Dawn, I still find it amazing that my pecans are awake (but apparently taking a growth break) but yours aren't.

I'm going to do my best to cover up everything tomorrow night after work. I don't get off until 5, so that'll have to do.

I'm going to try the burlap trick to get my carrots to sprout. I was able to get just over 2 yards of remnant burlap at JoAnn today for about $5, using a 40% off coupon from their email list. Might be worth signing up just for that, for some of you. Not trying it until after the freeze, though.

Nancy, Tom and Jerry are cute names too! Although Ari and Gandy are super cute. I'm a very thoughtful namer. (That's not really a word, huh?) I will come back with a picture of Finbar and his new tower. He loves it.

And, Nancy, I pruned my hydrangea--cut off all of the dead stuff. The new leaves are forming at the base of the plant. I have no idea if I did it right. Should it be covered in case of a freeze?

Oh, and I'll come back with a pic of my rhubarb too! It has made the flower things, which I need to cut off...but I really enjoy looking at them. The plant is so weird.

My tomato plants do not look healthy and robust. Some of them are much too tall and I'm sure it makes the stems weak. They are at least 2 feet tall. They were moved outdoors for a few minutes this afternoon while I worked on them. Nancy, the ones you cut...well, one of mine broke off and only the lowest branch is left. We'll see how it does. It certainly fits under the grow lights now. LOL. I will dig a deep hole. Plant the tomatoes and put the large food cans around them for a bit of protection. It worked last year. I will not start tomatoes until March next year. Will not.

We walked the dogs tonight and as we were walking past the garden, Tom said, "the garden looks nice." I guess it does in a way...things are growing and it's beginning to come alive. It's still such a work in progress. It's not my vision yet, but that's okay. Then, on the way back from the walk, he said, "the garden looks nice" again.

By the end of April, hopefully it will look really nice. Maybe the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant will all be planted.

I've already eaten asparagus twice this week--love it, but will need to learn a preservation technique.

Mentally preparing for the cold that is coming in.

I never did consider growing rhubarb in a pot. I've tried twice in the ground with no success. Where do you move it when the weather gets too hot? Do you leave it outside through the winter? My kids love to chew on the stalks, they would be ecstatic if I could get it to grow.

Dawn, I did a little research and found charts for the other trees. Thanks for putting me on the idea they even existed.

I have a friend, post menopause now, who would wake up in the morning and ask her husband to go do something else that day. She would be so angry at him for no reason at all in her menopause years she needed him to leave. She's the sweetest most peaceable woman you've ever met. You'd never know she would have been capable of that. I'm not looking forward to it.

I found this in the yard today and I couldn't remember if it was in a spot I put perennials or not but it doesn't look much like anything wild. I thought I'd share it to see if any of you know.

The rhubarb looks GREAT! Just like it should look! (minus the flower. . . lol) So does Finbar's tower! Bet T and J would love one. I was thinking you had a mophead hydrangea, in which case you wouldn't have needed to prune off the dead stuff. . . no matter, it will grow; and no, you don't need to cover it. They're tough customers.

Ha---love it--maybe by end of April the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will be planted. AGGHH.

Jacob. . . google pigweed and dead nettle--you'll see the difference. Hey, both are edible! lol

I find it amusing that from year to year, I tend to fixate on various plants. Do the rest of you do that? This year, it seems to be basil. (Peppers and tomatoes don't count, right?) I am mildly excited to have peas growing. . . and thanks to you all for talking me into that, Amy. And now am thinking yes, I better plant some green beans this year, too. Maybe. Gotta find room for them. The garlic is huge everywhere, in the raised bed and in the flower beds.

I see things coming up in the shop bed that I'd forgotten I'd planted. . . or things I planted that I assumed had perished. And now am trying to remember just what I planted out there! I saw this one familiar-looking plant springing up, all strong and healthy and for the life of me couldn't put its name to it. I forgot I got the bachelor buttons from SF last year. . . Dawn. They never did get going well--they got too lanky, and I ended up whacking them all off. That's what it is, and it's very stout and lively-looking. And the phlox I planted all mildewed, so I cut them down. Same with the couple different varieties of coreopsis. But they all have shown up and seem happy to be there. And there are yet a couple more yet to be determined. One is quite vigorous, like salvia maybe, but I didn't plant salvia. Oh well, always up for happy surprises. I may not have as much room in that bed as I thought I was going to have. I plan to put herbs everywhere in all the beds just for deer protection.

Hi everyone!

I haven't done much in the garden these two weeks because DH and I just started going for exercise classes at YMCA. I am so out of shape that it takes me at least a day to recover after every class.

My wish this spring is to have at least one or two sweet pea flowers survive. I started at least 20 seedlings indoor, but most of them didn't make it after they have been out the past few weeks. First, my cat broke a few while they were indoors. Then I dropped some of them while I was planting them outdoors a few weeks back. My neighbor's cat dug out quite a few of them the past week after they were in the raised bed. Oh well, like Jacob said, it wouldn't be fun gardening if it isn't challenging. It's crazy (to me) how wise you are, and you are so much younger!

My moss rose seeds germinated, but all the seedlings have wilted. Anyone has any tips?

Rebecca, I have lots of purple dead nettle and henbit in my backyard. I thought it was just henbit until Nancy showed me dead nettle at her place. They both have purple flowers, so I didn't realize.

Speaking of lawn, I put pre-emergent in my front lawn last fall, and there's plenty of dandelions now. Should I focus on fertilizing and seeding my lawn instead? Or should I just let it be and just weed by hand whenever I've time?

Bruce, I didn't know about morels! I love mushrooms. May have to drag DH around to try to find some. Haha, or I wish someone would sell it at the farmers market.

HJ, Finbar is so cute, and your rhubarb plant looks so healthy and happy. My elderberry cuttings are just starting to put out leaves. I placed them in a cup of soil a week ago.

Ahhh I just looked at today's weather forecast. 30-50% rain for the entire day, and then 40%-70% snowflakes from 2am - 4am. Will have to protect everything as much as I can again. Thankfully I have enough plastic sheeting that FIL bought for me last year. Hope everyone's plants will be safe from the freeze.

