Rebecca, start those eggplants with the peppers - early. I'm no expert, but they're just as picky about warmth and soil temps. Keep eggplant as healthy as possible so they can fight off the bugs!

hazel, you're peppered in. hehe

bon

On a whim, I took 5 of the Alaskan peas and germinated them per Dawn's instructions. They all have little squiggly tails on them! lol I think I'm gonna just stick the poor little things in the bed on the north side of the house and see if they make it. I was just making sure that I knew how to germinate them, plus make sure that they were all still viable seed.

Amy, How many more weeks before you area a two-handed gardener again?

I have overwintered some pepper plants indoors in pots, though dormant, in some previous years. I kept them cool and dark and watered just enough for the roots to stay moist enough to live. They did take off really well in Spring when I transplanted them back into the ground. It is just more work than I care to do with a lot of pepper plants on a regular basis. Some of the pepper-obsessed folks who post at the Pepper Forum routinely overwinter pepper plants indoors this way, especially the ones in short-season areas who love the ultra hot peppers that tend to have late DTMs.

Mary, I agree. Life is short. I had a friend in Texas with whom I worked in the 1980s whose motto was "Life is short, eat dessert first" and she did eat dessert first every time we went out for lunch.

Rebecca, All peppers are fairly slow germinators compared to tomatoes which tend to germinate quickly. Both hot and sweet peppers do not like cold soil and can stunt and stall if exposed to it, so often won't produce until autumn here if winter-sown. The cold exposure makes them slow to flower and set fruit and then by the time they start, the heat has arrived and shut down the sweet peppers. The hot peppers will bear much better in the heat than the sweet peppers do.

You can sow seeds of carrots, beets and bunching onions in February or March in the ground depending on what the soil temperatures are doing. Some people sow them extra early and wait a long time for them to germinate in cold soil. I don't care for doing that myself because while the seeds are in the cold ground, water can wash the seeds away, insects can eat the seeds, or the seeds even can rot in very wet, cold soils. So, I tend to direct sow carrots and beets a little later after soil temperatures are warmer and they germinate more quickly.

When I grow bunching onions from seed indoors, I start them in January or February. If the leaves get too long, just cut them off with scissors. It won't hurt them. The time to put onions in the ground is mid-Feb to mid-Mar so you want to have plants ready to go into the ground then. You can plant bunching onions in the ground later than that, but the harvest will be delayed. I do everything I can to get plants in the ground as early as possible in order to have a harvest as early as possible. Getting your harvest going early and often increases the productivity of a garden a great deal. I usually harvest from my garden from March through November at least, and sometimes into December. A garden that is producing something for all those months will give a person a huge harvest overall and a steady harvest of fresh fruits, veggies, herbs and flowers over many months. Our cool-season is relatively short here, so we really have to push those cool-season plants into the ground early to make the most of the short season.

Hazel, It is up to you. I normally put the seeded flats underneath the lights as soon as I've sown the seeds. There are extenuating circumstances, though, where I might not. For example, the top of my upright deep freeze is a little warm---not hot, but warm---so sometimes I set a flat up there for a couple of days to get the seeds a little bottom heat. (It is quicker and easier than dragging the heat mat out of the closet and plugging it in.) Or, if we are having a really warm, sunshiny day, I might put a newly seeded flat outside on the concrete patio in full sun (with row cover over it to protect the soil-less mix and seeds from the chickens) for a day and let the sun heat it up and encourage the seeds to germinate more quickly. Otherwise, though, they go straight to the light shelf.

I agree with Bon about starting the eggplant seeds with the pepper seeds. Keep the eggplants protected in a nice warm environment and get the plants as large as you can before you transplant them outdoors. They are heat lovers so won't grow well in cold soil. Also, if you have flea beetles, they just decimate the leaves of young, small eggplant plants, so it is better to have the plants a larger size so they can better tolerate the flea beetle damage, and to get them to that larger size, it is best to sow the seeds early.

I've never put them in the ground this early, but they might make it. Young pea plants can take a lot of cold weather. The real cold weather damage threat for peas is when the temperatures fall into the lower 20s or lower while the plants are in bloom. The plants generally don't freeze even then, but the cold knocks the blossoms off the plants. Since they've sprouted, you might as well do something with them.

Spring Fever is setting in bad, isn't it? Once it starts, it is hard to slow it down.

Dawn

I have an appointment for my wrist on the 26th. They will xray and decide if I'm healed. I am going to be clumsy after a month of not using that hand. I think I might be able to fill cups left handed, might even get seeds in them and watered, but I can't carry the flats. I don't like to have other people moving them, if I drop them, I only have myself to blame.

I believe all the seeds I ordered have arrived except Sand Hill. I don't expect them for a while. I'm anxious to try new varieties!

We've been letting chickens out since the deep freeze and DH's clean up pretty well killed everything. Speckles can get out of the pen AND back in again as she pleases anyway. Any bed we don't want them in has fencing laid over the top. It is inconvenient, but working for now.

The scarlet kale is hanging on. I've got some things in solo cups in the green house I've thought about putting in that bed. Persephone days were over yesterday! Yea! Things can start growing again!

