Hello. It doesn't feel like winter...which is good and bad. Not good when you see flies.

It is good that the dogs are outside. It is good that the chicken waterers aren't frozen.

I have a weird feeling about this year--but nothing specific.

Personally, I would like a true winter for a couple of months--a truly true winter every year...as difficult as it would be for those months.

Honestly, it seems like the areas that have colder winters and are slower to warm up in the spring/summer, have better gardens. Have y'all noticed that? Their tomatoes get bigger, they are able to grow all sorts of brassicas with success. But, I try not to dwell on it because there's nothing I can do about it except move and that is not in the plans. There are things we can grow well here. Things I like to eat like okra, peppers, southern peas.

Speaking of compost piles, Dawn, I need to find a new area to start one. Normally I use an area where a future garden bed will be made. Often we make the frame in the fall and I throw the compost items in the frame and add soil in the spring. I don't have that this year. I have a compost bin, but it is full of chicken droppings (as well as other items) and it really needs to be topped off with fall leaves and allowed to sit for a few months. Which means I need to find another spot very soon.

Believe it or not, I have my list ready. I know what I'm going to grow this year (or attempt to grow). And the only seed I need to buy is a hot banana pepper, a cucumber, and some lettuce. Someone (maybe it was Blaze Baxter) mentioned a teeny tiny cuke that she loves so much, West Indian Gherkin??? Anyone familiar with it? I found it online, but it's unavailable. Does anyone have a suggestion for a cucumber like that one? That grows well in our hot, humid state? I'll always grow the Armenian, but would like a tiny one too.

Oh, I forgot. I need to choose onions too.

Now, it's just deciding where to put everything. I do need to make a new bed in the main garden and extend another one, which could help with the compost issue, but I'm a little nervous to dump chicken droppings into a bed that I'm going to be planting in 3 months, ya know? But, I could dump the TP rolls, paper towel rolls, and kitchen scraps there.

The chickens are slowly laying eggs again. I'm getting 3 a day now. For awhile it was only Stormy's egg every day. She is a laying machine. She has a pretty olive colored egg. Her mother was an easter egger. She is the youngest hen--a year and a half. That isn't including the pullets, of course. The pullets are very interested in the nesting boxes right now. They like to peek in, go in and look around. I think they're all about to start laying soon. They are around 26 weeks, I think. I'll be happy to stop buying eggs from NG. Although, they have a specific egg that is so similar to my own. I have about 14 on the counter right now. Just in time for getting back to healthier eating.

Here's just something I've noticed and wondered if anyone else who has had chickens noticed this too: the hens who were broody during the summer did not molt this fall...including Stormy. Is that common? I wonder if it's because they pull out their own feathers while broody....

I'll come back with a picture after Ethan's BD party. I planted flowers back in the summer that are apparently perennial and don't mind the cold. I had no idea--I just picked them up. I really don't want them where they are planted. I thought they were just temporary, but you can't help but smile at pretty pink flowers growing in January. I would like an ID on them.

Spent 3 hours at urgent care today. Both Ron and I. Got shots and a RX for antibiotics. Hopefully this will knock it out.

Hazel, if you want an ID, post a picture ;) It's teasing to us to mention it and not have the picture ready (lol).

I went out and did weed shrub murder (on the rose of sharon and privet nightmares that pop up everywhere and which I'd let go around my hvac outside area)....felt good to prune them off at ground level. I will have to follow up with Round Up when they start to grow again. Sad, but only way to knock the profusion is chemicals.

I also hand sawed off a few of the 'knock your head off when mowing' limbs.

And..umm..umm, someone on here practically forced (well not really) me to go buy some hellebores online (Christmas rose, and some intergeneric hybrids, and Lenten Rose seedlings too). I do enjoy hellebores and would love to include the species (which I did) that would be in bloom right now as well as the Lenten Roses that bloom in March and April. I probably went overboard a bit, but if shipping is gonna be $21, you should buy at least triple that amount before shipping to make it worthwhile, huh? I did. I didn't really need that $80, *grumble* *grumble*. Hope they give me pleasure for years to come.

I am enjoying reading everyone's post. Amy. I am sorry you and Ron are still ill, Madge and I are doing much better. Because of our age, we are no ball of fire anyway, but we still have a lot of fun.

I get to have a medical procedure Tue. that may set me back a few days, but I plan on still doing a little work around here if the weather holds like it is now. I did not finish my cold frame today, I will work on it some more tomorrow.

I have no plans for a garden now. I will just through something together later. I expect I will be doing things different each year because our health is forcing us to slow down. I will try to work with a few tubs, plant a few thing in the ground, and hopefully plant a lot of flowers and small grain in the wildlife garden. My daughter is still wanting me to try raising quail. Reading Hazel's post about her chickens is not helping my quail itch much either. I would like to try chickens, but we don't eat many eggs or much meat. I was raised on beans and potatoes and that is still what I like to eat, along with a lot of salads.

Sorry, dbarron. I didn’t have time to take a pic before leaving for Ethan’s BD dinner. Then Kane got loose right as we were trying to leave. Here is the plant. I have several of them in varying colors of pink. They aren’t my favorite plant at all but they are tough. Whatever they are took the heat of summer and the freezing temps too.

Amy! I sure hope your new meds work and you feel better soon!

Larry, chickens are so much fun. I love to watch them. I eat eggs every day. But not meat.

HJ, I think those are dianthus. I still have a few alive that I planted in September 2018.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! It's been pretty relaxed for me but i have been "on" since before Thanksgiving and am worn out, so it was very much needed.

My mom is finally (after a year-and-a-half) moving out - she should have keys to her first apartment in a week or so. I believe she and my dad lived in an apartment when they were first together but this one is all hers. She's scared like anyone moving out on their own for the first time would be and I finally had to sort of push her out of the nest so it wasn't on her time (which would have been never). She keeps making snide remarks about that which just makes it easier for me to keep nudging. I feel confident she's up for it, she just needs to prove it to herself.

The grow lights posted in last week's thread look very similar to some I just bought at home depot. I got grow lights (different than the ones in the picture last week) for Christmas last year from Amazon but something caused all of them to burn out. I don't know if it was a power surge or if it was something to do with the cord. I had 1 of the lights from the year before and when I got the ones for Christmas the cord was different and now that particular light is no longer sold. The oldest one is still working, but the new ones with the different style cord are not. Anyway, I hope the ones from Home Depot last more than 1 spring. I did spring for the protection plan just in case though.

I have been paying attention to the wildfires in Australia, Dawn, because i remember you saying that you pay attention to their summers as they often indicate what we are likely in for. I'm certainly anticipating a polar vortex again this spring and also wonder how much longer this wetter weather can continue. Of course, global warming causes all sorts of weather pattern changes, so I can't help but wonder if wetter springs is part of that equation for us.

I have my fingers crossed that one of you has a couple Vorlon tomato plants at Spring Fling because right now I don't know where I'll get them and that was my best performer last year - one of my best performers in years actually. I'll definitely grow Lemon Boy again and have some seeds for it. I'll grow Bendigo Moon instead of Snow White. It's a dwarf, but not all the dwarf really at 4' tall that is related to Snow White but the fruit was a little larger and it was more tolerant of my growing conditions than Snow White was. I know I'll grow 1 of the microdwarfs again but i'm not sure about others. And then there are dozens of varieties I wanted to try last year and didn't, so I want to try them all but there's never enough room or time or something I need to do all the gardening I would like.