Y’all I’m so excited I’m on here at 6:30 in the morning and using words like y’all. I was staring at the tray with my roadside seed experiment as if that would make things grow. If I’m being honest, I do this daily. apparently it worked this time though because I have 4 new things sprouting! 2 I don’t knows (coreopsis or greenthread) and 2 baptisia- technically not roadside but saved from a friends yard and also 2 years old. Definitely the perk up I needed to kick off the last full workday of a tough week. I’ll be doing a happy dance all they way up until I get home this evening and have to scramble to cover what isn’t already.

Question - I have some heirloom daffodils - my grandmommy’s grandma’s ... I rescued them from the old family house last spring. They didn’t bloom this year - knew they wouldn’t - but do I need to cover them so they don’t die back too soon? Or will they be okay? I can’t get more and obviously don’t want to lose them.

Rebecca, I have been baffled by the same thing all Spring, well....it may go back to late Winter when you first started mentioning the pecan trees there were breaking dormancy. It is so peculiar! I guess the cold y'all are expecting is really going to do a number on all the fruit trees that either are in bloom, already have bloomed or already have fruit. That's very unfortunate.

Good luck getting everything covered after work. I need to have all my stuff covered before our Wind Advisory goes into effect at 2 pm. I am going to try to cover up everything this morning, but I need for the sun to stay behind the clouds so that there is not excessive heat buildup beneath the covers. If I still worked, I either would have had to take a vacation to do it or just leave the plants uncovered because our weather is going to be so wacky today that covering up anything in the afternoon would be iffy....tornado, hail and high wind threat. This weather is nuts.

I started giving all the planted beds a new layer of mulch yesterday and need to finish that first thing this morning. When the plants are new, tiny and just emerged, I cannot mulch them too much or they get buried, so I mulched lightly in the beginning and now add mulch weekly as the plants get taller. I'm hoping the mulch helps keep everything warmer.

Jennifer, The cat tower is really nice and I do love that Tom commented twice on how good the garden looks.

Asparagus can be blanched and frozen. It can be pickled. You can boil it and use it to make a vegetarian soup stock that you can freeze to use in future cooking.

I've tried to mentally prepare for the cold, but my brain is rebelling and doesn't want to think about it. We've been as warm this week as 79 and as cool as 35 at our house. We are tired of the 30s and hope this weekend is their last appearance this year. We had a very noisy thunderstorm around 3 a.m. It was very fast-moving so I don't know how much rain we got. More rain is expected later today.

The flowering of your rhubarb is likely from the heat. I'd hurry and remove the flower stalks so they won't interfere in the plant's production and make your harvest a small one.

Denise, I've been much more successful with rhubarb in pots than in the ground. When you have it in a pot and the weather starts getting incredibly hot, it is just easier to keep it well-watered in the pot, and you can move it to the shade as needed. In the winter, when I have rhubarb in a pot, I'll move it into the unheated greenhouse to overwinter. It stays warmer in there and also breaks dormancy earlier.

I'm glad you found the fruit tree charts. I find them very helpful.

Nancy, Tom and Jerry need a tower. (They asked me to tell you that.)

I find I mostly fixate on tomatoes, but that is not exactly breaking news here.

Often, when I fixate on a certain vegetable in a given year it is either because I didn't grow it the previous year or I didn't grow enough of it. So many plants, so little space....

I like happy surprises when the pop up in the garden, after I finally figure out what they are.

I just dread all the weather drama today. This state is going to have all kinds of weather. There's so many watches, warnings, advisories, etc. and it is likely to get worse if the severe thunderstorms appear as expected this afternoon. After Saturday night's fairly cold night, I hope we see a rapid warm-up that sticks around and doesn't allow the cold to come back yet again. The way I feel about our weather down here today is that if I don't like it, I just need to wait a few hours and it will change. Then, wait a few more hours and it will change again. I would like to have all my stuff covered and secure from the coming cold (or wind or hail or tornadoes because today's weather is like Forest Gump's box of chocolates.....) by noon. I ought to have time to do all this up through 2 pm, but on the chance that any of the nasty weather rolls in earlier, I'm setting myself an earlier deadline. The last thing we need down here is sunshine. The more daytime heating we get, the more likely the thunderstorms will be severe. Most days I'd rather have sunshine, but not today. So far we have not gotten cold enough long enough here to lose the fruit on the trees. We just have to get through 2 more days and nights. They've raised our chance of wintery precipitation a bit higher. This did not amuse me. Really, nothing about this weather amuses me.

Yesterday I saw the first monarch butterfly. It was new, not faded. The autumn sage is blooming in the garden now. It often blooms very early in Spring and the cold usually doesn't bother it, so I probably won't cover it up. I'm not going to cover up any perennials unless they accidentally get covered up because they're sitting next to something I am covering up on purpose.

Now, I'm headed out to start the day as soon as it gets a tiny bit lighter outdoors.

Dawn

Wow Megan. Good job on the roadside experiment! To tell you the truth, I have been known to glance at the grow cart, oh, like 3-4 times a day, or every time I walk past it, after I've planted stuff. I bet others do, too. . . . you're not alone. In the company of some sick, sick people, I'd say. Daffodils are tough, I'm sure they can take it. Well, I don't know how cold you're going to get, but am still betting daffies can take it. Still, if I had 4-generation old daffodils, I'd probably throw a bunch of leaves or cover over them. . . (Daffies, a nod to my own Daffy. . . I was just chuckling, thinking of a bunch of Daffs sitting around. . . miss my little Daffodil.)

Last night, Garry came in to tell me good night, since it was 1 am. I shot out of my chair like a bolt--ONE o'clock???? Hadn't even glanced at my clock here on the computer. . . I was lost in gardening sites, looking at plants and looking for rhubarb. (I decided it's all so expensive, I'll just wait and pick some up at Walmart Bonnie Plants this year. . .) I thought it was 11-ish. Floored me. . . . but sleep was the last thing on my mind, so I drank some sleepy tea and finally made it by 2, and then still took me another hour or so to fall asleep. I hate it when that happens.

Dawn/Rebecca et al., I haven't even looked at the forecast. Talk about denial. I guess I better look. . . oh dear. WHAT!!?? For here, it says 18 for a low and snow at 4 a.m.-ish.. Oh dear. Oh dear. Racklefratz! Following your lead, Dawn, I'd say some mulch is the order of the day. Dagnabbit!

Yikes.

