Oh, that was supposed to say with your tillers. But because I was talk texting it picked up a little bit of an accent.

Might have a chance to sell vegetables if the store shelves become empty from this migrant worker thing.

Might even have to stand guard over it with a shotgun from 2 legged varmints.

Rick

I keep telling everybody I know they need to learn how to garden because there’s gonna come a day if you don’t grow it, you won’t eat

Kim, I have trying to impress upon my grand daughter and grand daughter the need to learn about growing food, it has been a slow process, but it seems to be soaking in a little. I have ask my grand daughter and her husband to come and help my plant sweet potatoes. I don't really need the kids help yet, but I want them to get involved. The kids have come and helped me dig potatoes, but they need some learning on ground prep and planting process.

We had lunch with my brother-in-law, and sister-on-law today. My SIL is the type of person that would be happy to stay in the house all the time, but today I think I sold her on the idea of planting a couple of jalapeno plants, I also think I will start her a few tomato plants, of course she will have her husband take care of them. We are all in our 80's so we wont be putting Walmart out of business, but I enjoy seeing her take an interest.

Just a report on my overwintering under low tunnels :

This is my fall greens tunnel that I triple covered with row cover right over the plants , the row cover over the hoops and a layer of plastic over the hoops. This was done right before the Siberian front thing came down. Min temp here ( at Jennifer's) was 3 to 5 degrees.

Looks like the greens made it ok.

They didn't look all that great anyway thanks to the hot dry Oct but they did survive single digit temps with triple covering.

The thing with the plastic layer is that if it warms up very much and the sun's out , it needs to be taken off or it 'll get a little too hot under there even in the winter if it's a mild sunny day.

The other thing is that I got Black plastic by mistake.

I was in a hurry to go to Lowes and get a big roll of plastic.

I just assumed it was all clear plastic but ended up with a big roll of black plastic instead.

So I went ahead and used it on the greens tunnel. It was ok , it was still phosepene and didn't need light anyway for the short term.

The white tunnel on the left had some brassicas in it. I didn't have time to triple cover it too. But seems the brassicas made it pretty much , they were planted in the fall and didn't look like much to begin with anyway

I've been experimenting with overwintering under hoop tunnels for a few years now.

I haven't really gotten all that much out of it.

But' it's something to do during the off season.

The biggest problem I've had with these tunnels is wind.

And it begins to get in the way of the early spring planting.

Rick

Those look great. I never have mastered tunnels. It’s raining here. We are supposed to get an inch

We had rain predicted today. Unlike Larry and Rick my soil has been DRY so was looking forward to the moisture. If I stretched it a lot we might have got 1/10” - maybe next time.

Rick the tunnels are impressive. I tried a couple of short tunnels 20 years ago at our old house - decided my yield was much less than the investment. Where we live now is on a hill where there is wind 360 days a year so would not work for sure. I did have better luck building hotbeds and a couple of taller ones for the winter. I dug out about 20” into the ground on the south side of a building and built sides about 30” tall, putting straw bales around the edge for stability and insulation - then using old glass doors and windows for the top. When really cold I would cover with plastic or even old blankets or tarps at night. That way I didnt have to fight the wind so much but they still got plenty of light.

Some of the hardiest plants I ever raised.

I did get some clover and poppies scattered yesterday and started a flat of lettuce inside the greenhouse.

ok ,so you did the " cold frame " thing with the glass lid.

Did you have to vent it much....prop open ?

What plants did you do ?

Rick

I talked to Madge. Larry is doing well. He will probably go home tomorrow.

Hi. It's been a wild couple of days.

I received my Johnny's seeds today. Pretty sure the only other thing I have left to be delivered is onions. They're scheduled to be delivered mid February.

I'm in no way ready to plant anything. The garden is not ready at all. In fact, I'm uncertain of when I'll have time to prepare it. It's stressful.

I watched a video--the latest one from R & R--and it's interesting how she and I seem to track so often.

Obviously, I don't have an audience to garden for....but I have other things that have made gardening less joyful over the past few years. Expectations and whatnot. I've done Garden Monday for probably 8 years and I don't even enjoy posting that any longer very often. Kim and I briefly discussed this last night...and the video too.