At least the 26th is not too far away.

You might just have to give in and let someone else carry the flats for you for a few weeks until your wrist is rehabbed and has normal strength and a normal range of motion again. I don't like for anyone but me to carry my precious seedling flats either but, honestly, other people have dropped flats a lot less times than I have.

Speckles is like many chickens we've owned---determined to go her own way and do her own thing. I don't think there is any cure for a headstrong chicken like that.

My kale keeps trying to sprout new foliage, and since I've been leaving the garden gate open for the chickens, they eat each new leaf as soon as it appears. I just hope that while they are in there they are eating insects and weed seeds too. Sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll ban them from the garden well in advance of planting time. The last thing I need is to have chickens digging up just-planted onions.

My Persephone days end around January 5th. We've had quite a bit of green growth since then, including the appearance of more bluebonnet rosettes of leaves down close to the ground and the appearance of a lot more winter rye grass and pink evening primrose plants. Of course, we have had some bitterly cold weather since then too, so the plants might be wishing they'd slept for a couple more weeks. Just a couple of days after our Persephone days ended, we dropped down to 2 degrees at our Mesonet station and 4 degrees at our house, but the weather has been milder, and even warm to hot, on some days since then.

I winter sowed chamomile on the first and noticed this weekend its lready sprouted. Hopefully it's in a secure enough location that it'll be fine ntil spring. I've heard it's pretty hardy so I'm optimistic.

I've always thought itd be nice to grow my own eggs, but all hese chicken stories have me wondering if it's worth the hassle. Maybe I just need to move next to someone who raises them instead.

My chamomile that reseeds usually sprouts volunteers sometime between mid-January and mid-February. It rarely suffers freeze damage after it sprouts, but if it does, the plants recover quickly.

Eggs are easy. Chickens are easy. You simply have to have secure housing and a secure pen for them. Oh, and it works best if they are fenced out, completely out, completely, completely, completely out of the garden. Just being able to do that makes it possible to have beautiful chickens, healthy free-range eggs and a garden too.

Our garden has an 8' high fence the chickens cannot breach, so as long as I keep the gates closed, the chickens cannot get in. That is the key, and as gardeners/chicken keepers, it is our responsibility to protect the plants from the chickens and to protect the chickens from various potential predators.

Chickens are gonna do what chickens do, so it is our responsibility to ensure that they can do it in a place where they don't destroy garden plants.

While we allow our chickens to free-range most days, they also have fenced chickens runs they cannot escape and we can keep them locked inside those chicken runs as we wish. Their safety from predators is as important as keeping the garden safe from them.

Everything eats something. Everything gets eaten by something. It is part of the cycle of life. You can have a garden and chickens too (or even goats) as long as they both have secure zones that don't intermingle unless you make a definite decision to let the chickens into the garden plot for a specific reason.

Back to work today--13 hour day! phew. Glass of wine and Oklahoma Garden Forum time. What did I miss today?

Y'all have been busy over the past two days--exciting new threads and grow lists. Love it.

The sprouts I'm growing in a jar, have sprouted. And my cilantro seeds have sprouted--so that is satisfying. :) It's not much, but it's something.

My SESE order came in too!

I worked in the garden spooling up dripline and pulling up cans. It was so pretty out this afternoon. I have turnips, radishes, carrots, and spinach holding their own. i try to pick one of each for the bunny. lonely girl is going to get new housing but until then we are putting the wimpy cage inside the hog trap. Its very secure.

Someone on FB mentioned Blue Gold garden blend. Has anyone here used it? If so, what do you think of it?

TMD reported on their Facebook page that they are starting pepper seeds this week. I figure that's about the right timing for me to start mine. Their new shop is looking beautiful, and will be more comfortable for everyone.

I started mine a couple of days ago, Rebecca. Sweet bell, sweet banana, jalapeno, and cayenne.

What's TMD?

Hazel, that's probably Tomato Man's Daughter here in Tulsa.

I cannot even see a mention of TMD without thinking of Darrell Merrell and all he did to promote the growing of heirloom tomatoes (and garlic as well) for, literally, decades. I am sure Lisa misses him tremendously.

Hazel, The Tomato Man's Daughter is a great source of heirloom tomato plants, and some other selected veggies and herbs as well. For many years, The Tomato Man grew and sold his own plant seedlings, mostly as a way to promote the use of heirloom varieties. At the point at which I became aware of him, he was known widely as The Tomato Man, but even before that he was known in heirloom gardening circles as The Garlic Man. He was simply a legend in heirloom plant circles very long before the general public fell in love with the idea of growing heirlooms. I knew who Tulsa's Tomato Man was long before we even moved here to Oklahoma. Unfortunately, Mr. Merrell left this earth too soon after fighting a hard-fought battle against cancer. His daugher, Lisa, has carried on the family business and now will be operating from a new location. I am sure it was hard for her to leave the old place because of her sentimental attachment to it but progress marches on and things change.