HJ. . . . I dreamt about you and Finbar in the few sleeping hours I had last night. You were stopping by to tell me about the cat show you were going to, and I was trying to catch Jerry to have him meet Finn. You had the tower, disassembled and packed in your car, to take with you. Hysterical. The tower must have implanted in my head, Dawn; the cats must have gotten their message through to me with your help.

And, HJ, now you get to try out the whacked-off-tomato experiment for yourself! :) Yay.

Hahaha, Dawn fixating on tomatoes. Weird! Haha.

I went on a mini expedition yesterday looking for morels. Ended up probably a mile from the house and no morels. I can see I need to do more exploration, and it was FUN, though trekking through tick-infested woods isn't my idea of a good time, generally. Nevertheless, I was marveling that I live not in the city/not in the country, and still have actual foresty country from my house north for several miles. I know I know, spellcheck, that foresty isn't really a word. It is to me.

Eileen, I am pouting. . . Jacob and Dawn started it, the talk of sweet peas. I tried them last year. Too late and they fried shortly after a couple dozen flowers. Now here you go on them. I guess maybe I'll try some again next year; this year have enough other experimentals going. Also, check out Oklahoma morel in the FB search, and you'll see 3-4 groups of Oklahoma morel hunters.

Jacob, wish you could have brought your family and yourself to SF. I'm sure you'll be a hot topic. LOL :) (Now you're REALLY gonna be sorry!)

Okay, gotta get going. . . Happy Friday, everyone. Keep your chins up and your plants warm!

Quick reply to Denise--have to go to the school job in a couple of minutes.

I thought I purchased a horseradish root 2 years ago, Denise, and put it in the pot because horseradish can "take over"...and saw other people online planting it in pots. The plant was very confusing to me the first year--didn't look like horseradish and the plan was to not dig the root the first fall. SO...the second spring (last year) it produced those flower things that reminded me of broccoli or cauliflower--SO confusing. Finally, a picture posted on fb got my answer---it is rhubarb, NOT horseradish. It sits at the west edge of my garden on a pallet. There is a tree a few feet from my garden that gives shade in the afternoon and evening. I suspect that is why it does well--it's in shade during the hottest parts of the day. Last year after learning that it is a rhubarb plant, the flowers were cut and it kept growing all year. So...maybe if you have spot that gets morning sun and afternoon/evening shade, put your rhubarb pot there.

I bought our cats a tower shortly after we moved. Old house didn't have carpet so I got tired of yelling at them to stop clawing the carpet. (Side note: the cat tree did nothing to stop it.) Anyway, the thing shakes when they try to climb it & the little holes are way too small for them to fit. Simba (the king) gets on the top occasionally. So if you get one, make sure it's not top heavy.

Got your memo, Jen, re cat towers. . .

Ha! I was just out covering some plant youngsters with leaves and/or hay. Was chuckling at the SF "Plants Needed or Wanted" list that isn't up yet. Might be more neededs and wanteds after this frosty weekend. . .

If anyone heard stomping and yelling and screaming coming from near the Capitol that wasn't the teachers... it was me getting notification that the frost cloth I ordered on Wednesday and paid $15 for expedited, one-day shipping - shipped TODAY! I'm so ticked.

Oh, and of course the day the kid is grounded from electronics, Grandma gets sick and can't watch her so she's at work with me bored out of her mind. And will not be happy to be drug across town while I chase frost cloth locally.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Megan, been there done that. I've run into that with amazon in the past, and let's just say when I was through, there was no doubt they understood my position on the matter! It doesn't help one bit, but hopefully you can come up with something else to cover with!

I'm unexpectedly having to keep my two granddaughters and can't get to my garden to take measures. Hopefully when my son gets in, we can get my onions and strawberries covered up. I have about a dozen bibb lettuce that have gallon cans placed around them so, they won't take much to lay a board or something over them.

If all else fails, lettuce is easy to start an I already have a decent sized bed seeded. And I may just have to take my chances on onions and strawberries.

I got a $5 certificate for chewing Amazon out 3-4 months ago. Whoopeee. . .

Mindful of our forecast, I weeded and then I mulched and mulched and mulched, mostly killing time until the weather could cool down a little bit, which really hasn't happened. In between recurring waves of heavy clouds, then sunshine, then clouds, then sunshine, I finally started putting row cover over the rows, zip-tying it to the hoops so it won't fly away in the strong winds tonight, and using U-shaped landscape staples to tack it down to the ground. I'm worried about heat buildup beneath the row cover (because it has happened before) even though the manufacturer says heat buildup won't happen.

Why is heat buildup a concern? Hmmmm. Maybe because as I sit typing this, it is a ridiculous 84 degrees here a little after 4:30 p.m. Remember, y'all, how I always say my weather is more like Dallas than OKC? Today is a perfect example of that. Originally our NWS forecast high for today was 77, then they changed it to 72 overnight or early this morning, then we hit 82, and at that point our forecast high went back to 77. Now we're up to 84 degrees. Because. Oklahoma. Weather.

Our forecast low for tonight has been fluctuating between 30 and 32, with a 30% chance of a wintery mix. We are under a Wind Advisory and a Freeze Warning. I'm hoping the wind isn't happening at the same time that our temperature bottoms out, because the wind would mean that the row covers give less protection than the stated number. I only used the one that gives 8 degrees of protection because I was trying to get better air flow and less heat buildup.

It looks, at least so far, like the thunderstorms are firing up just east of us, and by just east I mean right along our county line to the east, so close but not headed our way, though a couple of sprinkles have fallen here, and I had to come in when I heard thunder (because if you can hear thunder, you're within striking distance of any lightning that storm is producing). So far, so good there. I've already brought in all the flats of plants, and everything in the garden that really matters is sweating under row cover until the temperatures drop, so if hail wants to go ahead and fall, this would be a good time for it to do so. If we get a heat buildup and the plants burn or die, then I guess it is meant to be. There's only so much you can do when the temperature is in the 80s and is going to plunge into the 30s.

I'll try to catch up on everything tonight. I'm trying to read, but Tim is home early (wanting to beat the severe weather and now that there is no severe weather and I was too busy covering plants to cook) and we're going to run out and grab a bite to eat in a couple of minutes. There's severe storms just east of us---our TV met just cut into the scheduled program to show all of them to us on the radar. We're waiting to see his forecast on the 5 pm news before we head out to eat.

