Well, I expect the return of sub-25 temperatures after like a month tomorrow. Hopefully you always save your text before trying to submit (if long) ? :)

So sorry, Dawn. Hate it when the entire thing disappears.

Not much to report here. Just in the middle of holiday festivities.

(I just thought of "It's Festivus for the rest of us!" lol. I need to look up that video.

We had some people over last night. They were probably like, "it's about time, y'all". I'm baking cookies to take to a youth progressive dinner here in a bit, and am making a shopping list for groceries for the week. Exciting, huh? I think I gained 5 lbs last week, so need to settle down on the food this week. I don't think I have any parties until Saturday...maybe Friday (if I decide to go)...so should be able to eat a little cleaner this week. It's hard when people are gifting us with goodies every other minute.

I do appreciate their gifts, though. Tom made BBQ sauce to give to our friends last night. And I just made a bag simmer pot ingredients for each of the ladies. I was happy to use my own rosemary in those bags.

I'm not finished Christmas shopping yet. Almost.

It's rather bleak outside today. Truly feels like winter. I'll cover up those pathetic brassicas tonight.

Speaking of BBQ sauce for a present, HJ; I ordered two bottles of Head Country to send to the kids in Mpls! lol Last year I sent the Wonky Donkey to son and grandson up there. They sent me a hilarious video of Wade (son) reading it to the family. So when I heard there is a Dinky Donkey follow-up this year, I ordered it immediately and will send it up there.

Amy got me going on more seeds this morning. Stop it, Amy! I'm getting a pretty good collection of natives (seeds), though. Two dozen, plus two different wildflower mixes in larger quantities. There are many totally new to me. I'm thinking winter sowing might be a good way to go. What do you all think? I sowed some at the school and some here already last month, but have lots more. They're currently in the freezer. I totally blanked out on that, so just got them in today.

It was bleak here today, too, Jennifer! Dreary, drizzly, and as Amy said, "Bloody cold." We had two different church services today, and I was torn. This morning's was the children's program; this afternoon at 4 was the adult choir and various community other church musicians. We live 22 minutes out. (LOL 10 miles but 22 minute!) I had a chill, dealing with eye infection, and with it so cold and dreary, was NOT going to drive in and back twice today. I had to go with the adult choir, because I know they've been practicing all fall--they thought they'd be putting on the cantata on some combined service Sunday in December at 10 am, but the spaces were apparently all taken, so they had to settle for a 4 pm slot today. I know they were worried sick that no one would come, so I had to be one that did. (And turned out, about 150 others--or more.) It was wonderful and well worth it. The director and choir were so moved. And they needn't have been. The blessing was on US.) We are so lucky in our church to have two of the most talented musicians in the community--our pianist (a music teacher), and our choir director (our high school band instructor/formerly choir director.) I know church isn't about the music, but these gifted individuals give so freely to the church, and their music is a balm, blessing and gift to us.

dbarron, I don't usually save stuff. I just type quickly and submit. This morning, I couldn't get to that point before it disappeared.

Y'all know the spiel....here it is, although I may forget some things tonight that I remembered this morning.

Timing: here we are in mid-December, and it seems the time is flying by. It is going to be 2020 before we know it.

Garden tasks: this is sort of a dead time of the year in terms of chores, but we all probably still have autumn leaves to deal with. I know that I do. I'm looking forward to gathering them up and chopping them up to use as much or on the compost pile---maybe later this week if the weather cooperates. We are too far south to be in the mix for the forecasted freezing rain, snow or sleet or rain/sleet/snow mix or whatever happens, but we are going to be pretty chilly.

Anyone who has been pre-chilling tulips and Dutch hyacinths or any other bulbs requiring pre-chilling can plant them now as long as they've had at least 45 days of chilling. Any daffodils or hyacinths not already in the ground also can be planted, and likely the sooner the better---these do not require pre-chilling.

Corrective pruning can be done on dormant plants now.

It isn't too late to plant some cool-season annuals/perennials like violas, pansies, dianthus, stock or snapdragons. (It might be too late if your garden is buried in ice or snow.)

Gardening news: more gardening catalogs continue to arrive in the mail, which is one of my favorite things about this time of the year. Like everything else, they seem to be getting pushed earlier and earlier every year. I remember when they used to arrive in a huge flood right after Christmas---like on the first mail delivery day after the holiday. That was always pretty exciting, finding so many catalogs in the mail at one time. They start coming earlier now, but are more spread out over a longer period. Since we're always so busy around the holiday season, I just let them pile up and eventually I get around to looking at them in depth. I have noticed that many of the ones that carry veggie seeds have that one variety of true potato seed this year. I think it is 'Clancy'.

Clancy True Potato Seed

I have grown potatoes from seed (locally produced, saved from our previous year's crop) before, and wasn't sure about the timing of it all in our climate, but I winter sowed them inside the garden shed and they sprouted and grew just fine over the course of the winter. It seems like that year they sprouted pretty early---sometime in November, and by January, I had long skinny eyes coming off all of them. They produced, but smaller potatoes than one might have expected. Still, it was worth trying them back then just to see what happened. I imagine the results will be better with TPS developed commercially, like Clancy.

Since it has been warm here, there's new green sprouts daily, mostly a little winter grass (poa annua and annual rye grass) in the yard, and wildflowers down in the front pasture that I overseeded with a wildflower mix this past autumn.

Also because it has been so warm, more and more grasshoppers have continued hatching out, which is extremely unusual. I'm still seeing them, mostly in the 1/8" to 1/2" long size, and am hoping the cold nights this week will kill them.

There's more plant activity indoors than out, with several potted Christmas perennials in bloom---two containers of poinsettias, the small Christmas cactus (but not the big one), and one new flower stalk with 4 open blooms on one of the amaryllis plants that bloomed back around Thanksgiving. Then, of the 4 remaining amaryllis bulbs, 2 of the 4 now are putting up stalks with blooms, so those should be in bloom in a few days---and in bloom for Christmas. The other two have leaves but no stalks or blooms yet.

Our granddaughter has returned home to her family today, and our house is oddly quiet. The week we were able to spend with her was just wonderful and was a great reminder of how much a household's schedule is built around a kid's school schedule and after-school activities. After we dropped her off at her home and returned to our home, Tim said "I'm having Lillie withdrawal". It was cute. The house sure is quieter without her.

I'm pretty much over the flu, except for a little bit of a lingering cough. I felt like I'd have the flu forever (almost two weeks), so now that it is gone, I mostly just feel relieved. The improvement between yesterday and today is amazing.

dbarron, That is too cold! The cold front rolled through here in the middle of the afternoon. We had been nice and warm before that.

Jennifer, The bleakness rolled in here this afternoon. I think I'm done with Christmas shopping, so today I was just in the store a few minutes buying a few boxes and some wrapping paper that I wanted in a specific color. This week I'll be wrapping presents---it is so much better to be "ahead" and not "behind" and to already be at the wrapping stage now. I much prefer this method to my previous method of being up all night long on the 23rd or 24th frantically wrapping presents.

Nancy, I do think that meaningful music is an important part of the church service experience though, so am glad you enjoyed yours.

I've heard of the Wonky Donkey but not the Dinky Donkey, so now I have to go look up that one.

Wildflower seeds are one thing I tend to sow in place where they are going to grow, generally between September and November. I am sure you could winter sow and transplant, but be sure you know which ones form taproots because those would need to get into the ground while young so that being container-grown wouldn't interfere in the development of their tap root. Most of the cool-season wildflowers that have sprouted where I sowed seeds in the autumn now have rosettes of leaves down close to the ground that cover an area from 2" to 6" in diameter. These plants are putting down good root systems now and will grow and bloom quickly once warmer spring weather arrives. Some of the warm-season wildflowers, though not all, have sprouted as well.

We have been having more grass fires/wild fires. It is a conundrum. Because we have had multiple killing frosts/freezes, all the vegetation is dry and either dormant or dead so it ignites easily and burns like mad. Because we have had a lot of rain over the past few months, the soil is very wet. This means that fire brush trucks tend to bog down in the mud and get stuck, which leaves the firefighters in danger if fire is moving towards them. At yesterday's fire, by the time Tim arrive in one of our brush trucks, two trucks from other departments already were stuck in the mud, but neither one was in a position where fire was headed towards them. Usually Tim is one of the one who rushes in like a madman (despite having a wife who nags him to not do that) and gets stuck, but since the others were stuck already, he was a lot more cautious and didn't get stuck in the mud. We had 3 fires break out within a period of a short time yesterday---maybe all within about 10 minutes of each other. I don't know why. I didn't noticed we were particularly dry or windy.