Here's her webpage:

The Tomato Man's Daughter

Mary can tell you more than I can about TMD's operating hours. They only open up for a specific number of weeks in Spring to sell plants, and then reopen again for a very limited time in summer to sell fall transplants. You have to watch the website for the info about the current year's dates. Sometimes in the past, if the plants weren't the right size to sell, for example, Lisa might delay the opening/beginning of plant sales a week to let the plants size up a bit more.

One unfortunate summer when late blight was a big problem in many parts of the nation, her summer transplants became infected with it and she cancelled the summer plant sales that year, rather than risking having seemingly healthy-looking but infected plants carried home and planted in a garden. That was absolutely the right thing to do and the fact that she did it speaks highly of her character. Late blight, which is a different disease and not merely the late appearance of early blight, kills pretty much 100% of the plants it infects and a plant can go from looking perfectly healthy to dead in less than a week. It spreads like wildfire. Remember studying about the Great Potato Famine in Ireland when studying history in high school? Late blight was the cause of it. It is not a common problem here as we are too hot for the pathogens to thrive most years, but in a humid, wet and cooler-than-average summer, it can become a problem even in this part of the country.

If I wasn't completely at the opposite end of the state from TMD, I'd shop there every year. However, it's too far of a drive from south-central OK to Tulsa for me unless we happened to be going to Tulsa for some other reason.

Dawn

Dawn, I actually only discovered the Tomato Man's Daughter a few years ago, and I have since read history on Mr. Merrill. I don't drive much, so I don't shop there, but I always read their website to see what they are growing for each season, and to read whatever happens to be there. For the last couple of years, I did notice that her tomato plants aren't quite ready at the time I need them to be ready in the spring (I plant as early as possible). I found that odd, because she has changed her planting date recommendations based upon the milder weather we've gradually been experiencing over the years. At any rate, it's a great website. I don't know how to link pages here, but all it takes is googling "Tomato Man's Daughter Tulsa" and it will pop right up.

Just an FYI for anyone living close to Claremore, we have a nursery here called, "Stonebridge" and they grow anywhere between 100-150 varieties of heirloom tomatoes every spring. They were gracious enough last year to walk me through their growing process from germination through seedling stage. They took me through the greenhouse, showed me their set up, and gave me some great tips on mixes and potting up. This is where I get my metro-mix for my seedlings now. Nobody else in my vicinity carries it.

Hmmm. I'm not sure why she changed her planting dates but she must have felt like it was a good idea at the time.

I've always fought the urge to drive up there just to visit TMD, and it isn't too hard to fight the urge because my planting season arrives so much earlier down there.

Stonebridge sounds like a wonderful place. I have a deep appreciation and respect for a nursery that is willing to walk a customer through their growing greenhouse and show you how they do it. That's wonderful. Metro-mix (and all the great mixes) have become much harder to find. Everyone's getting to where they carry the same old bagged stuff and, by that, I mean not the really great stuff like Pro-Mix or Metro Mix.

Dawn, I had to go look. I actually have the Sungrow Professional Growing Mix. I have just been calling it Metro-mix. It's a huge bag...almost 3 cubic feet. I was just looking on Lisa Merrill's site, and it is what she uses as well. I see that she no longer has that caveat about April 1 planting on her (I think that's what it was) growing tips page. However, she is still listing Tulsa's last frost date as April 15th, which has been changed, according to the National Weather Service, and weather.gov, to March 29th. At any rate, it doesn't really matter because we're gonna plant when it's best for us, and weather conditions will certainly factor in. If my forecast for the first week of April is going to be cold, I'm holding my plants. One year, several years ago, I got ahead of myself and planted about 40 tomato plants, and we got a hard freeze in the forecast. I literally got out there and dug up every single tomato plant, and brought it inside. I won't do that again.

Your Sungro Professional Growing Mix should be fine. Sungro is the same company that makes Fafard and Metro Mix, among other mixes. I'd expect its quality should be comparable to theirs.

I ignore frost dates. My average last frost date is March 28th, and some years we have our last freeze in February and sometimes we have it in May. In fact, we had a late freeze for about 7 years in a row in the first week in May in the 2000s, beginning around 2007 or 2008 and it drove me nuts. Those late freezes in May is why I have and don't hesitate to use the heaviest weight frost blankets I could find. That allows me to plant whenever I feel the soil temperatures are right (at least 50 degrees) and the air temperatures are stable enough. If I waited for that last late frost to pass and for us to finally be safe to plant, my spring tomatoes would be fall tomatoes. Sometimes Mother Nature is extremely unhelpful and I just try to work around her. I know we get erratic weather, but sometimes it is ridiculously erratic. In 2011 we were hitting the 90s during Easter week, and then we had late cold in May. It just gets silly sometimes.

So far, since switching to the use of heavy weight row covers to protect my plants on the occasional late cold night, I haven't lost tomato plants to freezing. Of course, one day it will happen. One day I'll have plants in the ground and the forecast will be for 34 degrees and I'll cover the plants and the temperature will drop to 20 or 22 degrees and the plants will freeze. It seems inevitable. The advantage of growing my own plants is that I always have backup plants so I can replant as needed. I never have had to use the backup plants and I take them to the Spring Fling and give them away, but having them is like having a little security blanket when cold nights threaten.