It's not that I don't want to garden. I do. It's in my heart and soul, but there's something to do with expectations that squash the joy. Plus, just the lack of time I have to spend gardening.

Obviously if we're starving, we should all grow as much as we can and preserve as much as we can (but her point about fresh eating is something I said last year (tracking again) ).

However, if we're really going to be serious about preparing for food shortages, a protein source would be important too. Yes, growing lots of greens is good, but without a little protein or calories you're only going to be healthy for so long. Check your city laws about poultry. I know that Norman allows backyard chickens. IF you're really serious about being prepared, do that too. Learn how to harvest them for meat OR at least eggs. And rabbits are a good city protein source. Sad, tho.

Anyway....just thoughts.

Maybe I'll feel a little more relaxed once I get through this incredibly busy week at work. I have a big thing this weekend and learning new things to get all the elements to come together. I've made a few mistakes and that added time to correct them. So far, it seems like I'm finally on track.

Once this is past, I can think about seed starting. Will be starting cabbages first.

Beans are a great protein source if I only had room for them

I'm going to try to do some shell beans this year.

They can be canned as shellies or dried in the pod.

I had good luck with" Dwarf Horticutural Taylor" a couple of years ago . I'd like to restock those.

Black beans too.

I'll do a little green bean too for for fresh or freeze. Don't mind canning some of them if have time.

I don't do well with pole beans. They're harder to grow and takes longer and can burn up in the summer heat. If can get through the summer heat they do ok for fall beans.

I'll do the my usual thing with everything else. Corn , squash , tomatoes , peppers, greens , brassicas....carrots , beets , turnips , might try that "Salifsy" .

Cowpeas ... black crowder.... okra....

But first things first : taters and onions.

Yep.

Rick

I was vegetarian for many years and still only eat meat a few times a week, although eggs daily. Beans are a protein source but they are incomplete, so if you're preparing for food shortages, make sure to store something else to pair with them. That's for optimum health. People can last a long time without proper nutrition.

Rick, you can have the canned green beans in the pantry. Tom and I prefer the fresh or frozen ones. Remind me next time you're over here. There's also lots of black and brown beans that are canned and some dried ones in the freezer that you can have.

I didn't cook tonight, but opened a jar of cowpeas from 2020. There's still several jars of those, if you want some. Tom had leftover meat that wasn't anything I wanted... and I fried up a head of cabbage for us to eat. And potatoes.

ok ,i'll take whatever you don't want.

Rick

I have lots of tallow to go with my beans and frozen bacon grease : )

Yeah I like ham or bacon.

Rick

I could be vegan except for bacon, chicken broth and hamburger. I don't digest beef well any more, I like pork,but I could live without it, except for bacon. Chicken is OK, but I could live without it. I can't eat dairy any more. I do like fish, which means I wouldn't be vegan, and vegetarian doesn't eliminate dairy. Anyhow... Vegans use a lot of mushrooms, which I've always wanted to grow. And seeds provide a lot of protein. Hemp seeds are particularly good nutrition wise and the plants can be used in so many things and produces large quantities of ...I'm not sure I'm using the right term...bio mass. But you have to have a license to grow it. Amaranth is nutritious and legal. Not quite as much plant material, but the leaves are edible if not particularly tasty and the seeds are nutritious. Both produce what can be used as mulch or compost material. I tried to save amaranth seed, but my methods failed. It would reseed itself, it volunteered in the chicken run that year. It was interesting, I let it grow, the chickens liked the more tender henbit, etc, but they would jump up at the lower leaves when it got hot and the henbit was gone. They will eat the seeds as well. The plants are tall, they made for shade and cover in the run.
I have always wanted to grow a grain. Rye grows all winter, but feeding to chickens can make their eggs taste off. Flint corn was on the list last year. Wheat. All of them produce biomass. I used the rye for mulch. We fed some to the chickens. I love rye bread, but we didn't get that far.