Megan, Sorry about the frost blankets. If I were closer to OKC, I'd loan you some. Prior to some other big chills, I ordered 4-5 days in advance, had 2-day shipping and got it on Day 3, which just gave me enough time to get it out into the garden, cut it to length and then use it.

Y'all, everyone's forecast must have really deteriorated since I went outdoors this morning because I saw Damon Lane's FB post that said most of central/northern OK will have a hard freeze for 9 hours tonight. That is awful. Good-bye fruit tree blossoms and fruit. I knew Rebecca was likely to have some pretty cold weather, but a freeze for that long is hard to protect against.

Back later.

Nancy, I might have messed up my hydrangea. It's an Endless Summer type and I just read to leave it alone--don't prune. That poor thing. Really. I have a lot to learn about ornamental plants. A LOT.

I'm laughing at your dream. I must be acting a little too proud of the tower...or a little too excited. I'm just so in love with this kitty. (I can psychoanalyze myself here, and there's many reasons). I will apologize in advance for sharing pictures a little too often.

I also fixate on certain plants, but it's often not for the full year--it's for a few weeks. Mine this year was a lettuce/greens garden. My hope is that it doesn't freeze tonight. How much can greens generally take? Should I go harvest my lettuce and make a small salad?

Eileen, I'm so inspired that you're going to exercise classes with your husband. You'll be in great shape for summer garden chores. Are you going to plant your elders this year? Or leave them in pots?

Did you make it through the day, Megan?!

Bruce, I'm not covering my strawberries or onions. The strawberries never really died over the winter, so I thought they could take a single night of freezing temps. Oh no. Now, I'm worried.

Well, Mom met me at my house after work to start Operation Save the Garden. Multiple old sheets, towels, and plastic bags later...we wait. Fingers crossed.

I dug out sheets and covered stuff. lol

My fingers are crossed too, Rebecca.

Good luck, Rebecca. Y'all have done all you can do. It's all over but the waiting now.

Jennifer, Lettuce's cold hardiness is hard to quantity because some varieties are more cold-tolerate and more frost-tolerant than others. The size also matters. Lettuce is most vulnerable to cold damage when the plants are tiny or when they are quite large and near maturity. I usually cover up lettuce if we're dipping down to 30 or lower, just because I'd rather be safe than sorry. It also depends on how hardened any lettuce is. If your plants have had lots of near-freezing temperatures already, they'll take quite a it of cold. If, however, they've been cruising along for weeks in warm daytime and nighttime temperatures, they will tolerate the cold less well. (That's why my lettuce is covered---it has had tons of days with highs in the 70s and 80s and nights with lows in the 50s and 60s, so I have no idea how it will tolerate the low 30s or high 20s.) Lettuce in a cold frame or under row covers can survive down to between 0 and 10 degrees due to the extra protection those structure provide.

Nancy, It took Amazon'd excellent customer service personnel 3 or 4 months? Not so great, but at least you finally heard from them.

Bruce and Megan, When I order agricultural fabric I either order from an agricultural supply store or a greenhouse supply store as they seem to understand that when you order a product like frost blankets or row covers, you need them ASAP. I just don't trust Amazon that much.

Y'all need to stop talking about cat towers or my cats will read this and figure out that other cats have a cat tower and they don't. I don't want for them to know cat towers exist.

Nancy, Wow, you were in denial. On the other hand, our forecast has changed about every 2 or 3 hours all week, so what we're going to have tonight isn't close to where we started. I just should have ignored the forecast until this morning. Actually, denial probably is a good place to be right now, because for anyone from central OK northward, the forecast is awful---and it isn't a picnic even for those of us down here in far southern OK. I think there will be some record lows tomorrow morning.

I've never worried about daffodil bulbs freezing, and even the flowers are pretty cold tolerant.

For all fruit, y'all, the buds, blossoms and fruit are more susceptible to cold damage than the rest of the plant, so that knowledge could cause you to cover up a blooming/fruiting plant that you normally wouldn't worry about.

Megan, Congrats on the little sprouts in your roadside experiment tray! That's something to be happy about on what is otherwise a pretty dismal day.

Eileen, Were your moss rose seedlings in wet soil? They are succulent type plants and need to be in dry soil. It takes a lot of being dry, dry, dry to hurt moss rose, but being too wet can get them pretty quickly. Does it look like damping off with the thin, pinched-looking stem right at the soil level or is it just general wilting?

This isn't the answer you want---I leave the dandelions alone. They are great early bee food and can sustain the local bees and get them through late Spring's cold weather when there's not many other food sources for them. I never touch the dandelions---I treasure them. The leaves are edible (my father in law and Tim both ate them every Spring) and you can make dandelion wine. See how versatile they are? If you must remove them, I'd hand dig them. They have deep tap roots, so be sure you get them all. If you don't have one, you might find a dandelion weeder to be a useful tool for this. Here's an example of one type, and you probably can find a billion different ones on Amazon.

Example of a Dandelion Weeder

My flowering sweet peas don't look as good as my sugar snap peas. I didn't cover up any of them. They should survive the cold, and if they don't, I won't replant because it already is April. I have zinnias, cuphea, gomphrena and other warm season flowers growing in flats indoors that can take their place if they don't make it.

Down by the driveway gate, a lot of wildflowers burst out into bloom today, including more bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush and pink evening primrose. Poor things. Did they not get the memo about freezing temperatures and possible wintery precipitation tonight? Maybe they'll get to experience thundersleet or thundersnow. Tonight's cold shouldn't harm them much. They might look a little cold-burned or wilty for a day or two. I hope the hummingbirds have found a warmish place out of the wind.

I'm hoping this weekend is the last blast of cold weather. It is time to have Spring weather that stays instead of coming and going.

