March Week 4. Marching right along
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Comments (99)Four fantastic shell-looking coasters arrived in the mail today. THANK YOU BEV! The batteries in my camera need to be replaced, so I'll have to describe them to you all. The tops are made of fabric with lots of shells in it, and the bottoms are sky blue with poofy clouds mixed in. They are all shaped like shells, and Bev quilted the shell lines into them. They are just too cool, and yes Bev, perfect! Now, how did you ever know I'm a beach addict? LOL! Either tomorrow or Saturday I'm going to have to go to the grocery store and pick up the ingredients so I can mix up some pineapple sunrises and use them! Thanks Again Bev!!!...See MoreFeb 2018, Week 4, Planting (Maybe) & Welcoming March
Comments (120)Kim, You will be farming and gardening in a very unforgiving climate there, so perhaps their desire to wait for the rain comes from their knowledge of how tough Spring planting can be without the rainfall. I'm just guessing about that. I am sorry that your planting plans are a mess and aren't conforming to what you wanted, hoped for and expected. Please hang in there and don't stop believing.....even with a late start I bet you have a great year. It is unfortunate that your promised helpers are not available. Grrrrr. I hate empty promises. I wish you lived closer to all of us too. If you did, we'd caravan out to the farm and help you plant onions. Don't be too hard on yourself over the onion planting. Just do what you can do every day and be thankful for the progress you're making. I noticed that almost nobody in my area (or nobody who lives on roads we drive along so we're able to see their gardens) has their onions in yet, likely because most everyone here gardens at grade level, so their soil still is too wet. I am grateful for our raised beds because even though their soil also is wet, it was dry enough for me to get the onions planted last week, and today I'll be able to plant a lot of other stuff. So, even though I feel late here (and I am late compared to most years) apparently I'm ahead of everyone else who gardens around me. We all have to work with what we've got and, depending on one's location, it seems like we're either too wet or too dry.......sort of like Goldilocks and the Three Bears......it is hard to find that planting window when things are just right. Bruce, Our cats wipe out the moles and gophers, so they don't bother me either way, but it is stunning how many mounds I see on other people's property, particularly the ones with sandy soil. To some extent, our large amount of clay saves us from the moles and gophers, and the cats do the rest. If only that were so with the voles, but they tunnel completely underground at night, often hiding the entrances to their tunnels in adjacent woodland or areas of the neighbor's pasture with tall grass, so the cats have to hunt really hard to find the vole holes. I cannot let the cats out at night because of the coyotes, but I bet if the cats could be outside safely at night, they'd control the voles too. It would be tempting to use the poison for the gophers if only you didn't have grandchildren (or pets?). I noticed the sudden appearance of gopher traps, and all sorts of poisons and repellants on the store shelves in the last week or two, so clearly rodent season is underway now. For years, back when the garden fence was only 4' tall, we always had bobcats in the garden. I knew they were lurking there hoping to get birds, house cats, squirrels, bunnies or rodents, but I don't think I realized how many voles they probably were controlling until we raised the fence to 8' in height to keep out the deer. Since that effectively kept out the bobcats too, it was about a year after the raising of the fence that I realized we 'suddenly' had a huge vole problem. I wish there were a way to keep out the deer and allow the bobcats back in. It would sort of freak me out to drive up the driveway and see a bobcat just sitting there in the garden right in the middle of all the plants in broad daylight, but now that they are gone, I miss their varmint-controlling efforts. I don't understand everyone's obsession with moles either, but then, that's because our lawn is clay and we don't have moles. Maybe if we had moles tunneling everywhere in the lawn, they'd drive me nuts. I don't know. Also, we're rural and I could care less what our lawn looks like. We're not trying to maintain a pristine green carpet that impresses all the neighbors. I can understand that folks who live in suburban neighborhoods where there is a ton of pressure to have the standard perfect green carpet of grass would feel like the moles are ruining their lawn and, by extension, their lives. That whole obsession with perfect green lawns in housing subdivisions is a real thing, you know, and it amazes me how much time and effort people put into feeding and watering a green lawn and controlling the weeds just