My new weather station says my backyard got .54 inch.

Mesonet OKC East says .71 and Norman got .91 , both of those stations 9 miles from me.

But Mesonet overlay says there was a band of rain that went just to the east of me

Hubby says our manual rain gauge says 3.5", but the weather station says 1.88. The weather station is more in line with the closest Mesonet sites. Maybe the manual is defective.

I woke up to rain, and it is still raining lightly, no wind that I am aware of, just a good solid rain. I have not been outside, but I expect everything is fine.

My weather station has not been below freezing since Feb 23 at 7:40 am .

Tonight and Wednesday could reach 32*. Friday night is forecast to be 35. But from what I'm seeing for 2 weeks out, warmer than normal is predicted.

There's a slight chance that we've seen our last freeze this year.

I am trying to get everything ready for garden planting. I planted more seeds a while ago, but going back over my list I noticed that I had overlooked Roma tomatoes, Big Boy tomatoes, Best Boy tomatoes California wonder peppers, Big Jim peppers, wild flower seeds, and zinnia seeds. I really don't want to start another tray of seeds because I have over 100 of pepper and tomato plants, and some of those seeds I can direct sow anyway. This may be a time to try winter sow.

Some of Madge's kids are talking about coming tomorrow, if so, this will be a good time to get rid of some sweet potato pots. Hopefully more of her kids will be here the end of this month for her 86th Birthday, that will be a good chance to dump a bunch more of my plants.

Lynn, I like the way the weather sounds. I normally don't feel safe with summer plants till after the first of May, but it seems as tho our last frost date had been falling earlier in the year, although my microclimate still make my area a little unstable.

I really don't trust five day forecasts, much less two or three weeks ........... but this is from Oklahoma Mesonet

I'll add to the post above, my passion is smoking meats on my patio. I love barbecue. Have for years.

But in the winter, I gotta pick my time to be on the patio. I like to have a decent day to work my smokers. So ya look at the five day forecast and make a decision whether thaw some meat from out of the freezer or go buy unfrozen meat. Hoping the weather forecast is correct.

And some times it is , and sometimes its not.

Once I've thawed out a brisket or pork butt, I gotta get it on the smoker. So its a game of chance.

Summertime is a lot better, our weather is more stable, and even a bad day in the spring, summer, or fall is still OK on the patio.

I'm in the middle of potting up tomato. Got about half of them moved to 4" pots.

And I've got my peppers moved to the " lower level " , with fans shaking them up, hoping they don't get too leggy. Cause if they grow too much, they'll be into the lights.

I've still got about half of my Big Beef to pot up

I'm gonna be running out of room

And peppers ..................

I pecked out a long comment on my phone earlier - about 15 minutes (yes, my fingers are slow)Then just as I hit submit the whole thing deleted! That’s twice just today. So I’m trying what someone (Kim maybe?) suggested. Putting it in a note then copy and paste.

Lynn, your plants look amazing. I hope the Mesonet forecast is right. I am so tired of winter. I’m even looking forward to the time change this weekend.

Jennifer my daughter is also a Jennifer. Yes, she has had an immune disorder for many years. Have never diagnosed what it is but it’s not Lupus or FM, she has arthritis and had breast cancer 2016. I was in a wheelchair and walker about 2 years and couldn’t help her at all. As a mother you understand how much that hurt. Doctors have prescribed many prescriptions that she will not take because the side effects are worse than the problem - just as you said. She eats very healthy and gets more exercise than necessary. I plant enough garden for all of us. I firmly believe fresh garden food, your own eggs and meat and lots of fresh air and sunshine are important to our health.

We got 8/10” rain last night, a blessing for sure. The wind this afternoon was scary. Not sure what all will be standing in the morning. I got onions, greens, spinach, sugar snap peas, parsley, chives, and radishes planted before the rain and have potatoes cut and ready for St Patrick’s day.

Lynn, I like your set up.

I understand about running out of room. I need to make more room for plants to pot up.