Dawn

Might be getting some snow tonight, and temps are going to be pretty frigid for this time of year. I'm hoping my peas will survive, because I'm not covering them!! If we drop into the upper teens or low 20's do you think they'll survive Dawn? I think we'll hit the low 20's to be honest based on the way it feels. My lettuces and overwintered spinach are staying with their single layer of AG30. The Rouge Grenobloise lettuce and Merlot lettuce I'm growing have survived the low 20's uncovered without damage in the past, and they've survived many freezes this spring already, so I'm not worried about them. Broccoli and cauliflower are facing it alone with only some mulch. I hate to do it, but I'm going to replace them no matter what happens. Most are badly freeze damaged, and I'm afraid they'll bolt if they don't die, so I'm not worrying about protecting them. Cabbages have AG30 fabric and thick, heavy tarps dedicated to them, as they stand a much better chance tonight not being freeze damaged already, for the most part. And I don't have to worry about them bolting :/ Everything from the greenhouse is in the garage! Let's hope everything makes it. I'm especially hoping my peas will make it. They're not mulched, and I have no more cover so we'll see. They've survived 23 when sprouting and 25 F on Tues. just fine, so I'm thinking they'll be alright. My grandparents started them in late Feb. in MO when they were much younger, and winters and springs were colder then as they tell me.

Is anyone else interested in the Grand Solar Minimum? Supposedly it's why spring is a bit more normal this year, because we are entering the lowest solar cycle this the Maunder Minimum in the 1700's in the 2020's. They say the corn belt will be moved 200 miles south, and that old fashioned winters will make an appearance, but because the earth is tilting, the southern hemisphere will experience blazing hot temperatures. Who knows. Scientists like to change their minds a lot :P Neat though.

Nancy, RE the SF; Yeah, I was hoping to be able to make it. Too bad! You guys will all have a lot of fun I'm sure. Next time!

The wind is REALLY blowing tonight. LOL I was chasing my tarps and covers around this evening because of the wind. I'm sure our neighbors are always wondering.

I'll say, a few weeks ago, I was enjoying gardening in my pajamas and bare feet! It's been too cold for any of that this week.

Dawn, I watered my moss rose seedlings less often than the rest, but I guess it's still too wet for them. Will try again and make sure it's really dry. They were really tiny and just wilted. Honestly, I'm really happy that you gave me reasons not to bother with the dandelions because it means lesser work for me. I'm attaching a photo just to be sure that I don't have too many dandelions. Haha

I also recently read about dandelion horn on FB. Will have to try it out if the frost doesn't kill them.

HJ, I hope we will stick to this exercise routine for the rest of our lives. It takes way too much effort to get back in shape. I should be planting the two elderberry cuttings later this year. I was so happy when Dawn said that they thrive in places that periodically have tons of water because I have a spot for that.

Jacob, Grand Solar Minimum sounds interesting. My neighbors must be wondering what I was doing this afternoon too. I was wrestling with the plastic covers and old pillow cases in my front yard while the wind was trying to blow everything away.

Rebecca, I hope our Operation Save the Garden is successful!

Megan, sorry about your frost cloth! I would be stomping and yelling too if I paid extra for expedited shipping.

Nancy, I hope you will try to grow some sweet pea flowers next year, so that I can see them even if mine are not successful. By the way, we bought some sleepytime tea for DH to try since he always has trouble falling asleep.

Eileen, I think Sweet Peas' fragrance is my all-time favorite fragrance. . . I can see myself picking sweet peas in my Grandma's garden when I was 6 and on.

So lucky of you Nancy! I have never seen or smell any before!! Been missing out so much.

Have you ever tried a fall crop of sweet peas Nancy?

No but that is a brilliant idea, Jacob! DONE. Eileen, you can smell them this fall!

Duh. LOL. Thx, Jacob!

Jacob, you just made me pull up Maunder Minimum in Wikipedia.

I have reading to catch up on but popped by to tell Dawn that she may not have gotten her snow-nado but I just got sleet-quake. Mother Nature. Bless her heart.

Freezing rain and then sleet here. I'll venture out and check on the greenhouse in a while.

Well we got about a half inch or inch of snow with a little ice. I was correct on low 20's. Looks like any dogwood trees in bloom are frozen! My peas are frozen but I think everything will take this alright with the blanket of snow covering them. What a crazy time of year. Want to know what else is fascinating? My Old Farmer's Almanac had predicted this snow on this date!!! How crazy. My family thought I was nuts when I said it predicted snow on April 7th.

Our power just went out.

Havent been outside yet, but Tom says we have a little snow.

Now to figure out the animal situation...particularly the chicks. They’ve been “hardened off” to the 40’s. Hopefully our house will stay that warm.

I’m not sure how many times I head local meteorologists say that snow or sleet wouldn’t stick... the ground was too warm. I rolled my eyes and thought “we’ll see”...

Jacob, Your peas should have survived, especially if under snow which will insulate them. We rarely get cold enough here to kill the peas (sometimes they do get damaged and lose some leaves). While younger, pea plants are more tolerant of the cold. If you happen to get a big blast of cold after they begin blooming, the blossoms often drop, but new ones pop up quickly to replace them. I hope your peas are alright this morning. Also, prior cold conditioning helps, so since you've had colder weather than we have had, your peas ought to have been in better shape to tolerate this cold spell than ours were.

We had crazy wind too, right in the middle of our day, in between the high temperature of 84 degrees and all that sunlight but before the freeze rolled in, we had a Wind Advisory. The clouds rolled in fast and the temperature fell like a rock while the wind was blowing like crazy, but by then I had all the row covers secured firmly in place. It probably helped that we knew we were going to have a Wind Advisory beginning at 7 pm because that caught my attention and made me pay special attention to how I secured the row covers in the first place. I might not have been as careful without a Wind Advisory. Best of all, the cold air rolled in so quickly with that strong cold wind that the severe storms couldn't pop up here when the two fronts collided because we dropped from hot to cold almost instantly. Instead, they started popping up right along our eastern county line and rolled through the counties adjacent to us. That was good for us, and probably bad for them.

I hope everyone's efforts to protect their plants in this cold spell were successful. Just remember, we can only do what we can do and the rest of it is out of our hands.

Megan, We didn't get our snow-nado and I am grateful. Oooh, a sleet-quake. I think y'all just won the prize for the strangest thing yet!

Bruce, I hope the greenhouse plants are okay.

Jennifer, Sorry your power is out. Hope it comes back on quickly. You can keep your chicks warm if there's still hot water in the hot water heater----fill up a milk jug or something similar and put it near them. They can press up against it for its warmth if the indoor temperature drops too much.

Well, y'all, on most April Saturdays, I feel torn between the need to run errands, buy groceries, etc. versus the desire to stay home and work in the yard and garden. Today, I'm not torn at all. It is just a no-brainer to go out and do all the errands and shopping today and then hope tomorrow will have gardening weather. I do have cranky dogs and cats who aren't going to go outside and play today.

