Hey, Shaer! Doesn't look like anyone commented about chicken friendly plants yet. I can't help out, we live in the city and they have an ordinance against poultry. One more reason to get our own property.

Yes Amy, the talking over people is annoying. 6 years and I've finally got Cliff trained to acknowledge he's doing it. Maybe in another 50 he'll stop.

Me too, Shaer! Wasn't ignoring you, just am not a chicken owner. Haha re Cliff!

Sorry Kim, I failed to mention they can be little tricky to use. Admittedly they work better in sandy soil and it's better if the moisture content isn't too high.

Trying to describe how I use mine is a little difficult to put in writing, but I'll try?

If the soil isn't sandy and fairly dry, I push it down to the depth I want to plant. Then I give it a little rap on the side of my boot to clear the soil plug. From there the plant should drop in place just fine. In ideal conditions, I place the pvc (cut side toward me) where I what to plant, give it a little nudge with the toe of my boot, while pushing down.

I've gotten in the habit of giving it a little rap, I do it without thinking, even in ideal conditions.

Other than pulling weeds in my aunt and uncles garden near Shallowater, I don't have a lot of experience with the soil around Lubbock. It's very possible without the mechanical opener, the method I use, simply may not work?

Yes the ground is very wet just below the surface in most places. I am going to taper the angle a little more today and see if that works. The guy cut my pipe unevenly so I have room to play. One piece is 4'4" and the other 5'8". I tried doing it just like the video but it just kept getting a plug that I had to blow out lol. I am glad I don't have anyone watching my experiment

Happy March 1st everyone! Happy first day of Meteorological Spring!

Amy, March always concerns me, but what can we do? We just have to enjoy the sweet lamb-like early days of March, knowing that inevitably the lion-like days are coming and we'll have to deal with them too. (The lion like winds are why our winter fire season usually peaks in March, unfortunately.) Really, we are expected to have winds gusting in the mid-20s here at some point today, so that's not quite as lamb-like as I'd like, but it is what it is. At least the rain is done with us, though it looks like the clouds are not. Your description of Yankees from Jersey is right on and I agree that 5th grade boys are uncivilized. lol. Somehow we survived those days.

Our neighborhood was a lot like yours and our place a lot like yours when we bought the land in 1997, cleaned up the overgrown property, had the house built and moved here in 1999. In fact, until we bought this land it had cattle on it and we let them stay through the end of the year, so for several months after we bought it, just so the guy with the cattle who was leasing the land had time to find a new place to lease for them. Back then I described our tick population as "billions of ticks" and no one who lived in our area disputed those numbers either. (grin) It took several years to win the tick battle....several years and tons of poultry. I miss having guineas now, but not enough to get more of them. They are just too obnoxiously loud and headstrong.

Rebecca, I am sorry about your back. I'd love to build up all my garden beds to waist-high (it is a huge garden and this never ever will happen) so I could garden without so much bending, but our bodies are too old to go through all that renewed bed building now. Still, it would be a dream! The last three beds we built are almost that tall and I love them as they are so much easier to work, but they're not big long beds either, and filling them up was such a ton of work that I do not care to repeat it with all the older, longer, lower beds. Take care of yourself. It is so easy to hurt a different body part while favoring the one causing the current problem.

Kim, Well, obviously the plants are etiolated but that's not unusual for plants raised indoors. I try to avoid that by keeping my lights so close to the flats that they almost touch them (usually the lights are about an inch above the top of the seedlings) and I try to grow the plants at cool temperatures (as cool as I can stand it in the room they are in), mainly by shutting off the HVAC vent so the room doesn't get too hot since all the lights produce heat, so they will not grow too quickly and start stretching like that---and sometimes it just happens anyway. Those plants aren't too far gone to save if you can pot them up and get them out into some real sunlight to harden off. Sometimes no matter what you do, plants just get leggy. My flowering sweet peas and edible podded peas have been out for two days now in an attempt to keep them from getting too leggy, so having the clouds has been a blessing. Even sunlight coming through heavy clouds is stronger than indoor lighting and I can tell they have benefited from being out there. Now, the sun returns sometime today and I'll have to move the plants back inside after they've had some direct sun because they aren't ready for a full day of full sun.

Eileen, Y'all have a lot of herb festivals and such up there in your part of the state in the Spring. Maybe one of the vendors will be selling the curry plant. I'll watch for them in the D-FW metro when I'm down there and if I ever stumble across a few, I'll buy them and bring them home to OK and then we'll figure out a way to get them into everyone's hands. I don't think I've ever seen them down there, but then I wasn't looking and I know that a couple of the smaller ma-and-pa type nurseries I frequent often have rare herbs I rarely see anywhere else. Who knows? I wonder if Indian grocery stores ever sell them as plants like a lot of the grocery stores sell standard herb plants in Spring?

Nancy, I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees in the garden. It is easier on my back. Gardener's knee pads are essential! You don't have to buy them from a gardening supply company, y'all, just go and get some of the good knee pads at a home improvement store and it will change your life.

Our heaviest rain of the 2-day rain event fell late in the evening and continued after we went to bed. I hope it didn't last too long because we already have too much mud. I haven't been out to check the rain gauge, but suspect that whatever amount is in it will seem like too much rain on top of what we've already had. We had a Flood Advisory thing going on when we went to bed, though I really think/hope it was for areas a bit to our south and southeast that seemed to get a heavier band of rain than what we got---we could hear their thunder so I think they had a pretty good thunderstorm going for a while but we were just on the edge of that.

Jen, I commented on growing plants with/for chickens on Shaer's separate thread on the topic. Growing plants with and for chickens is an exercise in frustration that largely involves every single seedling being eaten the second it sprouts. Fencing, fencing, fencing is involved and plants have to be big before you can let the chickens near them---and then most won't be big for long. At our place, woody shrubs with tough leaves fare the best.

Kim, By clodhoppers do you mean large, heavy-duty, thick-soled work boots? If you do, I usually buy mine at either TSC or Wal-mart, and I usually have to buy the men's boots to get the tough, sturdy construction that I want. My favorite ones are steel-toed Caterpillar brand men's construction style workboots with huge, thick soles. Those boots must weigh a couple of pounds each and it takes time to break them in and get used to wearing them, but they are very protective of your feet and ankles in the garden. I have 2 or 3 pair, but find I most reach for the Caterpillar brand ones because they are the toughest and the sturdiest. Sometimes I wear one of the other lighter pair because they're easier on the body, though.

Y'all, this is not gardening-related but I have to mention it. A situation has been unfolding in a Dallas neighborhood (the neighborhood is very close to where Tim lived when he moved to Dallas in 1981) over several weeks. First, there was a house fire. Then an explosion at another house. Then, a massive explosion and fire at at third home, all in the same neighborhood in maybe about a week's time. After each event, neighbors reported a heavy smell of natural gas in the air. After the child died, the NTSB sent investigators to town to investigate whether gas pipelines were the issue. Since then, the who situation has rapidly escalated and as of yesterday, there were approximately 300 customers sitting in hotels, evacuated from their homes, having their living expenses paid for by the gas company, so you know this is serious. This morning, they expanded the problem area to multiple neighborhoods and are cutting off all gas service to those neighborhoods for several weeks. Weeks! This will involve approximately 2800 customers. Clearly, major gas pipe line issues are occurring. I feel for everyone involved. As a gardener, I am horrified just thinking of how far behind those gardeners are going to get while evacuated from their neighborhoods. Their tomato year will be shot if they cannot get tomato plants in the ground very soon, but then, it isn't worth dying in a gas explosion just so you can stay home and plant and tend your tomato plants either. Still, it is a good thing the issues are being addressed before anyone else dies. I cannot imagine this happening in my neighborhood or the neighborhood of any of you. What would we do if yanked unexpectedly from our homes for 3 or 4 weeks? I think I'd lose my mind....and would have a tomato plant growing in a pot in a window at the hotel.

Jennifer, I forgot to mention Charlotte. I hope she's okay and maybe she just caught a stomach bug of some sort. We took in a stray cat with feline leukemia once. It was very ill and didn't last long, but at least it had a family to love it and care for it during its last weeks. Once Yellow Cat did pick up a bacterial infection and wouldn't eat/couldn't keep anything in his body for ages. He had to be on medication for about a month and it was tough going but he made a full recovery and lived for probably another 6 or 7 years after that, if not longer.

A lot of people spend tons of money on pets that we never could afford to spend. I think it is killing us when we have an unexpected vet bill of a few hundred dollars---and cannot comprehend having a vet bill for thousands of dollars. They sell pet medical insurance now and it might be worth having if someone had a dog or a cat, but buying it for lots of dogs and cats means it would add up rather quickly and be unaffordable as well.

Every two weeks when we go to the vet's office and plunk down big money for Jet's special dog food and medication, I cringe. I love him and am not sorry we're spending the money to prolong his life, but it is a strain on the budget. His extra expenses are running us about $400 a month. (sigh) That would buy a lot of plants, wouldn't it? But, you cannot put a price on love and when he was born 13 years ago, he became ours....until the bitter end. I still wouldn't spend thousands of dollars on surgery though, and we'll only prolong his life via the special diet and medication for as long as he is well enough to be happy---when his quality of life drops to the point that it doesn't seem right to prolong his life, then we will let him go humanely and with a million tears.

