Well ,bless you . Hope it all works out.

Hu

Hmm...I guess my post from earlier disappeared. I don't see it anyway....

I think it started off with something like:

Marleigh, the wind did not play nice today. Did it play nice for you?

Then, I talked about why I like to watch/read other gardeners/homesteaders videos and blogs. And mentioned some of my favorites which I won't repeat now. I am inspired by other people's gardens and homes. Even if I can't repeat that at my house. I guess I get jealous sometimes like why can't I grow broccoli all summer?! But then remember that I can grow peppers and okra and things that other places don't grow as easily.

I like the FB Humans Who Grow Food--it features people from all over the world and they different ways they all garden. I love that. Dale and Carrie were featured a couple of years ago.

Honestly, I've forgotten what else I talked about.

HU, thanks for coming out today. Sorry it was still a little too wet after the first till. I know Tena was so happy that you finished her garden. Also, Tom enjoyed looking at your pictures too! I'll try to share some of them here soon. I sure hope it dries out so we can plant all of those seeds and plants that you brought! (Well, we'll never be able to plant all of the seed this year. haha!)

I know I commented on everyone's posts but won't go back and do that again. Just know how much I enjoyed reading your posts.

Our forecast for tomorrow night is 35. The temp will drop all night and tomorrow, with rain starting in a few hours. I just hope the rain is light. For everyone. Just in case, the apple trees are ready for a frost--the Christmas lights on one and the other one has a cage around it ready for the frost cloth.

I mowed the backyard tonight. Mostly because I wanted the clipping for the chicken pen. Those clippings sure help keep the pen from getting so muddy.

Tom got frustrated and went back to work today. He tried to get "in" from home around 5:30 this morning and I might have heard some cursing. Next thing I know, he's in the shower saying, "I'm going in.". I'm happy that he had a productive day getting caught up, but I do worry about him.

I'm going to work tomorrow, but I'll be alone in the office. I have a couple thousand Easter eggs to fill with candy. I'll just drop them on people's porches and let the kids wave at the bunny from the door. It's just all so disappointing. This event isn't just for a few families. Our entire community looks forward to it each year. 1000's of people. We have a cookout and egg hunt--and it's just one of the best times of the year. I'm glad we stopped collecting candy and eggs early on. I would hate to have wasted all of that. We don't have near as many, but I'll deliver to a few families who "sign up" and feel that it's safe enough for them to take Easter eggs and candy from me.

I'm hoping to pick up my elders from Prairie Wind on Sunday...and pick up some herbs too.

Jen—No, the wind definitely did not play nice. I lost one of my tomatillos, snapped clean off! I managed to get the rest out of the wind without incident, but I didn’t do much else outside yesterday. Hopefully we stay in the high thirties tonight, which is the prediction for my area. I have so many peaches and pears forming! My pear tree is much too large to be able to blanket or light it. I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

It will probably be too wet to plant on Sunday, so I’m hopeful about getting my tomatoes and peppers out on Monday or Tuesday. The temps look good next week, and I’d like to give them the earliest start I can.

Glad you’re able to still do something for an egg hunt! Easter is going to be rough for a lot of people. I’m not sure how it will feel like Easter without going to church; we usually spend the day with our parish, having a big picnic. I’m going to try and make our day like my family Easter growing up—hiding the kids’ baskets, hunting real eggs, and brunch of creamed eggs, biscuits and ham. It was always a fun family day for us, so we’ll make it one this year if we can.

—Marleigh

It's raining here, and we were ready too wet to plant. My plants are out on our porch/deck, I will have to go check them after daylight and make sure that the flats are not flooded.

My sweet potatoes are still making slips, I could have as much as 100 by planting time. The tomatoes I started on 3-14 are about ready to be planted, and I dont have any ground ready. I was wanting to try to grow garden plants in containers this year, it looks like I had better get the containers ready, because that looks like my only option for a while. I will have to plant the plants in small containers so I can take them into the house because it is nor uncommon to get a frost/freeze here around the first of may.. It sounds like the rain is stopped, so I had better step out on the deck to check the plants and then go back to bed because I mower yesterday and my allergies are acting up. I have to be careful to keep the allergies from going into something else. Wearing a mask while mowing always helps, but I did not wear one yesterday. we are getting low on mask, and I know that I wont be able to buy any for a long while.

Mask idea: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2611871869088258&id=100007964100586

It was 35 here at 9 am. Bartlesville has already hit 32. Ron says he will put the tomatoes in the garage. I have them in clear plastic tubs, which I closed last night and put up against the house, but I don't think that's enough if it drops to 32 and stays there. Raspberries to the weather. All that work planting baby kale and chard. If they were better established I wouldn't worry, but I expect I'll loose them. I'll save seeds if anything survives, cause we know they're tough. The last time I covered anything with a frost blanket the dog thought it was a chew toy. Maybe I'll go buy collards. I didn't see any at Atwoods.

Larry, ask your doctor if you can take turmeric or ginger capsules or tea. I can't take NSAIDs because of my stomach. One day I tried a tea meant for when you're getting a cold. Ginger, turmeric and lemon with a little black pepper. My knee was aching that day. About an hour later I got up and my knee didn't hurt anymore. Ginger and turmeric are both anti inflammatory adding a pinch of black pepper makes turmeric work better. Saw fresh turmeric at Sprouts so I started making fresh ginger/turmeric tea. It is good with honey and lemon for a cold. My daughter swears by this and wants it whenever she is sick. She prefers ginger capsules (she dropped a motorcycle on her ankle and still hurts. She got ulcers from Ibuprofen ) I like turmeric. I like this so much that I have started growing ginger and turmeric. Bonus is turmeric is a pretty plant.