The trees finally mostly are bare, even most of the post oaks, so it really looks like winter out there. The outlier? The native sand plums. They have new growth.

Dawn

Dawn, 25 isn't so bad....I think maybe you read the dash as -25?

I've seen all the recent fresh green and thought i should collect some chickweed, dandelions, and dead nettle for a fresh spring salad, but I keep telling myself to let the weeds get a little bigger before harvesting. It does't really look like they'll be bit, the coldest in the forecast is 22 I think till January at least.

I've decided that as soon as I get the Christmas decorations put away, I'll start some greens seeds. Just thought you should know. haha.

Other than the outdoor decorations, our property and gardens look their worse in December. It's so dark and we're so busy there is no time to really pick up stuff that blows around or blows over. The garden is quite ugly right now.

Also, it's the worst time for our dogs. Honestly, if they are in the house during December they are in their crates mostly. Luckily we get days in the 50's so they can be outside playing for a few hours on those days. And we take them for walks on those days as time permits. It's just too cold after dark. Well, sometimes I'll bundle up and walk them around the perimeters of the property just so they can get some exercise.

Decorations are important to me...and especially Kane couldn't handle not tearing up stuff. He's going to be 10 and acts like a puppy. I've never known a dog like him. Then there's the chasing of cats and things being knocked over. *Think* the dog/squirrel scene in Christmas Vacation. Anyway...it's the worst time for them. In January, once everything is put away, they can be out while I'm working in the house, especially the kitchen because they're just sure I'm going to drop something...and maybe I do once in a while just to give them that hope and to keep them where I can watch them.

It's cold very cold here today, but I'll probably bundle up and take them for a walk. Unfortunately I have a meeting at 6:30 tonight. *sigh*

Happy to be home today though...getting caught up on laundry. I've had people offer to buy my pumpkin bread (I'm not going to charge them. I feel weird about that) so there's several Seminoles in the oven.

Other than that, I've watered the indoor plants.

Dawn, that's super sweet about Tim missing Lillie.

How's all the perennials doing that you bought on sale during the fall?

Nancy, our kids program was yesterday. Super cute. Sorry about your eye infection. Hope that clears up real soon.

There is probably some stuff from last week's threat that I wanted to say...Oh well. I doubt I get to that soon.

Stay warm!

True Potato Seeds: One of the first things I researched when I got back into gardening. They were hard to find then. Much like garlic bulbils, the first year crop is small tubers. The hope is that future crops from tubers saved from that first crop will be bigger and productive. (Garlic bulbils, AND true garlic seed, tend to make the single clove bulbs the first year). They used to produce widely different tubers than what the seed was collected from, so I wonder if they have stabilized the variety now being sold. Anyone looking for more info can check out Kenosha Potato Project or their Facebook counterpart. FB also has a Kenosha Garlic Collectors group which includes files on true garlic seed. Both of these are international groups and interesting to follow. One might ask why you would grow potatoes from seed if it takes 2 years to get a crop. Apparently the seed doesn't carry diseases that a tuber can. The breeding efforts look for new varieties. You see pics of lots of purple potatoes. I think it is easier to ship seed internationally, as well. It's interesting, but I decided I was too old to get that involved.

Ha ha Nancy, YOU got ME started on the native plants, don't complain if I send you links for more seeds. That's been what I've done in my spare time, search for seed sources. Look through online catalogs. I haven't even gotten to VEGETABLES yet! Looking at herbs and natives and a few trees, since we cut our pear trees down last year we have discussed what to put in there place. I don't have a big enough place for everything I want. I keep wondering how I could convince him to get rid of the grass. I was looking at low growing ground covers yesterday. Wouldn't it be great to get rid of bermuda AND put down native ground covers?

I was awakened at 5ish to the sound of sleet hitting the window. At first I thought hail. I don't think it was, but it was loud.

Did I mention we finally put up the weather station I bought 2 years ago? The only thing that works is temperature. Not wind, not rain. Sigh.

Been home sick since Friday afternoon. Now Cliff has it & I'm hoping that means he got half the cooties from me & I'll get better faster. I know that's not how illnesses work, but a girl can dream, right? Besides, the jerk will be over his cold in a day or two while I'm still coughing up a lung until springtime.

Dad called this norning and is coming down Wed night, so I'm trying to get the guest room set back to rights for him. Our house is still torn up since before thanksgiving when we had the flooring done. Seems like I work 10 minutes & have to sit down & cough for 10 more. And Thursday begins the puppy invasion. Everyone dropping off their pups for Christmas so we'll be booked until the first. May look into starting a few things once everyone goes home & it's just our 3 monsters to deal with.

Good grief! I made so many typos in my last post. I fixed a few, but am not going to bother with the rest.

Jen, I hope you feel better soon. Have you tried Vicks on the bottom of your feet? Then cover with socks? Sometimes that really does allow me to stop coughing and sleep. Occasionally it doesn't work. To anyone reading: Never put Vicks on a baby or toddler.

Amy, you have so much knowledge of seeds and plants. I have so much to learn.

Thank you, Amy! Is Prime out delivering in your neighborhood? It's insanely ridiculous! I ordered 3 items on Saturday afternoon--camera batteries, a horse coloring book, and a kindergarden/1st grade activity book. The horse coloring book was delivered Sunday morning about 10 am! Laughed so hard. an on-sale coloring book, hand-delivered by Prime less than 24 hours later. So just now I remember being grumpy because Walmart didn't have any San Marzano 28-oz cans of whole tomatoes (or ANY San Marzanos, for that matter), so I checked them out on Amazon. $3.69 a can (and free shipping) compared to Walmart's $3.84 a can, so I bought a case of 6 to be delivered by Wednesday. I hate the Walmart run, too!

I've been ordering little Christmas things all month when I come across good deals. Most of the things are for kids at school. In fact, tonight I mean to order bead sets for a three little kids who had so much fun with beads today. The Dinky Donkey will be here Wednesday, Dawn. LOL. Yes, it is a sequel. And so, no seeds ordered THIS month.

I was asking people about juicers they recommended. Then I got serious about researching them all, and decided to get a decent food processor, instead, after reading articles discussing the matter. Not going to spend $300-$400, but looks like I can get a good one for $170 or so. I had gotten a cheap one several years ago when I wasn't making a lot of money and thought I'd eventually replace it with a better one. It still works fine--just a very small capacity, yet big and clunky. I can give it to some family who would be happy to have it.

And yes, Jennifer, our gardens are likewise ugly. And I don't even care. It's cold out there. Dawn, I DID get milkweed and wildflower seeds sown, at least, back in Oct-Nov. But the rest, didn't even get ordered til about then, and frankly, ran out of room to sow them, until I do bed clean-up late winter/early spring. Thank you for the tip about the deep tap roots. I'll be sure to research before I waste seeds. And I need to solarize a good-sized plot for more seeds later.

I'm not sure I need to order ANY vegetable seeds this year. . .but some potatoes. I pre-ordered onions. Garlic is sprouting a little here and there despite the chilly temps now.

Yeah, I have used Wal-Mart online grocery delivery when A) car broke down and B) after severe charlie horse and leg sore for days. Love the option. I order stuff from Amazon every cpl of weeks for things that are cheaper and/or non-available locally.

About things with taproots (used this with milkweeds which are notorious), if you sow in small container BUT transplant when they're just at the large cotyledon stage (before first set of true leaves is more than vestigal), they seem to transplant really well (all they have is the one long taproot at that stage). Success rate about 90%. Obviously you have to chunk the whole medium out and very carefully separate the seedlings, and not injure them. But with a light medium, it's easy. That allows me to keep winter chilling pots small, and deal with them after they sprout at least. Wouldn't be a good method with truly tiny seeds like columbine (but then columbines don't have transplant-a-phobia taproots either), so choose carefully.

When y'all talk about sowing wildflower seed...what exactly are you doing?