I'll come back later, y'all, after I have stomped around in the mud and puddles outdoors and checked the rain gauges so I can whine about the rain we got that we don't need, and how more rain we don't need is coming next week. I wish Mother Nature would send all our rain for the next few weeks to western OK where it is desperately needed.

Dawn

Yes those are exactly the type boots I wear. I really was wondering if anyone would know or if that was a regional expression. My dad used to say it and he was born and raised in WI.

As wet as it here it's hard to imagine how dry it still is out there. I know some of my farming and ranching friends could use some of our excess!

I tried getting in my garden yesterday, actually trying to find the plug so the whole thing could drain! Ugh, it's going to take a few more days, tho.

Until it drys, I'll just keep myself busy potting up plants and taking inventory.

I've heard the term clodhoppers all my life so it must not be limited to a certain region or at the very least, that region is huge! I generally wear lightweight boots and that's only because I don't like my street shoes filling up when I'm tilling or weed eating.

Kim, on the planting aid, I really don't have a standard length, but what typically works best for me is I cut it to the top of my belt. I've given so many of them away after showing someone how to use them, I sometimes cut extras when I get back home. I'll see if I can get a measurement.

I'm not ignoring any of the other conversation going on here, I'm just having a hard time keeping up!

Our two day rainfall total is 1.25", which when added to last week's rainfall, gives us a total for Feb of about 8.75", all in the last couple of weeks. That's probably the wettest February we've had since moving here. So, we're back to big puddles and tons of mud after we had seen some shrinking of the puddles and some drying out of the mud before the last 2 days of rain came and ruined it all.

I had 5 flats of plants sitting outside hardening off and left them out overnight because I wasn't going out in a thunderstorm to bring them in, so this morning I had to pour the water off of them. The containers (paper cups and plastic 6-packs) of plants were sitting in flats with no drainage holes since they are indoors more than they are out. Today they get to stay out until they get 2 or 3 hours of sun....if the sun comes out. Otherwise, I guess they can stay out all day for the third day in a row.

Still, compared to Broken Bow's record-setting Feb 2018 rainfall of 17.65", I feel like we have nothing to complain about. They're flooded, we're not. We're just squishy-soil wet. I expect if we could get 3 or 4 days of sunlight (not happening here yet) and March wind (we have a little this morning) we'll have a reasonable amount of drying and I'll be able to get into the garden again. So, looking at it that way, I can get into the garden again, maybe, by Sunday. The downside to that is that rain is back in the forecast for Sunday, so I might try to get into the garden Saturday afternoon if we have reasonable drying by then.

The forecast rainfall for Sunday is supposed to be a miniscule amount, so I'm not worried about that.

The March weather pattern looks to continue much the same as February, with heavier rainfall to the east/southeast and little rainfall to the west. I wish that pattern would change. Our odds are good that March will be warmer than average, whereas February was cooler than average, so that's a positive sign. We gardeners need all the positive signs we can find.

I have a hard time keeping up, Bruce, not only here but in the FB groups. Sometimes I don't even see something on FB that needs/deserves a response unless someone on there like you or Ashley tag me and get my attention. I've been trying harder to stay caught up on everything---it is easier now that our fire pagers are quieter (we were paged out to two fires during dinner time last night, but neither really required our attention). As long as it is rainy and I cannot be working outdoors, I can stay caught up a bit more. Once planting outdoors resumes, all bets are off.

Thanks, Dawn. I actually went looking in the woods and came back with two small cedars. I'm thinking nothing bothers them and so I'll let them grow until they get 4/5 feet high and then prune like crazy or take them out as don't want big cedars around. It's stopgap planting until I find something better...

I have a training this afternoon, which means I get off work when it's over. So hopefully we get out early & I can spend some time outside. We're having leftover pizza, so I'll get to stay out until almost 7 instead of 6vv15 like normal. Geez, I sound like a teen who got an extended curfew!

I have trouble keeping up, too, especially since my youth ministry groups are getting busy too. Summer camps, children's Easter programs, family events, etc make summer a busy time.

According to the Mesonet app, we got 4" of rain in the last 6 months, with 2" of that last week. If so, that explains why everything is so dry.

What temperature can tomatoes be put outside for hardening off? Mine are getting leggy too, so I'm thinking about moving them out. But I don't want to if it's going to be too cold

Rebecca, I am SOOOO sorry you hurt yourself doing the bending thing. I have artificial hips, so putting stress on them isn't good. It was something I read about how other cultures bend.

Kim, what if you poked a few holes, knocked the dirt out and then went back and dropped the onions? I remember we tried it one year, but our pipe was too small in diameter.

Positive thoughts for H/J's Charlotte.

I was letting the beagle out after Sasquatch was in her kennel, and my cat snuck out. She does that about once a year. She is an indoor cat.

Nancy, I had to go look up Incan agriculture after Jacob mentioned it. I had seen articles before, but had forgotten what civilization it was attributed to. (For those who don't know, they used elaborate terracing and irrigation.) I've not seen "The Wire", I will have to look for it. I watched Netflix's "The Ranch", but I'm not sure I will continue to.

Jen, it's like north easterners are in such a hurry they can't wait for someone else to stop talking. They talk fast, too. DH tells a story about when he first came to Tulsa. He asked some one in TG&Y (remember them?) Can you tell me where the camera department is. Only it was so fast: canyoutellmewherethecameradepartmentis. It went on and on as she couldn't understand him. He finally enunciated each word carefully and she got it. He does not have a Joisy accent. He had speech therapy as a kid which meant he never talked like his siblings, but he used to talk very fast.

Dawn, evacuating a neighborhood for gas lines! how horrible! Almost makes me glad I'm all electric. But makes me wonder what earthquakes have done to THAT infastructure.

We are going to Bartlesville this evening to see my folks. Leaving Sasquatch with daughter to play with her dogs. Have a good day.

Shaer,

You're welcome.

I don't even know what to say about the cedars, except they'll probably provide your chickens with ticks to eat but otherwise don't serve much useful purpose. We've worked hard to get rid of as many of the cedars on our acreage as we can, especially since the trees themselves harbor ticks, but it is a never-ending job. I feel like cedars are the bermuda grass of the tree world. After we cut down large cedars, it took 2-3 years for native plants to repopulate the area where the cedars have been. Locals say the trees poison the soil, and I don't know if that's the right wording, but it certainly is hard to get other things to sprout and grow where cedars have been growing. I didn't plant anything on purpose where we cut down cedars after we built the house---I just watched to see how long it took native plants to spread into that area and was surprised how long it took. Surprisingly, even the bermuda grass was slow to spread into that area.

Jen, If you're a bad teenager, then so am I. For a long time, at different points in his career, Tim worked nights. So, I really could work in the garden whenever I wanted. I usually ate a late lunch with him (he was eating his breakfast) before he left for work. At various times, his shift began at 1 pm or 3 pm, and sometimes not until 10 pm. I got kinda spoiled because he either was gone or sleeping and I could work in the garden almost the whole time we had sunlight. Then, horror or horrors, eventually he was working normal hours and coming home in time to eat dinner at a regular time like regular people. This did not fit in with my "garden while there's sunlight" mode of operation whatsoever. Of course, I'd lose track of time and wouldn't realize how late it was, and then he'd come driving up the driveway, would honk and wave hello, and I'd think to myself "Well crap, what can I make for dinner that will be ready to eat in 15 minutes?" I'd scurry indoors and act like it was my plan all along to not start making dinner until 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. Bless my husband's kind heart---he never once complained. I guess he just has accepted that I am going to be in the garden until it gets dark or until one of us is dying of starvation, whichever comes first. Some nights dinner was a frozen pizza or a bowl of cereal, but then I tried to make up for that on other days by making a really nice dinner full of fresh herbs, veggies and fruit from the garden. Hopefully the great meals make up for all the last-minute, thrown-together ones.

Y'all haven't had enough rain, and roughly 2 weeks ago I would have said exactly the same thing about us. It is funny how two very wet weeks can completely change a person's perspective. I have faith y'all will get rain in March. Know why? Because everyone is trying to plant in March, and nothing causes rain more than gardeners hoping for rain-free days to get their planting done.

Temperatures below 50 degrees can slow tomatoes' growth, so any time you're above 50 degrees is a fine time to harden them off. Mine got about 2.5 hours of sun today, and I might have left them out longer, but we've been so cloudy so long that I'm worried they may have lost their prior hardening. The temperatures here have been in the 60s so no worry here temperature-wise. You might be a bit cooler up there.

Amy, Bending at the waist reminds me of.....Gumby and Pokey from whenever that was---maybe the 1960s? If I could bend like that nowadays, I would, but there is no way. The hinges on my garden gate (which actually is an old Victorian style screen door), were creaking and shrieking at me yesterday when I opened the gate, and then the bottom hinge came off the fence post. I guess it needs new screws or something. I just looked at the gate/door and said "I know how you feel" and pushed it back into place when I closed the gate.