so they can mow it once or twice a week. It seems like a lot of work for nothing (by nothing, I mean that the standard green lawn doesn't produce food or flowers and doesn't support much wild life). When we lived in the city, we had the standard beautiful green lawn in the front yard, although I replaced as much of it as I reasonably could with ornamental planting beds. We had St. Augustine ('Raleigh') and it was so pretty, but I'm glad we aren't trying to keep a lawn like that green through all of OK's hot, dry, drought-filled summers. As our shade trees here get larger and larger, more and more of our bermuda grass lawn is being shaded out and replaced by ground covers, and that thrills me. That was my plan for the bermuda grass all along---to shade it out. I don't miss the green carpet of grass at all here. Our city back yard always was more garden than lawn grass and that was good---it gave me places to plant things that weren't green lawn, so I always spent more time in the back yard than the front yard even way back then. Nowadays I spend all my time in the garden that I possibly can, and resent every single hour of mowing that takes me away from my garden. It is funny how kids and grandkids take it so personally when someone else has offended their parent or grandparent, and those kids have long memories too! I guess that makes us stay on our best behavior when the little ones are around. Looking out the window I can see that it is dawn outside (pun intended). I've been waiting forever for the sun to come up, and finally that moment is about to arrive. Planting day at last! After today, the onions will not be alone any more. Dawn...See MoreMarch 2018, Week 4, No Fooling......
Comments (117)Denise, Fig trees are pretty late to come out. Just be patient with them. It is not unusual for them to die back completely to the ground and then to be late to show new growth. It is just one of the frustrating things about growing figs here. The good thing is that once they start regrowing from the ground, they grow quickly. Two of the latest blooming peaches (they have chilling hour requirements of 1000 hrs or more) are Contender and Reliance. I don't see Contender in stores here often, but do see Reliance from time to time. Both are available from Stark Bros. Those are lovely cabinets! Nancy, The sleet part doesn't sound good, nor can it ever be good when Wyoming is warmer than we are in the month of April. Oh well, I just keep thinking "Lee warned us....". Because. he. did. (grin) We only dyed two dozen eggs---a dozen with a blue/purple Galaxy kit that had rub-on transfers of the stars, the Milky Way galaxy, etc. and a dozen in pastels that have a pearlized/marbelized finish you apply after the dye dries. I didn't think that dye ever would dry. We also had 60 (says Tim and Lillie, and I say 61) plastic eggs to hide. Tim says he hid 60. He counted. Lillie says she found 60. She counted. Yet, when I went out to the garden to throw row cover over the two beds that include tomato and bean plants, I found a plastic egg at my garden gate. So, I say 61 eggs. Regardless, the Easter festivities are over, our temperatures now are dropping (we were 64 at midnight, and still 55 until about 4 p.m., but no longer....) and it is sort of misty/foggy but maybe with not quite enough rain to call it light drizzle. Our prank was to fill Lillie's magical, mystical golden egg with brussels sprouts. Let me explain. She has gone on and on about how we have to hide the golden egg (my reply: what golden egg? why? we never had a golden egg when Chris was a kid) for a couple of months and it has to have a spectacular surprise in it. Oh, and how she must be the one to find it, and with no help. Hearing about it daily about drove me out of my mind, until I finally started teasing her on being fixated on a golden egg that we didn't have, weren't interested in and weren't going to have. She still went on and on and on about it endlessly. So, a couple of weeks ago I told her that I was so tired of hearing about it and that if she didn't stop talking about it, I'd buy a golden egg and fill it with brussels sprouts. She kept emphasizing it had to have a great surprise in it. I told her that brussels sprouts would be a great surprise. It all was a long running joke that she wasn't taking seriously until we bought a bag of brussels sprouts at the store yesterday. The look on her face when I put those brussels sprouts in the grocery cart was priceless. At home, she took a new approach, begging Tim to hide the golden egg so well that she'd never find it. Apparently she decided I am a woman of my word and that there really was going to be brussels sprouts in the golden egg. Guess what? She was right. I am not cruel. When she sat down her basket and started taking out the plastic eggs to open them up, I suggested she first take the golden egg (only a bright yellow egg) and put all those brussels sprouts in the fridge before they started smelling up