away, beats, hoop house beds, and broccoli covered, and a few other tasks.

We've been talking about turnips. The ones I'm pulling out of the kitchen garden are sweet and so are the daikon radishes. Yum.

Think I remember that one from last year or two.

I'm wondering if I got the tunnels covered enough.

Might need a layer of plastic to survive this....

Problem is I can't be there at the right time to put it on.

Put it on early while it's good weather ( like today) then it's too hot.

If wait till later , will be trying to put it on while the wind's howling.

Damn if I do , damn if I don't.

Probably won't get much out of it anyway.

About the hat , comrade Putin would be proud.

Guess I just joined the Russian Federation.

Rick

Rick, it does look like we are going to have some cold night for a while. I am concerned about losing power and water.

I pull all the turnips I want for now. I got about 10 gal., I brought them all into the house. I gave about 3 gal. away.

Here is my setup for harvesting my turnips. I pull the turnips and toss the turnips on the conveyor belt being pulled by the RTV, or toss them in a pile just off the edge of the conveyor belt and then the conveyor belt ahead so my work station would be next to the pile of turnips, then trim and wash them. Ahead of the spading fork is a pile of old bunching onions I plan on cleaning and using with the turnips. The onions are really weather torn, but I will manage to get some good out of them. My this falls onions are in much better shape, but I want to save most of them for seed stock.

I could see neighbor out harvesting turnips also, and later he came up to check on my harvest, he had stated that my Co-op turnip seeds would not make a turnip, but they sure look like turnips to me. Neighbor also told me that he took 7 or 8 trash bags of turnips over to the zoo for the critters.

Larry that looks like a great set up

Larry those turnips look a whole better than mine.

Rick

Larry, I like your set up.

Rick, Unless you're home all the time and/or near the garden all the time, it's hard to manage the coverings for weather. Even me and I live there. Like....it's sunny out but very cold. I left the hoop house closed up. Will it get too hot in there? Possibly but it was 19 when I left my house. If I didn't work, I could check on it through the morning and open it when/if necessary.

We just do the best we can.

And if we lose it all, spring is around the corner with new opportunities.

I do hope my golden beets make it. They're covered, and under the coverings I layered on a thick mulching of leaves, AND I covered it when it was still warm outside yesterday...but we will see.

I sorta wish I had grabbed another bowl of lettuce last night, tho.

I forgot about my pumpkin seed germination bag. Will almost all germinated. How exciting

I'll have to get out Sat to do groceries but plan to stay huddled inside for the rest of the weekend. Temperatures in the teens are just too darn cold for me. I'm a delicate, hothouse flower! Currently have a couple of snap pea plants and a broccoli growing, but that's about it. The peas I planted as a whim back in Oct or Nov, and they're about 3ft tall now. It was mostly just to see how they did. And the broccoli has been growing since last spring. No broccoli heads, but the leaves give a hint of broccoli flavor to my salad.

HJ, I see 3 or 4 of your posts now.

I have what looks like 2 cabbage plants growing out in my onion area, that area has also been my junk row for a few years. I cant say how the plant got in that area, but I must have planted some cabbage seeds late, and only got 2 plants came up and I just moved them to the junk row because I was not sure what they were, and to just watch and see what they would do. If it gets down to the temps forecasted I doubt any of my garden plants will live. I expect that most of my onions and garlic will come back, even if the tops are bit down. I wish I had tossed some mulch around the plants.

I had to buy potatoes and onions at the grocery store today. I used the last of the garden ones last week.

It's annoying, but I'm grateful.

There's still a few small sweet potatoes that I'll use up this week in a recipe. And there's a few cups of frozen onions too.

Does anyone watch the homesteader youtubers who do the "no grocery shopping" challenge in January and February? We could probably live out of our freezer and pantry for a couple of months, along with the eggs which are coming back now, but we would miss the things that we purchase.

Oh, I also bought some kale just in case the kale in the hoop house doesn't make it. It's covered inside the hoop house, but it's supposed to get to the single digits as you all already know.

Our friend is sharing a lamb with us. He processed two and we're getting the smallest one which is about 10 lbs of ground lamb and some other cuts. I don't know enough about lamb really, but did put Whole 30 Lamb Curry on the menu for next week. The last sheep we had, we did a leg of lamb, but I don't think I cooked it properly. It had a good flavor, but the texture was weird.

He's the friend who grew out the pig for us a couple of years ago.

Honestly, I would be fine with being vegetarian completely again. I prefer it. But...trying to support Tom.

Oh, and my cholesterol was the same after eating Whole 30 (with meat and eggs) as when I did the 6 months of eating less that 30 mg of cholesterol daily. It's just gonna be high no matter what I eat and how much I exercise.

But...the body makes more cholesterol every day than any of us could ever eat. Like my doctor said, healthcare is way behind the newest scientific findings about all of that. I wanted them to test my LDL because LDL isn't always bad. If it's the soft buoyant kind, it's actually beneficial. BUT, if it's the small, dense kind, it's bad and will build up in the arteries. However, my doctor said insurance doesn't yet pay for that test and it's expensive. Another odd thing is my VLDL and triglycerides are very low.

So many things to wonder about. I'm a big wonderer.

Y'all keep warm. It's not gonna be easy.

Yes Jennifer. I love Jessica at three rivers.

Its 44° here - and the sun is shining!!

The wind is still cold though. We still have some snow on the ground so I went out and scattered poppies and flax seeds in the places I want them to grow Had to make sure the birds didnt see the seeds or they would be gone, they’ve been emptying feeders as fast as I can fill them and the suet feeders too.

Hang on, we’ll make it through these cold days and Spring will come.

Glenda

My temp is 39, an the sun is shining, still have snow in spots, but the sun is eating it fast. Our low last night was -3 according to my min/max. I really don't like this cold weather, I can handle the weather down to about 20 okay as long is it warms up in the day, but I get cranky if the temp drops below 10 degrees

The only flower seeds I have planted the past few years are sunflowers and zinnias, those are easy to plant and get up. I will prep some ground for them about last frost date. I plan on planting them in the wildlife garden along the hwy.

I have not been out of the house after the snow hit, I also have tried to keep Madge in, but she does not agree.

We have brutal cold temps here but no snow or precipitation. I leave next Thursday for Lubbock and I am praying the weather is decent while I travel.

Larry we are in the wrong week lol. This is two and we are on week three. Also there is a planting thread