I love it when the wildflowers start popping up in the spring and try to get Tom to NOT mow for as long as possible. Do y'all have a bed prepared for them and throw the seed there? OR do you just throw them in your fields with all the weeds and grass. Do you mow those areas ever? I'm a little confused on this.

In 2018, I had started preparing an area behind our shop for wildflowers and pollinators and such. For one, I needed a place to put the chicken dropping. BUT, that project fell away somehow. Our shop was set on a raised area on the property. Dirt was brought in, etc. You can't tell it from the front, but in the back, it's definitely raised. I think a wild flower garden would look so pretty there, but thought the ground should be cleared a bit first. Is this not necessary? I also want to put bees back there some day.

Anyway...what are y'all doing exactly? Surely not adding them to your main gardens particularly the veggie gardens. Even echinacea will overtake everything. I was afraid I drove yarrow away from our property for being so generous with itself. I kept apologizing for pulling it out. Happily I found a few places in the field where the yarrow still remains. I never planted yarrow--it was here when we moved in.

I have not tried it with milkweed, but a TP roll with no bottom can be put in the ground paper and all, so you don't disturb the roots. I have started peas that way.

Did I "bold" my last post? Not on purpose, LOL.

H/J, I scattered wildflower mix in our drainage ditch one fall. I couldn't see that any grew. The city does mow there occasionally. However, in the wild, they grow where they want, you know? We did have pink evening primrose this year, which might have been in the mix.

I don't even know where I'm going to put natives. Flower beds along my fence were too wide for me, I couldn't reach to keep the bad weeds pulled. I'm thinking about pots for next season, since I don't think the fence beds will be fixed.

Most of what I know about gardening I learned from Dawn, but I'm a great googler, so I also research. Where did I first hear about TPS? Almost had to be on GardenWeb. Maybe George's seed saver site. Could have been FB I suppose. The timeline in my mind is gone.

HJ. . . if you order a catalog from Missouri Wildflowers or Native American Seeds, they have great instructions on planting wildflowers/native plants. I'm sure other native plant companies also have excellent catalogs. I really loved the Missouri one with a simple idea for starting a native plant bed. I'll be solarizing an area that gets full sun. I hadn't done anything over there, because it's not really that visible from the deck or the road, and it's very rocky--but doesn't have Bermuda--yet. And then I'll sow with abandon. I sowed some in the back 40 that does have grass, but not thickly and not Bermuda. I didn't cultivate it at all first, and GDW had recently used the weedeater on it, so the grass was beat back right there. The ones I'm wintersowing will go into flower beds that aren't cleared of last summer's growth, and I don't want to clear them until March. I sowed milkweed in the raised flower bed that previously always had Mexican sunflowers, and I sowed a few wildflowers, yes, in one of the veggie beds! Only about a third of one of them. :)

Thanks for the info on milkweed seeds, dbarron. I don't think I need to sow any more milkweeds, specifically, though they're to be found in both the wildflower mixes I have, also.

My SIL sent me a gift from Honeyville, in Durango, CO. I get to pick six items. . . great present, and clever marketing on Honeyville's part. The jams and jellies look yummy! And they have some great-looking recipes, too. Check them out.

It's a cold 32 outside. I had to run in for an eye appt, but will be staying in the rest of today, organizing seeds to see if I actually do have to order any veggie seeds.

dbarron, I bet you're right. I bet I thought it was -25. Heck, 25 isn't bad at all. We dropped down to 21 here in our part of the Red River Valley (too bad the valley isn't also colder in summer like it is in winter).

I'd probably let the greens get a little bit bigger too. Our dandelions are a decent size but the chickweed is tiny and I don't even think I've seen any nettle yet. Granted, I've been indoors a lot while fighting the flu. There might be more out there and I just haven't noticed.

Jennifer, I think December is the worst month for the outdoor plants. Even cool-season plants like dianthus and snapdragons here have been hit hard by early freezes and frozen back significantly and look crappy, but 2 or 3 months from now everything will be in full bloom and looking great. I just try to avoid looking too closely at the plants in December because I know they don't look good.

Of our 4 dogs, only Jesse is crated part of the time, but I try to get him outdoors for a couple of hours here and there if it isn't too cold. On a warm winter day he'll stay out endlessly by his own choice. He doesn't mind the cold as much as the other three mind it because he has longer hair. I'll let him out of the crate indoors for a couple of hours here and there if I have time to stay with him and watch him. Otherwise, he is too destructive and he does not appear to like cats, though we are working with him on learning to peacefully co-exist with them. Our older dogs and cats don't like cold weather and much prefer staying indoors in December through February. They'll go out in the yard for a little while, but quickly ask to come back inside.

Two of my favorite nurseries in Dallas (Zone 8, so ahead of us here) are driving me crazy by posting photos of all sorts of plants they can have and plant there now that we cannot plant here now....including all sorts of greens starter plants and bundles of Dixondale Onions (I think those arrived there last week).

Amy, Tom Wagner did a lot of research and breeding of true potato seeds. I don't know if he still is involved in that, but that's how I first became aware of them probably a couple of decades ago. This newly released TPS is an AAS winner, which surprises me, because that speaks to it being widely adapted. I'm still not convinced they'll work in hot areas though because our spring is so short, and there's no potato I want badly enough to spend 2 seasons growing them. Needless to say, I'm not buying 'em and trying 'em.

Amy, Removing Bermuda and replacing it with other plants (ground covers including sedges and native clumping grasses as well as some perennials) is part of our 2020 Landscape Reno. I have my doubts about truly being able to get rid of the Bermuda grass though, so feel a little anxious about that. We are going to rent a sod cutter and get rid of it properly, but I'm still not convinced it won't come back anyway. Time will tell. I remember how happy I was when we bought this place because there was not one iota of Bermuda grass visible anywhere. That was in the fall of 1997. When we mowed down the part of the pasture in the summer of 1998 where the house was going to be, the most horrible thing happened.....instead of all the prairie grasses coming back, Bermuda popped up everywhere. Clearly it was there all along, but couldn't spread because that pasture never was mowed---probably hadn't been mowed in decades. Once the prairie grasses were cut down and kept short by the builder, the Bermuda thrived. A million times or more I've wished we had rented a sod cutter before we moved into the house early in 1999 and taken out all the Bermuda grass back then. It was a multiyear drought though, and the ground was hard-baked clay-like concrete, so we didn't think we could do anything to the ground at that point in time. This coming year, though, we can do whatever we want. The ground is nice and soft now and that won't change before we are able to rent and use a sod cutter. I told Tim that I didn't care what it costs to rent a sod cutter (and, really, the rental fees aren't that bad), we are going to rent one and do it right this time to the extent that we can. I don't think we can cut the sod and lift it underneath a couple of oak trees that have large surface roots, but we'll work around that some other way.

Your sleet that sounded like hail might have been graupel, which is more pelleted and does sound pretty loud at times.

Chris gave us a nice little weather station a few years ago---not a big fancy one that cost several hundred dollars, though. I was skeptical about it. Well, it worked well for less than a year. The rain gauge lasted longest, the thermometer second longest, and the wind thing didn't last long at all.

Jen, I'm sorry you're sick. Take care of yourself and don't overdo it. The first week I was sick, I kept working around the house and kept walking religiously and trying to get in my 10,000 steps a day so I wouldn't feel like I was a slacker. Ha! It worked. I got 12,000-16,000 steps a day despite the flu, and then the second week, I was so sick I barely walked at all and probably didn't register 2,000 steps a day most days. There probably was a day or two where I barely walked 1000 steps. Lesson learned!!!! I'd like to think that if I had taken it easy that first week, the second week wouldn't have been so awful, but then there's no way to know that. This week, I'm wearing my Fitbit but not making any attempt to be active enough to rack up a bunch of steps. I want to recover fully before Christmas, and I think that means I must take it easier this week too. I definitely feel much better and the coughing is almost completely gone, but the energy level is pitiful still.

