Thanks, Dawn.

You know those giant pots of tomatoes/trellises you've been talking about? I walked into the nursery area at Walmart and a guy had several of those loaded up. He saw me staring at his cart and said sort of apologetically, "I'm ready for gardening season and am a little anxious to get it started." I tried to make him feel better by saying that I had started my tomato seed in January and now the plants are outgrowing the light shelves. He seemed like a non-beginner, so hopefully those big, beautiful tomatoes will have a chance. Tom just said as we were walking away, "he's paying $13 each for those?". Yes, he is. You gotta do what you gotta do when you're ready for some tomatoes.

I have had how late Easter is in the back of my head trying to tell myself not to plant early.

I went ahead and planted potatoes today. But the whole time I was thinking of a late freeze knocking them back.

There is no way I will be able to cover them should the time come.

Feel like I'm in Vegas. . . . LOL

Hazel, You're welcome. You know, I thought I did pretty well only buying one of those big tomato plants. I see them every week and haven't bought any more because I have light shelves full of plants that are too big and eager to get into the ground as soon as possible.

With the big plant I bought in January, it has been plagued with some foliar disease I've never seen on any of my plants before. I suspect the plant probably already was infected with the disease in January when I bought it, and it just wasn't visible yet. I think the disease probably will kill the plant within the next month because its growth has slowed and it just doesn't look happy any more no matter what I do. I'm just not sure what it is, as I've slowly ruled out one thing or another. If I keep working on it, maybe I'll come across some obscure disease that is the only thing I haven't ruled out, and maybe then I'll know what it is. . I should have tried harder to figure out what it is, but mostly I've just been trying to keep it from spreading to all the rest of the tomato plants growing under lights in the same roon. Regardless, we'll be harvesting the first two fruit from that plant around Wednesday or Thursday, and then there's 5 or 6 more fruit remaining on the plant. I don't know if those last 5 or 6 fruit will mature. It just seems like lately the plant is frozen in time....no new growth, no new fruit setting, and with the majority of the green fruit not seeming to be enlarging. I don't know if the plant is too busy trying to fight the disease or too busy trying to ripen the first two fruit or what. It is puzzling.

So, the plant is both a success and a failure. We'll be eating the first ripe fruit by mid-March, which is astonishing, though I can hardly take any credit for it. The plant was already a pretty good size and in bloom when I bought it, so all I've tried to do is water it, feed it a little, get it as much sunlight as possible and keep it alive by plucking off all the diseased leaves as they appear. I sprayed it twice with a fungicide in case the disease is fungal, once with sulfur and then the second time with Daconil and I'm not sure it made any difference whatsoever. I think that if I buy an early plant next year I'll keep it separate from my own home-grown seedlings so that if it is diseased, it won't be able to infect anything else. See there, even after all these years of gardening, a plant still can surprise me by showing up with a disease I haven't seen before and don't seem able to combat.

Robert, I worry about that possible late freeze too. The later it comes, the worse it is because once the whole garden is planted, there's really no easy way to cover up all the rows. I suppose if that situation presents itself, I'll cover up whatever I can and just not worry about the rest. This is such a bizarre weather year. I have no desire to plant too many plants too early and then to have to struggle to cover them up very often, so I'm trying really hard to bide my time and behave myself. I don't mind if I have to cover up plants once or twice after they're in the garden and growing well, but I don't want to have to cover them up once or twice a week for a prolonged period either. Being patient and waiting for the weather to stabilize is so very hard.

Nancy, We certainly do gamble a lot here when it is planting time (more or less) and the weather is swinging wildly from one extreme to another with temperatures in the 20s to the 90s and then back to the 30s and then back to the 50s. We could use a little more consistency and stability for sure. We have a joke around our house that says "you don't have to be crazy to garden here, but it helps". That sort of sums up spring planting season.

Dawn

Dawn, we all need garden plaques with that saying on it.

I noted bunches of four o'clocks had sprouted the past few days; wondered how they'd handle a frost. Well this morning they were much darker green; I interpreted that as meaning they were't all that happy. . . buck up little guys, hang in there. . . not too concerned, as you all have talked about how tough they are.