Dawn

Having a cup of tea, just started laundry, and contemplating my day. I wouldn't even leave the house today if I didn't have to go uncover things later! There's a dusting of snow/sleet on all my covers. Fingers crossed, still. Lots of wrecks on the elevated highways here in town, too.

Today is the opening day of Cherry Street Market, but I don't think very many vendors showed up because of the cold. The food ones say they can't keep things warm and/or fresh enough outside on these days, and the flower and plant vendors can't keep their plants out. I think a couple showed up with greens and root veggies, but I'm betting today is a wash all around.

Wednesday will be in the 70s, and I will be planting and potting up like crazy! Even if we get another cold snap, I have things that just can't wait any longer. Hopefully Lee will have a minute to pop in and update us on the long range forecast.

I couldn't help but notice the western part of the state--not only no precipitation, but colder than the rest of the state last night. Folks over there who farm or garden--now THEY have a tough row to hoe! We also got probably 1/2" of snow--a skiff. No point in checking everything at this point since it's still under 32. I was "pleased' (!?) to see it only got down to 25. I'm guessing everything's fine. If not, seeds are cheap, right. I was just sitting here, lost in past late spring snow storms, of which there are no small number, with large wildlife and livestock losses in the Wyoming outback.

Maybe a trip to town today for us, too. And lots more seeds to plant and water. So very strange to be mostly indoors for over four months. I was sure winter was only 3 months long down here. Silly me.

It looks like more people had weather just like ours than didn't. So I guess this is sort of a just waiting day. Hope your chickens are fine, HJ; I'm thinking they are, other than being not happy with the cold. (Is your heat back on yet?) I fell sorry for the Cherry Street Market vendors being outside all day. I can imagine there won't be a crowd, and wonder how many vendors won't be there.

I, too, had not heard about the Maunder Minimum. How did you happen across that, Jacob? The more we know, the more we find there is to know.

Eileen, you'll love this. After we thoroughly discussed covering the peonies, guess what I forgot to do. LOL!!! And they are not happy this morning. There will be some dieback; luckily, none had begun blooming yet. I bet YOURS are fine! I guess I'll put my jacket on and go do a walk-around in the yard, just for kicks.

Having some tea now. Peas are fine, as is everything else I think. Broccoli and cauliflower shot, but I think it was worth it, because I'm pretty sure I saved my cabbages and collards and early radishes, which had a much better chance anyways. I'll have a closer look at the cabbages when it finally warms up this afternoon...if it warms up.

Sucks that your power went out Hazel!! Dawn has a good idea with the milk jugs full of hot water. Chickens are tough little birds!

I came across the Maunder Minimum in my colonial gardening research. Everyone I know knows how fascinated I am with pilgrim/colonial gardening from the 17th century- the 18th century. Maunder Minimum caused many famines across America and Europe because food was so hard to grow. Many places in America reported frost year round, even southern locations. Sadly OK/AR were not documented during that period :-( Of course, according to Native American legend, it was responsible for very bad blizzards and the freezing of the Arkansas River during the period. Supposedly the Dalton Minimum in the early 19th century was responsible for the deaths of many Indians traveling the Trail of Tears. When we were in the Ouachita Mountains eastern OK/western AR (BEAUTIFUL area by the way. Talimena Scenic Byway is like a replica of the Blue Ridge mountains in VA.), some signs talked about that. When entering the northwestern AR and northeastern OK, extreme cold came with HEAVY blizzards that lasted days; the Arkansas River froze; many died to starvation and frostbite.

The reason winters and possibly summers have been so warm recently, is because the northern hemisphere has been tilted more towards the sun, and we the sun has experience maximum solar activity, e.g., many sunspots, etc. This is changing back to a the solar minimum cycle. Anyways,

Hope everyone has a good day, hopefully indoors lol

Everything in the greenhouse is fine. I ended up adding a Buddy heater to help keep temps up. I think I loaned the adaptor hose that would allow me to run off a larger tank, so this will cost an extra $10 in small bottles. Oh well!

I only glanced at the garden as I went by. Did see ice crusted onions and strawberry plants, tho. We'll see once everything thaws!

Just uncovered everything. I think I'm good! Roses are a little droopy, and the lilies are unhappy, but everything else looks ready to keep going. I see sun here!

Rebecca, I know they hate to cancel market days, but I think it would have made more sense to cancel the Cherry Street Market today. I cannot imagine the vendors could make enough money in this weather to make it worth their while.

Wednesday here will be in the upper 70s, and Thursday and Friday around 80 degrees, so if I haven't done so by then, I'll be putting more tomato plants in the ground and planting corn seed.

I'm glad you're seeing sunshine and that your plants look okay.

Nancy, I think life is just tougher in western OK period. Often colder than the rest of us in winter, hotter in summer, and sometimes they go from too cold to too hot almost overnight. The people who farm and ranch there must operate on pretty narrow margins, given how often the weather hurts the crops, or the prospects of even getting a crop. Jay is just over the border in KS from the OK panhandle, and his annual rainfall sometimes sounds like the monthly rainfall for some of us in a wet month like May. Sometimes I wonder how anyone in that region gardens, farms or ranches.

I have heard of the Maunder Minimum before. Do I win a prize? (grin)

Jacob, I'm glad you were able to save as much as you did.

Bruce, Ice-crusted onions and strawberries don't sound good. I hope the ice melts off pretty quickly.

We've made it up to 43 degrees, our forecast high for the day. There were a couple of brief moments of sunlight, but they didn't last long. Tonight will be fairly chilly so I'm leaving the plants covered until tomorrow. Better safe than sorry.

This was a rare weekend out shopping---I didn't even look at plants anywhere or look at seeds or anything. That rarely happens---I usually look just to see what they have even if I'm not looking for anything. Today we just went into the stores, got what was on the list and came out. What would be the point of looking at plants that cannot go into the ground yet? I've got enough plants-in-waiting as it is. The plants sitting in their flats on the breakfast room table look pretty happy and have great color---likely a result of yesterday's hot weather. They'll be back out in the sun tomorrow and that should make them happy again. They'll probably get a little leggy today due to the lack of bright light in the breakfast room, and I just don't care. Some things we cannot control, so why worry and fret?