Bio intensive gardening says to grow for calories. Things like wheat, corn, sorghum and other grains. Your vegetable garden is supposed to be 30% of the garden area (don't quote me on the %, I'm going from memory). The point is the rest of rhe space is for compost material and "calories".

I'm rambling.

Amy, thanks for coming and rambling. There’s always something in your post that helps me.

I went to Poteau for more test today, and just had to stop at the Farmers Co-op to shoot a little bull with the employees there, and to feed my addiction I had to buy an oz. of collard seeds, and an once of Michihili seeds. I didn't need the seeds, but I got to visit with old friends. I spent the large sum of 90 cents, but seeing the friends was worth more than that.

Hope you're doing ok Larry.

I'm gettin ready to run up a seed bill myself.

I'm afraid it'll be a bit more than 90 cents.

Rick

Thanks, Rick, I am doing well. I do have a few medical issues, but most people my age have a few issues.

I have run up more than a $.90 seed bill this year, but the 2 packs of pepper seeds that I had grand daughter order online cost more than all the other seeds I have bought this year.

I did ask my doctor if his wife was ready for some plants. My doctor at Poteau lives about 2 miles from me, and his sweet wife take plants from me often.

Well good deal.

I need to stop by my feed store and see if they got onions and seed potatoes for me to throw in the back of my truck.

Of course they do.

Rick

Amy, I would be very happy to not eat meat. Honestly, I've added it back into my diet for health reasons.

It's come back around that butter, meat, eggs are beneficial. When I was really small in the 70's, diners would have a "diet plate" often. I remember it being a hamburger patty, a scoop of cottage cheese, an egg and tomato slices or a small salad. (Probably my Mom and Grandma ordered it). THEN, when I was an older child in the 80's, everything switched to low fat. Remember the Snackwell cookies? People gobbled those up because they were fat free. However, they were loaded with sugar.

It's political. Has to do with politicians and their lobbyist overlords. LOL

Anyway....our health as a country has declined since then.

Also, some people don't do as well with meat really. Sometimes I wonder if it has to do with blood type in part. Typically Os have a higher stomach acid that helps digest things like meat, while As typically have a lower stomach acid. That beeturia that freaks me out--it probably has to do with low stomach acid as well.

If I'm going to eat meat, I do like chicken the best. I can handle those thin bone-in porkchops if I make a balsamic/mustard gravy to eat with. I don't mind ground beef if it's in soups, etc. I dislike steak. The texture grosses me out. Lamb isn't bad. And I eat fish now. Try to eat it 3 times a week.

I'm going to do a round of Whole 30 in a couple of weeks to get "straightened out" after the holidays. Then will go back to my more Mediterranean style of eating. It's heavy on fish, beans, fruits, and veg.

But, fish like salmon and tuna is not something I can grow here. lol

Amy, would you consider potatoes in the "calories" category? Interesting stuff about the bio intensive gardening for sure. I, too, would like to grow grain and oats. And my own chicken feed. If only I didn't have to work .

If I have time this week coming week, I'm going to try to start some seed rather than wait until the following week. I'm looking at my FB memories over the past 10 years and normally I have sprouts by this time. Need to order my peat pellets. Most people don't like them, but I do. They work best for me. I may have already mentioned this, but I'm considering starting my heirloom tomatoes mid February instead of March 1. My Mom gifted me with some large pots from Bootstrap Farmer that should be able to handle a large "seedling" once it's up-pot time. And because I'm only shooting for 2 of each variety, there should be space on the lightshelf. Hopefully, I'll get fruit a bit quicker and can do another round of fall tomatoes with seed from the spring/summer tomatoes.

Anyway....It's been nice to catch up here this morning. But, work calls.

I have never counted calories but I do look at carbs. I try to keep them to a minimum. I need to up pot some chard and mustard. And clean the yard.

I have the seed starting itch also. The earliest I can remember starting tomatoes and peppers was Jan 25, which turned out a little early for me, but the past few years it seems as tho I could put plants in the ground a little earlier, but normally I shoot for May 1 as my safe date. The date that I remember as when the plants worked out the best was Feb 19, but all of that was near 20 years ago, and I never keep records, and if I did I still would not be able to find them when I wanted them.