Amy, There's nothing wrong with online shopping. I do quite a bit of my Christmas shopping that way, and I like doing it that way. You can find what you want if you look long enough and it sometimes is possible to find everything you want at Amazon and get it all at once. The biggest issue is just watching for deliveries so you can get to them before the porch pirates do. Our dogs watch out the front windows and bark loudly when they see a delivery truck, so we usually can get our packages right away before they've sat any length of time at all. Living in town where the front porches are closer to the street, Chris and Jana rent a box/locker at the UPS store and all their deliveries go there. They do almost all their shopping year-round online, so this works great for them. They get a text message telling them they have a package, and can go pick it up any time. Anything too large for their box/locker is held by the UPS folks behind the counter and they just pick it up at the counter. (They even had a sofa delivered from Wayfair this way.) It is very efficient---last week we got the message there was a package and picked it up the same day and brought it back to their house. Their security system also alerts if anything is left on the porch, but most of the time, it is just a neighbor's cat either sitting on the porch or passing through, and not a delivery at all.

Nancy, Amazon Prime even delivers out here in the boondocks and the speed at which stuff is delivered is stunning. Some other companies do almost as well. I often order gift wrap or packing supplies online directly from ULINE and it is not unusual to receive the order less than 24 hours after ordering, and that's with them using UPS to deliver to us here from their warehouse/shipping facility at DFW Airport. If we can get stuff delivered out here in the boonies that quickly, imagine how quickly someone in the DFW metro would receive the same order...perhaps within hours instead of within 24 hours.

Jennifer, Most of the perennial wildflower seeds I sow are in the front meadow/pasture. For that, we just scalp the grass down as low to the ground as possible in autumn and overseed with a wildflower mix, just the same as we would if we were overseeding a lawn with rye grass for the winter. We do this about once every 3-5 years---there is not a particular schedule to it. I just notice when the wildflowers seem to be thinning out (often that happens when a drought burns up the annual ones before they can reseed but also can happen in flood years when unending rains carry all the self-sown seeds downhill and away) and will overseed with more seeds that fall. That's what we did this past autumn.

For the perennial or annual wildflowers inside the garden itself, I clean out the beds, rake back the mulch and surface sow the seeds. Most wildflower seeds sprout better if they get light, so I don't cover them up. This works very well with all kinds of poppy seeds, and with larkspur seeds, which is usually what I add to the front garden's outer beds that are closest to the fence. Yes, clearly I have wildflowers in the garden---they attract a ton of pollinators and beneficial insects, and the garden was designed with them in mind. Probably 8 years out of 10 we do not get enough rain for anything to spread uncontrollably. My three echinacea plants have sat in the same place 15 years and never produced another plant. Comfrey, on the other hand, spreads everywhere and I'm sorry I planted it in the garden proper at all. Much depends on what you're starting out with. Wildseed Farms gives very detailed explanations of the best way to start your seeds and it does involve clearing the ground, but I've never done it their way because our clay is so awful that I don't want to rototill it lightly....I know what a mess that is because we did it with the garden and it seemed like all we did was unleash 20 trillion lambsquarter, pigweed, bindweed and other seeds that had been sitting there in the ground just waiting to be exposed to sunlight so they could sprout. I then spent 15 years pulling them out. Since the existing wildflowers in the pasture self-sow well most years, I broadcast sow the purchased seeds in the same way that those plants naturally reseed. I might get a lower germination rate because of existing grasses and forbs, but I plan for that and sow more seeds per acre. A long time ago, Howard Garret said the best time to broadcast sow wildflower seeds like that was to sow your seeds at the same time that the existing plants were going to re-seed themselves naturally, which made sense to me. He was speaking specifically about bluebonnets, but I apply it to all the wildflowers and it works just as well for them. When you broadcast sow your perennial wildflower seeds in late summer or early autumn, they are going to get whatever form of stratification they need naturally over time.

Annual wildflower seeds are trickier as they need to sprout after the risk of freezing temperatures is about gone, so I usually sow them as Wildseed Farms directs in Feb-Mar. whenever it seems like we are staying warm enough that the risk of them freezing after sprouting is low.

For your spot near the shop, you could solarize the ground with black plastic for a couple of months in summer, and sow your wildflower seeds into the soil in the fall if you want an easy way to do it. Or, overseed like I do and take your chances. Or, follow Wildseed Farm's suggestion to rototill lightly. One problem with that is you will get unwanted plants from long-buried seed. Their answer for that is to use an over-the-top herbicide to kill the grassy weeds, but I don't like using herbicides so I haven't done that. Some wildflowers will sprout and grow anywhere, and pink evening primrose is an example of that. Some of it was in a wildflower seed mixture I planted down by the road, in the bar ditch, our first year here. I think pink evening primroses are gorgeous in bloom but they are highly invasive and have climbed uphill and spread about 400' west from where they were planted, which means they have made it to our house and another 100' plus west of it. I hate them now. I spend a significant part of every spring digging them out of the veggie garden and flower beds. If a specific wildflower wants to grow, it will find a way to defeat your efforts to defeat it.

You can sow any wildflower seed in flats and grow those on and transplant them out. As dbarron noted, you even can do it with those that develop deep taproots if you transplant early enough. I just feel like I don't want to do that when I'm trying to fill an acre or half-acre with wildflowers. Can you imagine how many plants I'd have to transplant? There's not enough time left in my years on this year for me to try to grow a wildflower meadow from seedlings. I'd die of old age before I got them all transplanted.

With wildflowers, some have very specific needs for stratification of various kinds, whether it is specific temperatures for a specific time period, or warm stratification or cold stratification, or alternating warm and cold, or alternating wet and dry, and it can be tricky to meet those needs in flats, unless you have an extra fridge that you can put flats in for the time and temperature required to meet cold stratification needs. So, I just overseed directly on the ground and figure in the months those seeds are out there between fall and spring, most or all of their stratification needs will be met.

Some years we get rain at exactly the wrong time and, when that happens, we end up with the most glorious wildflower garden...down in the bar ditch. We just laugh about it and go on with our lives. The wildflowers are just as gorgeous in the bar ditch as they'd be in the places where we planted them, and some years the rain will fall at the wrong time and carry the seeds downhill and you just cannot prevent that. That's life when you live on sloping property. We've dealt with sloping property for so long that I don't know how to act on flat land.

Amy, I had assumed you bolded your last post on purpose because you were so excited to get the shopping done. lol

Nancy, That sounds like such a lovely gift!

The wildflower seed companies do provide great instructions in their catalogs. I have all sorts of seeds and all sorts of plans, and I believe it is beginning to scare Tim. I think he is beginning to grasp that the renovation of the landscape will take all year in 2020. I'm not sure he understood that before. (grin) I think he envisioned a few weekends of work and we'd be done. Ha ha ha. It isn't going to happen that easily, but it will be worth it. I'm going to rejoice over every bit of ground from which the Bermuda grass is removed and replaced. I am not naïve, and I do know I'll spend the next few years keeping the Bermuda from returning. Hopefully if I do it very consistently, I'll be successful. I'd even be willing to use an over-the-top grasskiller if I couldn't keep it out any other way, but that isn't a perfect solution because a major part of our plantings will include ornamental grasses where an over-the-top herbicide cannot be used.

I know we need to keep Bermuda grass in the dog yard for the dogs, but I'd be thrilled to get rid of all of it if they didn't need grass to run on.

We have warmed up decently today after starting out in the lower 20s. It is a toasty 49 degrees today, which might be a bit warmer than we were forecast to be, but we're going right back down into the 20s tonight. I think after that a decent warming trend will begin, culminating with days in the 60s and maybe the 70s next week.

Were any of you watching the weather in the southeast yesterday? The tornadoes were just horrible, and there were so many of them. I feel for those folks---there's never a good time to have a tornado, but the week before Christmas surely is a really horrible time for it to happen.

I'm about to let the kittens come downstairs from the girls' room upstairs. Why? Because I am crazy. When they come downstairs they just destroy the Christmas tree, but I think it is important to not keep them upstairs all the time. They need to roam and explore the house and spend time around humans, adult cats and even a bit around the dogs. I let them play for a few hours until they wear themselves out and fall asleep, usually on the sofa. Then I carry them upstairs to the girls' room to sleep, and try my best to repair the damage done to the Christmas tree. It is a challenge, but the kittens are happy, loving and well-adjusted even if the Christmas tree needs daily cat repair.