Fire in the fire place. Bah humbug.

Amy I have used turmeric for about 3 years. I have a lot of metal and grafts in my leg and ankle and an abundance of arthritis all over. Make sure you use a supplement that includes the black pepper or I usually just use turmeric spice and add the pepper to whatever I’m cooking. I especially like it with scrambled eggs or pasta dishes. It’s not addictive, it doesn’t upset my stomach and for me it helps. Everyone is different- might not work at all for someone else.

We had 29 here this morning and when my husband did chores he said the gate latches were coated with ice. 😒

PS: I still have fire going in our pellet stove too.

I am honestly not fond of turmeric powder. Mixed with other spices like curry, yeah. Fresh turmeric is not as bitter. I run it and ginger through the food processor and freeze it for when I need it. But you know, the first tea I made was all dried spices, so that works, too. I am not even sure why we had it in the house. Probably a pickle recipe or maybe mustard.

I walked around the yard just now. Everything has survived so far. Tomatoes are in the garage.

I am bored. Plenty to do, no desire to do it. I would like to put dogs in the car and go for a ride so we all get a change. On the other hand could get slick.

Amy, thank you so much, I admire all the knowledge you have. I will have to try your suggestion, I would like to grow the plants also. Some of Madge's kids know a lot about home remedies, not so much with Madge, and I know nothing.

My Egyptian spinach seed just came in the mail. I still have some room under the lights ( an empty spot in one of the trays ). I have 3 more trays out on the deck ready to be filled.

When I went out on the deck this morning to check my plants I found a tray of peppers in a full flat of water, and the potting mix I was using was in a mineral tub, and it looked like about like 8 gal. of potting soup.

I ordered a new carburetor for my tiller last night. I can buy a new carburetor for around $10.00, a spray can of cleaner will cost over half of that price. I have an extra carburetor out in the shop, but it is so hard to see how to disassemble and clean, then get it put back together and installed. If this rain doesn't quit I will have to install pontoons on my tiller to float it out to the gardens.

We just got back from town. I was surprised to see so many people out, and I only saw one other person wearing a mask. I leave Madge in the car when we go to town, sometimes I go alone, but we try Walmart pick up as much as we can.

We placed an order for Aldi's delivery, and and another for Walmart for the items we couldn't get at Aldi. If I weren't so cheap (and didn't like checking out what they had on sale/clearance shelves) I could get used to this whole online shopping thing.

Most everything got put back in the garage or the closet for our overnight. I was afraid it would drop lower than the predicted 40, and the weather app read 30 at 7 this morning. Of course the swings are doing a number on my migraine. One nice perk for work from home. I can go back to bed, then when I feel marginally human clock in to work without the hassle of getting dressed or driving.

30s today, 70s on Tuesday. Ma Nature really needs to get with it.

Sounds like everyone is staying busy at least on here posting.

cleaning up my little storage shed today I found a great book I bought and packed away.

Howard Garret Texas organic gardening. What a jewel.

i started reading it immediately. So good especially all the specific to Texas info.

Dawn I tried Atwood’s and was disappointed. They didn’t put the greenhouse up this year and the plants look a little rough. There weren’t any herbs at all. Oh well I still have seeds lol.

someone posted in Vermont seed sales were stopped as it was considered unnecessary

Well...I thought tonight was supposed to be the potential freeze (not last night). But something in my gut told me to wrap those lights on the tree and put the cage around the other. I woke every hour and checked the temp. At four, I went out with a flashlight and put the frost cloth on the one tree and lit up the lights on the other. It was cold and drizzly--can you imagine trying to wrap those lights in the dark and in my PJs. SO glad I had it all mostly done.

It showed that we got to 32, but nothing was frozen when I did the chicken/dog care. I'll leave it all on tonight too. I had already put HU's plants in the shop, but put mine in as well. At 4 am.

Good news. We didn't get much rain at all. Just some drizzle.

We haven't had much rain, either. And the temp has been between 38-40 most of the day. I'll put some of the stuff in the house tonight, but am waiting until later. Says we're going to have a low of 36--it has been shifting a lot in the past 24 hrs. I really hope we don't get a freeze--Garry's apple trees have many blooms.

We're doing the pickup groceries at Walmart, also. And we have friends in town who know to grab TP, hamburger, eggs, or whole wheat bread for us. lol One of those friends said on FB that they were there today and people were strolling through the store as if they were on vacation--and with their children. She urged people to be more careful. But......................... you know how that's going.

I don't have any Howard Garrett books, Kim, but I definitely remember his name from Dawn talking about him.

I also appreciated hearing about the ginger and turmeric, Amy. What is the ginger cultivar? Was it hard to get going? Like you, I've plenty to do, and like you, no desire to do it today.

I'm not even going to COOK today! The Marina's new restaurant is opening today. Bad timing, right? They are fighting an uphill battle--first Covid-19 and then FLOODING. I feel like I HAVE to order from them. Carry out only. I hope they are washing their hands well. :)

This is the third year in a row that we've spotted pygmy rattlesnakes in the yard. Guess they just love our yard. Garry dispatched one yesterday.

I'm awfully sleepy, all of a sudden. I think a short nap is in order.

Marleigh, That is great info about Type 1 vs type 2. His type 1 wasn't diagnosed until roughly his second year in college and he seemed to be in great health until then, so I'm not sure if he'd had it his whole life and somehow it never caused a problem (hard to imagine) or if he had the latent-onset type 1 they are seeing nowadays. It was shocking because he seemed so healthy, but then suddenly developed symptoms and rapid weight loss.

