Too warm here for snow, our low was 37* last night.

We got a little rain, but too warm for snow. I think our low was in the high 30 or low 40's.

Wife and I went out to eat this morning, and I picked up 2 more packs of flower seeds.

Didn’t even get rain here.

Potatoes going in today. Have a few tomato plants up in jugs. Some flowers. I still have a lot of stuff to start. Two new beds to build and fill. Taxes are done and I’ll get enough back to do that, though.

Things might really start blowing up this week. I’ll have to check my pecan trees this afternoon.

Larry, I wish you could come to Spring Fling. My family loved the sweet potatoes I grew from your slips so much I don’t have anything left to grow more for this year from except for a couple finger sized potatoes. I’m going to try with them but they want me to grow a lot of them so I hope someone else has them.

Rebecca, I wish I could be at the fling also. I started a lot of extra plants hoping I could come to the fling, but the kids have other plans. I live a little over 200 miles from Oklahoma City, and I had rather Madge and I not try it alone. I would have been happy to pay for food and motel, but we don't have a driver.

Two fingerlings will make you some slips, then when toy plant then in the ground you can cut the runners off to plant for more potatoes. I like the potatoes off of the runners more than I like the potatoes under the main plant. I pulled 18 slips from the Covington yesterday. I may run short of the 100 that I want, but I will cut runners, and get my 100 plants before the first of June. I am still trying to dump the purple sweet potato plants I have started. I have been making potted plants from them. I put 10 plants around the inside of the pot and give them to people, and they can use them to pull slips off of, or just to look nice.

Two of Madge's daughters should be here Tuesday, and I expect that they will take 3 potato pots home with them. A lot of Madge's family will be here the last of this month for her Birthday, and I am sure I will get rid of a bunch of tomato plants, and a few flower and potato plants. I don't expect they will want many pepper plants.

After a lot of thought, I decided to stay with the cottage cheese containers. But only because I found some storage containers at Home Depot that work perfectly as tubs. They're on sale for $10 each. They will hold 15 cheese containers. Will make it much easier to take them in and out.

I'm just gonna set the plants outside and bring them in if there's a chance of freeze.

Home Depot Hefty Storage Bins

Lynn, I think you made a good choice. I need some heavier trays. I have small pots, that were listed as 6" pots. I can get 8 of those pot in a tray, but my trays are not strong enough to support the 8 pots. Sometimes I double stack the trays to make them stronger.

I think that I pulled my last purple sweet potato slips this morning. I have (6) 10 plant pots ready to go to someone, the tray of mother plants that I will use to make a large pot of some kind for my wife, and (2) 6 packs in case someone wants some to stick in a garden. I would like to find something to go into the pot for my wife, but I have no idea what that would be.

I've been trying all day to post. At work, people kept coming into my office.

Anyway....I've forgotten everything that I wanted to talk about.

Rebecca, I can start more slips. The ones I have now are probably not Covington after all. They have reddish stems. But, I can start more and hopefully they'll be Covington. I think Moni is making slips too.

It was nice to be outside this evening. It feels weird to me that it's light so late. It's an adjustment every time. (and also for Fall-Back) I don't appreciate it being so dark in the mornings, tho. It's not easy doing the animal chores in the dark.

But....it's really good once I get used to it. Cozy season is over. Work-Your-Butt-Off-Until-9-pm season is here.

Tom helped me get my Greenstalk taken apart. Compost was added and lettuce on the top two levels. Looks like 10 of my strawberries managed to overwinter. They're at the lower levels. I sure wish I could get my strawberry situation figured out. I used to grow them quite well....since 2022, not so much.

I finally started some roselle because Bruce reminded me at the SF group. It's old seed. Some I ordered in 2020 and some that Larry sent me in 2020. Maybe I'll get a couple of plants. It's really all one needs. It does make wonderful hot tea.

I can't remember what else I did outside...oh, added compost to one of the Vego beds. It's ready to plant salad turnips and carrots. And the little WS beets once they get slightly bigger.