I paid a lot of attention to the dwarf tomatoes I grew last year but didn't pay a lot of attention to the various dwarf basils I grew, so I'll grow all of them again and pay more attention. The rest of my grow list is very similar to last year. I may need to pull back on the number of bells I grow due to space constraints but I ended up with more than I intended last year. I discovered "Potterville" gets too hot and I can't keep the Troublemaker dog (Jill) out so I'm migrating more stuff to my huglekultur area.

I don't feel like I'm as wet as some of you are describing but I know rain has missed us when other areas have gotten it, so that might be why. That or I've just become so accustomed to the dogs constantly dragging in mud that I'm oblivious. I don't have a fall/winter garden this year, unless you count garlic, which means I'm not watching as carefully either.

Lots more to report, especially since it's been so long since I reported in, but I'm getting tired and my alarm is telling me it's time to take my medicine so it won't interfere with me falling asleep. So I'll depart with questions about ground cherries. Who grows them? Do they live up to the hype? If so, what variety should I try?

HJ, I looked up those cucumbers you mentioned and they look like our native creeping cucumber (melothria pendula) or mexican sour gherkin (m. scabra) but with spikes. Now I'm intrigued. If they're like melothria, they can be thugs and once you grow them you have them forever.

This is my purge year so I'm starting off by planting everything older than 2016. Then I'll go back through my stash & decide what I absolutely must grow. So for now I haven't a clue what I'm growing. (Which is pretty much my plan every year)

Minor note, my English seed order shipped, expecting delivery in 15 to 20 days from international post. Then the seed sowing (or mostly the stratification) can begin.

Hazel, those are dianthus, and probably a form of dianthus barbatus (sweet williams). While sold as annuals, under the right conditions they mega perform their second year, then start (for me) a slow decline and may persist up to about four years. The older forms were grown as biennials. Your initial post made me think that...thus the teasing of not knowing but only guessing.

Rebecca, that could be these little plants. They were cheap and I picked them up somewhere last summer to fill in an area. I really thought they were annuals and should pay attention before buying stuff, right? I don't hate them, but had planned for something else in that area. It's okay though. They are growing on me. I might have stuffed a lot of bulbs into that area too. Remember the bag of mystery bulbs that showed up in the mail? I might have accidentally ordered them but have no memory of it. In fact, I wouldn't have ordered a bag of bulbs like that. Oh well. They are stuffed into that bed too. Could be fun this spring.

I'm not sure, Jen, about the cucumber. Someone on FB loves it... and I think it was Blaze Baxter. I want to try it, but can't find the seed, but am open to try other gherkin style ones. Not sure I want a thug, though. LOL Is the Mexican Sour a thug too?

Megan, I think I've had ground cherries, but they came up on their own. I got them confused with my tomatillos. I never planted them. Whatever it was, it wasn't tasty to me. But, I don't like tomatillos either except in salsa....then YUM!

Do ground cherries just grow wild? What hype have you heard about them?

It was good to see you the other day even if it was just for a few minutes.

So, instead of doing something useful like cleaning or getting my light shelf ready OR starting lettuce seed, I'm trying to make a king cake. I left the eggs out of the recipe! So, I picked up that already kneaded dough, plopped it back down in the mixer and added eggs. We will see how it goes. I'm uncertain about baking a plastic "baby Jesus" in the cake, so I'll just push it in after baking and cover with icing and sprinkles. I hope it turns out well. I'm trying to do an epiphany meal for Ethan tonight and then that will be the last of the "big" meals for awhile. I'm pulling tomatoes out of the freezer to make homemade marinara. And homemade meatballs. This will take all day.

Okay...back to it.

I grew ground cherries 40 years ago. My son thought they were candy, even had their own wrapper. They continued to come up in the yard even after the garden returned to grass. I've grown some here and some popped up that I didn't plant so the birds must be bringing them in. I got Cossack Pineapple from SESE. I think they all pretty much taste the same. I've said if I grew them again I would put them in a pot and fit a cardboard circle under them to catch them when they fall off the plant. They tend to fall on the ground and get wet.

I feel much better today, thank you, Ron does, too. I'm actually debating a little winter sowing. Ron won't like it, he wants the plants off the patio table, but that is the best place to keep them safe from dogs.

I really should purge my seeds, too. I have so many tomato seeds, some from trades that came from all over the country and probably won't grow here.

Larry I hope your procedure goes well.

I just told Ron I was going to do winter sowing. His mind thought winter sewing and sewing machines and cutting tables.

I should get busy.

Jennifer, We have flies and bees out. This definitely makes it feel very unlike winter. I am hoping for real winter weather too, but increasingly skeptical that it is going to happen. I think we may get short bursts of winter-like weather if not a big, prolonged spell. The worst possible scenario is we have above average warmth in Jan and Feb, and then a bad cold spell in March that freezes all the fruit trees that will bloom too early because of the Jan and Feb warmth. I already have fruit trees acting like they're getting interested in blooming and, if they do, we'll lose the 2020 fruit crop. This morning it was 28 degrees and frosty, which is fairly typical lately, so you'd think the fruit trees would get a clue, but I think the warm days are overriding the cold nights.

The colder areas generally have a longer, milder spring and what we think of as spring weather often continues most of the summer, so they can grow brassicas and many greens almost endlessly. The downside for them is that their growing season overall is shorter than ours and their warm growing season can be so short that it is challenging. They often are fighting hard to protect their tomato plants in late summer and early autumn so their crop can mature before it freezes. Our issue is we have both extremes--freezing cold winters and blazing hot summers, sometimes with very little mild weather in between. Look at how long the heat held on this fall, and then just as soon as it cooled a little bit, we had an insanely early freeze. That sort of wild temperature swing is what makes gardening here so challenging. It seems strange to me to think that some people in some areas can grow cool-season crops pretty much all summer long, largely because I've never lived in a place with weather that mild. For many years, when we kept having "the hottest winter yet" (in the early 2000s), I pretty much stopped growing cool-season crops in Spring because we kept getting too hot too early. That's life here.

You can get West Indian Gherkin at Monticello, and I wouldn't delay because it is rare and obscure and tends to sell out wherever it is sold.

West Indian Gherkin

I am trying so hard to get caught up here and my phone is going nuts because of a large fire out west, and repeated messages related to it, so if I bail out suddenly, that will be why. I know it is visible on satellite and the huge smoke plume is freaking out everyone, including people seeing it from quite some distance away in Texas, but I'm down here in the creek hollow surrounded by trees and I see nothing, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This fire is, at the moment, a fully controlled/prescribed burn of a wildlife management area and those folks are pretty good at keeping it under control, but the wind is picking up and the natives (firefighters) are restless and trying to hope for the best while maybe expecting the worst. I am trying to ignore it all.

I don't know about the broody hens and molting. Ours usually are only broody in Spring. One of them tried to go broody this fall, and the others wouldn't let her...pecking her eggs until they broke. I have no idea what that was about, but after a handful of days she quit trying to set on the eggs.

Your plant is dianthus, and some of them are cold-hardy here while others are not. In my clay, some of them are half-hardy annuals and make it through most winters, but not necessarily the wettest, coldest winters. I've always wondered if they'd survive winter better if they were in a bed of amended sand instead of a bed of amended clay.