I wish our son had waited and had his test in OK instead of down in TX because they were still using the older tests in Texas on Monday and are testing thousands daily down there. Even though he was told the wait for results was 5-8 days, other people tested in TX this week have been told there is a big testing backlog and they may not get results for 12-14 days. Waiting is hard. He felt better yesterday and feels worse today, so the long wait is unsettling, but I'd still prefer him to be at home as long as possible if it is covid-19 instead of in the hospital around a lot more people with the same thing. We do not have many people hospitalized with it yet down here in southern OK, but we also have fairly small hospitals. So far in our county we only have two confirmed cases, but probably have a lot more people that haven't been tested and don't know they have it. We are staying firmly at home where we belong.

They are having the same issue with playgrounds in the DFW metro area, where there are tons and tons of confirmed cases and where people ought to know better---they've taken down basketball hoops and nets, tennis and pickleball court nets, etc. and have closed parking lots at parks but then people just park on the street and block other people's driveways. They have taped off playground equipment with yellow caution tape and orange plastic construction fencing, and then people tear it down so their kids can play. What in the world is wrong with people????? I wish people would take this more seriously. Even the hiking/biking trails were severely crowded in recent days, but I bet today's colder, wetter weather is taking care of that issue.

Rebecca, I agree with you and that's why I worry so much about those of you on the front line in essential jobs who have to deal with the public---who knows what each and every person you deal with at work has or might have? Stay safe!

Nancy, They raised our forecast low all week and I was feeling pretty good about it, and then last night they dropped it back to 36 degrees. I plan to bring in everything in flats and smaller containers, and cover up the tomato plants that are in large pots. Hopefully this will be the last gasp of cold air. I noticed on FB that a lot of our gardening friends woke up this morning with surprise freezing drizzle.

Nancy, As long as we stay away from the creeks and ponds, we don't see many water moccasins but we know they are here. Still, I don't usually see them in our yard unless we are in drought and the ponds and creeks have dried up. In that case, they would come up to the yard to the lily pond....which is why we no longer have a lily pond. I'm glad Gary found your water moccasin before he stepped on it.

Larry, At the rate you are starting seeds, you're going to have a whole garden indoors long before it ever dries up enough to have one outdoors. I hate this wet weather.

Tim has been trying to stay caught up on the mowing, but it is pretty much impossible and is just as you described. We will be paying for those ruts in the yard later.....

Johnny, As a child, my dad and his large family survived the Dust Bowl and some of the following years as white sharecroppers who largely raised only corn and pinto beans, and barely enough to keep themselves fed. The weather never seemed to allow a cash crop. Everyone was skinny because there wasn't enough food for anybody to eat enough to get fat, but at least they had food, even if it was most always beans and/or cornbread or cornmeal mush three times a day. Of course, like most subsistence farmers of that era, they also had a milk cow and chickens, and slaughtered a hog once a year so at times they had milk or eggs or pork, but only on special occasions. When there were weeds in winter or spring, they'd eat poke sallet and lambs quarters. My dad lived to be 85 and right up until the end of his life he loved to have red beans, cornbread and greens at least once a week. I never was able to acquire a liking for lambs quarters.

Jennifer, I can't say I blame Tom. It has got to be frustrating to be at home and having technical issues that prevent you from being productive. Tim's work has been the opposite--as upper management, so much of his time at work deals with long-term planning (what is there to plan when the airport is virtually shut down and they've already slashed budgets to the bone and laid off everyone they could?) and with personnel issues (hard to have personnel issues when so many of your personnel are not at work). He doesn't have enough to keep him busy all day long, and he much prefers being busy. He felt kind of under the weather and called in sick today, but he seems fine this afternoon. Here at the house, his biggest problem is that the dogs think they are the only reason he is home and they want 100% of his attention. He still has the morning EOC teleconference call where they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time going over the death toll....worldwide, USA, Texas, DFW metro, etc. That part of it is depressing because every day the news is worse. Know what will make a person decide to stay at home and avoid all stores? Listening to that death toll report daily!

Marleigh, We aren't having Easter together as a family since 3 of us 4 adults work in high-risk professions and could be asymptomatic carriers at any point in time, but I have Easter baskets to drop off at their house for the grandkids to enjoy. This will be the first time we haven't had Easter together, and the girls and I usually dye and decorate eggs together and bake and decorate cookies together, so this year will feel so oddly quiet. At this point, Tim, Chris and Jana all have so much more to worry about than Easter as they each must try to stay safe while working, but I hate that the girls are having their holiday change so much. At least they can hide and search for eggs at home, and with the extensive new flower beds and vegetable beds they've built over the last few months, they have lots of new places to hide eggs.

Larry, It rained earlier but not a lot, however it is too cold to be out there doing anything, except covering up plants for tonight and carrying the flats of other plants indoors. I am just beyond frustrated with this weather.

Amy, We take turmeric capsules every day for inflammation. They do seem to make a difference.

I hope your plants come through the cold weather just fine. I hate these late cold spells and it seems Oklahoma always has to throw in at least one night like this after planting is well under way.

I wouldn't mind a ride in the car either. I haven't left our place since Sunday, so any view of anything different would be nice. Maybe tomorrow. It is just so icky here now and I am going to have to put up the kittens in their bedroom in a little while and carry in all the flats of plants from outdoors. The kittens will have to stay in their bedroom until the plants go back out tomorrow because they think flats of plants are just cat toys and/or cat beds, and I get tired of the battle to keep them out of the plants. That means when I finally let the kittens out of their room tomorrow morning, they will run all over the house like crazy lunatics. They have tons of cat toys, scratching posts, etc. in their room, but they much prefer to have the whole house as their plaything.

