They are just a lid with holes in them. I have to figure out how to do this I have never sprouted like this. But I have bought sprouts and like them on my salads.

I planted some onions yesterday and have more to plant today. My Short Day-length onions' sizes were all over the place, and the bundles were not drastically overpacked. My Intermediate Day-length bundle had 86 onions in it and the sizes ranged from miniscule to huge. We'll see if the huge ones bolt. I think it will depend on what the weather does for the rest of the year.

I haven't planted the Long Day-length onions yet, but all three bundles appear to have the usual smallish (in a good way, as in not too big) sized onions and it looks like they are drastically overpacked.

Is is weird that the last three years I've been happiest with the performance of the long daylength types instead of the shorts and intermediates? Don't get me wrong. They all make good onions, but the long daylength types achieve consistently larger sizes. I am starting to wonder if long day-length types, which really aren't supposed to do well here, are my best onions? And if so, why? Perhaps they tolerate the ever-changing late winter and early spring weather better than the others?

I have grown Copra on and off for many years, but only have grown Red River and White Highlander since, I think, either the first or second year after Dixondale introduced them. Neither stores as long as Copra, but Red River lasted until late November and Highlander until late December. That's not bad---it is much longer storage than I expected based on Dixondale's description of those two varieties. I never would have thought, say 10 or 12 years ago, that long daylength types would do so well here---and it isn't like our daylength is changing, because it isn't.

Bruce, You do know that planting onions causes hailstorms, right? It always seems like as soon as I plant onions, we get hail. The last couple of years I've put hoops covered with deer netting over the onions to protect them from the seemingly inevitable hail stones. I wish I could have a giant deer netting roof over the whole garden sometimes.

Kim, Your little man just gets cuter and cuter every year. I think this will be the best year ever with him in the garden! He is learning so much about gardening, and he doesn't even realize it---he's just having fun and enjoying spending time with you in the garden. He is a total cuteness overload, for sure!

Hazel, With our weather, it is always hard to decide when to get Dixondale to ship the onions. We just do the best we can with what we've got in any given year.

Even though the weather is glorious right now, let's not forget that Mother Nature likes to slap us down by bringing back severe cold (and sometimes snow) in March and even April. Even though it seems like the warm season is starting early, I hesitate to trust the weather too much. I mean, I'm not rushing warm-season plants or anything like that into the garden yet.

It is bad enough that the fruit trees will bloom any day now. It stills seems likely we'll have more freezing weather and then will lose the tree fruit crops. At least onions can tolerate whatever cold Mother Nature throws at us in March (cause it seems like the chances of getting cold in February are gone, gone, gone).

It feels like April out there this morning. There's a part of me that loves it---how often do we get to plant onions and potatoes in such gorgeous warm weather? There's a part of me that hates it---if we are this warm in February, then what will it be like in May? July? September?

Our weather seems like it is getting stranger and stranger every year.

Thank you all, my little man sure makes it easier. And I think he is the cutest thing ever. He tells everyone he is a real gardener now. He has boots see. What a mess he is. I can't even get my work done cuz I just sit and watch him : )

Well they left now so I am going to regroup and get some lunch.

Then for fun more planting onions. Weirdest thing no one came to my onion party.

I think everyone was at their own onion party.

I'm still not finished planting onions, but I'm about 2/3s of the way done. I hope to finish tomorrow before the rain comes. There's been too many distractions today, including taking a sick Pumpkin (the cat, not the vegetable) to the vet. It seems like it is so hard to find one single day where I can focus on the garden and only on the garden, so I'm having to settle for squeezing in a couple of hours here and a couple of hours there. Sometimes progress comes in small increments, but at least I'm making progress.

Aw poor pumpkin. Is she ok?

That's how I feel, Dawn, about distractions. Is Pumpkin okay? Charlotte's name was Pumpkin before my daughter adopted her (without my permission, but that's another story and guess where Charlotte/Pumpkin lives? With me. Yes.).

Kim, your lids might be the same as mine. I didn't get mine started today after all. They need to soak first. I bought a pack of lids with various size holes ranging from small to larger. I made my own mesh one before. I had good luck with the sprouts-it's easy enough--but my homemade mesh one rusted.