her Easter basket. She promptly complied and, when she opened the fridge, sitting next to the brussels sprouts bag, there were two "LOL Surprises" toys on the shelf. So, she got the spectacular toy she loves and had hoped would be in the golden egg, and we got the fun of seeing her react to brussels sprouts in her actual golden egg. It was hysterical. She promised solemnly that there would be no talk ever again of a golden egg at future Easters. We'll see. Our forecast low for tonight has dropped to 38 and for Tuesday night to 35. Tim and I covered up the two raised beds that have some tomato plants and some green bean plants in them. We might not have needed to, but with a 38 in the forecast, I figured better safe than sorry. Tim is sicker and sicker. I told him I think he has the flu and not a cold. He won't admit it. He thinks that because he had the flu shot last fall, he couldn't possibly have the flu. I think he is wrong. He is just too stubborn to admit it. He is not planning on going in to work tomorrow morning. This is going to be the longest and most boring first week of April we've had in a long time. rere's not much that one can do out in the garden in this sort of weather. I brought in all the flats of plants from the front porch, even though lately they've been staying out 24/7. I'll probably put them outside tomorrow and bring them in again the next couple of nights. We will be cold, but not nearly as cold as places further north. We have had small numbers of hummingbirds recently, about a week or two earlier than usual. Suddenly we have a lot more. I suspect a bunch were arriving here on their way, just passing through on their way to points further north, and the cold front hit. So, here they are, feeding like crazy at the feeders. I'll refill the feeders with fresh nectar tomorrow. I am tired (apparently I am no match for a 9 year old's energy) and am planning to go to bed early. I'm trying to stay awake long enough that at least it will be dark when I go upstairs to go to sleep. Really, I don't care if it is light or dark, but even when tired find it hard to fall asleep before it is dark outdoors. I looked at the garden while covering up warm season plants and there's hundreds of warm-season volunteers uncovered. Either they'll sink or swim on their own, and it doesn't really matter. If they die, more will sprout. More always do. Dawn...See MoreFebruary 2019, Week 4.....Here Comes March!
Comments (50)Grrr. I am irritated. Have typed a long, rambling answer twice and lost it twice. So here's my final attempt for tonight. Tim is still very sick. I am beginning to understand what a violent stomach virus the norovirus is....it gives new meaning to the word projectile. If the rest of us manage to escape all the germs he is spewing into the universe, it will be an absolute miracle, and not a miracle I'm expecting will occur. The four year old granddaughter was lucky---she left for her dad's house and an out-of-state vacation the same day Tim came home sick, so she might be spared. The rest of us probably won't be. This weather.....this is what Oklahoma does. What is pretty much guaranteed is that the weather each year will find a way to be very different from the previous year's weather....so, after three relatively nice, warm Februaries, we are having a cold one....with March seeming like it will start out the same way. It is what it is and we just have to deal with it. Our erratic late winter and early spring weather is why Oklahoma isn't known for having a huge commercial fruit-growing industry---because such as industry would go broke here. Blueberries are extremely difficult to grow successfully. I grew them in Texas and was smart enough to never attempt them here as I have highly alkaline soil and highly alkaline water, slow-draining clay and frequent summer dry spells with tons of heat and little to no rainfall. What do blueberries need? A very specific acidic soil in a very specific pH range, and if you can create that, you also need to have neutral to acidic water that isn't working against you. If you have alkaline water, then each time you water (blueberries tend to need irrigation daily in our very hot and dry summers in southern OK), the water is making your acidic mix a bit more alkaline and it takes a toll on the plants after a couple of years. They need perfect drainage. Perfect. They are shallow-rooted and will die quickly if allowed to get too dry in the summer. They abhor wet feet and will die quickly if allowed to sit in waterlogged soil. How are you going to help them cope on one of those days when 5 or 8 or 12" of rain falls in one day? Have a plan for that! They are very prone to root rot diseases like phytopthera. People who have success with them tend to have perfect drainage and soil that is in the perfect pH range for them. When I grew them in Texas, I had them in a raised bed completely above grade so their roots never made it down into our slow-draining black gumbo