Amy, Sorry y'all are sick again. Throat infection? Chest infection? I hope y'all heal quickly. You two have had a rough couple of months this cold and flu season.

dbarron, I am firmly in the camp of ordering enough plants to make paying that shipping worthwhile, so I would have done what you did. Anyway, a person always can use more hellebores. I want to plant some as part of our landscape renovation but they might be in Phase II in 2021 and not in Phase 1 this year. A lot depends on how much the winter/spring fire season interferes with us spending weekends working in the yard.

Larry, I hope your medical procedure is a success and doesn't set you back too far.

There's nothing wrong with slowing down a bit and doing things differently. I was really worried that Fred never would slow down, and he did keep gardening into his early 90s with very little help, but once I introduced him to growing tomatoes in tubs when he was in his latest 70s or earliest 80s, he sure was hooked on growing them that way. Because he had a bad back, they elevated his tubs before they filled them so he wouldn't have to bend over a lot and that made him such a happier gardener. Once he saw how well they produced in tubs, how easy they were to keep irrigated in drought and how pleasant it was to not have to bend over low to the ground, he only grew tomatoes in tubs from that point forward. He had a son who lived with him and gradually took over all the hard physical labor of gardening, probably once Fred was about 85 or so, and that enabled them to keep a garden going until Fred's last year.....at the age of 98. We all should be so lucky! It wasn't a traditional huge truck garden like Fred had grown in his younger decades, but it still supplied them with a lot of produce, and happy hours spent tending the garden together.

Megan, I always am unsettled during the holidays---especially that period after Christmas but before the kids go back to school. I think our schedule just gets disrupted and we aren't on the same eating/sleeping schedule and nothing feels right, at least until everyone is back to school and back to work and the normal routine becomes established again. Tim doesn't even get that much time off at Christmas since police officers work on holidays too, but just the few days he has off completely disrupt my/our routine. Today feels normal. Everyone got up at the usual time, he left for work, I followed the usual daily routine, and life feels "right" again. While Tim talks about retiring, I don't think he'll do it for a while yet---give him more than a couple of extra days off and he is climbing the walls trying to stay busy, and spending a lot of time on his computer and phone in touch with work anyhow, so he might as well be there.

Jen, Might as well use up the older seeds since they won't last forever! Sometimes not having a real plan is the best plan. I like to do things randomly more and more just to break up the routine of always doing the same things the same ways.

Jennifer, One thing I've come to appreciate about dianthus is that mine often are simply covered with flowers in April and May, and the butterflies feast on them, so they fill an important niche before other perennials and wildflowers begin blooming heavily.

There are native ground cherries here. I often see them along the roadside while walking the dogs. Some of the natives may be worth eating, but I have no use for them. Even the cultivated forms I've grown just weren't really all that, and I considered them a waste of space and stopped growing them. The ground cherries just weren't that yummy, even if I had time to bake them into a pie or whatever.

Enjoy your king cake and making the epiphany dinner. It sounds like fun. Think how yummy the house will smell when your tomatoes are cooking! Regarding king cake, I saw on the news the other day that Blue Bell Ice Cream is bringing back their King Cake Ice Cream for the carnival/Mardi Gras season. That ice cream sounds yummy to be, although I've never had it.

I have no real news to report. I am cleaning house and doing laundry, typical Monday chores. Also, I am playing with kittens (as if I could choose not to play with them), etc. If you don't play with the kittens, all 4 come and sit on top of you if you're sitting down and force you to put down whatever you are doing and pay attention to them.

We still have Christmas flowers in bloom in our house: poinsettias, a Christmas cactus plant, and two amaryllis plants. I'm happy to have them still blooming and will miss the blossoms when they are done.

I did want to tell y'all that Chris added up the number of bulbs that he and his family planted last week for spring color in their front yard perennial beds and said it was 1,040 bulbs more or less. I am sure it is going to be spectacular when it blooms. He might have my 'excessive planting' gene after all. To be clear, never ever have I planted 1,040 new bulbs in one year. I think I'm having a big bulb year if I plant 200 or 300 new bulbs.

Are y'all watching your weather for the rest of this week? Ours is crazy. On Wednesday we will have pretty high fire danger, with a forecast high of 70, lower humidity values and fairly stiff winds. Yes, 70. That's about 20 degrees hotter than a typical January day here. However, after a cool down later in the week, we have a slim (I'd say very slim this far south) chance of rain mixed with a little snow on Saturday morning. It probably won't even happen at all, and if it does, the snow will melt as it hits because (a) our ground is warm and (b) our overnight low is forecast to stay above freezing. Is there any place else where you might have 70 degrees one day followed a couple of days later with cold weather and snow? Actually, I'm sure that there's lots of places where this happens, but we always like to think we are special and unique when it happens to us.

Have a great day everybody!

Dawn

HJ, if it is Mexican Sour, it’s a total thug. I’ve never planted any (I think they’re gross), but I can’t get rid of them. I think birds or squirrels planted them. Late last summer I resorted to Roundup, so this spring we will see if it worked.

Thanks for the West Indian Gherkin link, Dawn. I'm going to order some.

Jen, do you want me to order a packet for you too? Anyone else?

It feels really good to sit down. I was on my feet in the kitchen most of the day. The King Cakes turned out very well. Even with me adding the eggs in at the very end.

The marinara sauce was wonderful. I used frozen Juliets. The sauce was an orange color instead of red. I do need tools for tomato processing--grown up tools like a tomato press of some sort. Made from scratch, homemade food really is so tasty, but exhausting. Even the little touches like fresh basil and parsley add so much. Parsley is living in my garden and basil on my window sill.

Wow! I'm impressed by Chris and family's bulb planting!

Dawn, my hens were broody in the late spring/early summer. But because they pull out so many feathers during that time, I wonder if their bodies think they've already molted....

We are showing possible snow on Friday, I think. Or maybe it's Saturday...

I forgot to cover the brassicas, so I'll need to go do that. But sitting feels so good.

Wow--it doesn't take long to fall far behind on the posts! I had a long day in Tulsa yesterday; took a friend to the doctor. And had a long day of company on Saturday. While I was gone yesterday my shade native seeds came, as well as a large packet of spinach and kale--AND two books I'd ordered, and a Food Network magazine and a seed catalog! It was like Christmas when I got home.

I brought Garry a giant sub. I'm getting better at finding my away around Tulsa/Broken Arrow. Amy reminded me there is Tulsa and then there is Broken Arrow. I tend to call south Tulsa Broken Arrow.

YES Dawn!! Absolutely crazy weather! So warm the next couple days (60s) and 60% chance of snow on Saturday with a high of 36! What the!

Nothing going on here. . . but stuff NEEDS to be going on. I know. I'll read for two hours, then stratify more seeds. Okay. I have a plan. Now execute. Best to you all.

Santa came while you were in Broken Arrow/Tulsa, Nancy! How fun.

Today I am trying to get back to normal. Luckily I wasn't called in to sub. The house is in order now, although it needs to be cleaned. I'll probably do that on Saturday because we are having a group over on Sunday night. We are going to discuss the enneagram. Nancy, have you done that one? It's the trendy one now, although it is a very old system--like ancient old.