Is is any wonder that gardening is so challenging here? Our weather is so erratic that it is hard to tell anyone with any certainty when their area will absolutely, positively be warm enough to plant without fear of a late frost or freeze. May? Mid-May? Late-May? Early June? Just pick one and dare Mother Nature to prove you wrong.

I've been buying Worley's potting mix from Worley's Owasso. I think they mix it and bag it themselves. Cost is in between pro mix and MG. I bought pro mix once, but it seemed to dry out too much for me. It's possible Worley's Mix is a smaller bag, for the lower price, but it's easier for me to pay that price! I remember when gardening wisdom said to set your tomatoes out on tax day. I might have learned that in Bartlesville, which is a little further north. I might have to wander over to Claremore and look up Stonebridge.

Amy, we have a Worley's here, but it isn't nearly as big or nice as the Owasso location. When I have bought the cotton-burr compost, it was at Worley's. I don't remember seeing a potting mix, though. I'll have to check and see if they carry it here. I want to say that I paid $22 for that huge bag of Sungrow Professional mix. I have quite a bit of it left, and will use it up this year. I have a large bag of MG mix in the garage, that I found with a tear in the sack at Lowes. Course, Lowe's will give you 50% off of any damaged bag, so I grabbed it. I think our dates for planting out tomatoes was always mid-April, but our weather patterns/temps have changed somewhat. I used to be zone 6b, and I'm now 7a. I had to look at my notes, and last year I put the first row of tomatoes in the ground on March 29th, and then the other rows were staggered dates all the way up until April 7th, but we had really mild weather last April.

We were talking about starting seeds a couple of weeks ago and someone mentioned a specific seed that is a cooler weather early spring plant that should be started indoors, but not too early because it can't get root bound at all. And it should be hardened off once it gets 3 or 4 true leaves and then planted outdoors. I think it is either peas or broccoli. Does anyone remember that conversation and which seed it is?

I've never started broccoli indoors until 4 days ago. It's already sprouting. And I have started peas indoors, but they mostly were wind burned during the hardening off process so they didn't do well either. (and the ones I started outdoors did well until the heat of summer).

Broccoli. I plant the peas as soon as they break through the soil if I can.

Amy, so when the peas first break through the soil indoors, you begin hardening them off? And when the broccoli has 3 or 4 true leaves, you begin hardening them off?

So far my broccoli, cilantro and cabbage have sprouted. Peppers have not, of course. Will probably start tomatoes soon.

I don't harden off peas..unless I can't get them in the ground right away. Peas are very cold tolerant once they germinate. They just don't germinate well in cold soil. Now I have done this three times if I remember right. I think I learned it here, but I couldn't find any notes with details, so someone may come in and say I got it wrong, LOL.

Dawn said not to let the broccoli get root bound, or chilled at the wrong time or it buttons. That's in a recent thread. I'll see if I can find it.

I got my brace off yesterday. Remarkably better movement in my hand without the brace. I just can't pick up heavy things or put pressure on it or swivel it the wrong way. I'm still stiff and clumsy, but it is getting better. Seeds soon!

It's in this thread. Jan 17.

Amy, So glad you got the brace off. As soon as you've regained a little range of motion and strength in your wrist, you'll be unstoppable--just in time for planting season.

Hazel, It is broccoli. The reason so many people have trouble with purchased broccoli transplants producing button heads or bolting is because by the time the purchased transplants are bought and planted they're either too old, too large, rootbound or stressed. I always had trouble with purchased broccoli plants but once I started growing my own and had control over how they were raised and how quickly they were put into the ground, the button heads and bolting almost completely stopped. I say almost competely because we still have no control over what the weather does once plants are in the ground, and the wrong weather at the wrong time still can wreak havoc on cool-season plants, like broccoli, that are biennials.

Here we are, y'all, approaching the end of January already, and we've made it through the worst gardening month in Oklahoma---worst because it is too cold for much gardening. February and the beginning of planting season is getting really close now. Yay!

Dawn

Amy, congrats on getting the brace off. Hopefully you'll get ROM back to normal here soon, and be good to go! I know you are glad to be free of it!

Congratulations, Amy! I'm sure it feels wonderful to have that brace off.

So...my broccoli is just breaking the soil. Did I start it too early? What's the earliest y'all put it outdoors? (I'm going to copycat) How about cabbage? What's the earliest you move it outdoors? Last year, my cabbage did great, but I probably planted it too late and just got lucky.

That's interesting about the peas...

And really peas don't even need lights to help them sprout. If I understand correctly; plant the peas in either paper cups or peat pots, let them just sprout, then put them directly in the garden. Is the the last week of February a good time to plant them indoors? They would be ready to move outdoors by the first of March. (and cutworms will be waiting. ugh. But I just ordered some SlugGo Plus)

Travis Meyer on Channel 6, last night, gave a preliminary prediction of an early growing season this year. His long range forecast shows warmer than normal for February - only a slight chance at any wintry weather. Unfortunately, he also thinks it'll be drier than normal. Obviously, all bets are off in March, but you never know. I'm guessing the cycle will be similar to last year. Hot.