I think I'm going to plop my onions in the ground this week if I can open a time frame for it. I am moving my gardening spot to the opposite side of the yard but thinking I might keep my onions where the current spot is. I need to get some sort of little fence to put around them though or else Lilo will be running through the yard barking, "they're mine.....they're ALL mine.....muwhahahaha!!!" I can see her now. I think I bought a package of 100 onion bulbs but haven't really looked at them to see just how many there really is. I know that is a lot, but I am going to freeze some and dry some.

Dawn, so sorry to hear about Pumpkin. Hope it's just a little bug. It's awful when they just can't tell us what's wrong with them.

Hazel, Pumpkin had three different shots today and ought to be feeling better by about Monday. The vet couldn't find anything real serious, so he ruled out stuff like feline leukemia and some other pretty serious stuff, etc., but Pumpkin's running a fever, won't eat or drink, is hunched up and miserable looking in the way that cats do so well when they feel crappy, and is hiding in the closet. Maybe it feels cool and dark in there and that might feel soothing to a cat with a fever. If Pumpkin's not better by Monday or Tuesday, we're supposed to call the vet (and presumably go back for more tests). We'll see. I think the poor kitty is a bit perkier tonight. He let me pet him and he kinda purred for a minute. I just hate that when an animal is obviously ill, they cannot tell you what's wrong. He's our little wild man who runs everywhere, catches, plays with and kills rodents, chases squirrels, etc. so who knows what sort of nasty germs he exposes himself to when he's out there being his usual wild and crazy self. He was 3 weeks old when Chris found him in our bar ditch at 4 a.m. one August morning and used to sleep in a PUFFS tissue box when he was tiny. He had tons of digestive issues when he first showed up here and it took us and the vet several months to get him to the point where he could eat and keep food down instead of throwing it back up, so it worries me that he won't eat again. I just remember how hard it was for him last time. Surely two and a half years later, this is a different issue.

Melissa, I think Lilo is going to be your main gardening challenge this year!

I need to finish the onions in the morning because it is supposed to rain and/or hail (yippee) between noon and midnight tomorrow. I don't mind the rain. We hardly ever get enough. I just want those onions in the ground before it rains. Then I can worry about potatoes and other stuff next week.

We're watching a fire across the river from us. I could smell the smoke in the late afternoon when I was out in the garden, but now that it is dark, people can see the orange glow of the flames from all over and are calling 9-1-1 like crazy, convinced the fire is in OK. It isn't. Yet. Let's hope it stays on the TX side because if it jumps the river and we're out all night, I'll be too tired to plant onions. See, priorities.....my priority needs to be to get those onions in the ground. We cannot see the fire from here because we're in a low spot, but friends are saying it looks huge. At this point, it would be kinda nice if it would rain now and put out the fire in TX, but we just don't get that lucky.

When the weather is this warm it is hard to restrain oneself and not go crazy planting any warm-season stuff. We know cold weather is coming back. However, no one told my plants that and I have a redbud and fruit trees about to bloom and four o'clocks volunteers sprouting near the garden gate. It's too bad that the April in February weather won't last. At least the onions will get off to a good start in mild weather.

Dawn

I went ahead and planted potatoes, carrot seed, peas and kale along with onions today. I'm in nw okc, so I think I'm within osu extension recommendations. Hope I didn't jump the gun

Dawn I remember when Sophie went thru that and the vet said most likely some kind of poison. She made a full recovery but it sure scared me.

I've got onions planted. I don't rush into anything in late February even though I'm in southern OK because we still get some very cold nights even when our days are warm. In a winter like this, you just plant, hope for the best and plan to cover up plants if a very cold night threatens. Onions are fine down here now and I'd think they'd be fine there as well. Carrot seeds might be slow to germinate depending on what your soil temperatures are so I don't sow them until March. Peas can handle the cold, though it will knock their blossoms off once they are blooming sometimes. Kale is very cold hardy. I wouldn't think you've jumped the gun. Our weather is so bizarre any more and alternates so much between hot and cold that all we're doing any more is just guessing about when to plant. The old average temperatures and average freeze dates/frost dates don't seem to mean as much as they once did since the weather is just increasingly strange. (And, the weather always has been strange here, but it seems we keep getting warmer days earlier and earlier each year, although sometimes the cold comes roaring back with a vengeance.)