The top shelf is 2 flats of purple sweet potatoes on the left that I am making flower pots out of. I have pulled 96 plants (slips) so far. The mother tray ( second from left) will have at least a dozen more in it. The far right tray are the Covington slips I am planning on growing food from this summer. I hope to collect over 100 slips before planting time. I had planned on cutting the sprouting ends off some of the potatoes that we have under the bed, but when I went through the kitchen on the way to get our camera, I noticed that Madge had an oven full of baked sweet potatoes, so I wont be getting an sprouts off of those, but we have more under the bed, and if not, I can get cutting off the plants that it pot up. It is still very early for slip making.

The tray on the left is my peppers. The top 4 rows are pimento peppers, they were slow and lazy. The 3 rd row from the bottom were to be Joe E. Parker, none of the sprouted, but they were old seeds. The peppers were started 2-13. The tray on the far right are my tomatoes. I got better germination from my tomatoes, but I usually do, they were started on 2-19. The center tray is a mix of flowers, this is the first time I can remember of starting flowers inside. The flowers were started 2-20.

I say every year that I am going to cut back, but so far I have not been able to do that.

Glenda, I met your daughter, Jennifer, at the pumpkin patch. She's a beautiful and sweet lady. I'm sorry she struggles so much with health. She is probably as healthy as she is because she does her best to take care of herself with exercise and healthy food. I wonder if it's RA....

You're right. This wind is nuts! I took the baby for a walk around 1 and it was windy but not crazy like now.

I didn't do anything garden related other than watering my trays of seedlings.

It's been a long day--a good day, but long. I'm about ready for bed.

The winds are horrific tonight.

Keep hearing my back door banging.

And wind gusts through my heater flue.

Reminds me of some years back hearing the howling winds in early spring.

Like there was some promise in things to change after a sucky winter.

Glad I had some onions and potatoes planted.

Not done with those yet.

Bring on spring...( hold the tornados...).

Rick

When y'all pot up from your seedling trays, do you try to keep soil around the roots ?

I saw a YT vid couple years ago, fella had just plants, no soil. I'm afraid to try that.

Also, for years now, I pot up from seedling to 3.5 " pots, then I go to cottage cheese containers, which I don't know how big they are , maybe 5 or 6" diameter. I'm questioning that, wonderiing if its necessary ?

And if I did not go from 3.5" pots to cottage cheese container, then what ?

Lynn, You have heard that there is more than one way to skin a cat, well there is more than way to plant seeds and plants. The bottom line is, do what works for you. I will try to toss out a few things that I do. First of all, it is what is your situation. I think that the easiest way for my is to plant is to do like the center tray int the bottom picture. I make mounds of soil across the mound the tray. I then make a shallow groove along the mound to drop the seed into. I try to plant at least 6 seed per groove across the mound, because I use 6 cell packs. I use the 72 and 36 count packs, or inserts. To plant like this the potting soil needs to be sort of fine, I use Pro Mix LP 15, but there are others that may be as good, or better.

I use a popsicle stick trimmed down on one end, with an inverted "V" cut, and smoothed in it. I have my six pack with damp potting soil in it, I take the popsicle stick and wiggle a hole into one of the cells in the six pack, pull the small plant from the mound in the starting tray, place the "V" in the popsicle stick just where the roots start to form on the plant and shove the plant down into the hole in the potting soil in the cell. I hold the plant to the height that I want it, just shoving all the roots down into the soil. I like to shove the plant deep, almost to the first leaves. I think the small plants are more forgiving than most people think. I can up pot a very small plant and still have good luck with it. I like to up pot when the first true leaves are small and the plants don't have a lot of long roots. If I wait till the plant is almost root bound the process is much slower, and I don't feel that I gain anything by it.

Some times I will pot up to a 4" or a 6 " pot if I really want to get a jump on the growing season, but in the long run I don't think I gain a lot by it'

Most of the small plants of mine shown above are at pot up time, or maybe a little past, but I don't have shelf space, and the wind is so strong and cold outside I don't wont to go out and build another light shelf. I am a wimp, and don't want to be in the wind.

I like to call May 1st as my planting date, but most years I can plant before then.