Dawn

We don't think about tornados in December. I'm sure we've had them in every month of the year, but we want to relax in winter. In 1975 there was a December 5 tornado in Tulsa. I walked around my apartment building and saw it framed between 2 other buildings. It was about 2 miles away. Ron, whom I had not met yet, was about half a mile from it and he slept through it. It was a horrible tornado. If memory serves, it had been very warm for December. The storm formed so quickly there was only a few seconds warning.

I think my entire back yard is dead nettle and it comes up in the beds when Ron pulls stuff out. I don't know if I've ever tasted it. I think I read you can make a medicinal tea from it. Should refresh my memory and use what's on hand.

Ron is at minor emergency. He is afraid of a repeat of last years pneumonia for Christmas situation. He's had a cough and sore throat for a few days. I hope Dawn and Jen are recovering. (He just came in, they gave him antibiotics, but his lungs are clear).

OK, Nancy, schedule a "traveling plants" event for summer so we can see all the stuff you've planted! You definitely need to reduce the area you have to mow!

Dawn, I haven't researched it, but isn't there some grass besides bermuda that stands up to dogs? I have the same issue, the dogs need some area they can use. We have cables buried in our yard, so I try to plan around leaving that strip to grass. I have, however, considered something like wheat or dent corn there. I can't pound fenceposts into the ground, so it has to stand up to dogs regardless.

I haven't been able to get back to my seed list. Christmas will be over soon. Then I can do it!

It is another beautiful day, and I need to get out and do something.

My south garden is pretty much clean, for now. The north garden, where my greens are needs some work. Some of my greens have grown back enough to pick again, but I an going to leave them. The greens that I picked before two nights that it got down into the teens had more losses than the ones I left with pretty good leaf cover, I am guessing that the leaf cover over the soil helped to hold in the heat, plus helping the plants to grow a little when we had a few warmed days.

My wildlife garden is looking good. I am way behind on what I want to do to it. I had a man to come over and pick the unburned logs out of the dirt and pile them into a large pile to be burned later, but I think I have changer my mind and want to plant Seminole pumpkins around the log pile. The pile is over six feet tall, and I think it will look good covered with pumpkin vines, also it will be a good home for critters. When the pile rots down I can make a hugelkultur bed out of it.

My daughter and one grand daughter were over Sunday to celebrate my 76 th. Birthday She told me that she thinks she wants to take a bee keeping course in about two or three years. She is the type that like to plan out her life, she told me Sunday that she had pretty much reached where she wanted to be at 55, she will be 56 next month. She seems to be picking up some of my love for the land. So it looks like I will be increasing my flower seed planting. I planted almost a pound of zinnias last year and she really like the way they looked. I have sown 2 pounds of wild flower seed this fall and plan on planting another pound or two of zinnias this year, along with small grain and clover. I may try to grow some quail, but I still need to check into that farther. The wildlife people that came out to inspect the place liked what I was doing, but were not too positive about raising quail to release. I was told that you needed at least 250 acres to build a gook quail habitat, I may try to prove them wrong.

My potting shed is still going, but very slowly, my helper comes over after school, if weather and homework permits. We spent yesterday helping my neighbor rather than working on the shed. I plan on having it ready for this springs seed starts. My first pot-ups may be some blackberry plants that I plan on ordering from Simmons Plant Farm, it will depend on when I can get ready for them, they may just go straight into the ground.

I hope you all are getting some of this beautiful sunshine.

I remember some tornado awareness class or lecture, they mentioned that the continental USA has had tornadoes in every state and in every month, though winter ones are rare.

Back at work, though I'm playing it by ear as to whether I stay all day. I feel better, just sound like a barking seal.

Hi all. Yes, we do have the beautiful sunshine, Larry, but it's still nippy out there. 45. Happy birthday! With all those plants, people are going to love driving past your place! It sounds awesome!

Haha, Amy! I was thinking I have to tear a bunch of plants out to make room for the new natives. I'm really dropping the ball, aren't I? Never occurred to me I could just enlarge the beds! I guess it never occurred to me because GDW would strangle me? No. Get this. Actually, he is reading my "important" book about natives and REALLY being serious about it--I actually think I will be able to get him enthused about bigger or more beds. We'll see how it goes. I know where I could plant some that need full sun. . . there's a patch of lawn back behind the immediate back yard that's between cannas that are in too much shade, then the lawn and sun in front of them, then what I call the Bermuda bed on the other side of the patch of lawn, which is again, more shady. We could just eradicate the lawn in between the beds! That'd be another 800-1000 square feet. . . . AND give us some much-needed sunshine.

Also, Amy, as we were discussing natives, i remembered American Native Seed recommended their Native Sun Turf and Thunder Turf instead of aliens like Bermuda or St. Augustine. Look what this says about Buffalo grass: https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_boda2.pdf . Sounds like a tough customer. Dawn, would love to hear your discussion of Amy's question.

Okay, I have to go do some stuff.

Did I do some stuff? Ordering a bunch of seeds was NOT what I had in mind, Amy Lambert! Also. I told GDW what you said, and then what I said about having to plant natives and where. . . the only thing he said was, "Well, you're the one who mows the lawn. I guess if you want less lawn, that's up to you. But we gotta figure out how to get the Bermuda out there." Uh-huh. Right there, the ground isn't actually that rocky. Seriously, that book really affected him. (AND me.)

Nancy, I just think you need less lawn or a riding lawn mower. It kills me when you talk about mowing in the summer heat.

Buffalo grass: the flowers are burrs? Does that mean stickers? Would explain why it's not common lawn grass. Maybe I misunderstand. I wonder if it would compete with scalped bermuda. You'll have to tell me what you got, LOL.

I'll ask here and maybe put it on facebook, too. I bought Arkansas Purple Kale from Double Helix Farms and I loved it. I even saved some seeds. But I have used all seeds and my last few plantings were lost. It appears Double Helix is either out of business or dormant. Has anyone got seeds for this variety? They called it a landrace, so it may have started as something else.

Happy birthday Larry! I'm glad you're getting things done and that you have a helper!

Ron got antibiotics. I feel a bit puny, too. Going to go make us both some voodoo tea.

Buffalo grass 'burrs' aren't burrs as you think. While they might not be too pleasant on tender feet, they aren't really stickery, just small edged nut-like things. I don't think it would outcompete bermuda, unless on a very arid shallow soiled area. I've tried it and it doesn't like as much water as I got in NE Oklahoma at all. I've seen it native down by Dawn though.

Amy, I never really gave much thought to cool-season tornadoes (though we know they can happen in any and every month) until the Lone Grove tornado of February 2009, which killed 8 people. We were watching both the actual sky and the radar (local TV had wall to wall coverage as the tornado formed in TX and came our way) as the tornado formed in Montague County, TX (where my dad's family survived a tornado that picked up their house and moved it when he was a child), came over Love County, briefly touching down and destroying and damaging a few outbuildings, and then came down in Lone Grove just north of the county line. It was so horrible. I do wonder how many people would have been watching for this tornado if it had not been developing while the evening news was on? Our local CBS affiliate stayed with the local broadcast for several hours, doing everything they could do to warn people. That's the worst tornado I know of in this region and it occurred during a relatively unusual month for tornadoes.

I am feeling much better and my lungs are clear (and I am glad Ron's are clear as well), but Tim has it now. Being Tim, he went to work anyway, though I try to discourage him from taking germs in to work to spread to all the people there. (I generally fail at this because he is a workaholic who thinks the place will shut down if he isn't there...…)

Bermuda grass is, hands down and by far, the best grass for dog yards and dog runs due to its resilience. We had St. Augustine in Fort Worth, and I loved it, but the dogs really wore down a path through it even more than they do with Bermuda, and it looked horrible wherever they urinated. I don't believe our St. Augustine tolerated dog urine nearly as well as Bermuda grass does. Some people like zoysia, but it spreads slowly so isn't nearly as resilient and it takes forever for it to reclaim pathways the dogs have worn through the grass. The other grasses often recommended for dog yards might work better in cooler climates than ours---fescue, perennial rye (not perennial here), and Kentucky bluegrass (I don't think it likes our heat). So, in our dog yard we are stuck with Bermuda grass, though I would much prefer St. Augustine if it were a little more tolerant of dog urine and if it wasn't just marginally hardy here.

Larry, I like your idea of using those logs for a hügelkultur pile, and the Seminoles will cover them up while they rot down.