I'll get some seed started on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday night--one of those. I'm going to drag my light shelf outdoors in a bit to clean it off. There's just that nasty dog hair/dog dust stuff all over everything in the utility room. It's where the dogs sleep, it's where their crates are, so no avoiding that. I'm going to start lettuce, kale, and spinach seed first. I won't start tomatoes until March 1. That seems to work better for me. Those years of hardening off 2 foot tall plants because I had started them too early was miserable! Dawn, didn't you start tomato seed in December at one point? I want to do that, but just can't.

Had a close call this morning around 10:30. Something told me to step outside onto the back patio...and there it was. A coyote standing at the back of the chicken yard, just outside the fence. It could easily get in because we still haven't repaired the fence from when the colt tore it up AND the fence is only 4 ft tall. It was interesting because when I first went out, the coyote and donkey appeared to be having a stand-off of sorts. My dumb chickens were still out in their yard...and one was trapped in the broody pen (with the door to it wide open-duh!) Not sure why Jean Luc wasn't alerting them. Maybe he was and that is what alerted me....but I don't remember it. They all lose their minds when I step outdoors because they think I'm bringing them some goodies--so it's possible he was in the process of getting them into their pen/coop. I shoo'd the coyote away and it went to our neighbors to the east. I quickly messaged her--she was on her way back home. She didn't go in for her gun first, and the coyote took one of her chickens. I feel horrible about that. I shooed them away from our property onto hers.

Everyone enjoy the warm day!

HJ, sure! I'm always up to try something new.

I think I’ve heard someone say they like Kitchen Garden Seeds?

And is there a secret to growing cockscomb celosia?

Jen, our seeds are ordered. How do you start cucumbers? I normally just plant them directly in the garden.

Rebecca, I can't help with either of your items.

Our neighbor shot the coyote--the husband of the woman who lost her chicken. As he was coming home from work late this afternoon, he saw the coyote on our property--hanging out with our dogs!

Tom heard the dogs barking and went outside just in time to hear the gun.

Started back to pilates tonight, so I missed it all.

Wow. This place is...quiet.

I stopped at Walmart for a few things and got a couple of boxes of peat pellets. Probably tomorrow night will be lettuce seed starting. Maybe it's early, but I'll eat them right off the light shelf if so....and start more seed. There's all sorts of gardeny things at Walmart. Seed starting trays, potting and seed starting soils. All things garden. Except seeds and plants.

I'm on the second round of friendship bread. I'm already tired of it. haha, but will probably make it all and give the loaves to friends. I don't really feel like baking tonight, but might as well get it over with.

Pretty sure one of my hens is dying. I noticed that she had put herself in a nesting box instead of roost bar last night. Not that unusual. However, as I was cleaning the droppings boards this morning before work, I noticed that she was still on the roost bar. They all fight to get out to their pen as soon as I open their door. That's where they eat, so it was unusual that she wasn't scrambling to get out.

I dumped pine shavings in the chick brooder and put her there with some water. She had a warm bath tonight and I checked her vent...but I don't know. She is drowsy and not moving. I doubt she makes it through the night. It's Sweetie Pie, the hen the showed up in my friends (in town) yard December '18.

Sad. She's in a box in the bathroom so I can keep an eye on her.

I sure didn't notice anything odd about her lately. There was the coyote distraction yesterday, so maybe I just didn't pay attention.

I hope everyone is busy with fun/interesting/exciting/relaxing things--whatever you need.

HJ, usually I just direct seed cucumbers and hope for the best. I've found if I plant 3 per hill like "the experts" suggest, none germinate. But if I plant 5, all 5 will sprout and then I have to choose which seedling to murder. With the cucamelons, I grew them in a container one year and a few ripe fruits fell to the ground and the next year I had dozens. Now they just plant themselves. I'm hoping these new ones will do the same.

Jennifer, When you grow your West Indian Gherkin (Cucurmis anguria) this summer, you'll notice they are really spiny, which I think is helpful because if you have any of the naturalized creeping cucumbers (Melothia pedula) pop up nearby, the lack of spines on those will tell you that they are invaders to pull so you don't mix the two together when harvesting. Mother Nature was helpful in that way.

Regarding Friday's weather, some of us are in the Enhanced Risk Area for severe weather and others are in the Moderate Risk area, so keep your eye on the skies and your ear on the radio for weather news (or your eye on social media). At least part of eastern OK has a chance of flooding because the rain is supposed to be so heavy there. Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the EF-4 tornado that hit Lone Grove, in Carter County. Tomorrow's weather set-up is very similar to February 10, 2009, except the risk area is a bit further east. I mention this because we tend to forget tornadoes can happen any time and can be destructive and deadly in any month. In the Lone Grove tornado, 8 died and 46 were injured. Let's hope this sort of tragedy does not occur again tomorrow. I'm not liking how similar the set-up is, nor the way the higher risk areas keep moving westward each time the SPC updates the Convective Outlook. A slight chance of snow remains in our forecast for sometime after midnight Friday....maybe we could have a snow-nado.

I did start tomato seeds early one year to see if I could get my plants to be as large as the Bonnie Plants transplants that were arriving at stores here every February around the same time I was sowing my seeds. The answer is yes, I could get them that big if I sowed seed in December, but I couldn't transplant them out because we were too cold. By the time it was warm enough to transplant out those big tomato plants, the SunGolds has almost full-sized fruit on plants in 1 quart pots. It was ridiculous and I won't do it again, but it was nice to know it could be done. My plants outgrew the light shelf because I held them indoors so long, so we had to buy another shelf with adjustable shelving to hold them. It was such a big mess, but often experiments are.

That donkey, assuming it is a full-sized one and not a miniature one, could have taken down that coyote if it wanted to. Donkey actually are used to protect herds of livestock some times, and even have taken down cougars. Of course, I think it might depend on the personality of the donkey---maybe a bolder, more confident and more aggressive one would take down a coyote and maybe a less confident and more laid back donkey wouldn't do it. I'm sorry about your neighbor's chicken, but it isn't your fault. It was the luck of the draw. I cannot tell you how often I have had that sixth sense to walk out the door and discovered a coyote lurking near the chicken coop....and the chickens were in hiding and not making a peep. Sometimes the dogs alert me if they spot a coyote, but if one comes from the south, they usually don't see it before it gets a chicken. The usually see them coming from the north though.

Nancy, It does sound like Christmas at your place now. Enjoy it.

Rebecca, Hmm. No real secret to growing celosias. The seeds are very small and they do not need sunlight to germinate. What they do need is to stay moist and to stay warm. They germinate pretty quickly for me at 75-80 degrees. I don't get in a hurry to start them indoors too early because they reach a nice, transplantable size after only 3 or 4 weeks. My celosias often reseed for me directly in the garden, and then I end up with celosias all over the place. There are worse problems to have.

If you mean John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, I have bought from them in the past, but it has been a few years. Their seeds always have done well for me, and back when I still was receiving it, their catalog was lovely and their customer service was good. The issue, really, was that it got to the point where everyone else was carrying the O-P heirloom varieties they had long carried, so there was no real reason to go specifically to them any longer.

Jennifer, Sometimes chickens just do that. They are not necessarily long-lived birds, though every now and then we'll have one live 7 or 8 years. Not very often though. Sorry about Sweetie Pie.