This is just one man's opinion, and as stated, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Lynn, I don't try to take the soil off the roots of seedlings, but sometimes it falls off and just tuck the roots down into the new pot of soil and it works fine.

Going to a larger pot (cottage cheese container)....I think it depends on the size of your plant. The years I've started seed too early, I've had to up-pot to bigger and bigger containers. A lot of depends on how early we can put our plants in the ground. I'm thinking of one year where I had to find large size Big Gulp/Sonic drink cups because I started way too early and we kept showing frost on the 9 day.

Lynn, I pulled a clump of Black Cherry tomatoes out of a 105 count sized cell.

There were 9 tomatoes in that clump.

I up potter into a 36 count size cell pack. I don't expect to lose any of these tomatoes. I should have up potted into a 72 count size because of the lack of room, but I did not have any smaller cells handy. I really don't like to up pot plants any smaller than this, but I have many times.

My only concern about cottage cheese containers is are they deep enough. I guess the big ones would be, I forget about them since I can't eat it anymore. I pot up to the largest solo cups Sam's sells. I admit a square pot would be more convenient. I always wanted to try soil blocks.

Well, I know what works for me. I'm wondering if I'm making it too much work. If I can streamline some of this, I'm all for it. And potting up twice is on the top of my list.

Also , its a question of space. I can get 18 3.5" pots in a seedling tray. But I can only get 9 cottage cheese containers. Maybe its time I found something better.

I'm also thinking of taking them outside in the trays early this year. And bring them in if there's a freeze in the forecast, or even close to a freeze. I think it was last year, that we went almost the entire month of March without a freeze.

Larry, those black cherry plants are a good example. I plant two seeds per cell in my starter trays. I've gone to great trouble to save both plants, if they both germinate. I think I've been making it harder than it has to be.

And not using the cell trays is a whole nother thought. The ones I'm using I bought in 1985. And they're getting sort've brittle, hahaha .

And oh yeah, last year I bought into the idea of putting fans on the plants to make them jiggle. My hope was they would grow thicker stalks and not put as much energy into getting leggy. IDK if it worked or not. And I put the put the fans on late.

I've already got fans on the peppers and even the little seedlings. The only way I can tell if it works is if he stalks are thicker than I recall from previous years.

I have never tried a fan, but have read as you have. It must work, or so many people would not do it. I run my light low and the plants seem to do okay. Some of the seedlings will get leggy because they all don't germinate at the same time, but when I transfer them to their cell I just plant the leggy ones a little deeper. I have to stake my plants anyway, or they will be down on the ground due to wind, and/or fruit weight.

Lynn, I buy a lot of the 36 count cells, they break away into (6) six packs, and most of the time that is what I carry to the garden to plant. I use the tray without holes because I start seeds on a sheet of waferboard on the bed, if I leak water on the bed, Madge would run me off.

I buy a sheet of 36 cells for $1.79, trays are $1.79. I use the trays to carry the plants out to the front lawn to harden off, also into the kitchen to water the plants. I also keep a pump up spayer in the bedroom to water when needed, but a pump up sprayer is too slow to water all the plants, but it works well for keeping seeds moist. If the weather is not bad I just leave the tray out on the lawn. I start off with the plants mostly in the shade, and move them till they are mostly in the sun in a few days. I just spray them with the garden hose to water them. If we get a hard rain I will have to pour the water out of the tray, it it is really hot I may run about 1/2" of water into the tray if I am going to be gone all day, or pull the trays over into the shade. If my plants start looking a little pale I use a pump up sprayer and spray a little Miracle Gro on them.

I had 20 or 30 trays of plants sitting on the front lawn last year so friends and family could come by and pick up what they wanted, but I cant afford to keep doing that. One of the down sides of doing that, is that you end up with a lot of name tags missing, or mixed.

My concern is not them getting leggy as seedlings, its being tall leggy plants when I put them in the ground. Some times I'm forced to do the trench planting and I'd rather avoid that if I could. Just depends upon how early I can plant.

I'm always envious of the tomato plants at the nursery or box store, that are maybe one foot tall but have thick stalks. IDK how they do that. I'm hoping fans are part of the answer.