Happy 76th! I hope the birthday celebration was fun. It does sound like your love for the land and for gardening has rubbed off on your daughter. Of all the things a father can teach a child, a love for the land and knowing how to grow things and raise plants on the land surely must rank highly as one of the most important.

The weather has been lovely here, even though the nights are awfully cool, but all the grasses are dry and we're having fires pretty much daily now. An ordinary car wreck yesterday turned in to a grass fire that burned at least an acre. Any sort of spark now seems to set off fires, and our firefighters have been out on them almost daily lately. Rain chances seem light for the next week, and rain doesn't even help much once all the vegetation is dead or dormant any way. A neighbor called me a couple of nights ago and alerted Tim and I to a fire in a neighbor's yard. Tim and one other firefighter got there with a fire truck in time to help that neighbor extinguish the fire before it could spread to any of his structures. If the neighbors driving by hadn't seen the fire and called, I don't know how long it might have been before the resident called 9-1-1 as he was trying (unsuccessfully) to put it out alone with a shovel.

We had a neighbor, now deceased, who used to raise and release quail. He also sold them to other people to release. Eventually he stopped doing it. I think the issue here is the fire ants, which decimate the insect population. I believe FWS research showed that quail plots with fire ants had 75% fewer insects available to feed the quail. We used to see quail here all the time, and could hear them almost year-round, and now they are very rare. Fire ants? We have tons of those.

Nancy, Buffalo grass sounds better than it is, and here's why. It does not compete well with Bermuda grass. So, unless you totally remove every bit of Bermuda, it will crowd out the buffalo grass. We have some native buffalo grass on our property (nowhere near our lawn of bermuda grass, or it would be gone already) and I have tried, tried and tried, really hard, to love it or to like it or to at least appreciate it. I've failed in all 3 cases. It is not pretty when grown in hot, dry clay. Its color is unappealing---it veers towards grayish or brownish all the time, even when we have sufficient moisture. It goes to seed quickly in hot weather (often in May or June before the true summer heat even arrives) and then sits there brown and dormant and looking awful the rest of the summer. It basically spends more time looking dead than alive, and I happen to prefer green grass to brown grass. I was so excited when I first realized we had buffalo grass here in our first or second year here. After living with it for 20 years, I have very little appreciation for it. Does it survive? Well, more or less, but it looks like hell almost all the time. We already have fields and fields of mixed prairie grasses that look better than it does, even in drought, so there's no reason to encourage it on our property. Our stand of buffalo grass is hemmed in between the driveway and the southern fence line, so at most it is in an area maybe 15' wide, and at times that area narrows down to about 8' wide. If we keep it mowed, the Bermuda grass that grows significantly north of it invades it. If we ignore it, the neighbors' Johnson grass and prairie grasses invade it from the south. So, we mostly ignore it, but mow it often enough (maybe once a month) to keep the neighbors' Johnson grass out of it. There was a time when I contemplated planting buffalo grass on purpose, but after watching our native patch for a few years, I decided against that and I am so glad that I did. What I have found from observing the native buffalo grass here is that descriptions of buffalo grass that I read do not match up with what I observe---in real life, ours never spreads, stays fairly clumpy and doesn't form a solid turf. I don't like it at all aesthically. Does it survive? Sure it does, and it looks like hell. Bermuda grass survives much better, stays greener far longer and doesn't look as bad when it goes dormant. I have found that native plant purists tend to go on and on about how great all native plants are, to the point that I have to take their comments at face value as being somewhat evangelical because that is what fits their agenda---and real life experience may show that some native plants (like buffalo grass) aren't as strong and sturdy in our climate as some non-native but better-adapted ones (like Bermuda grass). I wish this were not so, but it is what it is.

I remember when buffalo grass (especially improved varieties like Prairie and maybe 609) became the "next big thing" in Texas, probably 20-25 years ago. Everyone got all excited about the idea of a lawn grass/turf grass that could get by on less fertilizer and less water than the most common lawn grasses in Texas (Bermuda and St. Augustine). I was watching closely to see what happened with it after we moved up here because I thought it might be a good option for us. Then, people started growing it and reality set in, with the biggest issue being that it doesn't thrive when Bermuda is present as the Bermuda overtakes it and crowds it out. Also, it thins out fast in shade. You need to leave buffalo grass taller than most other turf grasses (at a height of probably 3-4"), so for people like my family who have a permanent venomous snake population around, it isn't as people-friendly and pet-friendly as grasses that can be kept mowed shorter. Most people who tried it and had it invaded by Bermuda grass just gave up and let the Bermuda grass take over the lawn again, and who can blame them? I wouldn't waste my time and money on it. There tends to be a tendency on the part of native plant enthusiasts to believe native plants always are better, and I would argue against that assumption. Not all native plants are better in every situation.

The best way to remove Bermuda grass sod is to rent a mechanical sod cutter and get it all done in one day. The worst part is rolling up the sod and disposing of it because it is heavy. You need to cut the sod into manageable pieces that can be picked up and thrown onto a trailer, or into the back or a truck, or into a wheelbarrow or garden cart to be transported far away from the lawn area you are clearing it from. You can compost it by piling it up in a big pile, wetting it down and covering it with thick (6 mm) black plastic for at least 6 months, preferably in very hot weather, so it will decompose and eventually give you compost. We are going to rent a sod cutter to take out several thousand square feet of Bermuda grass in 2020 when we start renovating our landscape. Getting rid of as much of the Bermuda grass as we can (despite the fact that it is staying in the dog yard) is one of our main goals. The thought of trying to get rid of it just horrifies Tim as he feels it is a battle we cannot win, but the thought of us having to mow that Bermuda and fight to keep it out of our flower and shrub beds for the rest of our lives horrifies me even more.

I actually like buffalo grass' little seedheads and think they are cute, but they are the best part of the grass, and once the Bermuda grass overruns the buffalo grass, you'll never see them anyway.

The weather is pretty, but I'm working inside this week, trying to catch up on everything I didn't do while sick with the flu for two weeks, and trying to get everything ready for Christmas. I wrapped all the Christmas presents I could yesterday (and it did take forever because cats and dogs tried to 'help' me), and have one large one left to wrap today. I keep thinking I'll have time to sit down and at least work on a flower seed order, but so far haven't found the time to do that. My last Amazon package (sugar-free candy for the girls' Christmas stockings) should arrive today, and then I'm pretty much done, I think. The kittens continue to destroy the Christmas tree daily. They were so tiny in the beginning and didn't bother the tree for ages and ages, but once they were older and stronger and awake a lot more than they were asleep, the tree became the favored playground. At the rate they are pulling down things off of it, I'll be redecorating the tree on Christmas Eve so it will look good on Christmas Day. So far they aren't tearing up packages at least. They walk on them or stand on them, but they aren't clawing them and shredding the paper or the ribbons. So far.

One funny thing about the kittens is that they are trying to not eat dry kitten food. They just avoid it like the plague, and try to convince me that the tiny kitten kibble is too big and too hard for their tiny little teeth and mouths. They do love their canned food. So, when the girls were here on Sunday and were eating lunch, the kittens discovered the hard, crunchy Cheetos, which they thought were the most wonderful things on earth. I was laughing at them frantically begging for Cheetoes and gobbling them up, and sternly told them that if they can eat Cheetoes, they can eat dry kitten food. Tim and I don't eat chips, so the kittens won't have many opportunities to beg for Cheetoes (only when the girls are here) and will have to eat their dry kitten kibble instead.

Dawn

Your kittens sound like a mess, Dawn. Adorable but a mess. Will you keep them all or find homes for them?

Oh, and what happened to the other batch of kittens? Weren't there two groups?

Finbar and Juno so far are mostly leaving our tree alone. The only time Finbar really bothers it is when I've told him "no" about going outside. Then he'll jump on the table next to the tree and chew on ornaments or branches that he can reach. Then he'll try to leap up the center of the tree. He's a brat. I love him so much, though.

I haven't looked at the garden in a few days. The brassicas are covered with frost cloth and they've just stayed covered during the day. Part of the problem is it's nearly dark when I get in from work. I can barely do all of the animal chores before dark.

My plan for tomatoes is to use up what seed I already have. (Boring, I know) Except Juliet. I'll need to buy Juliet seed. Also, I want a couple of cherry tomato varieties. Any suggestions?