One of my spinach pots survived and is coming back. I just piled leaves on top of it when it got cold. I'm starting more spinach and some lettuce this week. If we get a cold snap, now I know what to do to protect it. Might also cover a couple bins to warm the soil up enough to start carrots and beets. My daffodils are coming up too.

Yesterday Lowe's had a loaded Ferry Morse seed rack, and fresh bags of potting mix. They also had a small rack indoors of broccoli starts, spinach, and brussles sprouts. Why buy spinach starts, when it's just too easy to grow from seed? Looks like HD has Burpee and Lowes' has FM this year. I've had good luck with FM seeds in the past, but their tomato varieties are boring this year.

So, basically an onion harvest will mostly be shot this year?

Will it help to buy some more onion starts and plant later?

Never mind. Our march comes with about 12+ daylight hours. It would work, but I'll probably have smaller bulbs. I need to time it just right in February and mulch like a blanket of snow.

Hazel, The broccoli should be fine as long as the weather doesn't turn back really cold a month from now----and who can guess what it will be doing a month from now?

OSU-recommended planting dates for cool-season crops, with only a few minor exceptions, are February 15 thru March 10...or, if it is easier to think of it this way, from around Valentine's Day to around St. Patrick's Day (stretching the planting period slightly later than their dates). Because I'm so far south, I aim for the earlier part of that date range, but folks further north could aim for a planting date in the middle to latter part of that range of dates. As planting time approaches, I choose a planting date that feels right given whatever the current weather is doing, etc. I look not only at the 10-day forecast but also forecast air temperatures and current ground temperatures.

The earliest I put broccoli in the ground is around the very end of January (and I'll explain why) and the latest is around April 1st. Broccoli sometimes gets shoved out into the cold, cruel world and planted around the end of January by me because that's when I plant cauliflower and brussels sprouts. They need all the extra time they can get to beat the heat. The broccoli and cabbage plants sometimes get planted at the same time because it is just easier to get all the brassicas in the ground, get the hoops up and the row covers or insect netting over them. I like to do it all at once instead of planting half (brussels sprouts and cauliflower) one day and then coming back weeks later and planting the rest of that raised bed (cabbage and broccoli).

Planting your broccoli early increases the chance you'll have an earlier harvest, and perhaps a larger harvest but also increases the chance that a sudden turn back to colder nights might cause buttonheads or bolting. Planting your broccoli later increases the chance that if heat arrives early the plants cannot form heads, or they flower while forming heads but it decreases the chance of exposure to cold temperatures over a prolonged period creating problems. If you're a gambler, you can take the chance and plant early. If you're not a gambler and it would make you worry too much if you plant early, then relax and plant late. Most years, you get a crop whether you plant early or late.

Cabbage is not as persnickety about temperatures as most other brassicas and usually will form heads even if you don't plant until really late for cabbage---even if you plant in early April. I can only think of one year in which my cabbage actually bolted.

Peas do not need light to sprout. If they did, we'd sow them on the surface of the soil and not cover them. Peas tolerate very cold temperatures just fine, although below-freezing temperatures can (and may or may not) knock the blooms off of plants. You'll rarely see peas freeze back in cold weather. They just don't germinate well in cold soil. So, we germinate them indoors and then move them outdoors ASAP. You don't even need soil. Just sow your seeds indoors by wrapping them up in wet paper towels or coffee filters, put them in a ziplock bag and zip it closed. Check every day for sprouts, and plant them in the ground ASAP when they've sprouted. Then you sprinkle Slug-Go or Slug-Go Plus on the soil where they're planted to protect them from early pests. As soon as the sprouts emerge from the soil, stick a toothpick into the ground as close to the sprout as you can get it. The toothpick should be half above ground and half beneath. The toothpick interferes in the cutworms' ability to wrap themselves around the plant and cut through it.

Rebecca, Travis Meyer is saying the same thing as what the long-term models are showing. Let's hope they're right. I thought last winter was very warm (and it was) but so far in January 2017, we're averaging slightly warmer weather in our county than we had in January 2016, which seems crazy to me. If February starts off warm, I'll be planting on-time or even slightly early---like maybe the first week of February.

I think some people buy purchased spinach transplants because they are afraid their seed won't sprout, or they have tried with seed in the past and had poor results or...something else. Some people are just impatient and want to create an instant garden in one day so they go and purchase transplants of literally everything. Or, they just want an early start on the season and starting with transplants means they'll get a harvest a couple of weeks earlier than if they started with seed at the same time. Seeing people purchase spinach transplants doesn't surprise me, but seeing people purchase bean or corn transplants does surprise me.....and it makes me shake my head.

Most tomato varieties for which you can buy seeds off the rack do bore me too. They're fine if all a person wants is a standard red tomato, but my taste buds demand more from the tomatoes I grow. I grew several red hybrid tomatoes last year and even looking at them bored me. I think most of them ended up in salsa.

Bon, I get a great onion harvest either way---it doesn't matter if we're wet or dry, cold or hot. The only time the moisture level matters in terms of it being a negative factor is when it is really, really, really wet and the onions rot. The difference in growing onions in a wet vs. dry growing season is related to the ultimate size of your onions, which will be bigger in a wet year and smaller in a dry year. You get onions regardless.