Jen, I think it always is smart to expect the weather to be worse than forecast and to bring plants in or cover them up early. Ma Nature likes to zing us with worse weather than we're expecting.

Kim, I love Howard's books. He is the one who, decades ago, got me started down the path to organic growing. I really never used the chemical pesticides anyhow because even as a child I hated the smell of them when my dad used them, but it wasn't until I started listening to Howard's radio show and reading his magazine articles and books that I fully embraced all aspects of organic growing, beginning with making compost and focusing foremost on soil improvement. Oh, that was so long ago! I've done those things for so long that they seem like second nature, but back when I started listening to him, we were considered "long hair hippie freak fringe gardeners" by standard conventional gardeners, including my dad. lol. Neil Sperry and others disagreed with his approach, and I love Neil Sperry too so it was hard for me to hear both of them sometimes make veiled swipes at one another. I've just always tried to respect them both and their different approaches and learn from both of them. All of his books that I originally read may be so old that they are collector's items by now. He also is the one who got me into feeding the birds and into thinking about the bees, decades before anyone else was even talking about the bees.

This weather is dreadful. The animals are bored beyond belief, but they had nice time outdoors over the last few days before the weather deteriorated again.

Chris feels worse today, but sounds optimistic, so at least there's that.

Dawn

Larry, I spend way too much time on the internet. Google should give me an award. This is my favorite turmeric to grow. I didn't get a big yield. It needs a long growing season and takes forever to sprout. Get the dried spice for tea. I also grew the white root from the same company and was very pleased with it,

H/J, I struggled with the forecast, too. I finally deciphered the hourly forecast and realized the high for today was like at midnight last night. I don't think our temp has actually gone down to freezing, but it would be nice to have sun to bring temp back up. We haven't had much rain either.

Jen, I have really EXCELLED at online shopping this year.

I do most computer stuff on my tablet. I needed to send a copy of a bill to our insurance. They have a mobile app. Ok. I scan the paper into the desk top. It defaults to a PDF. It sits on the desk top. But I can never find it. Stupid Windows 10 makes NO sense. And I worked with DOS. THEN I have to put it on Google Drive so I can access it from tablet. Which means upload to Drive, but THAT is not an option from the PDF. So go into Drive click to find the file to upload...can't find it. Scan again. Finally get it to Drive, BUT mobile app won't accept PDFs, only pictures. Yes I could have taken a picture from the tablet, but it isn't always clear. So scan, change to JPG, same rigamarole with Drive. I CAN'T FIND IT. I was in tears. Finally done, like 2 hours later. Where do I get my paycheck? I worked from home.

It's not SUPPOSSED to get colder than 40 here..but I went and rescued the seedlings (of various) and brought them in. I keep wondering if I'm going to be dashing out in the rain at midnight to bring potted figs and others in when I see 36 or something, or maybe I sleep through it and cry tomorrow?

AMY! I've been having those same issues with STUPID Windows! Oh. And I tried the ginger, turmeric and pepper after I read your post. My hip and leg have hurt all day. An hour after taking it, I feel pretty good. MUCH better than any of the rest of the day. Thanks for the link.

Dawn! I HATE that Chris hasn't found anything out yet. Continued prayers for him. And the rest of you.

BTW, Dawn, it wasn't a water moccasin. It was a pygmy rattler. Sheesh. You'd think we'd know our pygmy rattlers by now, since they seem to be every-year visitors.

You'll be going nuts when those cats get loose again. Hahaha! I just got through carrying mine in. Since it's just temporary, I put the tomatoes and peppers in the "everything" room. As you can see, it really IS an "everything room. I got to leave all the natives outside, at least--that was a significant number of trays. I have all the basil and tender annuals on the grow cart.

Kim---they weren't shipping when I checked last week. Did you just order these? I guess I will just keep checking on them. Thx.

I ordered the morning before they shut down. I would keep checking that wa y as soon as they caught up you’ll be ready to pounce.

sand hill is tricky to order from anyway since none of it is done online. The only way I know they are shipping is they cashed the check I sent.

I take turmeric for inflammation too. It helps some but not so much when the seasons are changing. If anyone has trouble with piperine, Smarter Nutrition has it mixed with oil. It works much better than the others I have tried.

One of our weathermen set his plants out before the freeze. I took that as a que not to set mine out. Being contrary can be a blessing, sometimes.

Find SESE on FB. They tell you what days they will likely be taking orders again. They take orders and then shut it down till they get caught up. When I posted earlier I didn't see half the posts. Computers are being contrary today.

Amy, You certainly deserve something for those hours of frustration! Our high temperature was pretty early this morning too and then it dropped all day long. By the time I covered up the six tomato plants in large pots after dinner, our current temperature was only a couple of degrees warmer than tonight's forecast low. I'm wondering if we'll drop lower than forecast. I guess it doesn't matter now. Everything else was carried into the mudroom to stay warm.

dbarron, Our forecast has bounced all over the place. Yesterday they were saying a low of 45 and I felt really good. This morning I woke up and they were saying a low of 36. That's a huge drop in less than 24 hours. So, whatever "they" say now, I wouldn't trust it. I always cover up or bring in plants if we are going to be close to freezing.

Nancy, I love your everything room. I saw the photos on FB a few minutes ago and wondered if you had both. Glad that one was sent to snake heaven. They have a rather lethal venom.

I don't know if Chris is right or wrong, but his attitude as the week has gone on is that he definitely seems to feel like he has it. In the beginning he was more hopeful it was a random strain of flu that they don't test for. I hope he is wrong, but he knows his own body and I think he feels worse than he's ever felt before and that is, of course, affecting what he thinks it is. Time will tell. The waiting is hard, and if the test results are severely delayed, he may be over it, or almost over it, before he even finds out if he actually has it. It is good that it is wet and cold and his back yard is waterlogged, or he would have gone out and tried to work his way through the pain just because it is hard for him to sit still during gardening season.