Lynn, do you use fluorescent or Led lights? All the box store plant suppliers I know have greenhouses. It is hard for a DIY with artificial lighting to match a pro, with a greenhouse, if you get good productive plants, that is about all you need anyway.

I have two light shelves, one with LED bulbs, one with fluorescent bulbs. I get pretty good plants, but I have to run the fluorescent closer to the plants than I do the LED. I have ordered 6 more, so called gro lights, but I have not hooked them up yet. I am going to try to run 1/2 as many bulbs, but I still expect to run the bulbs close to the plants, but that is still at least a week away. I think that when I bought my LED, I tried for about 3000 lumens per sq. ft.. My fluorescent are old, and doubt that they are giving me much over 800 lumens per sq. ft.

Started some flower seed tonight.

And, guess what?

The beets in the WS jugs are popping up!

Maybe I'll try some of those little turnips in the other jug that I have.

The lettuces planted in the hoop house look good and the trays of cool season things do too. I left the door closed and it got sunny at some points during the day so I worried about them getting too hot.

I had time to look at the onions. Honestly, I was worried they had blown over or away. They're planted so shallowly. They all look good, tho.

I have not been out to the garden in couple of days, but the last time I was out there something had knocked, or blown some of the onion out of the soil. I have looked for more onions the past few times that I have been to town, but the onion supply is low locally. I would like to get more purple onion, but have found none.

I got a few milk jugs, I should try winter sow, I am out of room in the house.

Larry, two years ago I invested in this light , that I hang over the top. Probably could've gotten by a lot cheaper, but I was curious about it. Its overkill for what I do and its for people who are growing plants indoor year round.

After getting the light and looking at the instructions, it was made forr the cannabis boys. Had pics of marijuana leaves on the packaging. Anymore, if ya shop seed starting products on line, its rubbing shoulders with the pot heads who are growing their own. Lot of the products are marketed that way.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086392MLZ?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_11

And my bottom level of my plant table, has these lights

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V9XMQJW?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_12

Temps are backward this morning. Southeastern Oklahoma has had a freeze, while western Oklahoma is warmer. That's not the way this is suppose to work.

At my house, overnight low was 32* at 4:15 am. Its now 39*.

Currently at 6:56 am

My low was 26, and, from your map I would expect Roberts low would be in the 25/26 range also. I am ready for things to warm up, I have a ton of work I need to do. My temp now is 39, and our forecast show to be up to 65 today, and 75 tomorrow.

Lynn, I only pot up once. I plant in the little paper cups (3 Oz maybe). Cups go in a domed tray. As they sprout I move individual cups to a tray on the light shelf. I'm always behind, so undoubtedly they stay in the paper cups too long. Then I put them in solos. I put solos in a clear tub on the patio table. with a hinged lid. I can close the lid at night and arrange it to shade during the day. Easy to carry. I once stacked 4 tubs and covered them with frost blankets for a couple of days of cold temps, otherwise they are easy to carry inside. Before I got the tubs, we used bus tubs from Sam's which are pricy or cat litter trays. Both will sun rot, as will the tubs if kept outside. My friends say my plants are better than the box stores.

Thanks Amy, I'm gonna have to give the solo cups a go.

I've a bunch of 3.5" pots. These are from plants I've bought at a nursery and saved. I wonder if I'd be gaining much with a solo cup ? I always assumed the plants would do better in the larger cottage cheese container

The cottage cheese containers are 24 oz, they're 3.5" across the bottom, 4.5" across the top. and 4.5" tall.

We've got some solo cups, and they measure 2.5" across the bottom , 3,75 across the top, and 4.75 tall.

I'm really not gaining much room for the plants with the containers. They're bulky and take up a lot of space.

And I might just leave them in the 3.5" nursery pots.

I can't figure out this weather either. I had to do a little work yesterday evening in the wet garden and that wind was just freezing. I really don't enjoy spring weather because it is just too up & down. Warm on the front, freezing in the rear. Summertime, although hot, is at least dependable and pretty stable.