I have drug out another fluorecent fixture to place on my bottom shelf. This fixture has 2 white tubes in it, the other two have 1 white, and 1 soft warm light each. The top shelf has 6 LED tubes. The LED are brighter, but both shelves grow plants, the LED may be a little cheaper to run. I placed the fluorescent tubes on the bottom thinking that they may heat the top shelf. I am not sure if any of this info is correct, but the shelf has given me good plants for years, till this one fixture started acting like it had a lose connection in it and would not stay on. I expect the ballast is bad, and it is not worth replacing.

I need to dig out some Covington potatoes from under the bed and place them on a heat mat, and try to get some slips started. I don't do well getting the Covington to sprout, they just seem to want to stay dormant, I call them lazy, but they sure keep well.

The weather sure looks nice outside, and it is hard to stay in, but I am still supposed to be taking it easy, so I will just go in and play with my light shelf.

Larry, I had a fluorescent light on a light self start smoking once. It was very scary and I'm glad I was home. I remember Dawn telling a story about a flourescent light and a house fire. My lights now are different but I'm still nervous to leave them on when I'm not home, but do.

I used to count calories when I had an eating disorder in my late teens, Kim. But, calories in a survivalist situation is what you want. You want to grow things with calories. It's funny how words like calories have such a negative feel to them, when they're necessary for life.

Cleaning up the yard and up-potting sounds nice. Any sign of life in the herb seeds other than the thyme?

I have some Covington slips (?) making roots on my kitchen window sill. They're in water and I need to put them in some soil soon. Maybe next week when I start seed.

Yes, Jennifer I can’t remember what but I am on my way outside to look. I managed to get an envelope stamps, and the seeds are ready to go. So far the Yarrow Genevese‘s compact regular genovese and English time and Marjoram are all up looking good. Four types of seeds. I have sewn were from the 60s and 70s and they are not coming up which didn’t surprise me my sisters every time they went on a diet they were counting calories and they would always tell me I needed to count calories but they never lost any weight counting their calories so I figured that wasn’t a very good way to lose weight. It’s funny my sister is a registered nurse and she’s always giving me advice on how to do things the right way, but she’s in the worst health of anybody I know so I don’t really feel comfortable taking advice from her. But she is a great gardener so I do take gardening advice from her in other, not so great news. My van died last night which I knew was coming, but hoping that it would make it until I could find a vehicle. I hope the money that I have saved is enough to buy another car.

Jennifer, I did go in and drag out some Covington potatoes from under out bed. I like to make slips from the smaller potatoes like in the far end of the tray, but I found more damaged potatoes sprouting. I have a lot of problems with voles and gophers, and if I keep some damaged potatoes for slips, I am pretty well assured that I will have slips for the next year, because when Madge, or the kids go in to get potatoes to eat, they skip over the small, and critter eaten potatoes. I don't need a pretty potato to make slip. I will often just cut the sprouting end off and place it in the tray, that way I seem to be able to get more slips per tray.

Also shown are 36 of the 79 purple sweet potato slips that I have. I expect to give most of the purple sweet potato slips away for ornamental plants.

I need to start giving the purple slips away to clear up some shelf space. Sweet potato slips eat up shelf space fast. I get the best potatoes from the runners that I pull from the plant after it has been planted, but it seems as tho most people are afraid to try that.

I might add that I found some Covington potatoes that were harvested 16 months ago, they had gotten shoved up into a corner under the bed. I think I will pull the old potatoes out and place them in flower pot and place them in the center bedroom where it is warmer, I think they will make slips also.

We went to Atwoods in Stillwater today. they had seed potatoes and onion sets. I got red Pontiac and Yukon Golds, and 3 bags of sets -the sets work for me, the plants don’t anymore, plus I cut the tops off and use as green onions as long as possible. My husband has trouble digesting onions but no problem with the green tops.

