Oldokie, I dont see anything boring about you garden. I actually like it.

I have not planted anything, except the leftover potatoes I planted a month or two ago,knowing they had almost no chance of surviving. I did plant some onion seeds in the house a couple of days ago. I have not got my seed starting light set up yet, so my real starting date is still a week or two ahead.

I plan planting Early Sunglow corn and another kind, Incredible, I think. It is seed I already have but have not tried yet. I also hope to plant contender green beans. I have never grown them before. I always plant Roma green beans, I like the taste of those best of all I have tried.

I plan to cut down on peppers and tomatoes, but I planned to cut down last year also and still wound up with about 30 plants of each.

I hope to start cabbage, Chinese cabbage and broccoli soon. I will also start Red Sales lettuce if I can find the seeds, if not I will buy a few plants at the Co-op.

Even though we are short on rain, my garden is too wet now, but the ponds and creeks are still low.

Like you, most of my seeds and supplies come from the feed store.

Larry

Nothing wrong with that.
Furthermore, how nice it is to have your garden planned!

George
Tahlequah, OK

I don't think your garden sounds boring at all.

You have a very nice selection of vegetable varieties.

My favorite way to plant leaf lettuce is to mix them all up first. I like the different colors and textures in the salad, so I just mix them that way to grow.

Larry, I checked my stash for Red Sails and I don't have any or I would be glad to send you some. I have other reds if you don't find that one. I plant a lot of different lettuce but I am partial to Romaines.

Oldokie - that looks like a nice garden.

I am going to try to get a good stand of herbs this year. I have had trouble with some in the past and don't know why. I have looked at those fairly expensive little brass herb markers for years, and finally ordered me a set. Maybe that will give me the motivation to really try hard. LOL I am OK with parsley, basil and dill, but for some reason herbs don't like my garden. I have managed to keep my rosemary alive since the Spring Fling, but it doesn't look perfect. I read where everyone else says they grow like weeds. I can grow weeds, but not herbs. LOL

Carol, thanks, I have Red Salad Bowl, which is pretty, but I like the Red Sails much better. I think the Farmers Coop in Ft. Smith has the RS lettuce, they seem to have the plants each season, and the seeds often. I will try to pick some up next time I am in Ft. Smith.

Larry

I don't even know if our local co-op sells seeds. There is a feed store on my way to Joplin that sell bulk seed, but it has a very small selection. I don't think I have ever grown Red Sails.

I grew Red Sails last year - yummy! I got a packet of seeds from somewhere for 20 cents! I grew it among my flowers, here and there in one of the beds. It did very well, was slow to bolt - in fact it never did, I just ended up pulling it when the flowers began to take over. It is a pretty lettuce, too, so it looked quite ornamental.

Carol, with Rosemary I think it depends on what cultivar you're growing. Some are not hardy here at all, and you are probably in an area that may be questionable for a lot of the varieties. It likes hot, dry weather, being a typical Mediterranean herb (they like to be "high and dry"), sharp drainage, sandy soil, good air circulation, and a drink of water occasionally (after its established), but not often. Rosemary needs a large growing area because they can get very big, and they dislike high humidity, which Oklahoma summers often produce. Mine is still green out in the garden and I haven't watered it at all. I'm growing the variety, BBQ. You can actually cut the stems and use them like skewers. I haven't done that yet, but look forward to it.

The hardiest Rosemary's for zone 7, include 'Arp' (named for Arp, Texas), 'Hill Hardy' (also called 'Madeline Hill', after the famous Texas herb specialist), and the white flowering Rosemary, 'Nancy Howard'. These are all hardy to zone 6b at least. The one I am growing, BBQ, is supposedly hardy to zone 7. So far, it's doing fine. I often see 'Tuscan Blue' sold in stores, and it is hardy only to zone 8. I know - I tried it twice and both times it died over winter.

All that stuff about hardiness aside, Rosemary can be grown in a pot and brought indoors or grown in the greenhouse over winter. I've never tried that, and have only read about others doing it. Some have had great success with growing it indoors and others have not. So 6 of one, half dozen of another. I just keep trying to find one that does well for me. I just don't understand why they don't sell more of the Arp and Hill Hardy aka Madeline Hill in the nurseries around OKC. I found BBQ at Lowe's last year. But usually I only see the Tuscan Blue and Rosemary officionalis, the species, neither of which are hardy here. It befuddles me.

You're such a fantastic gardener, Carol, I'm sure you'll find one that does well for you in your garden.

Susan

Carol, Most herbs prefer being grown sort of on the dry side. Your issues with herbs could be a result of your soil retaining too much moisture during wet spells. Since my clay tends to to that, I plant my herbs high and dry in raised beds, and I try to not put a dripline emitter too close to them.