Kim, Howard has written so many great books over the years, some of them with Malcolm Beck (may he rest in peace---we lost him last summer).

I'm glad you're getting some of the seeds you ordered.

Did you maybe order peanut seeds from Sand Hill?

If you cannot find peanut seeds elsewhere, Urban Farmer still has several varieties, and they are still shipping, though perhaps slowly.

Urban Farmer Seeds

This has been the gloomiest, ickiest, yuckiest day, just cold and windy and a little rain early and this chilly mist on and off throughout the day. I hope we get at least 5 minutes of sunshine tomorrow. Our warmest temperature was very early in the day and then it dropped all day long and was around 40 or slightly lower most of the day. It felt more like a late February or early March day than an April day.

Dawn

It was a gloomy day wasn’t it. My big plans of working on the house slowed significantly. I couldn’t very well drag everything into the rain

txcream peas is what I ordered

Yep a gloomy BAD yucky day! On the upside. Garry's Pawpaw trees are shipping!!! YAY!! What a total hoot!

Long day at work today. Unusually quiet for the first of the month.

It actually feels warmer tonight than it did this morning. I have sheets tossed over the baby plants, and most of them still in tubs. It’s sink or swim for those kids now. We will see how it goes.

I have to go go on a grocery scrounge tomorrow. I need a few things I just cannot find anywhere. And Lowe’s, for hopefully the last of the compost.

i apparently need turmeric too. I’ve not tried it because of the cost, but if it works it’ll be worth it.

The front lines are exhausting.

hello everyone.

infrequent contributor but happy to see the group is still going. some of you may remember i had some difficult health problems awhile back, but i am glad to report all is as well (as can be). the doctors are bored of seeing me! i am advised to be extra cautious regarding covid though.

i have only a small container garden going for this season, with kale and cabbage doing quite well. my lettuce is just getting started again after a small disaster with a too curious neighborhood cat. i have learned my lesson there and now provide daily offerings of cat appropriate treats at a more secure location.

cutting back on my summer planting. primarily because i like to make a pilgrimage to lisa merrill's place that is not advisable now, but also trying to not overcommit myself. my only real warm weather plans are for some bush beans and windowsill herbs.

i was hoping to meet everyone at the spring fling this year. i believe it moved dates last year for weather reasons too?

take care and be safe

Hi billstickers! The kitty cats can be brats, huh? I found evidence of one in my onion beds. It's my own cat, though. Glad you're feeling well enough to have a small garden. What herbs are you growing?

Looks like we dodged a frost/freeze! AND there's not great chances of rain this week--a few 20% on the forecast, so maybe we can get things planted. I'm so behind on carrots and radish.

I'm going to pick up some turmeric and ginger if I see it at NG today! I need that in my life. I wonder if it would help my knees.

So...Walmart has really cracked down on the number of people allowed in their stores. I will try to avoid that today. Was going to the farmers market, but will not do that today.

I'm going to porch drop off eggs, pick up the stuff we need at Lowes, and try to buy a few things from NG. Hoping it all goes smoothly so we can get in and out as quickly and as safely as possible.

Might make some oil blend spray--using the Four Thieves formula.

Probably will go over to PW this afternoon too. Bruce mentioned that they are closed on Sunday.

Sounds like a lot of moving around, but we'll be quick and careful.

Jen—Some nurseries sell the plants (they are a common perennial in California), but you can grow both from the rhizomes in the supermarket. You want rhizomes that look fresh, with shiny, taut skin and that are on the smaller side. Older rhizomes are much larger, have darker, thicker skin and have a more wrinkled look.

Plant them in well-draining soil that you can keep evenly moist, and keep them from full sun during the hottest part of the day. You want them planted on their side fairly shallow, like horseradish or irises. They sprout all along their length. It’s been a few years since I grew ginger (haven’t attempted it in OK yet), but that’s what worked for me when I did. :)

Whole Foods regularly carries both, at least in Tulsa, and any Asian market with fresh veg will have them, too. (I buy one bundle of lemongrass at the Asian market with the roots attached every year, and grow plants from those.)

—Marleigh

Bill, you can order from Tomato Man's Daughter on line and they bring your order to your car. I don't know when you were last there, but they moved locations last year or the year before. But, stay safe and do what you think is best.

I want to taste a pawpaw, Nancy.

I am tired of being cold.

There was an article today out of Australia (no idea how legit it was) that Ivermectin killed the virus in the lab. This is the wormer we used to give cattle. When I worked on the ranch you could buy it at atwoods, but I think you need a prescription for animal meds now. They don't know what safe doses for people would be. The thing is, this is a drug that is common around the world, already distributed globally. It is not just an animal drug. They use it for people to treat things like pin worms and round worms and some of the more dangerous parasites in Africa. Except for a warning not to drink alcohol with it, it seems to be safe for people.

Drove 15 miles to P.O. BOX and got both my orders.

cotton and TX cream peas and a free pkg for trial of orange flesh tender sweet Watermelon. Worth the drive. Since I can’t put my window in in the rain I had to get out of my cave home and get some light. It’s cold and rainy here

Roselle, new favorite seed

I hope y'all dont get tired of seeing these pictures, but I am in love with the roselle plants. They are so pretty and so easy to start.

The first picture is some planted a week or two ago.