Rick, re the hot beds - yes they have to be vented just like the tunnels, however if I had to be gone I just covered them with a quilt and it wouldnt overheat if the sun came out, otherwise I had blocks to prop the lids up and chains on the doors and windows to keep them from blowing off. Tomatoes were my largest crop but I planted flowers, herbs, anything that I could transplant later, I kept mixed greens all winter, onions, carrots. I cant get down on my leg anymore or bend well or I would still like the hot beds.

I've thought about doing a "hot bed" , just curious.

I went to my feed store today and got a sack of seed potatoes ( Red Pontiac) and got 3 bags each of the red , white and yellow onion sets. They didn't have the Dixon Dale onion bundles yet. Maybe next week. Hopefully , Yukon Gold too

But it's a start . Tomorrow is Feb . Time to start a little .

Rick

Glenda, do you have a picture of your hot beds? They do sound very interesting.

Nice looking slips, Larry!

Kim, I'm excited about your herbs! I'm looking forward to trying all of those soon too.

I'm very sorry about your van. What exactly is wrong with it? I hate car issues.

Just got in from Friday errands and closed the chickens up and did a few chores in the dark. Finally sitting and my eyes are having a hard time staying open.

You know that song Jumpin Jumpin? (Destiny's Child late 90's???). I heard it yesterday on the way to work...."it's 11:30 and the club is jumpin jumpin". And thought that sounds like hell right now. Being in a loud place at 11:30.

Honestly, I probably always felt that way even back then.

Kim ,what's wrong with your van . You said it died ?

No start ?

No run ?

I'll try to advise.

Rick

I blew a head gasket. :(

Sorry to hear it. No easy fixes for that.

Rick

Jennifer I might have pictures but no idea where - its been 25-40 years ago since I had hot bed. If you look on Pinterest there are lots of cold frame/hot bed suggestions. Difference between is you can use a heat source, from manure very deep under soil to heat cables and even a couple of light bulbs. I’ve tried all methods. If you have a building on the south side its a big advantage to block the wind, make your structure more solid, and convenience to add heat cables or light bulbs if you desire and have access to electric. Height in back depends on how tall you are going to let your plants get before you move them - remember the higher it is the more area you have to keep warm. I usually stayed at 24-30” in back and slant top down to about 15-20” Several smaller windows are better than long doors or sections because you usually work a small area at a time so for convenience of not having something heavy to lift, plus not letting as much exposed at once is a consideration. If you have bales of hay or straw you can put around the sides its another layer of insulation. Make a small 3x5 bed to try - I think you will be surprised.

Thanks, Glenda! I will check that out. the back of our house faces south and the back of our shop faces south too. It is where I have the native garden. There is an outlet on the back of the shop too.

Although, having it close to the house would be ideal.

Here are my slips…

you can see the roots wrapping around the bottom of the jar.

Jennifer, those will be more productive slips than what I have. I would suggest that you lay the slips like that out in a trench and stretch the roots out straight if you can. If a root is short, crooked and has color to it, in my experience it is likely to produce a deformed potato, that is one reason I like to get plants in the ground in early May, then remove the runners that only have short roots at the leaf nodes. If I can get my runners planted by early June I still have time to get a good harvest. Thanks for posting the picture.

I am going to try to get a few things done today. I got up and started goofing around yesterday and started bleeding. I look like I have been in a fight, and lost. I never bruised or bled like I do now, getting old is not as much fun as I had hoped.

Kim, I am sorry to hear about your car. A blown head gasket can be bad news, the repair cost can be more than a car is worth, and a good, used cheap car is hard to find.

I've refreshed my memory a bit on bio intensive gardening. The 30% I mentioned is correct for the calorie crops. 10% for vegetables. This method's goal is to grow everything you need sustainably. So the bulk of crops are producing stuff that will be dried for composting or used for mulch. Here's what they say about calorie crops. Untitled Document https://search.app/mpD7GpRTuNgvmDmQ7