Dawn

I feel like we just hit the re-set button. Okay! Is everyone else looking forward to spring now? :) I certainly am. . . get all the plants through tonight, then maybe spring will be here, hopefully not with too many setbacks.

The NWS offices in Norman and Tulsa have issued new Freeze Warnings for tonight. I didn't read the Tulsa office's, but the one for my area issued by the Norman office was issued at 8:56 pm and went into effect immediately. It didn't impact me because I expected it (though I expected it to be issued earlier than this) and left everything covered. The text of the Freeze Warning urged everyone to cover tender vegetation and I admit I was thinking to myself that maybe they should have issued the Freeze Warning while it was still light outside so people could see and find the tender vegetation that needed to be covered.

Hopefully most people had looked at their own forecasts and left everything covered up for one more night. I'd be mad if I had uncovered stuff and now have to run out and recover it.

I'm not real happy about the temperatures in the low 40s on Sunday and Monday night, and probably will leave the row covers lying in the pathways after I uncovered everything tomorrow so I can throw them back over the rows if the forecast is lowered from the low 40s to somewhere in the 30s.

So, what reset button are we hitting now? Tonight? Second verse, the same as the first......

Nancy, I'll be excited about Spring by, perhaps, Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll see. The 6-10 day temperature outlook shows a good chance of lower than average temperatures so I'll go on with planting and all in a few days, but while keeping a wary eye on the weather.

Hitting re-set button for next week. Next week first week of spring. After Mon, Tues, of course. :)

Last I saw here was for 31, so I'm not covering. Too late now, anyway.

Luckily our power only stayed off for a couple of hours. We went to breakfast and to buy a new litter box and bowls for Finbar and it was back on when we got back.

It ended up being a nice day--sunny this afternoon. We walked the dogs and I did playground duty with the hens.

Everything in the garden looks okay. I left it all covered. Tomorrow, the tomatoes are going outside. And the next day...and the next day...and the next day...

These suckers have got to be planted soon.

Hope everyone's gardens did okay.

Oh, you know what HJ, I'm coasting. I have the grow cart filled to capacity now. No room for anything else. I believe some might say I'm tempting fate.

Nancy, I'm hitting reset too. Starting tomorrow they (tomatoes) are going out. And hopefully by next Monday, they'll be planted...at least the tallest ones will.

You guys aren't showing frost this week? I've got 3 chances for it into next weekend. Can't see past that. According to the long range forecast we won't start hitting 70's regularly until the first half of May here, so I'm going to wait as I usually do. You guys dont make that easy. Soil is way too cold anyways. I'm aiming to get tomatoes and most other warm season crops like beans in between May 10-20, which usually is the best time for me. I'm going to put the corn, winter squash, etc. in in early to mid June after a early spring crop, as I've said before. The latest I'll likely get away with a corn planting is likely early July. I may start the first succession in early to mid May in pots and transplant out early to mid June, then start a second crop in early June, third mid June, 4th early July, etc. Now, I've said in the past I'm not a huge sweet corn fan, but a lot of my family loves it, mainly my mom and brother, so I'm growing it mainly for them. I enjoy the treat once in a while as well, and frozen sweet corn does make a decent change from potatoes and green beans when we have beef or chicken roasts during the winter. Plus, it's really fun to grow. I think the only winter squash I'm growing will be Seminole pumpkins, Cinderella pumpkins, and spaghetti squash. I may grow a couple plants of butternut, but we don't eat a lot of that so I may not.

Now, for those of you with squash bug and/or squash vine borer issues, I had an idea today. I notice that Ruth Stout put lit cigarettes in her squash hills to kill the bugs with smoke and nicotine. What if you took a little charcoal grill or something of the sort and got a good fire going in it, and placed it near the squash patch, maybe fanning it towards the squashes? Not a huge fire, even just some smoldering flames to create lots of smoke. According to my sources, this is how pioneers and early American settlers would keep bugs out of their fruit trees. Same idea right? Beas and other beneficial insects are also repelled by smoke, so I can't see them being harmed by it, as they wouldn't even go near it. NOW, this could be a horribly stupid idea considering fires, but I'd see it working if controlled properly?

Im going to replace my broccoli and cauliflower with some transplants at a local nursery. I called in a couple days ago and they said $3 for a 6 pack. I've got plenty enough cabbages, but I'll get 1 or 2 dozen cauliflower and 1 or 2 dozen broccoli. We don't eat quite a lot of cauliflower or broccoli, not near as much as we do cabbage, so I don't need much. This next week would normally be the proper time to put out if I hadn't DROPPED them. lol

By the way, anyone here who has eaten it, what does kohlrabi even taste like?! The plants are doing really well; I have about 1 dozen. I've never eaten it before!

I am using this time to plan ahead a bit more. I probably need to get my autumn/winter late season cabbages started in mid May or so, maybe a little earlier, for putting out in late June. I'm going to try and aim for 15lb heads from a late season cabbage. I think I can get it to do alright through the summer, 100+ dtm varieties. Over on the Vegetable Gardens forums, Farmerdill has told me that he grew them fine in VA, pretty similar heat zone/climate to me. I won't start autumn broccoli or cauliflower until early July or late June likely. 60 dtm is bit more forgiving lol. I'm basing these dates on our average first frost date of Oct. 10th.

Going to head to bed now.

Someone is selling half a pound of morels for $20 on Facebook Marketplace! Should I or should I not buy them? I kind of want to try them...

Jacob, crazy how the Old Farmer's Almanac predicted the snow! I haven't tried kohlrabi before. Can't wait to hear what everyone says about it as well as using smoke for squash bugs and/or squash vine borers.

HJ, glad the power only went out for a few hours. What caused it?

Rebecca, I was looking forward to go to Cherry Street Farmers Market for the past few weeks, but it was just too cold to make the trip.

Megan, I can't believe there's an earthquake too! Didn't feel it here in Catoosa. Was asleep though.

Nancy, I hope I can smell the sweet pea flowers this fall! I will try to grow them again in fall. I hope you can smell pandan this year if I successfully grow them, or if you buy some in fall. It has a very unique smell.

Speaking of smell, my citronella plant has gone insanely huge. Would anyone want some at Spring Fling? I can try to root some.