Megan, How funny that y'all met each other there!

Nothing special going on here this week, but I finally did sit still long enough to order some seeds today. Between kittens rampaging all over the house and a big puppy named Jesse who has turned into a 50-lb lapdog, I get no time to myself, or at least precious little of it. There's always an animal climbing on me or sitting on my lap....or 4 little animals sitting on my lap. When Tim gets home, they all are excited to see him and abandon me to go to him, and I am okay with that.

Dawn

Thanks, Dawn, Sweetie Pie did die last night. I don't think she suffered long. I don't recall her acting like she felt bad until Tuesday night.

I started lettuce, kale, and spinach seed tonight. Most of the seed is sort of old, except 2 lettuces, a kale, and a spinach. I think I am going to order new lettuce seed. Let me list a few and see if any of you have an opinion on them.

Anuene Batavan Crisphead

Bronze Arrow

Crawford Bibb

Drunken Woman

Jericho Romaine

Read Sails

Specked Bibb

Thai Oakleaf

It was weird that I went out when I did. I didn't expect to see a coyote...but something led me out there. The dogs were indoors, so they weren't barking or anything.

I have one shelf equipped with lights. It's up and ready. Unfortunately I lost another light this year. Or maybe fortunately. These lights were very old and used for something else before I repurposed them for seed starting. So, now I get new lights. Yay!

This warm weather has put me in the gardening mood. Tomorrow night will probably put me back in check, which is good. I do have some indoor projects that need attention.

I think I'm going with intermediate onions this year. I've always done short day varieties before. Anyone have a favorite?

It is nasty here, more rain, and more expected tomorrow.

I could pick some greens, but I expect they will be tough.

No sign of any wild flowers coming up. Clover is doing okay in the wildlife garden, winter peas are doing pretty well also. I even have forage collards coming up in the lawn where I had torn it up with the tractor. I just wanted to see what would happen if I tossed some seed out in the area.

Madge and I are still not feeling great. We seem to get better and then just slide back. I have a lot I need to do but just cant get in the mood.

I enjoy my helper when he is able to come over. I could do things much faster by myself, but just not able. He really seems to enjoy the things he does and the things I show him how to do, and is a very good worker. I have a list a mile long for him to do if I dont run out of money.

I am tired, I feel like maybe I should just get off the field and let the big boys play now.

In the hopes of inspiring someone as GardenGal did to me, lol, I want to share the hellebores that I ordered Sunday that arrived yesterday. The emphasis was mainly on getting the early December bloomers. Of course as previously mentioned, I decided to also get the six pack of baby hybrid hellebores, since I was ordering anyway. You may note the mottled foliage that the intergenerics have...nicer than plain green.

First hellebore niger (the Christmas Rose) in same shot as intergeneric hybrid Frostkissed 'Charmer' (I'll attach a photo from the PK website of Charmer opened fully last)

Then I also got xericsmithii 'Shooting Star', which looks enough like one of it's parents (h. niger) that I didn't figure I needed an open h. niger shot.

And the baby oriental hybrids hellebores for a March showing (probably next year):

Lastly a closeup from PK website of xFrostkissed 'Charmer' (the pink one from above.

I was really pleased with the size and apparent vigor of the plants and I've umm texted photos to all my gardening friends (like I had a new baby or something). And no, PineKnot isn't paying me for publicity, but maybe they should (*lol*).

I liked one of my friend's responses to the text: 'Too bad you have to keep them inside'. I laughed, because they're outside where they *should* pass a 20F stress test tomorrow. Unfortunately, it started raining about 15 minutes after they arrived, so they didn't get planted yesterday and may have to wait several days on that.

Jennifer, I'm sorry Sweetie Pie didn't make it, but relieved she is not suffering.

For an intermediate daylength onion, you cannot go wrong with Candy, which is a yellow-skinned, sweet onion that gets huge (larger than softballs) with good moisture levels. If I could grow only one onion variety, I might choose Candy (or I might choose TX1015 supersweets, which are a short day type). If you want to try a variety of intermediate day length types, Dixondale has the Intermediate Day Length Sampler, which is a mix of Candy, a white one called Super Star that is a very close second to Candy, and a red one called Red Candy Apple, that we all thought would be the red version of Candy, but it really isn't....it stays a lot smaller and you have to push it along hard with extra nitrogen to get it to make onions that are a decent size. Candy always amazes me with its huge size. I think they get larger for me than TX1015Y just because they grow for a few more weeks during a time of year when we usually receive good rainfall amounts.

Of the lettuces on your list, I've grown all except Thai Oakleaf and Bronze Arrow. Of those, Crawford, Jericho and Anuenue produced the best and for the longest period of time. For me, all three have produced deeply into June, which is rare in my hotter area. Usually lettuce starts bolting here by early June, sometimes earlier if the heat comes too soon. I think Jericho has made it until July some years if I grow it in morning sun/afternoon shade and never let it get too dry. I have grown plenty of oakleaf types and they also do well here, but not as well as Crawford, Jericho and Anuenue.

Hooray for new lights! I'm thinking about buying new lights because mine are so, so old. I just need to stop thinking about it and do it.

Larry, Our weather was gloriously warm yesterday---70 degrees and mostly sunny, but also was windy. Today is a real mixed bag for us with potentially severe weather beginning around noon and lasting until the evening hours and then, after a cold front rolls through, snow possible by morning. You just have to laugh at our weather sometimes.....even when it gives us nice weather, it makes us pay by following it with nasty weather.

If you cannot get in the mood to do anything, I think that is your body's way of telling you to rest and recover from your recent illness a bit more before you return to your usual work pace. I feel like it took me quite a while after the flu to get back to feeling 100% again, and my energy level was so slow to return. It drove me nuts, but I tried to listen to my body and to honor its need for rest and recovery.

I'm glad you have a worker to help you. Just pace yourself and do what you can. As we get older, we all have to adapt to lower energy levels, more aches and pains, etc. I was fortunate to be able to watch how Fred handled it over the last 20 years and, admittedly, he only grudgingly hired help, accepted help and slowed himself down to what was manageable based on his physical condition, but he did slowly make concessions to his age. That allowed him to keep doing some physical labor in his late 80s and lower 90s, which I found remarkable. I believe he would have worn out himself earlier if he'd tried to keep going at the same pace as always. I'll be happy if I can do half as much at any given age as he did. When the time comes that I need to retire to the porch, deck and patio and just have plants in containers, I'll do it happily, knowing that we have to listen to our bodies. Don't get off the field and let the big boys play, but maybe make the playing field smaller and more manageable? I think that I could be happy with a dozen large containers sitting near the house beginning right now if that was what age and time dictated was doable, though it would be hard for me to abandon the front garden that I have spent 20 years building and improving. I wouldn't miss dealing with all the garden weeds for sure.

dbarron, Thanks for sharing! Those hellebores are stunning! I hope to be planting some next year after this year's landscape renovation creates a place for them.

This weather suddenly does not lend itself to planting, does it? Oh well, maybe in a few days it will improve and you can plant them.