We have an indoor cat who goes out about once a year too and he did it yesterday. He lasted about 10 seconds on the front porch, came inside, and went and sat on the breakfast room window seat and stared out at the rain like he always does. He's a very nervous cat. I don't think he could be an outdoor cat at all--it seems to terrify him to stay out there for more than a few seconds. He is a true scaredy cat or fraidy cat.

Atmos Energy says the whole gas pipeline issus is weather-related because of extremely heavy rain in February (but, in my mind I question that because 2015 had oodles and oodles more rain than that and so did 2016 down there), and most of the small earthquakes down there have been closer to Irving, whereas this is farther north in the area near Northwest Highway, Webb's Chapel and Walnut Hill Rd. Tim's first apartment was not too far off Webb's Chapel. And, now that I think about it, it's not that far from Irving where the earthquakes have been felt quite a few times the last few years. Hmmm. Regardless, earlier evacuees were being put up in hotels and given $100 debit cards daily to help pay extra living expenses like eating out or whatever, so presumably the more recent evacuees will receive the same assistance.

When the first fire happened, I saw it on the news and told Tim "that fire was fed by gas" and he sort of nodded his head and agreed with me and life went on. Then the second one happened, and it seemed even worse and I said "that's definitely a gas fire, and look how close it is to the earlier fire". I think the two may have been 3 days apart. And we watched the news and shook our heads and hoped the gas company got its act together before another house burned because even then, knowing only what we saw on the news, we suspected a link between those two incidents and the gas lines. Then when I woke up one morning and saw the News Flash on my phone for the explosion/house fire, I knew in my heart before I clicked on the news alert it was going to be in the very same neighborhood and it was....and it isn't a bad neighborhood either. There's nice houses there, though not as fancy as they new ones they are building in this decade. They said 4 were injured, and one was in critical condition and we learned later that it was a child and she had died. We both said "the city of Dallas needs to make the gas company do something to stop this!" and, as it turned out, Dallas Fire-Rescue was persistently raising the issue that they thought all three fires/explosions were related to natural gas and they were doing all they could to get the gas company involved. It is sad that the gas company didn't seem to be doing very much (though none of us know what they were or weren't actually doing because they really weren't talking about it except to have a PR person say they were investigating the issue) until after the third consecutive explosion/fire in that neighborhood. As an outside watching from far away, I was frustrated. I can only imagine how the residents felt there---they all had to be scared and wondering who was next. So, the huge disruption to their lives looms over them now, but on the other hand, hopefully no one else loses their homes or their lives now because of this issue.

And, you know, the ticking time bomb in my mind (I always overthink things) is what if these neighborhoods aren't the only ones? What if they haven't evacuated enough people? What about all the pets? Some dogs are too big to go into a hotel room. What if you have two Great Danes or a Giant Schnauzer? Where will those animals go? To a boarding facility? What if you have 100 house plants or a greenhouse full of orchids or succulents that need their gas heat? Where do you evacuate all the plants to???? Thinking about it makes me appreciate our simple, quiet, country life.....and our all-electric home too.

Have fun in Bartlesville. I need to mop my floors. I need to mop my floors. I need to mop my floors. I don't want to do it, but they sure need it, so I guess I'll go do it. Then I'll let the dogs out and in again and no one but me will know the floors ever had a clean, shining moment today.

All my plants are back in. I couldn't let them stay out too long in the real sunlight. The hardest thing about March is the constant carrying in and out of plants to harden them off, but then, it is all a part of raising seedlings indoors too.

Dawn

Kim, if it still gives you trouble, I'd be tempted to round up an old broomstick or maybe a dowel rod and cut or sand a point on it. Take it and punch several holes then come back and use the pvc to drop them in.

I've done it like Amy suggested and it works, but don't poke too many holes or it will pack so full it's tough to clear the dirt out.

The gas line story is a bad deal and I hope it's not the tip of the iceberg. Much of our infrastructure really needs to be inspected, since nothing manmade is permanent. We see waterline failure all the time, and as bad as some are, at least it's not volatile.

I know the Corps of Engineers is constantly monitoring the dams on lakes all over, looking for signs of failure. I could go into a big spiel about the documentation of how much some of the earthen dams move in a year, but I guess unless one of our gardens would be in the pathway if they failed, it's pretty useless knowledge! I spend a lot of time fishing below some of them so I'm at least slightly interested!

Jen, some of the dates on Amy's list of events might be of interest. Might add them to the least you posted earlier on FB. If we think it's worthwhile I can possibly set them up on the event calendar?

Guess I better get off and get some pots ready and get some plants ready to move to the greenhouse!

Great minds think alike! I saw that h downloaded it so I can add them.

Tomorrow I'll need to list for y'all some of the Disney streets evacuated for the gas leak during the early morning hours (2-3 am) this morning in a sort of emergency way. A few hours later, the evac of 2800 customers over a wider area was announced. It is sort of hysterical to read the list of evacuated streets, or it would be if this wasn't such a life-or-death mess. I don't know why the streets have Disney names, but they do. I'd list them now, but our 8 year old is due to arrive any minute and I want to finish this before she gets here.

Kim, And that is why we have shadecloth, doors, vents and fans! You can go into your greenhouse any time and pretend it is summer. If you have any plants at all in there, start watching them for spider mites---those things seem to appear out of thin air when the air gets hot inside the green house.

Bruce, I've been watching all the flooding info coming out of the COE Tulsa office. It is amazing how many of the lakes, state parks and adjacent areas are flooding in eastern and particularly southeastern OK. McCurtain County, in particular, is in a world of hurt, and their Cooperative Weather Observer's site just turned in a higher record rainfall than their OK Mesonet station--his/hers was over 18" for Feb and that will be the new all-time record. It is no wonder the flooding is occurring down there.

With that gas line thing, I was remembering the town in California a couple of years ago where a massive gas leak burned out a lot of folks. I don't remember the town's name, but remember seeing it on the news and it was horrific. Hopefully Dallas has avoided a similar fate.

Oh. my. word, Kim! 122?!

I finally caught up reading, but don't have anything useful to add, really.

The plan for tomorrow evening is to buy soil and get the lettuce bed filled. Those plants sat in the shade this afternoon. The carrots in the Smart Pot have sprouted and have been moved outdoors.

Tomatillos and some of the flowers have sprouted as well. And all but 2 of the pellets have tomato seedlings. Do y'all reuse a "failed" pellet? The eggplant and peppers have not sprouted yet. It's always so exciting to see a full light shelf. It's such a time of hope and life.

Update on Charlotte. Her weight has dropped from 10lbs to 7lbs since her last visit (a check up and rabies shot a couple of years ago). which is significant. The vet felt some knots in her "gut" area...so the disease has taken that route rather than the mouth one. I could have paid several hundred dollars for an ultrasound, but that only confirms it, doesn't treat it. I'm not sure what the use is in doing that. The vet said it just makes some people feel better about euthanizing--validates the decision, I guess. I asked him to give her a steroid and antibiotic--see if that makes her comfortable and increases her appetite. We will see what happens now. She did get up and go outside this afternoon, so maybe she's feeling better?

Made it to the chiropractor. Much, much better now. Saturday I can get back to work outside!

Ant massacre in the bedroom tonight. I know ants are valuable, but not in my bedroom. It's a sure sign of spring for me, though.

Jennifer, Hopefully the medication will help Charlotte. It might be a good sign she got up and went outside. I wouldn't have paid for an ultrasound either because what purpose would it serve? Our vet is always careful to offer all the options that are possible, but he doesn't push the expensive ones either---he knows that most people live on a budget. He just likes for us to know what is available. When it became obvious that Honey had a brain tumor and not canine vestibular disorder, the vet mentioned surgery and chemo as possibilities (though even he said they likely wouldn't help her or prolong her life), but stressed he'd have to refer us to a dog cancer specialist in Dallas because our clinic doesn't offer those services. Tim assured him our family wasn't going to put a terminally ill dog through all that, doubly so since it offered her no benefit. Tim and I were just in shock that there was such a thing as a dog cancer specialist because we couldn't imagine people would spend money on something like that.

I have reused pellets. Inevitably the original seeds will sprout well after the second set. It never fails. I just separate them out when potting up, which means I am careful when I go back and reuse a pellet to plant some other type of seed the second time so I can tell the two apart if both sprout. For example, if some tomato seeds never sprouted, I don't reuse the pellet for tomatoes but might use it for peppers or marigolds or whatever.

Eggplants and peppers are slower to sprout than most other things as they prefer somewhat warmer conditions in order to sprout quickly.

Full light shelves are encouraging and I think of them as a sign of Spring just as much as dandelions sprouting in the yard, or the blooms of daffodils or whatever.

Kim, I understand the idea behind the practice of keeping it locked up when y'all aren't there, but in order for that to work, the vents need to be able to open up and vent automatically, and the swamp cooler needs to be able to come on and off as needed....and the shade cloth needs to be in use....because, um, all those greenhouse tools serve a purpose, which is to keep the greenhouse from overheating. Good luck with getting it all set up to run so your seedlings won't cook to death or become spider mite (or disease) magnets.