I'm ready to get started. The holidays have been (and will be) unusual for several reasons this year. I won't bore you with the details. It's all good...just weird and different.

I still have shopping to do. I bought my mom a new phone. Went to her provider, got the phone (I was able to do all of this because I have her info) and explained that I would bring her in on the 26th for them to set it all up for her. THEN on Tuesday she decided to go get a new phone! It was a mess. For some reason she wasn't eligible for a new phone and had to pay the full price. That is because *I* bought her new phone on Saturday. Even paid the connection fee. You would have thought they made note of this in her account. Anyway...I was able to get a refund for the phone, but not for the fee. So, now I have to figure out what to get her. It was the perfect gift. She is loving her new phone. She chose the same phone I chose for her. Funny. She's been complaining about her very old phone for a year. Who would of thought she would finally go get a new one. I'm not telling her the reason she had to pay full price for her phone is because I used her eligibility. She already feels horrible about it all.

I've been sick too. Not very sick...just a sore throat and a cough. Working with little kids, you never know who is going to cough or sneeze directly in your face. So far the cough hasn't been too bad. It wakes me a few times during the night, but I've been able to go back to sleep.

I'm ready to begin Garden 2020.

This sinus infection is killing me. Antibiotics and steroids not helping.

Dawn, be very careful with sugar free candy. A lot of people can’t tolerate the artif sweeteners in them and have horrible, painful reactions. I’m one of them. Trust me, it’s bad enough to ruin Christmas. Hopefully you got whatever the family told you they could tolerate.

I need to do a couple ceremonial WS jugs on the Solstice, but I won’t get home from work until after dark, and I have to stop and get molasses. And gas. I’m so behind, and being sick isn’t helping.

I think Seeds n Such will be my biggest order this year, but I also promised myself that I’d fork over the shipping to Johnny’s for some Bolseno tomato seeds. The tomato board is really impressed by them. Of course, if I’m going to make that shipping worth it, I’ll have to order a few more things. It’s all about finding things that are mosaic resistant.

My niece finally got her drivers license this week. She got her mom’s hand me down SUV to drive herself to school now. I feel old.

Y'all, white turmeric! This one is variegated and a beautiful plant that I grew in partial shade last summer. I harvested about a cup of stolons. (Yeah, cheaper to buy turmeric, but it's not WHITE). It did not do well when I brought it inside, so I harvested most of it and stuck a piece back in the pot which hopefully will grow for next year. I put a piece of sprouting ginger in there, too. I have regular turmeric and ginger growing in the window, too, but haven't harvested them. We make a tea with ginger, turmeric, lemon juice, honey and black pepper plus whatever herbs one wants or hot pepper to open sinuses. It's a MESSY process to grind up orange turmeric in the food processor. It stains everything. But not the WHITE. BTW, my husband and daughter ask for this tea when they're sick, so it must be good.

BTW, Nancy, the peach flowering ginger has been in the cold garage and, knock wood, is surviving. Maybe I'll get a flower next year.

Rebecca, don't forget I have a packet of tomato and squash seeds for you. Also have seeds for Eileen.

H/J I'm sorry you're sick, too. I told Ron we need to make fire cider next year, since we keep getting sick for Christmas. There's also the thieves vinegar we could try. We also need to be more diligent about hand washing when we've been out. Probably shouldn't eat out either, but that is a big part of our holidays. Last weekend we ate out twice and saw 5 of 7 children.

I love Large Red Cherry tomatoes. Bigger than Sungold, most you would cut in half for a salad, but that means easier picking. It has produced well for me every year, monsoon and drought and usually looks like a Christmas tree with red and green bulbs. Handles the heat well. It's not as sweet as Sungold or sweet 100, not as fruity as black cherry or the dark tomatoes, just tomato flavor. Extras can go into sauce.

Dawn, I am disappointed you can't find a dog yard grass other than bermuda, and sorry buffalo grass probably wouldn't like our rainfall, dbarron. I had visions of it replacing the johnson grass and weeds in the drainage ditch and overpowering the bermuda. I suppose anything that could do that would be so invasive it would be worse than bermuda. I have been looking at natives listed as ground cover though. I don't know if it's native, but I have frogfruit (also called lippia) down and can't find a source for it. Dawn, it apparently is grown in TX, are you familiar with it?

Time to get moving. XOXO

Jennifer, With the kittens, I do not know yet. Tim and I became so awfully attached to them while bottle feeding them that it might be hard to part with them but more cats was the absolute last thing we needed. My hope is that once the weather warms, we can set up a 'cat room' in the garage and move them to it. We don't need more cats in the house. Right now they are driving me crazy by trying to climb the living room drapes, which are really nice drapes that I don't want destroyed....and those kitten claws snag the curtains by pullingl the threads and ruining them. It has been so long since we had little curtain climbers that I had forgotten how hard kittens can be on curtains.I think I will take down the drapes today, and replace them with blinds temporarily until the kittens are older, until they leave us, or until they are moved out to the garage. Although we no longer are bottle feeding them (and, oddly, I really miss that), they think of us both as "mommy" and purr and run to us and cuddle and snuggle whenever we walk into a room they are in, or they walk into a room we are in. If you want to accomplish no work all day long, just sit and cuddle kittens. lol.

Two of the three older feral kittens that grew up outdoors over the summer and autumn still are with us, along with their mother. I feed them twice a day and they run off after they eat, so I would say they are, at best, semi-feral. They still resist touch, but purr when being fed. Every now and then I can pet one, but feral and semi-feral kittens abhor much contact and they abhor direct eye contact (because a predator will make direct eye contact as it prepares to attack you). I'd like to at least trap the three of them and get them fixed and get their ears notched to indicate they are feral, and then we can release them to live as they choose. That's on my hope-to-do-it list for January. There is a truly feral black-and-white kitten who comes to eat with these. It had its mother with it for a while, but we haven't seen her in over a month so I think something must have happened to her. This one is much more skittish than the others, but it knows to come to the garage every morning and evening to be fed, so there's always hope we might eventually tame it. I'd say it is maybe 12 weeks old at this point, and the three older ones probably are 5 months old if not older.

We have no idea where all the feral kittens and cats came from this summer---they just showed up out of thin air. However, one of our neighbors, a lady named Helen, passed away back in the summer and she was a real animal lover, so I have wondered if maybe she was putting out food for these feral cats and they simply had to move around and find someone else who'd feed them after she passed away. She lived about 1/2 mile down the road from us, but with only one house between her house and ours, so it is conceivable these cats traveled that half-mile north to find food. I also have wondered if maybe Fred was feeding them. He lived about 3/4s of a mile from us as the crow flies. His health began failing seriously in mid-summer and he was hospitalized, so it is conceivable that the feral cats would have begun looking for a new food source if he had been feeding them. I guess we'll never really know where they came from., but they are here now. The four kittens indoors are such a joy, but we don't need four more indoor cats. The garage/shop is 1200 s.f. and cats love hanging out in there anyway, so it could be a good spot for them.

One good thing about cherry tomatoes is that they all are good, so it really is just a matter of finding them in the shape, size or color you want. There are some I don't like because they develop really tough skin, but I won't list any of those here. I've grown tons of them over the years and don't think we've ever had any that didn't have at least typical cherry tomato flavor. One of my favorites, whether in-ground or in containers, is Cherry Falls. It produces gorgeous trusses of red cherry tomatoes. Ildi is a yellow grape-shaped tomato that has a special and unique flavor that is a bit better than the average bite-sized tomato. Do you grow Black Cherry? SunGold? Both are awesome. Snow White is a pale ivory colored one with incredible flavor, and is an old heirloom saved for us by the legendary Joe Bratka. Coyote is a similar currant-sized one. Green Zebra Cherry is a bite-sized tomato with the legendary flavor of the somewhat larger (3 oz. fruit) Green Zebra. This one matures to an amber color with green stripes. Rosalita is a gorgeous and tasty pink grape tomato. Sweet Chelsea is a larger cherry---with fruit about the size of Large Red Cherry, and it has superb flavor. There....I hope I gave you a few to look up and consider. I believe that Tomato Growers Supply Company probably has the seeds for all of these.....and hundreds more.