Y'all, please WATCH YOUR WEATHER today. The first Severe Thunderstorm already has popped up in western OK, and the first Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued a few minutes ago. This watch includes parts of western, northern and northeastern OK. Storms were expected to form by 8 a.m. and they surely have begun. Remember that, depending on your location in the state and region, all sorts of severe weather is possible in advance of the cold front/snow, including severe thunderstorms with hail, strong winds, some heavy rainfall and potentially a few tornadoes. The further south and east you are, the higher the tornado risk. Later on, this stuff moves on and the cold comes in, dragging along snow behind it. Welcome to Oklahoma and the ARK-LA-TX , where we sometimes have all 4 seasons pretty much in 1 day.

Dawn

It's sunny right now..and little rain fell last night. I think I'm going to go outside and plant the hellebores before the rain decides to return (and hopefully nothing more severe than rain). I may not get the six pack planted...still pondering where to plant those somewhat.

Be safe everyone.

So it looks like Cliff's friend/practically a sister will be moving back in with us, which means I lose the closet I was planning to use for seed starting. Now the only place to set things up will be the garage. I have a couple of those mini greenhouses for shelving, a couple of fluorescent bars for lighting. I know I'll need more lighting, but what about heat? If I start them inside where it's warm, could I then move them out after they sprout and not worry as much about heat? I know a lot depends on how warm the garage stays and how much heat is put out by the lights, but I'm still trying to work things out before I tell him "oh, I'm going to spend a bunch of money on my "weeds". "(As he calls them)

Larry, I'm sorry you and Madge are still ill. We are, too. The doctor yesterday says Ron's has gone to pneumonia. We just don't seem to be able to kick this. I am tired, too, and I'm sleeping way more than usual. And I'm bored. Tired of solitaire and Netflix.

I have ordered seeds from several places. Already got my Missouri Wildflower seeds back!

H/J, I like Drunken Woman lettuce. My favorite is Chadwicks Rodan, which has gotten hard to find. Pretty sure I have seeds for Red Sails, but no memory of it's performance. I'm sorry about your chicken. I know what that's like.

I'm going to go look at my seed list and see if I can find something to get excited about.

Amy, what'd you order from Mo Wild Flwrs?

From Missouri Wildflower.

Asclepias tuberosa Pleurisy Root (milkweed)

Phlox paniculata Garden or Summer Phlox

Vernonia arkansana Curlytop Ironweed

Viburnum rufidulum rusty blackhaw

Verbesina helianthoides Yellow Crownbeard

Rusty blackhaw is out of stock, but I want it.

These are items I was looking for that are natives Tallamy recommended. I also ordered 4 or 5 things from Prairie Moon. I have a bunch of plants I want, but that is so expensive I've been holding off.

Okay I'm worried about Nancy. She had weather awfully close to her. So if you see this Nancy, pm me.

I sure miss being able to grow Orange milkweed...it's too wet here for almost any. Not even my swamp milkweed did good really long term. If well drained, it's a long term plant and much beloved.

The native phloxes are great, but I have problems with competition with them (I plant too crowded..my bad).

The vernonia was excellent when I lived near you! It doesn't like all my moisture though.

I loath verbesinas (lol)..but your mileage may vary.;

Oh yeah, rusty blackhaw was native all along the road from the highway to my house..and I had one in yard I planted, very very excellent shrub. Loved the berries and it would take baking drought or spring flooding without blinking.

BTW, I heard from Nancy. She's ok.

The crown beard was a last minute impulse. We'll see what happens. I wanted some native sunflowers till I figured out they might take over.

The native sunflowers are somewhat aggressive, but not that hard to get rid of (imo)..but if you want it care-free, they're not for you.

Amy, thank you for checking in with me! We had sirens going off all over. I drove into to town this morning. While in there having coffee with friends, the sirens went off. Going in, coming back, torrential rain and could barely see for a while. Got home and then the sirens began going off here. LOL SHEESH. We had 3.25" between 11 am and 6:45 pm. I emptied the gauge and it has been pouring since then. So we'll probably easily have 4" for the day.

Dbarron, I have a perfect and empty bed just waiting for hellebores. BUT. it is on the north side of our shop, which we would never see. Not from the road, not from the house. So the only point would be just cuz. And those little suckers are pretty expensive for "just because."

I have been so distracted of late. I have to give a presentation to a group at the end of this month, and it is VERY important that I get them to realize what a worthwhile thing this is. . . so I've been reading reading reading, studying studying. Jotting down an outline, now beginning to write. Painful. What I need to do, I decided, is to pretend I'm Dawn, and just go on. Except I'm not. Dawn--can I just hire you to come up and give my presentations, logically, common sense stuff?

I'm giving a gardening speech about responsible stewardship to the Methodist Church. What could go wrong, right? LOLOL Truly it's cracking me up on the one hand, but is very serious, on the other. I'd highly recommend Doug Tallamy's "Bringing Nature Home," and if you're in a Christian frame of mind, "Tending to Eden," by Scott Sabin.

Glad you're okay, Nancy. I think you'll do great with your presentation. You have a lot of passion for the things that you believe in...and that will come across.

We got very little rain. It started pouring on my way out of our neighborhood this morning as I was leaving for work. It must have not rained much, though, because the rain gauge is basically empty. What's funny is, we had the kids on the playground at 10:30 this morning. No one had on jackets.

We often don't get rain when everyone else does. There are a few times that we get too much...but it's often when everyone else gets WAY too much.

We do have a lot of wind. We often have a lot of wind.

The Monticello cucumber seeds arrived today. That was fast!

Jen, I'll hold on to yours until SF unless you want them before then. I can bring them to you at some point if so. If anyone else wants a few seeds to try, I'll share my packet with you, just let me know and I'll bring them to SF.

Thanks for the input on the lettuce. I appreciate it!

There was another coyote this morning at the back of the chicken yard. The chickens had not been let out of their coop into their pen at that point. I shoo'd it off and it went somewhere...? The chickens stayed in their pen or coop all day. The didn't get chicken yard time. I had to go to work and didn't trust Ethan to keep an eye on them.

It would have been fine, probably, because we finally have good internet! Cox came out and did the fiberoptic (sp???). Wow. What a difference. Bye-buh hillbilly internet! There was a lot of outside action going on that would have kept a coyote away---that's what I mean by that.

The brassicas are covered. And that ugly bed of herbs and pansies/violas (it you saw that on FB). It's not a pretty bed, but it's green and living and I don't want to lose it all. In my mind, it will be pretty in March. If it doesn't freeze out.

That's all from me!

I am trying to be better and keep up. But the names throw me.

Lisa, Dawn, Kim, Nancy and now Megan all have faces for me. The others... yes, I have met a lot of you... but your real name, and your online name here are different, and that messes me up.

Dawn, a long time ago and would have a chest freezer full of gallon milk jugs with water/ice. Every day I would haul 4 up, and put on the roots of my peach tree. That was one of those years in the 80's, when we had a very warm January. That procedure kept the tree from budding out to early.

Everyone, it was a joy to meet up with Megan. She was in line in front of me, and I read her name when I signed in. Of course, I turned and looked where she was... and introduced myself. What fun.

It is cold out. Darn cold. Hard to believe I was out riding in shorts yesterday... got home before the wind had turned. Put on my overalls, and out to work in the yard. I knew, I didn't have enough time to make a dent with digging Bermuda grass, and got my snake tool out and weeded instead.

It cooled off fast. Went in and got a fleece top and eventually had to abandon weeding and go in to stay.