That last monsoon got the edges of my garden and washed them away...similar to last year. I put some thought into it and it looks like I'm going to need to leave about a 5 foot strip along the outer edges unplanted this year. Well, unplanted with veggies, I mean. I'm going to plant those areas with some deep rooted cover to get some erosion protection. I'm going to let it grow and then mow it down periodically until frost.

Anybody have any experience with sorghum? I'm thinking about planting that 5 foot strip all around with a mix of sorghum sudangrass & buckwheat. Those edges never really get planted outside of the Bermuda that creeps in, but those roots get cleared when I till in late winter. End result is that it just doesn't have a matrix of roots like the other parts. Highly susceptable to erosion and these deluges sure do a lot of damage. Sigh...so tired of bringing in backfill.

The problem I have with the solo cup is them falling over. I can get about 18 solo cup in a tray, which would be fine if they did not tip over when I would move the tray. The sq. container in the center of Lynn's picture would be about perfect for me, but I have so few of them.

These two sizes best fit my needs. The 6 packs give me 36 plants per tray, the brown 6" pot gives me 8 plants per tray. I larger pots that I am using to pot up the sweet potatoes which only gives me two plants per tray, but I use very few of them, they cost too much, and never find their way back home. The cottage cheese tubs would be great for me also, but we get too few of them. Another thing that works well for me with he 6 packs, is that they store so well. If I can plant after about 8 weeks the 6 pack is okay, 10 weeks really makes the plant root bound.

Larry I get free trays at Lowe’s and lots of times they have the ones with circular openings that hold the cup perfectly

Kim, you are lucky, I never get anything free from Lowe's, but I am not in there a lot either. Our nearest Lowe's is in Ft. Smith, and about the only time I am near there is when I am going to the doctor, and most often I don't feel like stopping anywhere, unless it is to eat. Madge and I tend to stay away from the large stores because there is too much walking involved.

I am trying to start all of our plants, even flowers. It is easier to carry out a few packs of seeds than it is to carry out a few tray of plants. It I buy things at the Co-op or Ace hardware they will load my truck, I like that.

Larry you can ask at any place that sells plant starts. Sometimes they save them sometimes they don’t.

Thanks, Kim, right now I think that I am pretty well set. I will soon need to be getting rid of all my junk.

I tried to cut out material for my grow shelf. I am rounding up old material and cutting it down, but as always you run into something that is not as good as you thought it was, then you have to go digging through other piles.

I am resting now, then I want to go burn some of last summers plants that I have piled up in the garden.

Some of those flower seeds that I planted inside day before yesterday are already sprouting.

I plan on taking Madge to the beauty shop in the morning, then out to eat at lunch, then, if weather permitting, I will get back on building my light shelf. It's a lot more work when you are trying to scrounge up old stuff to build something.

Somehow I missed Rebecca's and Jen's posts from 3 days ago. How did that happen?

Jen, I can't garden in gloves. I really want too, but just can't. I do wear them while doing animal care when it's super cold, tho.

Rebecca, have you grown leeks before? I did one year but think I didn't pull them soon enough. Did you see my post about the beets in the WS jugs popping up?

I have some trays that are going on their 3rd year and are still perfect. They're not Bootstrap. I can't think of the name, but they're like Bootstrap. I have a hard time with the free ones at the plant nurseries. BUT, they're free! And if they only last a year....no big deal. I received my nicer ones as Christmas gifts. I did get some large pots and one tray from Bootstrap for Christmas this year.

It's been an incredibly long day, so that's all from me.

What is the best way to pot these up?

Left, Portulaca. Center Celosia, Right, Dianthus. I have never started flowers indoors. The big leafed plants are some strange garden seeds that got mixed into my potting soil, I hope, because I just are a bunch of them trying to guess what they were. The plants on each end I plan on just forking out a clump and placing in 6 pack cells, the center I may try ro take a few out one at a time and placing in 6 pack cells. I am not taking to flowers to well.

Lynn, I grew lettuce under lights one winter in containers about the size of your cottage cheese pots. Eventually they went outside, but we were eating from them for a while.