*Edited to add that Pumpkin seem slightly better today. Still not eating or drinking, but wandered around aimlessly outside all day and now is sleeping in the closet again. He purred when I carried him in, so that seems like a good sign. Of course, we considered poison. He roams around so much and could have gone into a neighbor's barn or found a mouse or rat that had ingested poison. We're still watching him and hoping for the best. I hope to see more improvement tomorrow. The vet felt like it might take several days to see very significant improvement, so I'm trying to be patient. If whatever he has was going to kill him, it probably already would have, so at least there's that. I even wondered if a snake might have bitten him. Some days have been warm enough for snakes to be out. He did seem more alert today but also tried to throw up and nothing came up, so he might be working on a hairball or something. With a cat, who can guess?

Any advice on when to add mulch after sowing seeds? If I had planted transplants, I'd mulch around them right away, but I'm unsure with seeds. Will mulch applied prior to the seedlings emerging suppress their growth?

I'm wondering how Pumpkin is today. Sure hope he's better!

I don't add mulch on top of seeds. I just put it between or wait until seed is up a few inches

fitzjennings, I handle warm-season versus cool-season seedlings differently, and it varies depending on soil temperatures and weather. Normally, though, I don't mulch until the seedlings have sprouted a few true leaves and gotten a few inches tall. That's just an example. If the weather is extra cool, I'll mulch much less early in the season so that the soil will warm up more quickly (for most things, warmer soil = better plant growth). In the summer, if the weather is hot, I'll mulch young seedlings more quickly in an effort to keep the soil cooler since it is too hot to begin with. If the weather is abnormally hot in even April or May, I'll mulch young seedlings more quickly to keep the soil cool, unless I'm having trouble with some sort of insect that might hide in the mulch. In the cool season, keep the mulch from toughing the plants' main stems to lessen the chance of fungal disease developing. If we're warm and humid, like we're expected to be later in the week, mulch can work against plant health if it touches the plant stems. Too much mulch can interfere in seeds sprouting, so I never mulch until the plants are up and growing.

Thank you all for your concern about Pumpkin, who seems to think that life might be worth living after all.

Pumpkin is acting more like Pumpkin today, so whatever the stomach bug is, I think the shots that the vet gave him must have worked. He finally ate something (first time I've seen him eat or drink since about last Wednesday), ran to the front door instead of walking slowly as if in great pain, and then went outside and discovered mud and puddles. His solution to the incredibly wet ground everywhere was to climb/jump and work his way to the top of the chicken coop roof. So, there he sits, 9' or 10' above ground, watching the birds and squirrels. I'd say he is on the road to recovery. This is a good thing. Tim has to leave to go out of town on a business trip this morning, and he hated leaving with little Pumpkin so sick. I texted him to let him know that the cat apparently is on the road to recovery.

I know you gardeners will appreciate this (and doubly so if you also are a food preserver): Tim will only be gone for 2 days, but it is hard having to eat "other" food when you're used to home-grown. So, to cover all the bases, he took a big bag of tortilla chips and a jar of Annie's Salsa with him. He won't have a little orange Pumpkin curled up in his lap tonight, but he'll still have homemade salsa made from homegrown ingredients. I guess I'll have to spend part of each evening he's gone sitting in his recliner so that our reclining dog, Ace, will have someone sitting with him. Ace sits in the chair and reclines exactly like a human does. He leans against Tim to help him stay in that reclining position. Otherwise, when he dozes off, he falls over......our place is either a circus or a zoo every single day, but it is never boring.

Yay pumpkin. Poor little animals cant tell us whats wrong. I remember when soph would take a little chicken stock I was so thrilled. I made stock the other day and she was so excited to get the skin and livers with carrot scraps. Spoiled is what they are.

I bought more onions, today. I'm going to need to put some of the earlier bundles in the ground very soon.

Pumpkin usually is a holy terror. Nothing is safe from him, So, when he went outside to play one morning, came back in an hour later and went and laid on the countertop in the laundry room to sleep, I knew something was wrong. I just watched him for a couple of days to see if he improved, but he seemed to get worse---so off we went to our vet. I'm glad we did. Even with the medication it was at least 24 hours before he began to show any sign of improvement. Without it, he might have stayed sick a lot longer. Last night he was much improved over yesterday morning, so I imagine this morning he'll be his regular wild man self. He's the kind of cat that will attack anything, including a human hand or foot. He just wants to play 24/7 and only stops grudgingly to take time for such boring things as eating, drinking and sleeping.