The hottest my greenhouse ever has made it was 144 degrees, and I guess that burned up the battery in the Min-Max thermometer, so possibly it could have gotten hotter but the thermometer was dead by then and couldn't record it. If y'all ever beat my record of 144, I want to hear about it. : ) On the bright side, if you need to get eggplant seeds and pepper seeds to germinate very quickly, the greenhouse might be the place to do it.

As you point out, it is their deal and either they'll learn how to manage it correctly, or not. You're just the helper, but it seems like they'd listen to you since they hired you to help.

To me, onion planting always seems like slow-going. I think it is because they can be planted so closely together that you work forever and look at the row and wonder why it isn't longer, or why more rows aren't planted yet.

Take care of your body. As we age, our bodies do demand that we be more gentle with them and let them rest as needed. It frustrates me that I seems to accomplish so much less than 5, 10 or 15 years ago, but that's life. At least we're still gardening, albeit at a slower, less intense pace.

Tonight, while waiting for our little princess to arrive, I read the timeline compiled by TV station WFAA about the gas explosions, fires and evacuations. It is heartbreaking. Some of these gas issues in this very neighborhood date back to the 2008-2011 time frame, and yet it still is happening. Hopefully that changes now. This morning at 2 to 3 am, they suddenly evacuated some of the DIsney streets in the Midway Hills neighborhood, including some homes on Pinnochio Drive, Cinderella Drive, Sleepy Lane and Snow White Drive. You cannot make up stuff like this! Who even knew that Dallas had Disney streets? Well, apparently Chris knew because of their nearness to Dallas Fire Rescue Station 43 (also evacuated earlier this week. This is a neighborhood of homes built in the mid-1950s, both ranch style and what was then called California Contemporary and now is often referred to as Mid-Century Modern. Then, a couple of hours later, they expanded the evacuation to include 2800 homes, so whatever issues they uncovered must have been potentially quite serious. I was thinking that if they evacuated that many homes in my county, it would be half the county.

Spring continues busting out all over here. Today the Santa Rosa plum tree bloomed. Poor silly thing. I am almost positive the freezing nights are not over yet, so I expect we'll lose the blooms and fruit on a freezing night, just like last year.

I looked at my garden today and it is back to soggy and squishy and probably untouchable for 3 to 7 days, destroying my plan to try to work in there before the Sunday/Monday rainfall arrives. There's worm castings on the ground everywhere---not just in the garden but all over the lawn and even the driveway as well. I guess we've had too much rain for the earthworms.

The Drought Monitor map may describe us as Abnormally Dry, but at this point in time, there's not one single thing outdoors that is dry. It is too wet to dig into the soil to see how far down the moisture goes before we hit dry soil again, but I'm thinking that at the rate things are going, we won't be classified as abnormally dry for too much longer, assuming rain falls every now and then. Lots of larkspur plants are popping up in the flower border, and perennials that weren't already greened up are greening up now. Spring is exploding here, probably mostly thanks to the rain. Last week's temperatures in the 80s helped (or was that the week before last?) but the plants didn't go nuts until raindrops finally fell on their heads.

That's all that is new here.

Dawn you were posting late. Usually its Nancy. She must have wore herself out running up and down the roads. I will have a more serious chat with Mrs today. If we can't fix it asap I will not be planting any more seeds in there. She knows I can't be here 24/7. She needs to come visit the farm. See what's going on with the planting field too. I was so frustrated yesterday I just wanted to drive. That's usually a sign I am at my limit. I went to bed at 6 instead. While I am on a good whine I will add these clods are getting the best of me. My feet knees hips back are just turning and twisting every which way and making planting a miserable experience instead of fun. I look forward to planting all winter. Okay all done. I don't feel better but will keep on.

Rebekah I an so glad your chiropractor got you all fixed up. It's horrible when we throw ourselves out of whack. And it happens so quickly. I am taking my msm again and it helps allot. I don't know why I ever quit.

I will pot up these leggy things today and see if I can get them on the right track. The cabbage I think is a total loss. It was so moldy when she gave it to me the other day then yesterday it really got dry and limp. I reseeded another tray just in case.

Lessons learned.

I was posting late. The little princess came over to spend the night, and today, and then tonight so that she didn't have to get up at 5 am and come over here so early this morning when her mom went to work or even earlier if Chris was going to drop her off. So, she and I have managed to turn a Friday visit into a Thursday evening through Saturday morning visit, and we might try to stretch it out to include Saturday if we can get away with it. : ) We were up late watching the movie, Moana, which I've never seen. She is horrified that I apparently have missed all the Disney movies of the last 10 years or so and wants to fix that by binge-watching Disney movies on NetFlix. So, one of us fell asleep last night around 10:30 while watching the movie (so much for our grand plan to stay up all night and watch movies, which I thought would end about as early as it did, but I went along with her movie watching plan since she doesn't have school today...because...why not?). After she fell asleep, I got on my computer and also tried to watch the movie to the end so I'd understand how it ended. This morning I already successfully answered questions about what I watched after she fell asleep. Whew! I'm glad I watched it and could answer all the questions this morning. I would have hated to flunk out of Disney 101.

I wonder if last year the daughter did a lot more of the work than your bosses realize and if maybe they aren't quite as up to speed on some things (like the new greenhouse or the onion plants' need for good air flow to prevent mold, mildew and slime, for example) as they ought to be. Hmmm. Trying to say maybe they think they know more about it than they do. People who've never had/used a greenhouse simply lack the knowledge/experience to understand how quickly it heats up on a sunny morning, even in pretty cold weather. Mine can be over 100 degrees shortly after 8 a.m. even if the night was freezing cold and the sun doesn't come up until after 7 a.m. There's a definite learning curve with them.

Dirt clods are one thing I simply hate about plowed ground. I've been no-till for several years now in the front garden, and haven't had a clod in ages and I don't miss them. Out in the back garden we do rototill since its soil isn't at that magical level yet where you don't have to keep rototilling organic matter into the soil, and the clayey parts at the eastern edge of the back garden do get cloddy. Tim will rototill that back garden with the big rear-tine tiller and leave those clay clods and then I will go back through that clay and break them up with my little Mantis cultivator. It just requires patience, slow-going and exactly the right soil moisture so the clay still can be broken up, so I usually have to bust the clods the same day he does the tilling or they get too hard to break up. We usually don't get around to doing that until the front garden is all planted since, normally, the back garden gets all the hot season crops that thrive in sandy soil, like watermelons, various other melons, southern peas and such. I can't plant any root crops back there because of the voles, except for garlic. They don't mess with garlic. I protect the fig tree roots back there by growing garlic in a circle around the tree's root zone.

It is plenty early to start over with seeds. As much as I want to get plants in the ground, I still feel somewhat uneasy about March weather. I guess because so often it lulls us into a false sense of complacency with beautiful days and then zaps us with cold nights. In fact, it is frosty here this morning but just a patchy frost, not a heavy thick one all over everything.

I'm on the second week of trying to harden off cabbage, kale and such. It is hard to harden them off without sunshine, so I'm glad the sun has returned. Now I have to watch myself and be patient so I don't leave anything out too long because I did get away with doing that in 100% cloudy weather.

Good luck with the potting up and sowing of new seeds. You know, often seeds sown later will sprout more quickly than seeds sown earlier since temperatures are warmer and then will grow faster with warmer air temps and more sunshine, so sometimes the later seedlings surpass the earlier ones. It makes me laugh sometimes because for all that we know and think we can do (and sometimes manage to do successfully), sometimes Mother Nature wins out in the end.

I guess we're going to binge-watch Disney today. We're watching Moana already again. Yay. (And I'm not allowed to take my eyes off the TV screen for too long and miss too much of it, or my instructor starts explaining to me what I'm missing.) I should be able to earn my degree in Disney today under her tutelage. I'd like to be starting some seeds, but since a day with her is a rare gift, I'll leave those for another day. I have a lot of flowers I'm itching to start.

Lol little girls at that age are awesome. My niece was my shadow from birth until about 15. You haven't lived until you watch Toy Story 6 times in one day.

I reuse the peat pods too. And like Dawn described, that's when the first ones decide to sprout so I try to use them for a different plant.

I agree about the little blessings but I would have to argue that you haven't lived until you watch toy story in Spanish too many times to count. Yes I bought the wrong version.

Hmmm, the Spanish version. It wasn't the one where Buzz's switch was set to Spanish, I would assume? If so, I have to wonder what language he was speaking in that version?

Yeah, I might have seen a kid's movie or two! With 4 grandkids and grandma around, I couldn't begin to count how many I've seen!

Still haven't decided which part of the garden will be their's this year. May grab some nasturtiums or some other type of flowers and let them plant them among my tomatoes. Or maybe herbs?

I checked the garden late yesterday and maybe, just maybe I can prep the onion bed! Fingers crossed!

Kim, sounds like a good way to learn spanish, LOL. I am so sorry about your green house issues. I have read you can bury leggy brassica plants deeper when you transplant.