Larry, I have grown sorghum, not very successfully. What are you wondering about? It's a cousin of Sudan grass. It will grow in the heat. It might self seed. I wasn't the one who cleaned out the bed. I tried to plant it a second time, but only one plant came up and when hubby cleaned the bed he accidentally mixed in whippoorwill cowpeas that then proceeded to take over. I'm not sure buckwheat would grow well with the taller plants.

I remember Rebecca's post, though I can't find it now, but I missed Jen's, too.

T t f

Amy, I was just wondering what was the best way to get my flower seedling from the point of where they are now to the flower bed. I have grow all three of these plants, with great luck, but that was many years ago, and I bout the plants in 6 packs, and just planted in a flower bed. I can remember helping my mom work in the flower bed, but she just direct seeded. I don't even remember if you could flower plants back then, I was small, and we wouldn't have had the money to buy plants anyway. The portulaca I just remember as "Moss", and mom found the "Double Moss" she was as happy as a pig in slop. Mom grew something that she called "Princess feather", I think it was a member of Celosia, or Amaranth family.

I would love to try to grow sorghum, but have not been able to find seeds locally. I have grown 3 different types of millet, and loved all 3 of them, butI grew them in food plats for the wildlife. I loved how the birds would flock to the Foxtail, and Brown topped millet. The Pearl millet was very tall and made a lot of cover for the wildlife.

I have some Buckwheat seeds, and it would be a good idea for me to plant some in the garden, but I am afraid my seeds are too old, but I should toss them out anyway, they can become organic matter if nothing else.. I use the henbit to attract pollinators, but I dig a lot of it up in the planting process.

I also picked up some lily bulbs to plant in the flower bed where we have out Fur Babies grave. I need to build a trellis for the rose bush we have planted out there. Madge and I both are becoming less able to care for the lawn, garden, and flower beds. I am more able to get down on my hands and knees than Madge, so most of that stuff falls on me, but I am so slow as doing everything, but I enjoy trying.

I'm not gonna mulch this year until June. I've always put cottonseed hulls around the plants whenever I planted.

But last year I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my tomato plants, so I pulled some mulch back around the base of a plant, and there was a cutworm. The mulch just gave them a place to hide.

And really, the only reason I was mulching early was cuz I saw it on Oklahoma Gardening. But in April and May, I don't need to keep the ground cool, in fact, I want the opposite. I want it to warm up. And we get plenty of moisture in April/May, usually too much.

I got a plan for the cutworms this year. When the plants are small, I've got a bunch of plastic straws from Braums. I will cut them lengthwise down one side and slip them around the stalks. When they get larger, I'm gonna cut the bottom out of Solo cups, cut them down the side, put them around the stalk and staple them together.

I've still not figured out why I had an infestation last year.

Lynn, the reason to mulch early is to prevent soil from splashing up on the leaves in the rain. It spreads disease.

I'm sure there's a compromise.

Larry, I start my seeds in papercups, the equivalent of your six pack cells. I have grown Portulaca, "moss roses", but I bought seedlings. They are literally weeds, I don't think you'll have trouble moving them, except they are a warm weather plant. They could probably be direct seeded.

Amy, my plants are gonna get the blight, no matter what I do. I also wrap the lower 2 foot of my tomato cages with plastic wrap. And I prune the lower limbs.

I've learned to live with the blight, but the cutworms are intolerable.

Amy, the thing I remember most about Portulaca was how many thousands of seeds they dropped, mom was forever digging them up in one area, and replanting them in another area. I think my memory of mom is one reason I bought the seeds. I wanted to plant some stuff that I could make pots or beds that Madge would like. Madge is still using a cane, and has a lot of pain in her knees, I don't know if she will out grow the problem or not, but I want to assist in making life as enjoyable for both of us as I can.

I have in mind of making a large, lowing basket with sweet potatoes around the edge, and the Celosia, or Amarnthis in the center. Madge had a hollowed out cedar log that one of her sons made for her, and I want to put some of the smaller plants in it.

It looks, and sounds like it is going to start raining, and I have 130 more onions that I need to plant but it looks like they will have to wait.