Planting late might work if you used one of the few daylength-neutral onions whose bulbing is not dependent on day length. The one in this category that's easy to find is sold as Super Star. It is the only onion I can think of to ever win AAS recognition, which happened in 2001. (So hard to believe it was that long ago, it seems like it was just yesterday.) Super Star will bulb up no matter where it is planted, and even if planted late.

Dawn

Thanks guys, my hand is not as stiff and clumsy as it was. The wrist still has positions it doesn't like, but I can pretty well feed myself now, LOL. I think I'm already behind on seed starting! Going to have to go google Superstar...

Tx, I'll keep an eye out for that variety. Maybe I can boost the harvest.

Amy, feeding ourselves is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing;) Good gracious, I'd have to use my feet if I couldn't use my hands.

Here's Dixondale's info on Super Star.

Superstar Onion

You may find the seeds or plants under its original name at its time of release, which was Sierra Blanca, or under its newer name Super Star.

JSS: Seeds of Sierra Blanca/Super Star

Mary, when I eat left handed, as I have for the last 6 weeks, I feel like a toddler who needs a big spoon or finger food. I still find my right hand won't always go all the way to my mouth. And a full coffee cup is too heavy.

Thank you Dawn. Googling Super Star brought up plants at Territorial. I will be using the sample packs I ordered this year. HOWEVER, Johnny's says suitable for fall planting where short day onions are normally grown. Interesting. I expect you would have to start seeds really early to get a fall crop.

Amy, I'm sure it will take a little while to return to normal. Be careful with the coffee, though.

I expect so too, Amy, and I believe JSS is referring more to short day length areas like south Texas and much of Georgia where onions are grown as a fall commercial crop.

I still don't know how we'd make the timing work here. We'd have to plant much earlier than south Texas does since we cool down earlier and have less hours of sunlight per day, and I for one wouldn't want to attempt growing onions through July and August when rain is scarce and irrigation is a necessity.

I always grow Super Star in the Spring either by ordering a bundle or because it is a part of DF's Intermediate Day Sampler. For so long, I knew it as Sierra Blanca, and then they changed the name (for marketing purposes, I assume) and I had to get used to it under a new name.

The difference in planting short day onions in South TX and here? Well, look at the Texas Supersweet Onion aka 1015Y. The 1015 stands for the planting date in south Texas---October 15th, and that's in the winter garden areas of Texas that largely remain frost free/freeze free. When would we plant here? September 15? September 1st? August 15th? As day length gets shorter and sun light weakens, how much would their growth slow? Would it slow too much to make growing them worthwhile? Then, if you do get a crop, their storage time is pretty short....I mostly use them in salsa when I'm canning in early to mid-summer. So, from a fall harvest, you'd only have a month or two to use them up or preserve them.

I thought about ordering seeds of Sierra Blanca from JSS for a fall crop, but then I'm really wary of planting something that would need a lot of irrigation in July and August. Rain is so rare here in July and August, even in a fairly wet year, that I'd hate to have water hogs like onions struggling to get started in hot, dry soil with very minimal irrigation. There's nothing I want to grow badly enough in July and August that I'm going to irrigate heavily, not even sweet onions.

I know the statistics show January 2017 as warmer than last year, so why am I freezing every day. They show next week as warming into the 60's,so I thought I would get a head start today. After lunch I started out side and the wind was blowing like crazy and it was COLD. Just went back in and worked on my large selection of house plants, they are about worked to death!! Ha ha

just a funny: Friday afternoon picked up my grandson from Pre K. We were driving along and I hear " Nana, I am melting like a Popsicle". I just started laughing like crazy. I have on two shirts and a coat and he is "melting", so I rolled his window down and froze all the way home. I will be glad when I am melting!!!

Thanks, everyone, for the help on broccoli and peas. I'm excited to try this new pea method. And do my best with the picky broccoli. Someday I'll get it right. Maybe this is the year!

I really need to get hoops and protection up and over my beds. I just don't think it will be this year. There's only so many hours in the day. And I really, really need to focus our attention on the future coop. And I'm tired of my property looking like crap. It was a blank slate out here when we moved in and it's not much better now. I need some prettiness--beds of flowers and pretty things around my house. Some bushes and trees. It's just so ugly out here. Even my fairy garden is ruined. A worker stepped on it last summer and broke the fairy's door. So the fairy left and her house is sitting in ruins.

It's time consuming to make new beds because of the stupid bermuda grass. Trying to pull out every root and stolen is ridiculously difficult.

I'm feeling negative today because I feel like it was a wasted day. Both my husband and I were off work and had big plans to get stuff done. We ordered two cabinets from two different retailers, picked them them up, got them home and pieces were broken in each package. So much for organizing the utility room. Anyway...it's a rare day we both have off work with no obligations.

I feel crazily cranky about time...and how it's spent. Every wasted minute kills me.