Rebecca, I'm glad you're feeling better.

Dawn I've not seen that movie either. My grandson leans toward transformers and Paw Patrol and Little Einsteins. I think I would rather watch Disney. When daughter was little she watched an Ewok movie and a cheesy Japanese anime called Wee Wendy....over and over and over...and over.

Asplund came around with their herbicide this morning. Sigh, I wonder what that will effect. Chickens didn't like him, they were hiding.

Rebecca, I'm glad you were able to get in to see the chiropractor.

I wouldn't want ants in the bedroom either. How did you massacre them?

Jen, I do not think I'd have the patience to watch anything six times in one day. I'm sure we did that when Chris was a young child, but that was in the 1980s and I've forgotten more than I remember about those years. (I remember the lack of sleep!) He went through a stage when Bevery Hills Cop was his favorite movie (he liked it for the action, and thankfully he did not repeat the bad language) and we bought it on video back when videos were immensely expensive because they were a brand new thing. (How old I feel, saying that!) He did watch that thing endlessly and he loved every minute of it. I think he had it memorized.

Kim, That could be one way to learn Spanish, I suppose.

Bruce, I hope you can get into the onion bed to get it done. At least there's supposed to be sunshine for a couple of days so maybe that will help. Since the latest rain fell, my onion bed looks too wet to me---not quite water pooling on the surface but close. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about that now except hope the sunshine dries up the soil. The onions look fine.

I am woefully behind in the kids' movie department, but I guess I'll catch up now. She quickly tired of watching Disney movies, so we're watching Ghostbusters 2. I remember seeing the original Ghostbusters with Chris but never have seen this one. So far, it isn't nearly as good.

I think nasturtiums always are a good idea with kids since they are edible. Are y'all going to grow gourds again this year?

I didn't really get to go plant shopping last weekend but this weekend looks to be better and I might get a chance to do that. The most important change in our life from the rain is that the fire pagers are going off a lot less often, and I am starting to feel like I've been set free. Don't worry. It won't last. Standing dead and dormant grasses still will burn like the devil, and they'll probably do it whenever I start trying to put tomato plants in the ground, just because that's how it always happens.

I'm aiming for a late March plant out of tomatoes, but with nothing specific in mind. I don't feel like I have a good feel for what this Spring weather will be like. February felt quite a bit colder than usual overall despite a few really warm days, but who knows if that continues into March? Time will tell.

We might go out in a while and carefully work our way through the soggy garden paths to see if anything new is happening out there. Most of the herbs are up---tansy, comfrey, etc. so she might enjoy seeing that.

It is frustrating to have gorgeous sunshine but for everything to be too wet to do anything. That last 1.25" that fell this week put big puddles back on the ground again---how much water can the ground absorb over a couple of weeks? Apparently not enough.

Dawn

No, the luffa gourds were fun to grow, but I think the grandkids are pretty much over them.

I'll grab some nasturtium seed and see if we can find time in between their ballgames to get them in the ground. With all four of them playing, that may be interesting! I could just let them start them here at the house in pots.

Kim, that's funny about the Spanish--did you learn any Spanish along the way, as Dawn suggested. I thought it was funny because of one our Mexican friends up north. He actually taught himself English exactly that way--by watching cartoons in English (by the way, he spoke without a discernible accent.)

It occurred to me that our approximate ages can be determined by which animated films we watched with our grandchildren, and which TV shows our kids watched. Funny.

I'm certainly not in a hurry to get out into the yard and work. I know last year I was working like crazy in February. The 2 years before, in March. It's beautiful today, but with a cool breeze. Kinda looks like March is definitely cooler than my previous 3 years. I don't see any trends in the 10-day forecast that make me think I'd be able to go tear it up in the yard.

Sounds like you're having a blast with your little buddy, Dawn. You'll be too worn out from the 24/7 fun you're having to get much done after she leaves tomorrow. LOL

When we started the enormous garden when I was on the ranch, the first time we went over the ground at least three times with the plow (it was also clay soil) and though I remember much about that garden, I truly do not remember clods being an issue.

Not MUCH happening at our place, still. A few jonquils are blooming, the spirea are full of buds. That's about it. Tansy never did die this winter, and it has now grown a bit. No comfrey yet. And gaillardia and small daylilies, penstemon, and yep, that's about it. And of course, I'm already regretting planting the grow cart on Feb. 15, 16. I thought I was doing it a little later than last year, and was--but I should have waited another week or 2. Things are going to be totally out of hand by the end of March.

I'm going to get the little elderberry sticks in this weekend. That's about it. Most of my gardening is consisting of watering the indoor seedlings ad nauseum. :)

Must run to town for a few things before our big trip to Aldi next week. I wasn't worn out last night at all, Kim; just got sidetracked into watching Iron Chef America (LOL), and didn't have anything to say. . . I know, rare.

Ouch forgot to vent my low tunnel and it was 95 inside. Luckily most of my seedlings look alive. I'll give them a cool drink of water after I eat lunch. I hope my sowed cabbage seed will still germinate. It was in shade under some boards though so maybe it won't be affected.

I did not learn any Spanish listening to that video. I was pretty good in Spanish in PA and then I quit using it. Now all I do is make my friends from Mexico laugh when I try to say something.

I am getting my little man for a couple hours today. I can not wait. I haven't seen him in a month.

I remember someone telling me they learned english by watching Sesame Street, so why not learn spanish by watching a movie in spanish?

So, back in the summer, a lady posted a comment asking for help in rooting some rose cuttings. I offered to try, not really expecting them to take. I stuck them in some sandy mix & mostly ignored them. Well, contacted her today to let her know they were starting to bud so she's coming this weekend to pick up her 2 rose bushes. They're tiny, only 8" tall, bit they're still alive. I feel so talented!

Bruce, With all four kids playing ball, who's going to have time to grow anything?

Kim, At least the Farm Tek folks were helpful. (I think they always are!) The hotter the better. lol. Yep, sure, and some people ought to know better because they know what the hot summer weather does to Texas crops. That soil sure looks lacking in organic matter. Good luck getting the onions planted and have fun with your little man!

Nancy, I'm already exhausted, more mentally than physically. Who knew there was an Emoji movie? What a total waste of time that was. However, I now can discuss My Little Pony and which characters are girls and which ones are boys (who knew any of them were boys?) I hope there's not a pop quiz next week because I bet I'll forget by then. We've eaten all day long and yet are supposed to go out to dinner with Tim, so I hope we have appetites again by the time he gets home. Potato chips and goldfish crackers excluded, we've eaten healthy all day long and spoken longingly of summertime and fresh tomatoes while admiring the blooms on the plum tree that surely will freeze and abort one night soon.

Jacob, A one-day rise in the air temperature shouldn't impact the germination of the cabbage seed. If you can get the soil temperatures under the low tunnel up to 77 degrees, your cabbage seed will germinate quickly.

It is sunny and warm here this afternoon and some of the big puddles are soaking into the ground (finally). We have lady bugs all over and some bees and some moths, but haven't seen any butterflies yet. We saw Purple Martin scout birds a couple of weeks ago but none have arrived to set up housekeeping yet. It is about that time of the year though.

Dawn

Emoji movie, ROFL. So many of the things made for kids now are only meant to promote the toys they are selling. It is kind of sad. DH puts you tube videos of Mickey Mouse on for my grandson and he really enjoys them. You're exhausted because you're on high alert all the time a little one is around. We're out of practice on being on alert, and, if you're like me, you're not really child proofed any more.

Good job Jen!

I went out and stuck some sweet onions in the ground. The garlic is poking through the mulch. The onions planted earlier don't look bad. The sculpit is green already! I'm going to have to look up the recipes. Some kale is surviving. Tansy is starting to grow. There may be a gaillardia growing, but I think the rest are weeds. The comfrey is not coming up. The chives, on the top shelf of the potting bench, survived the dog and are green.There are peas coming up where the chickens tore up my peas last year, LOL.

I pulled seed packets out that I wanted to start, sorted between veggie and herb and ornamental. Next I have to sort by timing, and anything put out direct. I want to direct sow some spinach. DH needs to make dirt so I can plant carrots, turnips, beets. I poked holes in paper cups. We have plans tonight and tomorrow night, I may not actually drop seeds until Sunday. I like to do it when no one is around to distract me, and I like to soak the seeds a bit first. It's a mess DH doesn't need to be involved in!

Oh yea. . . I also have a nice clump of chives and the lemon balm is sprouting under all the dead lemon balm. . . And bee balm was growing under its leaf mulch out in the back bed. So okay, a little bit going on. Onions, leeks planted 2 weeks ago look great; garlic looks good. I studied the trees all the way into town and all the way back home. SOME mature trees are just beginning to look a little green--not oaks, though. And you could see that branches look "thick with unopened buds." I'm sure I've said this before, but 15 years ago, when I began having my granddaughter stay from Fri evening to Sunday afternoon, and then her little brother and her, I'd kiss them goodbye when their Mom and Dad picked them up, and then I'd sleep the rest of Sunday afternoon! It's the 24/7 time, I decided. 100% of the time was focused on them. It WAS mentally exhausting,Dawn/Amy and others. Gratifyingly so, but exhausting.