I think you could include prolific winter squash in the calorie crops. Of course they're trying fo the most production in the smallest space. You can see all of their articles if you go to the bottom and click on "previous " or "next". I don't like all the ideas. I don't believe in deep digging, not that I could do it anyway. No dig methods are more practical. But mulch is always an issue, so growing your own mulch is a plus. I experimented with living mulch. if you grew wheat, you'd have a sorce of straw and you wouldn't have to worry about pesticides. Milo, maize, sorghum, millet for chicken feed. I grew a sorghum that could be popped like popcorn. To be honest, my chickens were my composters. I threw garden "trash" in a kiddie pool in the run. They ate what they wanted and pooped on the rest, which went in the compost bin, as did what we cleaned from the coop. I think a manure source would be necessary so you could replenish the soil. A water source would be important. I would have to have rain barrels. (Ron doesn't want to mess with them.)

Better post before I lose this.

This van is done. It needs a new engine due to carb buildup or something like that. It’s just not worth it anymore. I pain 1300 and drive it for 3 years. I am looking everywhere so if you know someone with a vehicle for 1500 or less let me know ; )

More to think about. https://www.smilinggardener.com/organic-vegetable-gardening/intensive-gardening-vs-permaculture-gardening-vs-biological-gardening/

Beautiful day to work in the garden

Well, I’ve done a lot of cleanup. And I moved all my pots of Iris to the front area where they will get more sun. Last year I didn’t have one Iris bloom at all out of probably 100. So they got rabbit manure a new bad new soil and more sun, and I hope they will be happy. And that was a lot of work. I have a few more. I need to dig up, but I do not have the energy today. Just doing a little bit to keep moving. Getting over the flu is no joke and pacing myself is hard. Tomorrow is the green stalk set up.

I would have enjoyed be out today, it is 62 degrees and sunny today. Madge ask me to take it easy for a few more days, so I have been playing with my sweet potatoes. I found more small potatoes, and cut the ends and gopher bits off of the covington, and salvaged what I could. I am now cooking them. Madge said that she would make a sweet potato pie for tomorrow. The last sweet potato pie Madge made, she put lemon flavoring in it, I like it. I also had one purple potato that I had saved to make slips from, but the dug up roots sprouted and made plenty slips.

Here is my salvage work. I will drag in some of my cheap potting soil and toss on these small potatoes. I hope to have 100+ Covington slips by the first of May.

I don't normally cook sweet potatoes like this, but I thought this might be the best way to get Madge to eat gopher bit potatoes.

Wish I was there for a of pie. Larry that sounds delicious

Kim, I used a handheld blender on the potatoes and Madge has already made the pie filling, but she did not use the lemon recipe, I wish she had, but she did not even remember making the lemon/sweet potato pie. I tasted some of the sweet potatoes when I was chopping them up, they are very sweet, even without sugar.

I noticed that I have 2 butternut squash in the center bed room that I need to work up also. Madge has such a hard time with anything that is hard to cut, and seem reluctant to ask me for help or to do anything for her. I think that we all like to be independent, but as we get older, that is harder to do.

Larry, you can actually cook that butternut squash whole and then clean it after it bakes nice and soft. That way you don’t have to try to cut that beast.

Kim, I have heard of that, but never tried it, maybe because I am always thinking of saving seeds. I have plenty seeds, so I may try cooking the squash whole.

Been MIA, nothing really to say and work's been a major nuisance. I'll keep politics off here, but suffice to say I'm not looking forward to this year's legislative session.

Started a few seeds this week, mainly with an eye toward doing a plant sale this spring. If nothing else maybe make a couple bucks to help offset my garden habit. With the superbowl next weekend, I'm tempted to start some tomatoes, even though I know it's a little early for me.

Got outside and cleaned up the driveway bed, ended up with half a kitty litter bucket of zinnia flower heads. Once I finish cleaning out that space, I'll toss them all back and hope they all bloom. Noticed the collards from last winter are still growing, and spread. They added a nice flavor to my salad last night, but the texture is something to get used to.

Jen, "massaging " greens is supposed to take bitterness out, it would probably soften them, too, or you can blanch them just a little. In the spring, when they bolt, they make little sprigs like broccoli. Those are great in salad, and the more you pick, the more they make.

Kim, you need to slow down a little. I should probably tell Larry that too.