clay. That bed was filled with a 50-50 mix of pine bark fines and peat moss. I watered with a soaker hose so the water went into the soil-less mix and not onto the plants. My plants got direct sun from about 8-10 a.m. and then were in dappled shade to heavy shade the rest of the day. If you grow them in containers, you may need to water with drip irrigation lines more than once a day in the hottest weather. It is hard to create a soil-less mix that drains well but also doesn't drain too well....good luck with that. Here's the OSU Fact Sheet on Growing Blueberries in the home garden. The people I know who have had the most success have lived in the NE quadrant of the state and had naturally well-draining and acidic soil. I don't know if any of them kept the plants alive for longer than maybe 5 years, and lost the plants about the time they really began to produce well. Sometimes they did get a year or two of good production from the plants before they died. Growing Blueberries in the Home Garden Megan, I'm glad your daughter is so much better and continue to pray for your uncle's continued recovery. He's had such a tough time the last few days. Your poor mom! Being sick is not fun and if you feel compelled to go into work anyway, that is just a miserable situation. Of course you are tired and low in energy today---your crazy week drained it all out of you. I hope you were able to rest and yet also to find the energy to cover up and move whatever plants needed it. I am afraid y'all are going to take a pretty hard hit from this weather up there. They have snow and/or sleet back in our forecast for tomorrow---it pops in and out of the forecast every few hours, but tonight our local TV weather guy seemed more convinced than previously that it is going to find us. I'll continue hoping it misses us. We're still going to be pretty cold for this far south. The wind chills for the whole state look horrible over the next couple of days. At least wind chills themselves do not affect plants, though cold temperatures and strong winds can be tough on our plants in these sorts of cold spells. I helped Jana and Lillie paint Lillie's room at the new house today. It looks really nice and two coats of her chosen paint color (one coat yesterday, another one today) covered up the previous paint color very well. There's a ton of prep work involved in painting these rooms because they have so much of the lovely Victoria style trim and woodwork that needs to be covered in blue painter's tape so that we don't get the wall paint on the trim. Really, by the time you can finally start painting, the painting goes much more quickly than all the prep work. After we finished that room, we worked on prepping the living room for painting...it has a total of 8 walls and I think 10 windows, 8 of which are the 84" tall windows....so lots of time was spent up on ladders, and we never even made it high enough today to cover the crown molding to protect it from the wall paint. I guess that's a project for tomorrow if we aren't iced in here at our house. My son works tomorrow, so we may take a day off and stay home unless we have to be up there at the house because an appliance is being delivered. One is scheduled, but the weather could interfere......and we all may be tired enough that we are sort of hoping it does. One thing that struck me about her room is that the only closet is the original one from 1932, and it is sort of wedge shaped in a corner, and very tiny, so it will not hold much....she is sort of in shock at the fact that her lovely room has so little built-in storage. We're looking for furniture that can store a lot of clothing.....maybe an old-fashioned armoire or wardrobe. For lunch we had a picnic sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor since no furniture has been moved into the house yet. We had our favorite Bar-B-Q from Caddo BBQ so it was the yummiest meal and was lots of fun. I spent a lot of time looking out windows at the landscape today. They have a lot of shade so that may present some landscaping challenges. Oh, and we met the lovely older couple next door....almost old enough, perhaps, to be my parents, but not quite. They are so kind and so friendly. We found some old wallpaper previously not seen when removing light switch plates and old cabinets and things. That was pretty fun...but it wasn't drastically old wallpaper....I think I remember very similar patterns from the 1980s. My tomato plants are outgrowing their light shelf and I have no desire to move them to the greenhouse yet, as that would mean setting up heaters in the greenhouse....and I just do not even want to go there.....so I'll bring in a bigger shelf tomorrow that has adjustable shelving which will allow the plants to stay under fluorescent lights for at least a couple more weeks. We still have nice weather out in the forecast around Thursday or so....knock on wood! Dawn...See MoreKim Reiss
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