More onions? I could buy more, but I won't. I suspect I planted too many as it is. Planting too many seems like a great idea in February, but then when I'm having to harvest, cure and process all of them in May through July, I always ask myself 'what was I thinking?' I do use a lot of them in salsa and also in homemade bread-and-butter pickles. I think Tim best likes the version of B&B pickles from the Ball Blue Book because it is so full of onions. I always try to make a lot of those for him, even if I'm using Mrs. Wage's B&B mix to make regular quick B&Bs (without the onions) too.

I really had to restrain myself yesterday because I wanted to be in the garden, but it was just too muddy. I only went in there long enough to check on all the onions I had planted before the rain and to see how much rain was in the two rain gauges. Today I intend to spend a lot of time in the garden, but I'll stay on the paths between the raised beds and won't venture into the downhill portion of the garden that doesn't have raised beds. It surely will be too wet for days and days yet and I don't want to compact the soil. I did notice yesterday when checking the rain gauges that the bindweed is popping up all over. I blame this on the early heat and will be yanking out those sprouts today.

B&Bs without onions? That's just wrong! (big grin!)

I had to pull out the blue book to see if my recipe is the same. About the only difference I see is mine doesn't call for ginger, the optional pickle crisp and I typically ice them overnight.

The Mrs Wage's B&B is about the only one I haven't tried. May check it out this year. I often prepare extra brine (syrup?) and put up banana peppers or jalapeños will I'm at it. Using the kits would make it easier to do in small batches.

Between having to mechanic on a mower, one of the tillers, and of course the rain, I'm way behind on onion planting! Hoping to put a huge dent in the pile today. My Copras are supposed to arrive today, so I'll be even further behind if I don't get busy!

I agree that B&Bs without onions are just wrong, which is why I usually make them that way. Every now and then, though, when the piles of produce are too high and the canning is going too slowly, I switch over to Mrs. Wage's mixes merely for speed. (Those often are the B&Bs we give away, since city folk who don't can are used to B&Bs without a lot of onions.)

Since you like hot stuff, I'd suggest using the Zesty B & B Mrs. Wage's mix. My friends simply call them hot, sweet pickles and adore them. I use that mix for speedy hot B&Bs and for speedy candied jalapenos. Whether I can from scratch or use a Mrs. Wage's mix, I'm happy with the results, so my canning in the summer is a mix of both type of canning.

Good luck getting those onions planted today! And, good luck with all the mechanic work. This is the time of year I have to balance gardening with firefighting stuff, and it is hard to stay on track with the garden sometimes, but I eventually catch up.

My garden still is too wet to do anything today and we're expecting fires anyway, but I'm frustrated by all the mud. If I had wanted and desperately needed rain, none would have fallen.

I'm happy to report both patients (mower and tiller) survived the operation! No extra parts and they even run! I have a serious dislike for working on my equipment, but not nearly as much as having to pay someone!

I'll look for the Zesty B&B mix. The Zesty (dill) pickle mixes are a favorite around here. They always go first on a relish tray. That and the pickled okra.

I generally do at least one batch of B&Bs where I substitute a few jalapeños in place of some of the bell pepper. It goes in my own private stash to cut down on competition! The wife has her list of things I'm not allowed to give away and I have mine.

We almost had a major argument when I thought she had given away some of my black tomatoes! I felt bad and had to apologize when I finally located them. Turned out well, since she feels the same way I do and guards them closely. It got so bad, never of us would dare slice one unless we were both here to share it! Shouldn't be a problem this year, since about 25% of my tomatoes will be Black Sea Man. Out of the 5 or 6 blacks I grew last year, those seemed to produce the best in terms of size, overall numbers and best of all, flavor.

I wish I knew someone that could and would work on my equipment. 1 weedeater, 2 mowers, 2 tillers , 1 tractor none working. My rake and shovel haven't broke down yet so I am still good.