Nancy, As long as the new week isn't the first week of summer, I'll be okay with Spring starting over or whatever. I just don't want for us to skip Spring, so we can reset and start Spring over every week if we wish. Friday's high temperature of 84 (which was not at all forecast) reminded me that some years we also go from winter to summer overnight, and I don't like years like that. I don't think this will be one of them, but I'd sure hate to be wrong about that.

Rebecca, If y'all only go to 31, I wouldn't be worried about much. I just feel like I cannot trust my forecast to be on the money because it so seldom is. They've already dropped our forecast low from 33 to 32 to 31, so I need to stop looking at it because every time I check it, it has changed again. And, just because I said that, I felt compelled to go look at the forecast again, and now it is showing 30 degrees for us. This is nuts. If I check it in another hour, will it show 29?

Jennifer, I'm glad the power wasn't off for too long. We had sunshine on and off really late in the day, but not that much of it. About the time I got used to the sunshine, the clouds came back and blotted it out again.

Nancy, I think we're all coasting.....too many plants inside waiting to go outside again and then into the ground. I couldn't start more now if I wanted to. However, once the plants start going into the ground and I have empty flats and empty shelf and table space, then starting more seeds (this time for the back garden) is a definite possibility.

Jennifer, It feels like time to get the poor things in the ground, doesn't it? They've been waiting for so long and the weather has been so uncooperative.

Jacob, I cannot speak for anyone else, but the coldest nights (after tonight) left for me are Sun @ 40 degrees and Mon @ 41 degrees. Being rural, we get frost more easily than folks in town where the heat island effect from all the concrete often helps hold temperatures up a couple of degrees, so I've seen frost often at 36 degrees, occasionally at 37 and a couple of times at 38. (This has a lot to do with official temperatures being recorded at 5' above ground level, and frost on plants basically occurring at ground level or just a foot or so above it, where air temperatures likely are colder than they are at the 5' level.) Having moved here from the city, it took me a while to get use to these unexpected frosts that occur when the air is several degrees above freezing. However, we've never had them with lows in the 40s, so I'm hoping our forecast lows are correct. Regardless, I have frost blankets enough to cover the whole front garden if a big disaster were looming, though I hope I never have to do that.

I hadn't used row cover at all this year until last Sunday night and now I'm sick to death of looking at it. However, having it on the plants does make killing mosquitoes easier, so at least there's that. They land on the white fabric, I see them, I swat them and another skeeter bites the dust. Is is odd that we have mosquitoes out at the same time frost blankets are in use? Sadly, it is not. I've noticed mosquitoes seem to be becoming cold hardier all the time and we see them here in every month of the year, even when temperatures are in the single digits. This goes against everything I once believed about mosquitoes.

By the time you're hitting the 70s, I should be hitting the 90s. Is that nuts? We've already hit 88 once or twice this year, so hitting the 90s in April isn't unheard of. We hit the 90s Easter week in 2011, which maybe should have been some foreshadowing of the summer heat that was to come, but I was hoping those hot days were an anomaly. For that year, they weren't. It was the worst tomato year ever because we were hot enough to inhibit fruit set before all the tomato plants even went into the ground. So, when you see the risks we take with putting tomato plants in the ground so soon after a big cold spell, it is because of past years like that.

Long before you were born, Jacob, there was indeed an over-the-counter pesticide made from nicotine. I want to say that the one I recall was called Black Death, and it wasn't even that unique or new. Compounds containing nicotine sulfate were used as a pesticide as far back as the 17th century. What Ruth Stout was doing was basically her version of that sort of product, though the commercial products were sprays, not burning cigarettes. (grin) As I recall, the nicotine products fell from favor in recent decades because of hazardous side effects, but nowadays modern science is giving us neonicotinoids, which I haven't used, and never will.

Do you mean to use just a fire with no tobacco? I don't think it will work. I think that for Ruth Stout the fact that it involved tobacco was the key. I go to many wild fires and grass fires every year, and they are not that good at driving away the insects (or the snakes) during the summertime. One of the things that drives the gardener in me totally insane is that I'll be standing near or even walking through a blackened, burned area that is still smoking and smoldering, and there will be grasshoppers everywhere. Live, unharmed grasshoppers, clinging to a fence post, or a tree, or hopping around in the blackened area. Sometimes they are clinging to the top of unburned prairie grasses, usually in an area where a strongly wind-driven fire raced through the area so quickly that it hopscotched its way through a field, leaving unburned patches here and there. Were I not used to seeing grasshoppers in these burned areas, I'd think the fire surely drove them all away. It simply doesn't. I do remember hearing tales of back in the olden times, before I was born, where farmers, in desperation, would set fire to a field, hoping to kill or drive away the grasshoppers. They were sacrificing one particular area in the hope they could save everything else. Now I'm wondering if that even worked for them.

Some people make a similar homemade concoction (similar to the nicotine compounds) from tobacco leaves or from the leaves of any nightshade, but most often tomato plants, and use that to try to kill pests.

You're hardly the first person here in this group to drop a flat of plants. It happens to everyone sooner or later, and it has happened to me many times. Luckily, sometimes we can salvage the dropped plants, although sometimes we cannot.

Kohlrabi has an unusual flavor that is hard to pin down and hard to describe. Mostly, I think that it tastes quite a bit like the stalks or stems of broccoli plants, but not exactly like them and the flavor is a bit milder, and just not so strong and assertive. There's some hints of something else. Perhaps a little bit of a turnip flavor, or even a bit of radish. I always think it tastes weird, but I think that's because it looks weird....like an alien version of an turnip or something. Or the vegetable version of Sputnik. The first time I grew it, I had no idea how to use it or even if I wanted to. I just had to try growing it because it was so different.

Cabbage plants can last surprisingly long in to the summer here, but eventually our extreme heat tends to make it bolt and send up a seed stalk. Still, you can usually tell when that's about to happen and can harvest it and use it before it bolts. In your summer weather it might not bolt in the summer at all.

Eileen, Of course you should try them if they sound appealing to you. That way, you'll know if it is worth growing them. The current issue of GRIT magazine has an article about growing them and even tells you how to make a slurry of actual morel mushrooms in order to start your own patch of them, instead of ordering the morel spawn or culture from a mushroom company like Fungi Perfecti. Around here, mostly all you have to do is cut down a very old, half-dead elm tree (or wait for it to fall in the woods on its own), wait for it to rot, and eventually you'll have morels there.

I need to go back to bed before the dog wakes me up wanting to go outside again.

Dawn