Meanwhile, lettuce is emerging, potatoes, also. I'm thinking I might go throw some mulched leaves around the potatoes to help them get through the next few chilly nights. They did look fine this morning, however.

To the best of my knowledge it got down to about 28-29 here; thankful we haven't had much wind with it. And for all the trouble, at least we got about .5" of rainfall since Friday. Not gonna turn it down. Another couple iffy nights tomorrow and Tuesday.

My shelter on the deck, while not ideal, will serve the purpose, I think, for the next couple of weeks. . . I can get the frost blankets into a sort of canope a few inches above the plants anchoring them on various taller unorthodox standby supports (the grille, a porch swing. . . perhaps this time next year we'll have hoop tunnels in place over the beds, and a couple cold frame outfits. Meanwhile, I worked too hard on these little seedling dudes and dudettes to jump the gun. I'm hoping for Apr 1 transfer date, but might be Apr. 15. Guess patience is the word, eh?

Rebecca, That is so true. I'm working on plans now for a new garden shed, and I think I'll have to paint it on a plaque or something and hang it in the shed after we build it.

Nancy, My four o'clocks have been down as cold as 25 degrees since they sprouted and have survived it. It doesn't really matter. They reseed prolifically and new ones pop up for months, so if all the current ones freeze, more will sprout.

At this point, patience is all we've got. When I think back over all the weather's twists and turns since 2017 began, I'm astonished we're all still sane....and it is only mid-March. While our weather always is erratic and all over the place, this winter has taken it to a whole new level! And, I'll add, I am assuming we're all still sane. Speaking for myself, I know for sure that I am still sane. The rest of you? Well, I guess I'll vouch for your sanity too, so don't go having any nervous breakdowns and making a liar out of me. This weather will drive us all batty before we get our plants and seeds in the ground.

Dawn

Dawn, DH bought one of those plants with it's own cage 2 or 3 years ago. I hated that thing. Foliage grew out deformed and discolored. It got weird bugs. The fruit we got from it was not very good. I was tempted last year when they had a Cherokee Purple at the big box store, but the memory of that other plant kept me from buying it.

I found these dates odd, I had always heard 3/31 for this area and the map appears to be later.

I remember so many Easters with cute a little spring dress for my daughter that she would have to wear a coat over for church because it was cold. It was a major thing to switch from heat to air conditioning at our church, so we often would all be shivering because they'd already switched to AC when it got cold. It's the same for halloween. Cute costumes that you buy in 90* weather are obscured by winter coats when the day arrives.

Amy, Yes, I agree and feel the same way about this big plant. It probably isn't even worth the worry and aggravation it has caused me. This is the first time I've bought one of these big ones that comes with its own little cage/trellis thing and probably the last. Even extra early fruit isn't worth the aggravation of watching the plant deteriorate and trying to figure out what disease or diseases it brought with it.

I find a lot of OCS's maps odd. Their data doesn't necessarily correspond with what I see/experience here. . I think much depends on the location of the Mesonet station, and I already know that our weather at our place can differ quite a bit from what the Mesonet station records. Still these are the maps we have, so we can use them as a tool, but not think of them as something that is engraved in stone.

I have the same memories of the big switch from heating to cooling at our childhood church---it was such a PITA to do it that they didn't even get in a hurry to switch over. Likewise, I remember many very cold Easters and Halloweens.

I don't like the chill in the air today, nor the wind. At least the sun is shining. I'm seeing on FB that folks in NW OK are experiencing a lot of anxiety as the wind stirs up ash and sand (everything that would have held the soil in place burned up) and people see it from a distance and think it might be smoke, indicating a new fire or a rekindled fire. I feel for them. They are going to have a tough March and April with nothing to stop the sand from blowing, and it will be hard to get plants re-established in heat-sterilized soil where all the duff and humus are gone. The wind erosion of the bare soil could become a long-term problem, and y'all know how hard it is to get organic matter back into sandy soil. And, of course, with the way the wind is blowing, and the fact that the fires are less than 50% contained, there's a good chance of a new fire or a rekindling, but I believe there's enough resources in place to stop anything that starts today.

I know it is March and it is kite-flying weather and all that, but I still don't like the wind. It makes it feel even cooler outside than it already is. I'm missing the heat!

Dawn