Two very naughty (funny, but naughty) cats today. They were about as 24/7 as the kids used to be. I kept telling them to go take a nap.

Got a chuckle about your peas coming up.

You ARE talented--Jen, the rose rescuer (whisperer?)

Amy, my son and DIL in Mpls bought the Little House on the Prairie DVD series, the I Love Lucy series, and the Andy Griffith series for his kids (not all at once.) All four of them LOVED those. I'd even stop by and watch with them at times. Those were GOOD stuff for the little ones.

Total dumb luck. I took a chance that ignoring it would work and it paid off.

I had to modify the garden plan slightly in order to start getting onions in, but I did manage to lightly till and dry out enough area for the bed. Planted a couple of bunches and will try to get the rest in today.

If I have time, I'll start hauling plants to the greenhouse and make room for the next round.

Yes, Dawn, juggling 4 ball schedules can certainly be a challenge. We feel bad about missing any, but sometimes we just have to take a break. It's normally when as many as three are playing at the same time at three different complexes.

I came up with another idea for the budding gardeners to participate in and that's sunflowers. Janet really liked the idea and thought they would have fun with it. I mentioned, we could even use the harvest to make bird feeders for the fall and winter. Not sure if it would be better to do the suet type or let them help build wooden feeders?

Flowers have never been my strong point, so I'm curious about the rooting roses thing. Since a lot of them are grafted, how will the rooted cuttings grow out and what would a person expect out of them?

With as many elderberry cuttings as I have going, I'm thinking about taking some of the ones I have in water and putting them in some sand or sandy soil.

How many do you have growing, Bruce? You don't have deer problems on your place? After I first planted them 4 years ago and the deer ate them as soon as they were 6" tall, I haven't tried again. This year, after we enlarged the raised veggie bed garden, I realized I could grow them along any of the inside fenced areas. It'll be fun. Once I saw how enormous the elderberries can get, I'm only going to plant 2 of them for me. And once I saw pictures of the green elderberries (I have OK John and Bob Gordon varieties), I'll be excited to try and spot them in the woody areas in our area. Glad you mentioned that to me.

I'm potting up tomatoes and some peppers, finally. They're sturdy little seedlings and I thought, "I could start hardening these off." And then laughed, thinking of Dawn--"for what." Yeah. Not gonna start it.

No thoughts on roses. Haven't grown roses for a dozen years. And no way a possibility in our property, deer heaven.

Busy day. Good weather for working. We'll pick up our cold bed tomorrow and get all these greens and lettuces plunked into it.

Our weather has been so funky lately. Almost every day they forecast a low around 40, but then we drop to 26 F! I know when it's going to get cold, cause it'll be a warm day, then towards sunset the air becomes dry and temps drop dramatically, usually on a clear night. Next week looks a little chilly, one night forecasted for 26, but I wouldn't be surprised if we drop into the teens. I'm awaiting the last (usually) late March cold spell before putting anything out!! Patience is hard.

All of our trees have been budding since Nov. First time I've EVER seen that before.

I made a couple jars of sauerkraut a week or two ago and enjoyed the first bit of it today. Gosh it's so good.

Dawn, most of my brassicas are sprouting today, so I take it they're fine! I need to get some potatoes at the feed store before they run out. I have my eyes on the 20-22 for planting them, a moon favorable date. By the time they sprout in April frost is normally minimal here and becoming rarer. I can cover them on frigid nights.

I know the moon likely doesn't have much effect on my garden, but it's kind of nice to have a date to do things set aside. I can plan on it. Interestingly, at least here, the weather is almost always favorable on the "proper" dates as well.

My mom has a beautiful rose bush out front that blooms all summer. It's huge- About July it usually gets hordes of Japanese beetles though.

I found some stashes of leaf mold and mulched my no dig beds with some. The worms are loving it!!

Jen, You are talented! We'll call you The Rose Whisperer.

Amy, About the only childproofing we have nowadays is that all the guns are put up under lock and key. Oh, and grumpy dog, Jet, who is a two-person dog (Tim and I) and growls at everyone else has to stay either in a closed-up bedroom upstairs or out in the dog yard when kids are here.

We don't even have a kid-friendly kitchen any more because all we have is healthy, wholesome food---not a box of cereal (sugary or not) or a frozen pizza in the place. So, we had to buy a few things that were more kid-friendly and had a higher appeal to kids than our really healthy stuff. I didn't go out and buy a lot of sugary junk though.

We had a wonderful time together, but I was ready for quieter day today.

I thought a lot of the kids movies were written explicitly for marketing purposes, but tried to sit through them and watch them well enough that I could answer her questions about what we were watching. 99.9% of them are not movies I'd willingly watch ever again if a child were not involved. Hopefully she'll want to watch other movies the next time instead of the same stuff over and over. When she got sleepy and was ready to change gears to something quiet and slow-paced right before she went to sleep, we watched The Hungry Little Caterpillar, which I really enjoyed. It pretty much put her to sleep, so it served its purpose (and I think she chose it on purpose because she wanted to fall asleep but she didn't want to admit that she wanted to fall asleep).

It is in the low 70s and a little windy but otherwise sunny and gorgeous here today. I hope the wind and sun are helping the garden soil dry out some more. The yard is starting to look drier---largely because the big puddles in the yard and garden have soaked into the ground, though the ones in the driveway have not. How big are the small lakes in the driveway? We were skipping stones on them yesterday afternoon.

Tim's boss had a quadruple bypass on Thursday, so 'we' went to see him today. Actually, I had some shopping I wanted to do in Denton, so when we were halfway there, Tim said he thought he drop me at the store and run over and see visit his boss at the hospital---sort of killing two birds with one stone---so that's what we did. After eating lunch in Denton, we stopped at Sam's and bought a small number of groceries, but I brought home a nice selection of dinner plate dahlias and lily bulbs. Neither of those two have any trouble growing here, especially in morning sun/afternoon shade, but they have trouble with voles eating the lily bulbs and dahlia tubers, so I'm going to plant them, mixed with veggies, in one of the 3' tall hardware-cloth lined raised beds that exclude the voles. I want to grow less potatoes this year since I always grow too many, so reserving one of the potato beds to fill with flowers and carrots will help me grow fewer potatoes. The lily bulbs were healthier than many bagged ones usually are, so I kinda wish I'd bought two bags of them instead of one.

I have a lot to plant tomorrow, weather permitting, or on Monday-Tuesday if tomorrow is rainy as forecast. The plants I've been hardening off should be ready to go into the ground by tomorrow or whenever, and then I can move other plants downstairs to begin the hardening off process, plant them in the ground by next weekend, and then do the same with another batch of seedlings. Once I get going, things roll along in a certain rhythm, although excessively rainy days can interfere now and then. Next week doesn't look bad once we get past the Sunday rainfall.

Down here, the main thing in bloom is daffodils and jonquils everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. A few early fruit trees are blooming. If you go as far south as Denton, like we did this morning, there's a whole lot more green-up and a lot more blooming---including the first of the ornamental pears. It sure did look like Spring down there, but we aren't too far behind.

Bruce, I'm glad you got the onions in. Our wet soil is improving and will be workable soon, though not as soon as I'd like. I'm hoping a stray Tstorm doesn't find us tomorrow and drop too much rain here. As long as the Tstorms miss us, we should get only a tiny amount of rain and I can handle that. If a thunderstorm hits us, y'all will be able to hear me throwing a temper tantrum all over the state of Oklahoma tomorrow. The one thing we do not need is more rain.

The birds we have here prefer seed feeders to suet feeders if that helps you make up your mind any. I love growing sunflowers of all types and kids just love, love, love sunflowers so I think that growing them with the grandkids is a great idea.

Y'all, I just had to laugh today. Yesterday someone tried to do a prescribed burn of their rural property, and everything is so wet that it barely burned. I could smell fire all day, but because it was not moving fast, I never could see any fire or smoke....but knew it was around. It apparently took it all of yesterday and most of today, and there's plenty of places the fire just skipped over---I assume it was too wet for those to burn. Today we could see the smoke, but by afternoon it looked like the fire has burned itself out. It is enjoyable to see an area that doesn't want to burn after the tough winter fire season weeks we had from mid-December through mid-February. Tim doesn't think fire season is over yet, and he's probably right, but I think the worst of it may be over for us already. Actually, in my mind, once I have tomato plants ready to go in the ground (and I do not yet), fire season is over and tomato season has begun. I'm ready for that to happen, but it still is a few weeks away.

Nancy, I agree the mental aspect of having kids around 24/7 is the hard part. I don't mind doing it---but I certainly have noticed how quickly I get tired compared to a few decades ago when Chris was that age, and it is the mental tiredness as much as the physical.

Amaranth is a long-time favorite of mine, but sometimes I skip growing it for a couple of years here and there because it reseeds so voraciously that I need a break from pulling up a billion tiny amaranths every now and then. We grow them in all colors---red (which with most varieties is more of a maroon), green, orange, etc. and then if you throw celosias into the mix, you can add yellow and pink.