I appreciate the help you all give with plants. I use to grow a lot of flowers, but that was many years ago,and then I did not start from seeds

Planted seeds last two days. Pouring rain today so I am going through all my seeds getting ready to give a bunch away. I am doing a garden next week and the next weekend I will be in Lubbock so I need to take them some seeds. Fun fun fun

I need to get rid of a lot of seeds and plants also. I guessed at my plants a while ago and it looks like I have over 500. I need to be up potting, but don.t have the room. I try to work on my shelf but I am so tired and out of breath, I just come back to my chair and sit

My peppers, and tomatoes both are past prime up potting size. I also don't care for these 105 count size for starting seeds, they may be okay once you get use to them, but you will still need to up pot sooner.

It is 48 degrees and trying to rain, but I need to be out side working on my shelf, but I still need to dig through more old material in hopes that I can find the stuff that I need. I can only work a few minutes, then I have to come in and rest. If I don't get to feeling better this may be my last year messing with a garden.

Lynn, I will add that those 6 Black cherry tomatoes I up potter a few days ago are looking great.

We are getting nice rain today. Hoping everyone else is too (who wants/needs it).

Nothing really to add to the garden conversation. Pepper germination is really good, other than the Ashe County. The Scotch Bonnet finally showed up. There's a few varieties of marigolds and zinnias that are popping up.

Larry, I also have things that need to be up-potted. I prefer to do that in the shop and it's a bit chilly out there today. I don't really have time today anyways. I need to get a bag of decent potting mix first.

I spent the morning cooking. Mom, daughter, son-in-law and baby all came for lunch. I made Reuben sandwiches. Sounds easy enough, but there's a lot of steps. I used my last jar of sauerkraut (almost used the shortened term lol). How this recipe goes--cook onion and garlic in oil, add the sauerkraut, a grated apple, a pinch of allspice, salt and pepper. The sauce is mayo, chili sauce, a dash of hot sauce, chopped capers, lemon juice, chopped chives. Then you layer those thing with corned beef/pastrami, dill pickle, and shredded Swiss cheese on rye bread.

It's everyone's favorite sandwich. The trick is not burning it while it's under the broiler. And don't use parchment paper--use foil. I've had parchment paper catch fire under the broiler. It was very scary.

I also did a chopped salad and made a peach cobbler from those peaches we picked from a You-Pick-It place.

I think we'll go twice this year. Go earlier to get a different variety and then later to get the ones we got last year.

M & M went to run errands and left the baby with us. They just left and I've gotta feed everyone and get cleaned up to meet some friends for dinner.

Tomorrow, maybe I'll get those herbs up-potted.

Jennifer that sandwich sounds so good. It was my mom’s favorite but I don’t care for rye bread at all. I have been busy but it doesn’t seem like I got anything finished. I need to get back to seed sorting. Why are there more seeds than ground. Someday…

Kim, I really started stocking up on seeds, and other stuff when Covid his, I'm sort of a hoarder anyway, now Madge and I have a ton of stuff we need to be getting rid of. My shop is so full of stuff i don't have room to work, it got to where I did not like to work out there anyway. I need to be out in the sun now to be able to see what I am doing, plus it is too hot in the shop in the summer, I am happier out under a tree where I can some air flow, and light.

In warm weather I pot up plants while I an sitting on the end of our handicap ramp. I can drag, or haul the bags of potting soil right up to the end of the ramp, and I have a small table that I made that is just right for the job, but it is too cold and wet to sit out there now..

I still have about 12 bag of potting soil, so I am okay for a while. I stopped making compost, and broke the tail gate on my trailer driving the tractor up into the trailer while unloading compost, I just amend the planting holes with potting soil now. That is not the cheapest way to do the planting, but I am unable to keep all my junk repaired.

I had Laken order me a new Japanese weeder last week. I have another one just like it, but worn a little. those are the best weeding tools I have ever owned. They have a high carbon steel blade in them, and they hold an edge very well. I can take that tool and just slice through the roots under the grass or weeds and just lift them out of the soil. I think that I can sharpen these tools up to where they would shave, of course I don't because a very sharp blade well wear much faster than one that is a little duller.

Are y’all getting snow?