The second picture is of the first I started. They are such a pretty plant. I have 11 of the first ones, 5 of the second ones, and the ones I planted no more than a week ago are just coming up, I can count 9 so far, but I expect to get 12 or more. I did not count the seeds when I planted them. I am out of the little six pac planting containers, so I just planted them in a flat of potting soil. I will scoop them out into some kind of container when the time comes.

The third picture is of the sweet potato ends Madge cut off for me when she got out some sweet potatoes to make a pie. I finished the last piece of pie at lunch, and these are the slips coming up from the ends of those potatoes. The potatoes did lay in the fridge for a few days after she cooked them, and then made the pie

Those are beautiful.

i ordered 2 new packages from sese in case my others wouldn’t germinate since they are several years old. But they are sprouting. This cold weather has me messed up though. Keeping them in the house where it’s warm is fine but I have no windows. And keeping them in the car is too cold. Well I have more if end up needing them.

It's cold here, too. Blach again. It has finally climbed up to 44. We got down to 37 last night. I haven't moved the grow cart plants back outside today. Because it's cold. It's so cold that leaving the door open while moving flats let too much cold air in the house.

Larry. Yep, I see your awesome cattle panel. Amy, You and Ron use panel trellis system, too, don't you? Am I remembering correctly?

I've been so restless today. I'm grumpy because I can't stay out. The cats and Titan have been the same way. I go out every now and then for about 5 minutes, then come back in. But all the plants out there look perfectly happy. Well, tomorrow will be the day--the official opening day for the 2020 full scale garden project. I am happy I've got so many native plants growing. But most are so slllooowww in growing. That's okay. They've got their schedules down.

Did you FB people see the crazy crowded Walmart parking lots? So many half wits out there. I see Wagoner's coronavirus cases are up to 40 today. Last time I saw, there were 19, and I think that was yesterday. MAYBE the day before. I am SO glad we're where we are, out here in the sticks. And so glad I have gardening to think about.

Amy, I want to taste a pawpaw, too! (From what I read, takes em a good long while to grow.) Bet I won't be keen on them . . . but hey, I only was interested because of the zebra swallowtails, anyway! GDW just wants to grow fruit trees. Win win. :)

Two of the things I got from the Walmart pickup trip were canned hams, something I've not bought in probably 40 years. I decided we'd have one this evening, but have waffled all day long about what kind of a meal we'll have. Right now it might be ham and beans. Two hours ago decided I must have some beans, so put them on the stove on boil. They're resting now for a while. Well, and if I change my mind in the next hour, at least I'll have beans ready for another meal--or for someone in town.

Well, I've not been able to add to this, so will check the new posts that came in while I was lollygagging on the internet, looking for Jif peanut butter and San Marzano tomatoes. :)

I agree, Roselle are beautiful. Alas. I'll have to go to Lincoln to look at those beautiful plants! Which is okay. I haven't started them yet. I'll decide whether to start them on the cart or direct sow.

Dawn, I appreciated your advice on the trellising. I'm afraid I will always have the fungus, because of the limitations of space--we haven't the room to move the tomatoes about as much and as often as they should be. But at least this year, I did invest in soaker hoses. I can't afford to build the kind of cages that are best. And so this last attempt at trying something for $zero. If it's a bust, I'll start saving money for sturdy cages.

Now back to thinking about dinner.

Kim, It was gloomy yesterday, it is gloomy today. I'm over it. I want sunshine. Instead, we have clouds and rain in our forecast daily, similar to much of March. What do we have to do to get a little blue sky and sunshine around here? Well, other than waiting for June or July to arrive.

I'm glad you got your seeds. Orange-flesh Tendersweet is a great melon. I love to grow red, yellow, white, orange and pink-fleshed watermelons so we have a delightful array of colors and flavors. We need a lot of sun and heat to get great melons, but summer generally supplies plenty of both even in wet years.

Rebecca, Everything is so deserted here, except for grocery stores, that I don't know how the other stores are staying in business. Even some of the hospitals down here in our region are laying off employees, partly because folks are avoiding the ERs out of fear, and also because they cancelled all the elective surgeries. We don't even have enough Covid-19 cases here yet to fill up the hospitals. It seems odd to see hospitals furlough people during a pandemic. It must seem odd to see it being extra quiet in a drug store too. It is odd to drive past the totally shut-down casino, the drive-through or pick-up only restaurants with empty parking lots, the empty post office....even the transfer station (commonly called 'the dump' because we haul our own household garbage to it) is quiet and has cut back from being open 5.5 days a week to 2.5. I guess rural people aren't getting out and hauling their own garbage? School parking lots are mostly empty. Churches look deserted. All the small businesses like hair salons and florists are closed. Nothing much is open. It is just sort of creepy. Even the highways here have very little traffic. I guess the good thing about all the emptiness is that it surely must signal that people are taking this seriously and are staying home. That's a good thing. Let's slow the spread and flatten the curve, right?

The front lines are exhausting and I feel like all the people on all the front lines deserve hazard pay in some shape, form or fashion for putting their health and lives on the line every day.

Billstickers, It is good to see you here and I'm glad you're doing so well. I have found that growing catnip and catgrass away from the garden in a place the cats can access it easily helps keep them from bothering garden plants.

Maybe we'll get to have the Spring Fling next year. Last year was our first year to move it to a pavilion at a local lake, and it was an awesome location and we were so pleased with it. We were scheduled to do the same this year before Covid-19 ruined everything.

Larry, I love roselle and it is certainly a very pretty plant on top of being a highly productive one in the fall when the plants finally flower.