Because I have so much clay, I do have trouble keeping rosemary and lavender happy. I usually put them in pots with lots of extra sand added to the soil-less mix to ensure good drainage. I rarely water them at all. Last year I had the Rosemary in the shade at the west end of the garden in morning sun, and with shade beginning around 1-2 p.m. I watered it once a month, and not for very long either. That pot has spent the winter on the sunporch or the patio depending on how cold the nights are, and I have continued to water it at the rate of once or twice a month. If I give it any more water, it won't be happy.

Susan, The only place I generally see Arp and Hill Hardy is at the chain of Calloway's Nurseries in the D-FW meteroplex, and I think it is coming from a regional grower...not from one of the big plant wholesalers like Bonnie Plants. I don't know why those varieties haven't caught on more either.

I can keep rosemary plants alive in the ground in three seasons, but even the highly-amended clay holds too much moisture in winter, so I just put the rosemary in pots.

I built a new raised bed on the west side of my potting shed a few years ago. In 2010,I raised it higher and added lots of sand to make it drain better. It did drain really well. I kept both lavender and rosemary alive in that bed throughout 2010, including through the winter. The bed drained so well that instead of losing the plants to soil that held too much moisture in the winter, I lost them to drought/heat in the summer of 2011 because that bed wouldn't hold enough moisture to keep them alive. That's the last time I put either of those in the ground. Now they just live in pots.

Dawn

Thanks Susan and Dawn. Mine is in a pot and the soil may not be sandy enough, but all summer I had the pot sitting on a slotted wooden area so it should have drained fairly well. I thought it had died but in the Fall it put on new growth on one side and the other side is dead. I thought I would just leave it that way until Spring if I could keep it alive that long. It is still living outside but I have brought it inside during the coldest weather. I probably need to mix up a different soil mixture because I haven't had good luck with lavender either. I had a small plant that appeared to be OK in the ground last year but I think it got damage when my tree got blown over and lots of men were working to clean up my yard and garden from the tree mess. It was a trade-off that I didn't mind.

Susan, I think they say I am in Zone 6a now and we do have some cold weather. All winter when everyone was complaining about the drought, my garden soil was still damp. Last summer it was extremely dry, but my soil holds moisture for a long time normally so I don't know that I could ever grow Rosemary in the ground in my garden. I do have one flower bed where it might survive. It is more rocky there and has a french drain that carries the water away. I think I will buy some this year and put it there.

I appreciate the help from both of you experts.

You're more than welcome, Carol....you have helped me out on several occasions, too.

That rocky bed sounds like it might work better for you. In my bed, I threw in some aquarium pebbles and some Dolomitic Lime. The bed slopes toward the driveway, too, so it gets excellent drainage there. We'll see, though, since Rosemary has a tendency to be a very fussy little girl here.

The best Lavender I've been able to grow is Lavender x intermedia 'Provence'. Like Rosemary, it gets humungous! But, I don't think it is quite as opinionated a plant as Rosemary. I had it planted in a place where it got fair drainage on a slope, too, but the soil had more clay in it. Still it's a pretty plant, and the bees and butterflies loved it. Now, I am growing a Spanish Lavender, 'Madrid Pink Improved', in a 5-gallon pot. It stays evergreen, or maybe I should say "evergrey" during winter. The Spanish Lavenders are the ones that have the short pineapple shaped bloom heads. The butterflies and bees love this one, too.

Neither Lavender nor Rosemary like acid soil, and actually prefer a very sweet soil. I always toss a handful of lime in at planting time.

Susan

soonergrandmom, I am so glad the rosemary is still alive. I remember regretting I didn't cut it back a little before digging it up. I made that division by layering for a year. The mother plant is blooming right now, and is waist high. it is about ten years old I guess. It survived the big ice storm. Yes the soil in that bed has lime added and good drainage but I hardly ever water it. I have wintersown Italian lavender in a whiskey barrel next to it, and keep scattering corn poppies around the base. Some day I WILL have poppies!

Betty,

I am sure some day you will have poppies. I hope your soil isn't too rich for them. I broadcast sowed them our first year here and they have reseeded ever since. Every few years I sow a little more seed in the pasture and down by the mailbox at the edge of the road to thicken them up a little. They are in the absolutely worst soil we have. They also grow in the veggie garden where they tend to reseed and get kinda invasive, and in thick clay in the back pasture.

They need light to germinate so don't cover them after you scatter the seed. Mine usually start popping up out of the ground in January or February. This year, they started popping up out of the ground back in November. The weather has them confused.

Dawn

Betty, So far so good, and thanks for bringing that for me.
As for poppies, I scattered about 3 packs one year and didn't get one poppy, so I never tried again. Poor soil, huh? Well maybe that was my problem. My rosemary is spending the night in the house again because we are supposed to hit 19.

I finally got my onions ordered tonight, I have plenty of seed for salad greens and Sugar Snap peas. It won't be long until I will start buying potatoes and starting seeds. I guess potatoes are the only thing I don't have yet, or have on order. Come on Spring.

My garden isn't ready, but it is getting better every week.