We have a couple of rose bushes up close to the house, so close to the house and the dog yard that the deer don't bother them, but I stopped planting any new ones after rose rosette disease became a thing. I figured the last thing I wanted to do was bring home a new rose plant with a disease that would spread to the others, so am just content with what we have.

Jacob, We went through 6 or 7 consecutive years of having very cold nights that went much colder than forecast (the worst one was 18 degrees colder than forecast) and also that continued into the first week of May with freezing temperatures/frosts, even though our average last freeze date is March 28th. It drove me bonkers, and explains why I have all the frost blankets I have now....because in order to keep the garden on track, I had to plant as much on time as possible and just cover up and protect the plants on those nights when the weather was so uncooperative. About the time I had decided the abnormal cold might be the new normal, it stopped happening so much. I hope your run of colder than expected nights doesn't go on for years like ours did.

One advantage of being as far south and west as I am is that we have almost no Japanese beetles. They'll probably find us someday, but they are not a problem here yet.

I bet the leaf mold is immensely popular. Aren't you glad you found it?

Plants are starting to take over the house. I'm ready for them to start taking over the garden ground. This coming week, the battle will be on to get transplants and seeds in the ground and then to get them mulched and keep them weeded and mulched. I think because the cold spell with the cold rain, ice, sleet, freezing rain, etc. was so late in February and held on so long that it feels like Spring just erupted overnight here. I'm okay with that. I like that it suddenly feels like Spring after all these winter months of waiting and waiting and waiting for it to show up.

Dawn

Seeds ‘n Such was the only seller that had all the tomato seed varieties I wanted. So, I ordered one week ago today, including a nimber of other types. No response other than to confirm receipt. So, today I asked about the order. First, the order responded (from home) to say he’d check into it Monday. Then, I got a notice that the seeds were shipped today and I’d probably get them in 3 days.

Unusual experience for me

Lots of sprouts in my WS jugs today! No tomatoes or peppers, but spinach and lettuce (comparing this to direct seeding), and flowers for miles. Mom will get her pansies this year. Some tiny green dots in the lavender jug too! Also have pea seeds peeking out. Seeded a few Creole tomatoes, a flat of African daisies, and a bunch of zinnias. Stopped early to come in and watch OSU put the smackdown on KU. Looks like the yarden at Hot Mess Acres is off to a good start.

Kim, I'm glad you had a glorious day...and aren't letting the frustrating things steal your joy.

Dawn, to me, it's harder to have kids 24/7 when they aren't your kids...and aren't part of your normal routine. I'm so glad you had a good weekend with your little girl, though. And had some fun buying plants today.

Rebecca, you've been busy!

Nancy, what's your cold bed?

I purchased some large pots for the front porch. It's about time to make the front pretty. That really should be a focus of mine this month. I planted pea and nasturtium seeds this afternoon. And covered the bed with hardware cloth. Note to self (and anyone): do not leave a flat of hardening-off veggies on the backporch when the chickens are having their free time. Luckily, I just happened to be out and saw them staring at the flat with a curious look...

So...the peas, beans, and cucumbers are going in the back garden. I hope some of the flowers come back too. The chickens really did a number on the beds back there, though. I'm glad to have that decision made.

Charlotte is eating and cuddling, so she must feel a little better.

I am glad Charlotte is feeling better HJ

I want to beautify my place too. There are shrubs and black mulch in my beds now. I hope to tear those out and put in flowers soon.

Got a couple hours of weeding & moving stuff around today. Saw my peonies are breaking soil, the iris and lilies are starting to green up, and a few other things are popping. Spring is coming quickly.

Hahaha, HJ. Cold FRAME.

Nancy, I do have deer, but they seldom bother anything in the garden until August. That's when there isn't a lot for them to eat in the wild and they get a little desperate.

I don't feed them around the garden, but here at the house, I keep rice bran out for them. We see them in the yard is almost every day. If they had any idea how much I hunt, they might not be so relaxed. Janet says they are her's and they are off limits! That probably wouldn't stop me, if I chose to go after one. In season, of course.

I haven't counted the elderberry cuttings, but I'd say 30-35? Hopefully I didn't take them too late, but they are budding out, indicating I haven't killed them yet!

Jennifer, how many elderberry plants are you interested in?

Jacob, I noticed you are from NW Arkansas. What area? I was born in Fayetteville and I lived around there through elementary school.

Kim, I only planted about 450 onions and as sore as I am, I can't imagine dealing with 8000 plants! I kid myself about not being old, but sometimes my body tells I am!

8000 onions IS a lot.

I live outside of the Rogers/Pea Ridge area. We're in a bit of a hollow next to a creek, kind of below a hill. Nice area

Lol Hazel. I remember the first time we let our chickens out to free range. Back then, our garden was right next to their coop....They completely terrorized the garden. Poor plants.

Enjoyed reading through your posts, everyone. So glad Charlotte's feeling a little better. It's sad, Jennifer, but you know what's coming, so you can give her the love on her way out. And you'll treasure that.

"Our" deer LOVE our yard, Bruce. I don't have benevolent feelings toward them when they're on it. I love them in the neighbor's yards or elsewhere. I just concentrate on not growing deer magnet plants. I note I didn't mention sunflowers were the plant I was discussing in my previous post about deer. I'm delighted I figured out a place I can put them. Our fenced veggie beds are only fenced 5 feet tall, but there is such a maze of cement blocks in there, that I've felt fairly certain they wouldn't jump over. This is only my third year with the beds, but I feel fairly good about it. My fishing line fences in the "yard" have worked remarkably well, but necessitate reinforcing a few times each year. That's okay, I can deal with that. The big dog who knows deer shouldn't be on our property works like magic until he comes in for the night. So it's always iffy.

30-35 elderberry sticks in the ground. That is awesome!

Jacob--we live maybe 90 miles apart as the crow flies. Further, we live in similar growing conditions, very rocky, very foresty. (We're both apparently on the Ozark plateau.) Many things in common with where we live, but you are a bit north, and must be at a higher altitude. Interesting. I'm curious--Is food preservation and cooking part of your gardening credits, or is that separate, or is it just plain fun? Good sauerkraut is the best!

Bruce, I don't kid myself about being old, but I am panicked. Not a bit afraid of dying, but so distressed that I have so much to DO! Need more time! LOL

My grow cart is so organized this evening, til the next seeding and potting up session. God BLESS my brother for this awesome cart. While the cart is organized and the WS pots outside are, the rest (me) is questionable. Poor Garry. Potting up is SO hard, because you don't know which seedlings to clip off and which to pot up. I gave away 2 1/2 flats last week. Have more that are potted up to get rid of. And this will be the cycle until I get them in the ground. My goal is to not have to harden up anything more than stuff for SF and what I'm going to plant.

Jen, speaking of peonies, I'm taking out 6 of 8 of them in the front yard and handing them off to Eileen. She'll be down to get them soon, but today I went out to see if any were showing up, and yep, they're beginning to. Will they still be okay to transplant in 2 more weeks? (I'm thinking/hoping it will be okay.) ?

Dawn! Light bulb moment. When you mentioned putting dahlias and LILIES amongst the veggies! Woo-hoo. I adore lilies but so do the deer--and apparently the voles. Thank YOU!

Kim, I have so many freaking flowers growing I can hand off to you. . .you have more important things to do. I have nicotiana coming out the kazoo, and Rebecca's Cape daisies, lavender, LB PETUNIAS...., tithonia. . . probably many others. More iris, jonquils, take it easy on yourself. We will have your back. And OH, is your little man a lucky little man, to have you.

My WS things are a whole other thing. Anxious waiting to see what might happen with my problem children. Everything halfway normal has appeared. Astonished to see that blue pimpernel likes being WSd.

Enstanfield: That IS weird. I hope you get them. Very weird. They must be really behind. ????? Who knows.

Up north our feeder fix was suet in the brutal winters. seeds in the not-so brutal. Basically, did seeds May-October.

Dawn, those gorgeous amaranth I posted the picture of. . . they popped up pretty quickly in the grow cart. I'll be able to bring a few to SF. I can hardly wait to see them in person!

Okay, outta here.

enstanfield, What's the unusual part? That someone from Seeds N Such responded back to you? I have found that lots of the smaller companies do have better customer service in that regard than the larger ones do. Hopefully your seeds arrive quickly. Nothing will get a company in trouble with gardeners more quickly than being slow to ship orders. The Seeds N Such owner has been in the seed industry successfully for a very long time, having previously sold a very successful seed retailer he owned so I'd expect that impeccable service from him because he knows what he is doing and he knows how to do it well.

Rebecca, I'm glad Hot Mess Acres is off to a great start. I'd imagine with the improving weather conditions now, your WS jugs are really happy and full of sprouts. To me, it feels like the mid- through late-February weather slowed us all down a lot, and now Spring is busting out all over. I like that.