60 yesterday when I got up. 69 while riding. 38 around 8 PM, 22 when I got up this morning and a projected high of 34 for today.

It's sure weird weather January! :)

But, I saw a blooming dandelion in my back yard, and I left it. :)

Hope everyone is warm.

Moni

I have been watching you Ladies post with interest. I want to grow for pollinators also, as well for other critters. One of the items on the list that the small land owners biologist sent me was "Partridge Peas". I know nothing about them, but, I think they may work for me. Do any of you have any words of wisdom about them? Egyptian wheat was also on that list, but, I am thinking that it would be too much of a fire hazard.

The weather STINKS here. Its 34 degrees and supposed to drop to 24 by this afternoon, with mud and water everywhere.

We didn't get much rain. We didn't get much snow. It IS cold, though. I'm still laughing about us being on the playground without coats at this time yesterday.

Moni, I had a yellow dandelion this week too! It made me smile.

I can see how you're confused about the usernames/nicknames/real names. I'm probably the most confusing. I like the name Hazel, so chose it for this forum. (I didn't use my real name at first because I had a bad experience at another non-garden related forum with stalking and all.) I'm not worried about it any longer, but if I could rename myself I would choose Hazel. In the past year, I've come to know 2 babies and one preschooler named Hazel, so it's making a comeback, I guess. When Nancy first came here, she mentioned a TV series called Hazel. I don't remember it, but looked it up. It might have been on TV before I was born. Just yesterday I was watching a rerun of Seinfeld and George mentioned that TV series...comparing his Mom to Hazel. I don't think it was a compliment, though...haha.

ANYWAY....I'm sure I've made it even more confusing.

My name on the forum is Hazel.

My real name is Jennifer

Nancy nicknamed me HJ.

There's another Jen here. She's just "Jen". But sometimes people accidentally refer to me as Jen.

Sorry for the confusion. I've seen you post on FB--you're friends with Dawn and Lisa and someone else. I'll send you a friend request.

We have met in real life, at the SFs.

I'll try to post a couple of pictures of myself, but am having a hard time finding recent pics of just me. I'm always standing in a group. (and I'm not taking a selfie right now. LOL)

I am short and my face easily is forgettable. I tend to blend into the background, but maybe you recognize me.

I'm cleaning today. And shopping. And stopping by a friend's husbands 50th BD party. So far I've been lazy and only have done a load of laundry and a load of dishes. And am considering a nap. LOL. Maybe just a short one.

Rain is slithering down, and bouncing off ground (yes frozen pellets). I stay in (vs going anywhere) most days, so another day or two won't make much difference to me. I pulled car into garage for first time in months last night.

I will carry in a few potted hardy plants that I am not sure if sub-20 would hurt in their pots, to the unheated back porch, which should keep them above 25. Venus fly traps, pitcher plants, sundews, blueberry (little buds expanding because of the warmth lately), fig, and cumberland rosemary. I will get most of them in the ground as spring comes, but for now, their home is their pot, because I wanted them to get bigger before facing a winter in ground where I couldn't bring them in.

I would say good say for soup, but I had this week already...so I think fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and whatever else I figure out.

Keep warm all.

Hi Hazel/Jennifer

I remember we met. It's just that name thing. Thanks for the pictures and the friend request.

I am lazy so far today. Still thinking of trying another loaf of bread a family member posted a recipe for on facebook. It's a not much fuss recipe, but in German. I think, I hadn't let the yeast get totally dissolved when I tried it before. Otherwise, I am thankful for a rest day. :)

I also know and met Mia... but forgot her when I made my post above. :) Mia, are you still posting?

Moni

Jen, I'd start out by buying one of those inexpensive indoor Min/Max thermometers that Wal-Mart sells (the store nearest us has them with rain gauges on a row right beside the paint aisle) and put that out in the garage. Check it daily for a week or two and log your results and you'll know pretty quickly what the temperature range is in there. Then, you can make choices accordingly.

With a light shelf, up to a certain point, the fluorescent lights create their own heat. When I have all five shelves on my light shelf in use (2 4' long light fixtures per shelf, with 2 tubes per fixture, so a total of 20 4' long fluorescent light tubes in use at once), they heat up a standard bedroom so much that I have to keep the blinds closed to exclude heat from the sun, the ceiling fan running 24/7, and the HVAC vent into that room closed and the room still heats up about 15-20 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. Sometimes I have to open a window to cool down the room because if it stays too warm, the plants grow too quickly and outgrow the light shelf while it still is cold outdoors. I haven't used one in an unheated space like a garage, so I am not sure how much they would heat up the garage overall, but they should at least keep the plants near them pretty warm. Of course, if you use LED lights, you won't get the heat. I would think if y'all keep the garage doors closed, that would help hold in the heat. Our detached shop/garage is very well-insulated but not heated, and it will stay around 18 to 20 degrees inside even when we are in the single digits outdoors. That is why I have been able to over-winter some tropical type plants, like brugmansias, inside that building some years, but I haven't raised seedlings in there. Before I had a greenhouse, I often would move the tomato plants out to the garage once they were outgrowing the light shelf, so probably in March, and they did fine in the unheated garage even though we had some freezing cold nights.

If you find your garage gets too chilly, you could try taping space blankets (those shiny ones that look a bit like aluminum foil, often sold in camping section at Wal-Mart) to the back and sides of your shelving unit to reflect the lights' heat and light back onto the plants to keep them warmer. Having the shelf enclosed on 3 sides but with the 4th side open for good air flow should ensure the seedlings stay healthy.

Amy, I'm sorry you and Ron are stuck with lingering illness and hope your health continues to improve.

dbarron, I just hate that your wet soil means there are plants you cannot grow. My dry soil does the same thing to me, lol, but at least I can add moisture (up until the point that the water bill gets too scary) to my dry soil, while you have no way, unfortunately, of vacuuming up all the excess moisture to get it out of your soil. Am I the only one who things we all are crazy to try to grow plants we love in our erratic weather? As soon as I figure out which plants (including natives) will tolerate a dry year with 19" of rain as well as an excessively wet one with 78" of rain, I'll let y'all know. All I've learned so far is that plants that will tolerate the 19" year generally die in the 78" year and vice versa, and that does include many natives. So, even the natives here ebb and flow and completely disappear at times. It can take them years and years for them to come back after either a very dry or a very wet year. Why can't they all be like Johnson grass and just live through it all? Nothing kills that Johnson grass.

Amy, The native sunflowers here don't take over. They do aggressively reseed sometimes, but generally the first ones to grow and get taller pretty much shade out the shorter ones and that is the end of that. The ones that are shaded out just fade away on their own, and the taller ones grow, bloom and reseed.

Nancy, You can do it! Just organize your thoughts, speak with authority and encourage everyone with love. Your presentation will be great, and your messages will come shining through.

Jennifer, My experience is that coyotes will come back daily for a while once they find a potential food source, so keep your eyes open. They seem to go in spurts, so will be around a while, and then will disappear for a while as they move on to a potentially better hunting area. January and February are usually the worst months for them.

Moni, That is just more work than I am going to do for fruit! I am at the point now that either it grows and produces, or it doesn't.