I'm sorry about the mess with your mom's new phone. I just hate that she chose this very time to go get herself a new phone and ruined your surprise.

Rebecca, I hope that your sinus infection improves and you're feeling good very quickly.

We are very experienced with sugar-free candy because we try to avoid all grains and sugars. The girls have some specific sugar-free types they like and enjoy, so I bought those ones for them since I know their bodies tolerate them well. I do agree that some people's bodies cannot tolerate them well, depending on the sugar-free sweetener used. My mom was one of those.

There are so many ways you'll feel older and older as your niece grows up. lol. I really began feeling old as nieces and nephews married and became parents----that hit me much harder than them going away to college, graduating from college and starting their careers. lol. I really began to feel very old in the autumn of 2018 when my nephew (he is 33 now, I think) and his partner became grandparents when her daughter gave birth to a baby. Isn't that crazy? Her mother gave birth to her at 15 or 16, I think, and then she gave birth at 15.....making my sister a great-grandmother at the age of barely 54. I still look at my nephew and his partner and wonder how in the world they are grandparents already! (I guess I also am old-fashioned because I look at them and wonder why in the world they've never made it official and gotten married too, though I'd never ask them that question, of course. I'm pretty sure it is my nephew who is dragging his feet on getting married because I think his partner would like for them to marry.) Their youngest child that they have together is only 5 or 6, so she and the baby, who now is almost 15 months old, will pretty much grow up together. Not long ago, another nephew (my older brother's son) had to deliver his and his wife's second child when she suddenly went into labor and the baby came very quickly while they still were at home and hadn't even left for the hospital yet. It was that fast. When I found out he had successfully delivered their child before the paramedics could get to the house after he called 9-1-1, I felt old, ancient and in total awe of him....and her too. It must be hard to stay calm and deliver a baby in your own home when that really wasn't the plan, but she came through with flying colors and (apparently) nerves of steel.

Amy, Thanks for the tip of white turmeric. It sounds awesome, especially since it doesn't stain.

I, too, am disappointed that Bermuda grass is the best choice for a dog yard turf grass. Believe me, if I thought there was an acceptable substitute, I'd use it. You might try a small test patch of it from seed and see how it does, if you have a place where Bermuda grass wouldn't threaten it. It is very drought tolerant, but I still think it is ugly while dormant and heat pushes it into dormancy ugly here in southcentral OK. It might do better further north? I have no idea since this is a far north as I've ever lived.

I love frogfruit. Did you know it is a distant relative to verbenas? It grows in random places on our property. Some years we have quite a bit of it, and some years only a little or even one. It probably depends on moisture or something. I do remember back in 2011 that the native frogfruit was one of the very last things to dry up in the drought---it even outlasted the native opuntia, which withered and dried up and died while the frog fruit still was green and flowering. I've never seen frogfruit seed for sale, so have contemplated digging it up from the pasture and transplanting it to the yard. Maybe this year I'll try that if a good stand pops up somewhere on the property You can buy the plants from some native plant sellers, including Almost Eden. I might just do that instead of transplanting a native from a place where it is happy.

It is overcast, icky, cold and just gray, gray, gray here today. We have drizzle in our afternoon and evening forecast. I'd much prefer sunshine. However, we have at least six little suns shining in our front yard....dandelions in bloom. I know there's no bees out in this cold, but I'm hoping the dandelions still will be blooming on those 60-degree days next week when it might be sunny enough and warm enough for the bees to come out.

I haven't stepped foot in the garden in so long, and suppose there won't be time to do so until after Christmas (when rain may thwart my plans by returning to the forecast). I have two main goals for this afternoon and one of them is to work on a flower seed order, kittens, cats and dogs permitting. I really need to get this done so I can start seeds of some perennials right after the first of the year.

We continue to have fires here, and the combination of dry, dormant/dead vegetation that burns like crazy with wet soil that won't support the weight of heavy fire brush trucks is such an awful combination. The big fire yesterday (thankfully, not in our fire district) was at a ranch belonging to some really nice people. I am unsure if they were home at the time. It was paged out as a grass fire, which is bad enough, but then apparently it either started in the barn and spread to the grass or started in the grass and spread to the barn, so there was a barn fire burning by the time the firefighters arrived. When that happens, you're really torn between the need to stop the head of the fire from advancing towards other areas and the need to try to save the building and its contents. Usually, the first firefighters on scene go to the head of the grass fire to halt it while the next ones head to the barn. Your success in saving a barn often depends on how much hay is burning inside because it is almost impossible to extinguish burning hay bales as they are so tightly compacted. As I listened to that fire yesterday, I was so grateful we have volunteer firefighters in this county who rush to respond to these things, but was doubly grateful that we weren't paged out to it. I haven't been to a fire since I became sick with the flu, and I have no desire to go to any now.....my lungs are clear and I just don't want to be around smoke.

I'm hoping for a nice weekend. It is Tim's birthday tomorrow and I was planning on celebrating with dinner out at the restaurant of his choice, but he feels pretty crappy with the flu, so we may need to postpone that celebration until next weekend.

Well, there's cats on the porch wanting to come inside so I should go let them in. They are not at all impressed with today's weather. At least tomorrow is the solstice and then we can start moving towards Spring at last.

Dawn

Hmmmm, frogfruit may be invasive. But, there was an article about lawn alternatives that said yarrow and mow to about 3" once a month. I love yarrow.

I love yarrow too, Amy. I had to remove quite a bit from my garden and was afraid she got mad at me and left the property entirely. There’s some in the field. Phew.

Merry Solstice, everyone!

Normally I have a house full of people this night but this year , just me and Finbar. Haha. Ethan did join in for a bit.

Merry Solstice to you to all of your's, also, it was such a beautiful day here in western Arkansas. I even painted on my potting shed a little. My helper was unable to come over, so I did not get a lot done.

Yarrow grows well here in our pastures, and it gets mowed about once every couple of months during the growing season. It spreads outward in clumps, and isn't a particularly fast spreader, perhaps because it is competing with a mix of prairie grasses that generally get taller than it. The native plants here in the grassland areas that competes best with prairie grasses in more or less full sun would be the various native sedges. As a bonus, many of them grow well in fairly dense shade. The sedges clump, though, instead of running, so while they make a decent grass substitute, like everything else native, they can not out-compete Bermuda grass. (Neither can yarrow.) See there, that is the whole issue with the evil Bermuda grass---it can out-compete, out-play and outlast any native competition as long as it is mowed. You can make Bermuda grass almost disappear in a pasture situation if you never ever mow. Leaving the pasture un-mowed until Bermuda is dormant for the winter largely will keep it from spreading, but we can't do that or our house would be surrounded by a seas of 4-7' tall prairie grasses all summer which is both a fire-risk and a snake hazard, as well as not being ideal for anything else we're trying to grow on purpose. In an unmown pasture, yard or bar ditch that seems free of Bermuda grass, if there is any Bermuda there and you mow during the growing season, the Bermuda grass will immediately re-grow and start spreading and running while the prairie grasses are mowed down short. That's the entire problem on our property.

Merry solstice, Jennifer! Our yarrow seems to ebb and flow in the pastures, and some years you may think it has entirely disappeared but then it comes back. I think it really is dependent on soil moisture in our clay. Many years, the clay holds moisture too long for the yarrow here, so the yarrow disappears more in wet years and comes back well in drier years. It might be different for people with well-drained soil, which yarrow prefers to slow-draining clay. While yarrow can survive in slow-draining, wet clay, it isn't necessary happy in it. If I dig up yarrow from a pasture and plant it in a raised bed in the garden, it will spread about 10 times as quickly as it spreads in the clay soil of the pasture.

Hi Larry, I'm glad you got some work done on the shed. It wasn't beautiful here. It was miserably foggy, drizzly, drippy and wet all day. I think our temperature stayed around 42 degrees for most of Saturday, from around bedtime Friday night until the early hours of Sunday, and this morning was a foggy, misty repeat of yesterday morning. This afternoon, the sun finally came out around 3 pm so we'll have a nice hour or two, but we already have a Fog Advisory in effect from 9 pm Sunday night through noon Monday. I'm ready for the fog to go ahead and move on out of here and let us have some sunny, blue skies. Maybe closer to Christmas we'll get that sort of weather.

Dawn