Stockergal, I've been cold too! I think it's because our temperatures are up and down. We can't get adjusted to the colder temps because it's warm the next day...and then cold again...and then warm again. Little kids seem to adjust better.

stockergal, I have the same question in my mind about why I feel so cold and I believe the answer is that while some of the daytime highs have been a great deal higher than average, the overnight lows have been closer to average. When they average the highs and lows together overall, we might only be averaging one degree warmer than last January, so all that warmth that is measured statistically might look good on paper, but it doesn't mean we aren't feeling the cold.

When NOAA and other organizations release information after the close of each year showing that worldwide, 2016 was the hottest year ever (as was 2015 before it and 2014 before it, etc.), even though the statistics back up that claim, the latest year might be 1 degree or less hotter than the year before. So, if you look at a couple of years back to back, it can be easy to say something like 'so what, we were one degree hotter this year than last year' and it seems statistically insignificant. But then, if you see that small increase every year for several years....let's say for 5 straight years, then that 5-degree difference seems more impressive. If we see it for 10 straight years, it is almost frightening.

The gardener in me wants it to be warmer in winter and cooler in summer, but that's not the trend we're seeing. If we just keep getting warmer and warmer and warmer every year, I can't help thinking that's a bad trend.

The wind chill certainly is unpleasant, even on some of these days with above-average warmth. I can look at the thermometer and think it will feel really warm outside, and then I go out there and I'm freezing because of the wind chill.

Your grandson is so adorable. I would love to be melting like he was too.

Dawn

So, as I was standing in the garden this afternoon, I realized I do not have enough raised beds. Bummer.

Some of my tomatoes may have to go at ground level.

Does anyone know of any issues with planting watermelons in a bed that peas just vacated? Does anyone start watermelon indoors? Normally I just put the seeds directly in the garden, but if I put them in right after the peas, it would be nice to have them started. Maybe I could even start them in pots outside and then put them right into the bed without having to worry about hardening off. I always forget about this option.

Hazel, Ha! I realize that every single day I step outside, and at the rate of adding one new raised bed per year, we'll probably never have enough of them. I need to count the raised beds in the garden tomorrow and see how many we actually have because I've lost track. What I do know is that it is not enough.

If we ever win the lottery (which we won't, cause we don't play it), I'd take the prize money and hire someone to build me a beautiful acre or two of raised beds with nice wide pathways and lusciously rich soil. Who needs to buy a mansion or a tropical island with lottery winnings when you could pay someone to build you a perfect raised-bed garden?

There should be no problem with watermelon following peas. I did that two years ago and there were no issues. You can start watermelon indoors but need to transplant them while they're pretty young as they don't particularly like being transplanted. They'll do best if planted in some sort of plantable pot.

You probably could sow the watermelon seed directly in the pea bed about 2-3 weeks before you expect your pea season to end. Then, after you remove the pea plants, taking care not to disturb the young watermelon plants, the watermelon vines will run and vine and spread out and grow happily. If you are going to have icebox melon vines climb the same trellis used for pea vines, you might have to guide the melon vines to the trellis once the pea plants are gone, though the watermelon vines eventually will find the trellis and climb it anyway.

Last year when I took out lettuce plants growing like a ground cover beneath tomato plants, I stuck watermelon seeds in some of the holes where the lettuce had grown. I figured that by the time the watermelon plants were large enough to need more space, canning season would be about over and I could take out those two rows of tomato plants in that raised bed (I had many other beds filled with tomato plants). It worked out pretty well. I didn't take out all the tomato plants at once as I waited on each plant to sort of mature the last of its main crop. At some point, there were two tomato plants in cages left and the watermelon plants had climbed the tomato cages before I could get the tomato plants out of there. I just left them that way, mixed together. To a casual observer driving up the driveway, it looked like I had a tomato plant producing fruit the side of a cantaloupe, but it was just the green icebox watermelons interspersed with the tomato plant.

Plants just want to grow and they are not as picky about their locations or growing companions as we are. I think if the plants could talk they'd probably tell us to just plant them wherever and they'll grow just fine, pretty much without our help. I abandoned my garden to work on the kitchen remodel. I pretty much abandoned it for 2 or 3 months. When I went back into it, there was tons of stuff to harvest despite the inattention. Of course, we had lost some stuff because I wasn't harvesting weekly, but we still had plenty. See there, the plants didn't care who they were growing next to (as some of them moved from one bed to a path to another bed and kept on growing until frost got them) or whatever---they just wanted to grow and grow and grow.

Dawn

I was in Sand Springs today for work, so on the way home I popped into Atwoods there to see what I could see. They had lots of onion sets - Dixon g dale and one other brand, and plenty of seed potatoes. I couldn't stop long enough to take note of what kinds. But well stocked.

I got home early, too, so I got to spend a couple of hours playing in the dirt. I have spinach, chives, and parsley coming back out, and I think my rosemary too. Got more spinach, lettuce, bok choi, garlic chives, peppers, eggplant, blanketflower, blackeyed Susans, and shasta daisies started. Hope this winter sowing things work! I'm outta shape, though. After work and dinner, I curled up on the bed to watch the Bedlam game, and can't uncurl. I'm going to have to crawl into the bathroom for the muscle relaxers.

Apparently there have been coyotes spotted in my part of town. I'm right smack in the middle of Tulsa proper. Weird? This part of town had a resident beautiful red fox until late last fall, too. But coyotes?