Bruce, That's how we are about black tomatoes too. When I first grew them, everyone thought I was nuts. Now everyone fights over them. If I give black tomatoes to one friend, a different friend gets jealous. It's just easier to keep them all for us (!) and give away the red ones.

I'm glad you got the equipment working, and you get bonus points for not having any parts left over.

Kim, Power equipment always seems to break down when one needs it the most. I mostly use my rake, shovel and handheld trowel. They aren't going to break unless my arm breaks.

We have had at least 3 fires in our county today, and two of them were in our fire district. I hope that's it for the day. We're expecting a really bad day tomorrow, but we may get a break if people look at the Fire Weather Warning and decide maybe they should do any burning tomorrow after all.

It is hot. Too hot. Our forecast was for 79. Currently we're at 83. Tomorrow's forecast is for 84 so I am wondering if we should be expecting 86 or 87? May temperatures in February are just so wrong. Trees have been blooming for a while. Now they are leafing out. It is the oddest thing to see leaves emerging in February. This year's weather is a nightmare so far.

Dawn

I was really surprised to see they lifted our county ban. I really need to burn off some weed growth in one of my garden spots, but I think I'll wait until after the next rain. If I had my prep done and the wind was low, I might consider it.

Kim, if you were closer, I'd see if I would help out! I really hate to see equipment not being used!

My Copras came in today. They looked a little ragged, but overall I'm happy with them. I managed to plant 6 bunches. Basically 400 plants in the ground.

I'm not sure what Dixondale is doing different, but it sure seems like these things are tougher to plant these days! I should have easily been able to plant 800-1000 and it seems like 400 wears me out! May have to email the company and find out what the problem is?

Something is changing. I think my onion plants the last two years haven't been as good as they used to be.

I bought another bundle at the store today. We planted half of the first five sets. I think I could handle a couple more bundles. I have only one small bag of frozen onions in the fridge.

Thanks Bruce. Seems like there are lots of people that know how to fix this stuff but they are all so busy with the large farm equipment they don't have time to piddle with little stuff. I have 1 good tiller but when it started giving me trouble I thought oh dear let's not start the year like this. I need my tiller to break new ground.

2 days after putting the onions in, I had to blanket them. Hopefully, they'll be okay. I'd feel better if they were rooted in. I think it's going to be a loong spring.

Kim, I forget where you are. . . I'm thinking west? (Garry is so good at fixing stuff. I brag that if something can be fixed, he could do it.) At any rate, I'm thinking you're far from us. . . . we're north and east of Wagoner by 10 miles. . .

I am 6 hours west of you. In Texas lol. Don't tell anyone I snuck in the side door

Ha! That's a ways. (I whine if I have to drive all the way to Muskogee, 35 minutes south; and REALLY whine if we have to go all the way to Tulsa, 53 miles away.) I will not tell a soul.

I guess most everybody knows. They even let me come to the spring fling. I look forward to it every year and so sad when it's over. It doesn't seem to last long enough.

:) That's mighty neighborly of em, don't you think? You must be acceptable if they keep letting you attend! Love it.

A lot of us Oklahomans are native Texans who moved here and became Oklahomans or Okies by choice. What kind of hypocrisy would it be if we were to deny Kim her right to attend the OK Spring Fling? She's one of us even if she lives on the other side of the border, and she always will be.

When my son's papa used to get mad at the grandkids, he lived in Collinsville TX, he'd say just head that way and when you cross that little red river well then you know you're home. Go ahead and stay there. I miss him and his special sense of humor.

Nobody has complained when a Missourian posts here either (so far). I do have some roots in Duncan (my late grand parents), and my father was an OU grad from the early Bud Wilkinson post WWII GI bill era. Most of the other forums are pretty slow right now compared to the OK forum. And y'all are so friendly here!

My favorite seed store is supposed to get their Dixondale order in this week. Not sure how many hundreds of crates they order but it is a lot. They usually have at least 6-8 varieties including Texas grano 1015Y which I don't think would work here except for green onions. I'll be picking up some Candy, Red Candy Apple, and Superstar to go along with the Pontiac, Red Cipollini, and bunching onions that I started from seed in early January. It is disappointing to hear that their quality may be down this year :-(

Haha. . . LoneJack. I go through Missouri a couple times a year on my way to MN. I'd think whichever forum best suits your weather and needs would be the way to go, right?