Kim, I'm so glad you got to spend so much time with your grandson. We all know what an accomplished gardener he is, and I bet he was a huge help to you. Now he needs to learn (a) different gardeners do things in different ways and (b) it is more diplomatic and kinder to not point out when someone is doing something 'wrong' in the garden. lol. It sounds like he might have that part figured out already since he told you that she was doing something wrong, instead of announcing it to her.

I don't even know what to say about their stubborn behavior with regards to the greenhouse. Speechless.

Jennifer, I agree it is harder, but it still was fun. As a person of a certain age, it has been a long time since we've had a little chatterbox around 24/7 and that took a bit of getting used to. Of course, once she left, the silence was nice for about 5 minutes and then it seemed too quiet.

I'm so glad you got some things accomplished today and also that Charlotte is feeling better. Hooray for that!

You know that I largely put an end to our chickens' free-ranging this winter because of predator issues, and I like having them put up in their runs precisely because I don't have to worry about the flats of seedlings hardening off. It it harder to train Tim to stick with the program---he keeps wanting to let them out to free range and I keep saying "no, there's flats of plants out there hardening off and they will eat them". How can he not have learned this lesson after almost 20 years here, all of them with (a) chickens and (b) flats of plants being hardened off in March. Granted, he is gone to work most days when I am carefully selecting a place to put flats that the chickens cannot infiltrate, but he's home on weekends when the same stuff is going on and.....apparently doesn't pay any attention to what it going on around him.

Keep an eye on your large pots on the porch if the chickens are able to access them. Our chickens will jump up into large pots and eat as they please and then, just to insure I know that it is all about them (and not my plants) they'll dig and scratch around the roots and even dust bathe in the soil-less mix in the pots. Sometimes they'll lay eggs there. I guess they think if their eggs are in the containers and not in the coop that I won't find the eggs and collect them, silly chickens. Chicken wire helps keep them out of the containers, even though it isn't the look I prefer for large pots of plants on the porch or patio. See there....I have another reason to keep our chickens penned up----gardening is just easier when the poultry is confined.

Jen, I agree. The same thing is happening here. Now that the coldest weather is gone, things are popping up right and left. I'm glad. It is time.

Bruce, My body's aches and pains remind me I'm not as young as I once was. I just keep saying 'we're not getting older (okay we are, but I deny it), we're getting better". Then by nightfall when my body thinks it is dying from gardening activity that I used to do effortlessly, I confess that it is true--I'm getting older.

The deer here are trained via the use of deer corn near a distant compost pile to go to that area to feed and we see them daily in winter. That doesn't stop them from trying to visit the garden and nibble plants growing on the garden fence later on in the growing season, but at least it establishes a place for them that is far from the front garden (but, unfortunately, close to the back garden). In the Spring through Fall, even without the deer corn there, they visit the compost pile and eat whatever they find. Some hunters have shot some relatively large bucks on the property abutting ours to the west---every time they gleefully report how big of a buck that got during the season, I think to myself---of course they are big, we feed them half the year at our place.

Nancy, With all the deer and voles we have here, I've learned that precious plants must be planted only within the fenced garden to protect them from the deer, and anything voles like to eat must go into the tall raised beds that are lined with hardware cloth. Lillie wants me to grow lilies for her for obvious reasons, and I'm happy to oblige, thanks to the hardware cloth-lined beds. Past efforts at growing lily plants in unprotected beds have shown that sooner or later the voles find and eat the bulbs. I'm hoping that, since the voles never have gotten into these special beds and eaten the potatoes, carrots and other root crops grown there, then maybe they won't infiltrate the beds and eat the lily bulbs or dahlia tubers. Time will tell.

Dawn

I noticed when I was planting onions the gophers are starting to move back in, after being chased out by the rains last week. Guess it's time to start trapping again. The temptation to locate and drop poison in the tunnels is real, but I haven't done it in many, many years!

I'm sure there are voles around here, but I've never verified their presence.

I always get tickled when I see posts on FB concerning moles. Am I the only one that really doesn't care if they are around? I'd rather they leave my earthworms alone, but they can have all the grubs they want!

Kim, I didn't see your comments until I submitted, so I'll just edit this one.

We all wish you lived closer! For one thing, what you are doing is an aspect of gardening/farming, some of us only wish we had the energy or opportunity to be involved with! Yes, I could do it, and maybe some day I will, but for the time being, I'll just dream about it.

Isn't it amazing how having the littles around seems to help keep us somewhat under control? I certainly don't want mine to see my 'irate' side. Knowing how they pick up on things like that, I'm sure they sure the sense it, but I try not to let them the full blown version.

Kim, You will be farming and gardening in a very unforgiving climate there, so perhaps their desire to wait for the rain comes from their knowledge of how tough Spring planting can be without the rainfall. I'm just guessing about that. I am sorry that your planting plans are a mess and aren't conforming to what you wanted, hoped for and expected. Please hang in there and don't stop believing.....even with a late start I bet you have a great year.

It is unfortunate that your promised helpers are not available. Grrrrr. I hate empty promises.

I wish you lived closer to all of us too. If you did, we'd caravan out to the farm and help you plant onions. Don't be too hard on yourself over the onion planting. Just do what you can do every day and be thankful for the progress you're making. I noticed that almost nobody in my area (or nobody who lives on roads we drive along so we're able to see their gardens) has their onions in yet, likely because most everyone here gardens at grade level, so their soil still is too wet. I am grateful for our raised beds because even though their soil also is wet, it was dry enough for me to get the onions planted last week, and today I'll be able to plant a lot of other stuff. So, even though I feel late here (and I am late compared to most years) apparently I'm ahead of everyone else who gardens around me. We all have to work with what we've got and, depending on one's location, it seems like we're either too wet or too dry.......sort of like Goldilocks and the Three Bears......it is hard to find that planting window when things are just right.

Bruce, Our cats wipe out the moles and gophers, so they don't bother me either way, but it is stunning how many mounds I see on other people's property, particularly the ones with sandy soil. To some extent, our large amount of clay saves us from the moles and gophers, and the cats do the rest. If only that were so with the voles, but they tunnel completely underground at night, often hiding the entrances to their tunnels in adjacent woodland or areas of the neighbor's pasture with tall grass, so the cats have to hunt really hard to find the vole holes. I cannot let the cats out at night because of the coyotes, but I bet if the cats could be outside safely at night, they'd control the voles too. It would be tempting to use the poison for the gophers if only you didn't have grandchildren (or pets?). I noticed the sudden appearance of gopher traps, and all sorts of poisons and repellants on the store shelves in the last week or two, so clearly rodent season is underway now. For years, back when the garden fence was only 4' tall, we always had bobcats in the garden. I knew they were lurking there hoping to get birds, house cats, squirrels, bunnies or rodents, but I don't think I realized how many voles they probably were controlling until we raised the fence to 8' in height to keep out the deer. Since that effectively kept out the bobcats too, it was about a year after the raising of the fence that I realized we 'suddenly' had a huge vole problem. I wish there were a way to keep out the deer and allow the bobcats back in. It would sort of freak me out to drive up the driveway and see a bobcat just sitting there in the garden right in the middle of all the plants in broad daylight, but now that they are gone, I miss their varmint-controlling efforts.

I don't understand everyone's obsession with moles either, but then, that's because our lawn is clay and we don't have moles. Maybe if we had moles tunneling everywhere in the lawn, they'd drive me nuts. I don't know. Also, we're rural and I could care less what our lawn looks like. We're not trying to maintain a pristine green carpet that impresses all the neighbors. I can understand that folks who live in suburban neighborhoods where there is a ton of pressure to have the standard perfect green carpet of grass would feel like the moles are ruining their lawn and, by extension, their lives. That whole obsession with perfect green lawns in housing subdivisions is a real thing, you know, and it amazes me how much time and effort people put into feeding and watering a green lawn and controlling the weeds just so they can mow it once or twice a week. It seems like a lot of work for nothing (by nothing, I mean that the standard green lawn doesn't produce food or flowers and doesn't support much wild life). When we lived in the city, we had the standard beautiful green lawn in the front yard, although I replaced as much of it as I reasonably could with ornamental planting beds. We had St. Augustine ('Raleigh') and it was so pretty, but I'm glad we aren't trying to keep a lawn like that green through all of OK's hot, dry, drought-filled summers. As our shade trees here get larger and larger, more and more of our bermuda grass lawn is being shaded out and replaced by ground covers, and that thrills me. That was my plan for the bermuda grass all along---to shade it out. I don't miss the green carpet of grass at all here. Our city back yard always was more garden than lawn grass and that was good---it gave me places to plant things that weren't green lawn, so I always spent more time in the back yard than the front yard even way back then. Nowadays I spend all my time in the garden that I possibly can, and resent every single hour of mowing that takes me away from my garden.

It is funny how kids and grandkids take it so personally when someone else has offended their parent or grandparent, and those kids have long memories too! I guess that makes us stay on our best behavior when the little ones are around.

Looking out the window I can see that it is dawn outside (pun intended). I've been waiting forever for the sun to come up, and finally that moment is about to arrive. Planting day at last! After today, the onions will not be alone any more.

Dawn