Jennifer, We have begun avoiding the stores. Last weekend we only went to the home improvement store to get some tool that Tim needed and gardening stuff I needed. This week we're going nowhere, and that is our general plan for April---to totally go nowhere. Covid-19 is spreading too rapidly now for us to really feel safe anywhere in public since people can walk around with no symptoms whatsoever infecting others. I know at some point we'll have to go into a store again if we want to have real milk because we only have two gallons left...although their expiration dates are still pretty far out there. We have powdered milk, evaporated milk and sweetened, condensed milk, but like having real milk from the fridge. When we do that, we'll wear gloves, masks and eye goggles. Watching what Chris is going through with whatever horrible infection he has (no covid-19 test results back yet to either confirm he has it or doesn't) is a great wake-up call for us to stay home so we don't end up with something similar. Our county only has 2 confirmed cases, but the models for our county estimate that for every confirmed case we have, there's roughly 50 cases that haven't been diagnosed yet. Although...this avoidance of stores doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense, because Tim still drives to work 5 days a week and probably is exposed to all sorts of stuff at work and when he stops at a gas station. Still, perhaps it is even more important to stay home on the weekends since he already is out there during the workweek.

Amy, I saw that about the ivermectin today and found it interesting. We'll have to watch and see if they get bold enough to use it on humans.

Tell Honey that my dogs wish her a Happy Birthday. I hope she is being a sweet girl today.

The only thing I miss is going out to dinner. I don't mind cooking. I like cooking, but I like an occasional break from cooking and am not getting it now. I've been baking a lot...bread, biscuits, rolls, pie, cobbler, etc. If this drags on for a long time, Tim and I will need to go on a big diet after it all is over.

Chris feels slightly better today, y'all, and I am excited to be able to report that. To be clear, he said he did not feel good, but he feels less bad. His cough is slightly less bad than before, and his sense of smell/taste have returned, so he is more likely to eat food now that he can taste it. He still is very fatigued, but he managed to eat some chips and queso, which is a sign he is returning to his old self. Unfortunately, Jana and Lillie are developing that cough now, and he feels horrible about that. Hopefully he'll get his test results early next week. It has been five days now, and they said 5-8 days for test results at the time he had the test, but we really didn't expect he'd hear from them over the weekend. The big backlog with testing in Texas is causing additional delays of up to a week, so we aren't counting on getting an answer any time soon.

We've seen hummingbirds visiting the feeders a lot today--I bet they are wondering what the heck happened to the weather!

Dawn

I see 37 Thursday/Friday coming...but plants will go back out tomorrow morning for "hopefully" sunshine and certainly warmer temps. It got to 37 here last night too. Too much rain (the continuing theme) continues.

I had to get out this morning, a couple errands that had to be done. One was my curbside pickup from Target, which was totally easy. A couple things for mom at Aldi, which was quiet and everyone being respectful (except the guy who picked up and looked at every single avocado in the bin, then bought none.). Lowe’s, where I had to wait in line to go in, but they don’t allow ordering of compost on the app, so no choice but to go in. Nice kid who loaded my car still thinks the quarantine is excessive. And the nursery, for 3 peppers, one eggplant, and a packet of cat grass seeds.

I’ll need a few perishables next weekend, and I’m sure mom will too, but nothing else for the next week. Except work.

Tomorrow things start getting planted. Sink or swim (possibly literally.). But really, the garden is exploding over the past few days. Potatoes need to be hilled. Onions standing tall. Broccoli is bigger, and the early tomatoes are bigger. Flowers are outgrowing their tubs. And I need to get the jugs off the lawn so it can be mowed.

Question for for those who grow Porter and Heidi. My history with them is that they’re smaller plants, maybe 3-4 feet tall and not very bushy. Is this the same for you? Or if they go in a fairly large container, will they get bigger because they have more space? Trying to allocate container space.

We are getting masks at work sometime this week, but only 3 for each of us per week. And sometime in the next couple weeks, plexiglass shields at the registers. WEEKS.

amy - thanks for the tip about lisa's pickup service. if i was closer, that would be an option but i am in the okc area now. during ordinary times, it would be a fun day trip. maybe they will have a mid-summer/fall event. visited last year when it had moved. the new place is spiffy, isn't it?

hazel - i have some basil and cilantro right now, which are put outside when it's nice. my track record with cilantro is very poor. usually i just get it from my parents place, where it somehow grows abundantly and wild in a inhospitable stretch of clay. i have seeds for the usual suspects.

dawn - i checked and do have some recent catgrass seeds!

my memory is a bit fuzzy, so i don't remember exactly who from here sent me some onion sets while i was convelesing. that was a very nice gesture and greatly appreciated.

Rebecca, Porter stays smallish, around 3-4' or less. For me, Heidi is usually around 4.5 to 5' tall, though it always depends on the weather. It certainly is on the smaller side compared to most of the tomato varieties I grow, and I like that because I can plant more of them in one long row all their own so it is easy to harvest en masse for canning.

I wish your employer had been quicker with the masks and the plexiglass shields, and I do not think 3 masks is enough....but at least you'll have those. It seems like no one entity in this country---not FEMA, not the hospital corporations, not any of the states, and none of the health-related businesses like pharmacies were prepared for a major viral outbreak. None of them. After the H191 (was that 2008? 2009?) pandemic, which was not that bad compared to this one, there were all sorts of recommendations made for everyone like FEMA, the states and the hosptials to stockpile goods and prepare for the next one. Here we are barely a decade later and it seems like all of them ignored those recommendations. That is frustrating.

Billstickers, I'm glad you have the catgrass seeds. My cats love it, and there is a lovely variegated one that is quite beautiful...until the cats chew it all up.