Larry, Partridge peas are easy. They grow equally well in sandy soil or clay here, shrug off both excess rain and heat/drought, reseed themselves, and attract tons of pollinators. They do have a slight tendency to be invasive, so keep them out of your good soil. They are perfectly happy in native soil that is not amended. I had one pop up in a raised bed in the garden once, reseeded from a nearby pasture and I thought I'd just leave it there for the pollinators. Well, in the good soil it grew three times as large as they do out in the pastures and started taking over everything, so I had to hurry up, cut it back before it could reseed, and dig it out before it became too well-established for me to ever get rid of it. I had a hard time digging it out and it only had been there a couple of months---those roots went deeply and they had spread out very wide. Lesson learned!

Our weather has been bonkers. We awakened to 68 degrees yesterday and it felt like a May morning with lots of good moisture in the air. Then, over the next 24 hours we had this: light rain at first, severe thunderstorms, tornado warnings, kids stuck at school in tornado shelters after school had ended for the day because of tornado warnings coming our way from Texas that made it risky to let the kids leave the schools, heavy rainfall near dinner time, flash flooding, flooding, hail, more rain, more flooding, high winds and, eventually, temperatures that fell like a rock, wind chills down near 10 degrees, freezing temperatures, sleet and snow. The sun just came out a few minutes ago, sort of....it is peeking out from behind clouds sporadically, so our temperature just now made it up all the made to 33 degrees and the sleet and snow are melting. We aren't expected to make it out of the 30s today, but the warm-up begins again tomorrow and we're supposed to be in the 60s next week.

It is a good day to stay home, stay indoors and avoid all the mud, the muck and the mess. Lunch is going to be homemade chili, served with shredded cheese sprinkled on top and crackers on the side. I didn't even have to make the chili this morning because not too long ago I made a big batch and froze it in 2-cup portions in plastic freezer boxes, so all I had to do was defrost it and heat it up. The roads are a mess here, with icy overpasses and ice on elevated roadways and people sliding off into bar ditches, medians, roadsides and such. On the Texas side of the river, where heavier snow and sleet fell, the roads between here and Denton are a mess. Just over the river in Texas, on I-35, roads southbound out of OK are closed down by numerous semi trucks jack-knifed near the Red River. At times, the traffic backup extends into our county, so no one really is able to head southbound into Texas from here this morning. I imagine it will take a while to get all the semis towed and the roadways reopened. Like I said, a great day to stay home....not that we have a lot of choice in the matter.

Have a great day everybody and stay warm.

Dawn

I canceled Audrey’s post surgical appointment this afternoon because of the ice we got and snow that was on the way. We got maybe a dusting. We had maybe a 30-45 second blast of heavy hail yesterday afternoon at work, small but came down hard. Glad all our vehicles survived it.

I have a lot of housework to get done this weekend, and I did just get the laundry started, but right now I’m going to enjoy my breakfast sandwich and hot tea, watch a basketball game, and seed shop.

Is Audrey back to normal? So happy they were able to help/fix her!! I'm doing a little laundry myself. . .

I got up late, at 8. . . but Garry slept WAY late. I asked him when he got up if he had trouble sleeping last night--he said NO, he guess he just decided to get 10 hours of sleep for the heck of it. LOL He NEVER does that.

At any rate, I had a great morning reading reading reading. Then got detoured in one of the books and had to go take a geography detour online. I'm loving it. I think I need to study more. I love geography but haven't studied it much the past 6-8 years. Especially not since I've had my head buried in reading about gardening in OK!!

Moni, I got a great laugh about the meeting between Megan and you. WHAT! Yes it is cold! Yesterday was WARM. Dawn--your mention of the min/max thermometer. That is one of my favorite gardening things I've bought. That and the rain gauge. And the hori hori knife.

AND, my day is going to be just like YOURS. I made an extra big batch of chili last time, also, and it is a chili or soup day. Because I am feeling so so lazy and not wanting to do ANY more work than the one load of laundry, I will opt for the chili.

Speaking of fried chicken, dbarron. Had a weird thing happen. I decided I'd fix friend chicken 3-4 days ago. Garry and I both prefer dark meat, and I always get deboned thighs. But I wanted to fix some fancy chicken and noodles for give-away meals, so bought a big pack of boneless chicken breasts. I went ahead and used them for our fried chicken meal. . . yummy with all the fixings, Usually. The weird thing is that the chicken breasts were actually very dense and TOUGH! I've never ever experienced such a thing. They were very moist, not overcooked, but just tough. Any of you ever had that happen? Had I known, I would have flattened them out with a meat mallet first. I'm still grumpy about it, so am fixing for easy this evening.

And Dawn, you got an actual guffaw from me--it's a wonder I didn't wake GDW up. Speak with authority! LOLOL Still laughing. I'm thinking of many folks on FB OK Gardening who speak with such authority, one swears they know what they're talking about. Hahaha, still laughing. OKAY! I shall speak with authority!

Amy, I really can't even believe the cold turned into pneumonia! Yours didn't, did it? How are you two feeling today?

HJ--you cute pretty thing, you--you most definitely do not have a forgettable face!

It's so strange that we got nearly nothing as far as rain/ice/snow go. I didn't even have to worry about Ethan driving home from work last night.

It is sunny here, but cold. The dogs were dying to go out, so I put them out. They'll probably change their minds soon enough. Right now they're too busy sniffing all the spots where the coyote walked.

Moni, Mia doesn't post here very often.

Dawn, I saw the story you posted. So sad.

Enjoy your chili. I love pulling already made food out of the freezer. In fact, I have a couple of meals in there I should feed to Tom and Ethan this week. Thanks for helping me remember.

Dbarron and Rebecca, enjoy your yummy food and cozy day. I sure wish I didn't have to go to this BD party in a few hours.

Cleaning out seed boxes and trying to figure out what I need. I have Fortex pole beans, but I’d like another bean. A regular green bean, as mom prefers.

Sorting flowers next. That’s always a free for all.

Mia does pop her head in on a rare occasion. Maybe she’ll see this and say Hi.

Moni, I’m not sure if we’ve met yet. I’ve only been to the last 2 SF events.

I just had to get out for a bit, and walked to HD and back. Finally got keys cut. I always forget, and then last time there, the machine kept the key.

Thus, I had two made... and have a spare now. ;)

6000 steps done. I am tired. need to open up the package that came while I was gone... I had actually left to drop a birthday card off at the mail drop box near the corner.. as there wasn't mail yet by 3:00 PM. It usually comes earlier.

Need to see, which book came.

Moni

Ya, I'm the "other Jen". My husband keeps harassing me that "Jen Hart" doesn't exist and I should change my username, but I've been "jlhart" for 25 years. Changing my maiden name was easy, but don't expect me to change my social media name!

Larry, I grew one partridge pea a couple years ago because it was a "pretty flower". Every year I have some pop up, but mostly in the yard so they get mowed down. I keep a few and usually put them in containers, so maybe that's why they haven't gotten invasive for me.

Thanks Dawn, I figured that's what I'd have to do (the thermometer thing) but was hoping someone had experience with it & could say definitely yes or no. At any rate, it's either that or don't start seeds, so I don't have much to lose.

Ladies, thanks for the reply on the Partridge peas, it looks like I will have to order some for the wildlife garden. I hope to have the garden reseeding itself while my health holds up, because I know my daughter wont look after it the way I do. If I can get the wildlife garden growing on its own, except brush hogging every three years, I will be a happy camper.