My little onions are looking so good, wish I had planted more. They're enough for US, if they turn out okay, but not enough to give away. Well, still a ways to go on them, I understand, jury will be out for a while.

The garlic did sprout. . . it'll be interesting to see what it does. I'm expecting the one bulb result (if any at all) since I planted them so late. But always nice to see something sprout.

Exactly Nancy.. when I first found gw I tried the TX and veggie area first. TX gas great flower people but not too many veggie enthusiasts. Veggie forum is all over and mostly the posters ideas and experience doesn't pertain to me. But I still read a lot there. Alot of great knowledge there. Market corner is almost dead sad to say. And the Harvest corner is awesome. Love the friendliness of most of gw. There are some sections that crack me up.

Kim, What a great sense of humor he had! I know you miss him.

FYI...the highways are a mess here because of a wreck in the northbound lanes of the I35 bridge north of Gainesville, TX/south of Thackerville, TX. That wreck occurred around 4 a.m. or at least that's when our fire pagers went off. Because of a serious diesel fuel spill on the bridge, the entire northbound side has been shut down ever since. Anyone not willing to wait until at least noon to get through the traffic (eventually, after the HazMat company cleans up all the mess) is either heading east on 82 towards Whitesboro, I guess, and then from there, north on whatever it is that crosses the river there---maybe 377(?) or west on 82 towards Montague County and the Tayovayas Indian Bridge. Chris is in Whitesboro stuck in traffic on 377 and not a happy camper. He's got at least a 2-mile traffic backup ahead of him and he's probably already been stuck in that mess there for an hour He got off work at 7 a.m. after working an extremely busy 24-hour shift, and hasn't made it home yet. Today is a really awful day to be trying to head north from your old stomping grounds towards OK. I've been awake since 4 am and I had stayed up very late because I wasn't planning on waking up early. I need a nap already. It is going to be a long day.

On the other hand, the weather sucks, and I've already done laundry, all the indoor plant chores, taken care of all the animals and have swept and mopped the floors, so maybe I'll take that nap in a little while. You can get a whole lot done before noon if you're up and awake at 4a.m. I have plants outside hardening off, though what they're hardening off to....mist, drizzle, fog, etc. probably isn't doing much hardening today.

Lone Jack, Surely you know you are one of us by now, and you were from the first time you posted here. We try to be a friendly group. I feel like gardening knows no boundaries---and all of us here in the central/southern plains share many of the same miserable weather conditions and challenges.

I had a friend growing up whose great-aunt was very much one of those old-style steel magnolia types of southern ladies. To her, anyone who wasn't born in Texas and living there was a "damned Yankee". For a while, my friend dated a guy from Pennsylvania, and her great-aunt would say to my friend's mom "Martha, I hope you're not going to let her marry than damned Yankee". It always cracked me up, but I knew lots of folks in Texas who thought anyone living beyond the Texas borders was indeed one of those Yankees. It wasn't until I studied the Civil War in history class that I learned that Yankees were not just anyone who wasn't living in Texas. lol. We are NOT like that here. We welcome everyone with open arms and open hearts. I think that's why our gardening family here is so active and so closely bonded. If you think this forum is active, you should see the two FB pages started by folks who are members of this forum. Some days, there is so much traffic on the FB pages that it is hard to keep up even if you're only reading and rarely responding to anything.

The quality with the DF onions this year has so far just been a size issue, which we know can lead to bolting later on if too much cold weather occurs. With my order, only the short-day and intermediate-day types had a lot of onions that were way too big. The long-day types were fine---the usual size and in highly overpacked bundles.

Kim, Long ago I did post on the Tomato and Vegetable forum, but that was very, very long ago and I had a smaller garden, probably hadn't joined the VFD yet, and had lots more free time. It was hard to weed through everything that does not apply to us because of our unique weather and planting dates and such, and I haven't posted on any of those other forums in ages. I really don't make it over to any of them to read much either, though I like to do that. I just don't have time. I'm sad to hear the market growers forum is slow. That surprises me.