Nancy, I don't understand the crowds out shopping---no one is acting like they understand they should be staying home and social distancing? I am starting to think the shopping goes on mindlessly because people are bored at home. I wish all those people could see someone like my son coughing a horrifically deep and painful cough...and maybe just get a clue. If what he has isn't covid-19, then there is some other wicked upper respiratory infection going around that causes an incredibly bad cough. Who wants to get that? I know that I don't. I also know it could be complications related to spring allergies---in some years in the past, Chris and Tim both got a very persistent bronchitis that seemed to develop out of their allergy issues and then last for weeks and weeks. Regardless, we all should be as smart and as careful as possible to avoid catching any of the stuff that is going around now.

If I had to go out shopping, I'd be at Wal-mart at 7 a.m. for the first hour of shopping that is devoted to old people and people with fragile medical needs. I have no idea how that concept is working in the Wal-marts near us, but it sounds good on paper.

I wish OK had a real shutdown, but we remain on the list of stupid states who don't. In the USA yesterday (Saturday), over 8,000 died from coronavirus in one day and it is only going to get worse. Why aren't people taking this more seriously?

It is foggy, misty and almost drizzly here this morning and I hope this crap doesn't last all day. I'd pay good money to see the sunshine today.

Dawn

I have noticed very little change in traffic noise from I-35. I live between Edmond and Guthrie. Just sad really.

Johnny

Johnny, I live south of Ft. Smith, and I can't tell a lot of difference here in Arkansas. I hope that this infection does not spread because people dont stay home. I understand some have to be out, but surly not everybody.

I am hearing a lot less traffic noise from I-35, and Tim's 80-mile trip home from DFW Airport at rush hour is taking him 1/3 less time than before. He keeps startling me by showing up at home when I'm not expecting him. lol. Maybe it is our remote location down here. With the WinStar casino closed (the Chickasaw Nation shut down long before the governor started suggesting everyone start social distancing), there is no reason for anyone to come here, unless they are just passing through from Dallas to OKC. We're about 9 miles north of the Red River Bridge at Gainesville so about midway between Thackerville and Marrietta, but close to the river on both sides of us because we are in a bend of the river, and it is ridiculously quiet here, day and night. I'm not complaining. It reminds me of what our area what like when we bought this land in 1997, when we had nothing but a gravel road, us and the coyotes. Our road was paved long ago and has a lot more traffic now in general, but not for the last few weeks. I know the peace and quiet won't last forever, but we'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Larry and Dawn,

It worries me that so many aren't taking this seriously. Appropriate mitigation measures should be common sense by now. I guess our culture values money over others lives.

Johnny, I don't think things are sinking into peoples minds about how bad this thing can be, not only for now , but for the future also. I think we will be feeling world wide pain for a long time. My 401k has taken a major hit (like most every bodies), I may not live long enough to see it come back. I expect that everything is going to cost more in the future, I think taxes will have to go up, and the threat of war will be greater.

I am starting more plants and have more seeds than I have ever had. I may not need them, but I had rather have them and not need them than for it to be the other way around. One of the things that I am seeing now that I like, is, my kids and grand kids are showing more interest in gardening. It they learn to enjoy it like I have it will bring a lot of joy and satisfaction to their lives. I hope they are not doing this just to pacify an old man.

I have to go get something to try to repair the mower. While I am out I will pick up a few things that Madge wants. I try to keep her at home, I also try to stay home, but I need parts that will have to use to try and repair the mower, and I am not sure what I will find on the shelf. My welder is broken also, so I may be getting into a bind if I dont get a few things repaired.

Larry, be safe.

Johnny

Our cover crop is happy.

https://www.facebook.com/100010229659519/posts/1122798538071124/

Johnny

Our gardens are happy so far. Beets, radishes, turnips, carrots and potatoes.

https://www.facebook.com/100010229659519/posts/1123659224651722/

https://www.facebook.com/100010229659519/posts/1123590164658628/

Gonna have turnip greens this evening.

I think we had our last turnip greens a couple of days ago. They were picked a few months ago, I mowed the last of my overwintering greens down yesterday, other than a few scattered hear and there that the bees are after. I wish I could have planted early this year, but it has been too wet for planting anything. I have been looking at spots that I have been mowing very low and they are getting dryer. So maybe I will be able to plant something after this cold front passes.

Larry,

We too will plant when the cold snap passes.

I thought your grand kids might enjoy this. I have shared it with many new gardeners.

https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/many-benefits-hugelkultur

Johnny

Johnny, thanks for the link. I an sorta working that way. I was over in my wildlife garden building some mounds for winter squash about an hour ago. I gathered the material late last fall. i have some unwanted fescue over there, and an old road bed I am trying to work on. The first work I did on the old road bed was around 50 years ago. Anyway, this past year I would drag organic matter and pile it on the old roadbed. I would also dump a bucket of extra dirt over there when I could come up with one. I built 4 pads for winter squash from the material that I had gathered by dragging my pasture cultivator through the brush hogged fescue. I hated to tear the pile down because it was so pretty with crimson clover, fescue, and other very green growth, but I needed the material.

I already have a pile of old burned trees piled to plant Seminole pumpkins on, I hope it will be a hugeikultur bed at some point in the future. I will have to talk to the grandkids about that because I wont be alive when than that pile rots down. If I see no interest in the hugel idea I will burn the pile before it becomes an eye sore.

While I was in the wildlife garden I checked the berry plants I ordered form Simmons Plant farm, it looks like all 25 Kiowa blackberries and the 5 elderberries are starting to grow.

Johnny, above you can see the type of material I am building the pads for the pumpkins and squash out of. Above the first compost pile you can see my log pile across the highway. The piles here are old hay and manure.

The first year those piles will need sone N added to them. After that, stuff will grow for years.

Johnny