Rebecca, we used to hear coyotes in town too. We lived in south OKC across from Earlywine Park, which if you're unfamiliar with Earlywine--it is a large park with a walking path, mini-water park, playground and the YMCA. It feels strange to hear them in town, doesn't it? The neighborhood our last house was in, was a wooded area when I was a child. They continue to tear out the trees and build houses and businesses. I suppose it leaves the animals with no where to go.

Dawn, you talked about what you would do if you won the lottery (that you don't play). That is very similar to what I would do too. I would also buy all these acres for sale just on the outsides of town (which are destined to become neighborhoods) and make a different type of neighborhood--one like our current neighborhood. One with lots that are a minimum of an acre with very few rules. Chickens and small livestock allowed.

And in town, all those empty lots that will eventually become another fast food place...well, I would put a house on them with large gardens and hire someone to live in the house and care for the gardens...and then share the food with the community.

It's fun to dream.

Rebecca, I only spent about an hour in the front flower bed and my back is killing me. Talk about being out of shape. Epsom salt and hot bath.

Speaking of coyotes, they are out and yipping tonight.

What is the difference in Sluggo and Sluggo Plus? I ordered Sluggo Plus and was sent Sluggo.

Coyotes are everywhere. I've even seen photos taken of them roaming the streets of New York City and Chicago. They are an excellent example of a type of wildlife that can adapt to almost any environment. I've seen a lot of them dead beside the roads and highways lately, likely struck by vehicles as they were attempting to cross roads in the darkness. T

he coyote population here in our area is huge this year. The problem with having a large population is that during the winter they start to run out of food, becoming increasingly desperate and increasingly bold. Yesterday morning I couldn't let our chickens out to free-range until well after 9 a.m. because I could hear coyotes howling from fairly close by. I usually let them out around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. in the winter. The coyotes probably weren't on our property but likely were on the property just west of us that separates us from the Red River, and we have roughly 1000' feet between our house and our west property line, so it isn't that I thought they'd come dashing out of the woods and grab a chicken, but I just wanted to be careful in case they decided to come back east again. I don't know if I've ever heard them yipping and howling like that well after sunrise on a winter's day. However, sometimes we see them hunting in the middle of the day in winter, though they normally are nocturnal. All the bunnies long ago disappeared, which also is common in years when the coyote population is at a high point.

Hazel, I love what you would do with your lottery winnings. Whenever we go back to Texas to visit family, I'm shocked by how rapidly the beautiful rural countryside between us and them is being transformed into housing subdivisions and shopping centers. I always complain to Tim that the developers won't be happy until they've paved over every square inch of the once-rural countryside. One reason we came so far north when we were looking for land to buy in a rural area is that we wanted to get far enough away from the D-FW metro area that the development couldn't catch up with us. I think eventually it still will, but I think our specific neighborhood will stay largely rural for another decade or two.

The difference in Slug-Go and Slug-Go Plus is that Slug-Go contains the active ingredient iron phosphate, which is what kills the slugs and snails. Many of us who used it quickly learned it also killed pill bugs and sow bugs. Because there was widespread online discussion about using Slug-Go to kill pill bugs and sow bugs, the folks who make Slug-Go then came up with an improved product that they believed would be even more effective on pills, sow bugs and cutworms as well as on snails and slugs. They did it by adding Spinosad to the iron phosphate, giving us Slug-Go Plus. Both products work well for me. I do think Slug-Go Plus might be a little more effective, but when I can't find it, I'm perfectly happy with the original Slug-Go.

*Edited to add this: I understand your frustration with the utility room. It is frustrating when you can't get things done that are on your To Do list. It also is very irritating when new cabinets arrive broken already.

We have been trying forever to add cabinets to our utility room (repurposed old kitchen cabinets painted to match the new kitchen cabinets). This past weekend we were certain we'd get it done. And we would have, except.....President Trump signed that Executive Order about immigration. Chaos broke out at airports. Tim got called in to work on Saturday afternoon because of the protests (peaceful ones) and worked for about 15 or 16 hours running the command post at DFW Airport. Once he got home Sunday morning, he needed to sleep. When he woke up, he would have gone straight to work on installing those cabinets, but he'd only slept for maybe 4 hours and I wanted him to take it easy for the rest of the day. So, this coming Saturday, we'll try again. One of these weekends we'll get it done. His new workload is impossibly heavy and I don't see that ever changing until he retires. He's got three trips scheduled in February, so I feel like anything that's on our To Do list that absolutely, positively must be done needs to be done this coming weekend, or postponed until at least March.

While he's traveling so much, I'll be focusing on planting the cool-season crops, so at least I won't be trying to cram planting season/household DIY projects into the same time frame.

I long ago gave up on the concept of having pretty flower beds around the house. Between the deer, the rabbits and the free-ranging chickens, nothing but the toughest shrubs survive. So, any flowers I want to grow have to be within the fenced vegetable garden spaces. I'm not happy about it, but even if we didn't have free-ranging chickens, the rabbits and deer would eat everything anyway. I learned that the hard way our first few years here.