Y'all think we are obsessed with gardening? Go read 20 pages of old threads on the kitchen forum to find folks who are Totally Kitchen Obsessed (TKO) and who know more about kitchen design and remodeling than 99% of the pros in that very industry. They are brilliant, but obsessed, not that there is anything wrong with that. It is the same way on the laundry forum. They know more about different machines and detergents and stuff than I ever even knew existed. Some of them must need spare pantries to hold their stash of laundry products. It is mind-boggling. So, obsessions are real....not just gardening obsessions.

Dawn

Thank you for the kind words Dawn. Most of GW is very friendly with the exception of the Hot Topic forum which is just a ugly place and I try to stay away but it is like driving by an accident on the highway and not being able to look the other way.

I guess buying my DD onions from my seed store will allow me to pick and choose the bunches that don't look too oversized. They usually have multiple crates of each variety out on display so surely I can find some suitable bunches. I am only planting about 40 of each type as well so I can be selective in what actually gets planted for bulbing. I don't need any extra for green onions as I way over planted the Evergreen White bunching onions that I started from seed and I still have a 4'x4' bed filled with overwintered bunching onions that I still need to divide. I bet there at least a hundred in there if not twice that.

LoneJack, I wouldn't dare go to the Hot Topics forum! I like to think of our chats here together as fun and stress relief---a place to find understanding and to share information---without putting ourselves in a 12-step program for our gardening addiction. I think Hot Topics would be too stressful.

That's true that you'll be able to pick and choose. Someone who bought Dixondale Onions from the crate at a local place in OKC didn't mention oversized ones, so maybe DD has shipped out all the oversized ones and the later ones might just be normal sizes.

I hate dividing anything. It requires patience and concentration I do not always have, but then in the end, it is worth it!

I need to go walk through my garden in a little while and form a plan for tomorrow. I think the mud finally has dried up enough that I can spend a whole day out there, Lord willing and if the creek don't rise...and if my fire pager stays quiet....because y'all just know that every single day in February through early April that I plan on a whole day in the garden, uninterrupted and blissfully playing in the soil, the fires are going to ruin it for me.

We have two nights in the low to mid 30s this week and, after that, I'm tempted to put 6 or 8 tomato plants in the ground, with proper protection surrounding them, of course. I always put a few early ones in the ground once our soil temperatures reach 50 (they've been there most of the last two months) and stay there, and once I feel like the wild temperature swings have leveled out a bit. Since I raise my own and always have plenty of backups, this actually is a small risk. Since I bought and started using floating row covers, especially the heavier weights, I've only very rarely lost a tomato plant to the weather.

With severe weather possible tomorrow, I need to start my day by putting bird netting or deer netting over the rest of the onions. I did one bed right after I planted, but ever since then it has been fires or rain/mud or something else that has been keeping me out of the garden. I hope tomorrow is the day I get a lot accomplished out there. The odds are in my favor because Tim will be at work and Chris will be at home and can take care of his own animals tomorrow. We're sandwiched in a odd way tomorrow, with Extreme fire danger well west of us, but probably at least Elevated fire danger here, and with Severe TStorms moving out of Texas and N/NE of us but also a slim chance for us to catch some of that here, so for us, it could go either way or we might be the calm in between the two extremes. I'm getting excited about March, because that's when Spring really takes off in my garden, and the long-term March forecast for us looks pretty promising. I don't mean that the last freeze has happened yet, but I think we're now reduced to having one or two coldish nights a week and otherwise lovely, albeit windy, weather.

How's everyone's roses looking????? Have you checked them while out planting your onions and doing other garden chores? Lots of folks in central OKC reporting more RRD, which can spread rapidly and for which there is no cure. I checked mine this morning, after talking very early in the day with a friend on Messenger and seeing photos of some infected ones from the property of one of his family members. It was so sad. Mine are fine. I think that there's no one close enough to us geographically who grow roses to have the disease spread from one yard to another. I hope that's true anyhow.

Dawn

Got tired reading about what you got done before noon today, Dawn.

Note to self, Nancy: stay VERY far away from Hot Topics!

Yes, Kim. Was amazed at the Harvest forum. Loved it.

GDW and I moved our 3x25 foot raised bed by the shop this morning. When we put it up, I hadn't taken note of the tremendous amount of runoff from heavy rain, and it landed right at the near side next to the railing. Didn't work out so well last summer, of course. So last week, as we were visiting, I mentioned that I had to do something about that--maybe right up a kind of roof above the bed. . . and asked him to give it some thought. Then last night it hit me. All I needed to do was move the outside cinder blocks further out by about 12 inches, then could shovel the existing dirt (i.e., molded leaves and a little bit of dirt and compost) next to the new wall, then move the inside wall out 12 inches--just get the entire bed further away from the railing and trailer/car port roof. So this morning over coffee, told Garry that's what I have come up with, and he said that's what he'd come up with too, so we moved it. Was so easy when I was envisioning it last night. And really, it was pretty easy in terms of time. Only took us about 2.5 hours.

But then GDW had the bright idea of laying firewood in the empty space after we moved the first wall out 12 inches. A kind of mini-hugelkultur. (See? He listens when I tell him what you all say on here!!) He had cut up this half rotten oak last summer after a severe storm toppled it. So that's what we did--filled it in with one layer of that old oak we'd made into firewood. And then by the time we shoveled all the "soil"/molded leaves and compost around and on top of and moved the other side of the bed over, it increased the depth of the bed by about 8 inches overall. Now I'm thinking it's SUPPOSED to keep that very sunny bed a little more moist. . . then I topped it off later this afternoon with kelp and a bit of rock dust mixed with a bit of peat and topped it off with about an inch of compost (compost pile isn't enough compost yet!) GDW asked if it was any good at all, and would it grow anything. I said considering it is only that bed's 2nd year and last year's was mulched leaves with about 4 inches of just dirt, I expected this year's would be better, yes. What do you think?

Fun productive day--swept and mopped dining room (otherwise known as my gardening center for now); made one of my new daughters a Kentucky butter cake for when she comes to visit tomorrow; potted up a few seedlings, rearranged and organized them; took many out for a little weather.

A great great day! Best to all of you.

hahaha Nancy. I brought in fried chicken from the grocery store, because it was late and we were starving. The kids and I had our plates teetering off the edges of the table because I have all my seeds, empty trays, empty cups and gardening supplies on the table. rofl !!

:), Bon. I actually did have seed trays and newspapers and dirt all over the table earlier today. . . so this picture doesn't do the area justice. This was all cleaned up for company coming. Hahaha. But in truth, what's on the floor at the left is generally right on top of the table. What's a person to do.

How many kids do ya have? I miss having rowdy youngish ones around--sometimes. LOL

Such a good giggle. Yeah, these two are 12 and 10. They're finally big enough to be decent helpers in the garden as well as being rowdy. They get bored, but I force them to learn as I don't know what their future holds for a decent food supply. I'm not counting on it being decent.

We're crammed into a tiny cottage so we live on top of the gardening stuff. rofl

Ha ha! My table has seeds sprouting on it, from there they move to shelves by the window and then the green house. Seed starting mix and dixie cups are in a wooden rocking chair by the window. It is driving DH crazy, but he knows it is necessary.

Because of our cats and dogs, I have to keep seedlings flats in a closed room or the animals find ways to kill them---sit on top of the seedlings, lie on top of them, knock plants off the table and down onto the floor, etc. That doesn't mean other gardening junk doesn't intrude into other rooms, but the family is used to it.

OH my, the Hot Topics forum. I had forgotten about that lovely forum...and that's a good thing! I'm sure it is absolutely toxic now. I really like the Soil forum, but it can get a little testy too. I actually started seeds in pots this year (WS-ish). I haven't done that in a long time. I don't have lids for them, so I have to spray them with water everyday. I noticed today I have SPROUTS! On Sunday I sowed seeds in damp vermiculite and stuck them in the frig. I'm looking forward to seeing if that works. I didn't trust that we could actually have enough "winter" left to stratify anything!

Can hardly wait til I find a spare fridge, Lisa. . . meanwhile, my sweet peas sprouted under a black garbage bag tent sitting on a back table in the 65-70ish room temp art/quilt/Nancy's junk room. Why I thought I'd witnessed a miracle. Never believed it'd happen--and the 4 I'd carried out to the deck last week to start under cover, as well. Gotta get the little buggers in the ground soon. . . I adore sweet peas.

Bon--I love 10-12 yr olds! My own boys were a year apart; they got to be more and more fun the older they got. I kept thinking THIS is the best age, and years later would be saying THIS is the best age. . . all the way until they grew wings.