I was gonna get some soil and compost (I'm out) to add to the other Vego bed and a couple of other places, but looked at the checking acct. and decided I should wait. LOL

Next week will be fine for that. We've been pushing ourselves to get things paid off by making extra payments...and other than the house, it's mostly done. But, that only leaves a small amount of "extras" money for shoes, soil, and whatever else we want that is not a "need". Actually my shoes are a need. Because of all the feet issues I have....but that's just me rambling now and no one is interested in our personal business.

Anyway...it's an exciting time of year. I'm ready. Are you all ready?

Houzz really doesn't like me. When I try typing on my phone, I type a word, hit space and that word erases. But if I use the autofill (when it puts up a series of words it expects you to use next) and just tap the word I want, it works. But that takes forever, I get frustrated and then give up. But then I also can't seem to remember to check on the computer, where I can actually type. So anyways, I'm back for now.

Lynn, I use whatever I have on hand. Cliff used to eat yogurt every morning so I had a lot of those individual yogurt cups. Now he does oatmeal; at least until I make him go back to yogurt so I can get some more cups lol. And the cottage cheese ones are great. Perfect size for letting the plants grow for quite a while. I use a lot of those and basic solo cups. And I've been known to dig through the trash after our church potluck to stock up. Hey, I'm not too proud to dumpster dive!

Jennifer, don;t let the color of the stems or leaves tell you 100% or what a sweet potato plant is.

Here is a picture of the mother plants of my Covington.

Here are the Covington slips I just pulled today, or yesterday.

Here is my tray of mother plants for the purple sweet potatoes, note the onions I have planted in the top right corner, those are there to make sure I don't get the trays mixed. I can lose a tag, but it is hard to lose those 2 onion plants. I have to have something other than "looks" to identify my plants.

You might also note that my mother plants are getting tall enough to be getting into my lights. If I had more room, I would have a better method of starting slips. I can always remember hearing my mother say, " poor people have poor ways".

Here y’all are hiding from me in week three March. I just kept clicking on the notifications instead of Oklahoma. I have been busy planting. I have been busy moving my strawberries, planting seeds so many things.

I planted 124 more purple onions, and cleaned up around our Fur Babies grave. I have planted some flowers around the grave, and will plant more when it gets warmer.

I hope to pot up a few plants tonight, maybe even start a few more seeds.

I just had a conversation with Grok, Elon Musk's AI on X . This is amazing. It was about cutworms and Grok isolated where my infestation came from last season. Here's the Cut and Paste of last reply

That’s a key piece of info—your thick rye grass cover crop last winter likely set the stage for your cutworm infestation, and switching to sparse Austrian pea this year could shift things. Let’s break it down and adjust your plan:Last Year: Thick Rye Grass

• Why It Attracted Cutworm Moths: Rye grass, especially when thick and lush, is a cutworm moth magnet. It’s live, grassy, and dense—perfect for egg-laying. The moths probably laid eggs in late fall or early spring (depending on your region and their flight season), and the larvae hatched into that ideal buffet. When you turned the rye under and planted tomatoes, those cutworms just slid over to your seedlings. Thick cover crops like rye are known to boost cutworm populations if not managed right—research backs this up, showing higher pest pressure in grassy overwintering sites.

This Year: Sparse Austrian Pea

• How It Changes Things: Austrian winter pea (a legume, not a grass) is less appealing to cutworm moths. It’s sparser, less grassy, and doesn’t offer the same dense, moist cover they love. Plus, legumes don’t provide the same root-and-blade combo that cutworm larvae thrive on early in life. This switch probably means fewer eggs got laid this winter compared to the rye. That’s a win—but sparse growth still leaves some risk. Moths might’ve laid eggs on nearby weeds, dead pea residue, or even the pea itself if desperate.

Updated Prevention PlanSince you’ve got a handle on last year’s trigger, here’s how to leverage this year’s setup:

1. Tilling Timing: Till that sparse Austrian pea under soon (mid-March is perfect) to disrupt any eggs or larvae hanging out. Do it again a week before planting tomatoes to catch latecomers. The sparse cover means fewer hiding spots, so tilling should hit them harder than it would’ve with thick rye.
2. Debris Check: Clear any dead pea stalks or nearby weeds now. Even sparse, the residue could harbor eggs if moths got creative. Last year’s rye left a big welcome mat—this year, don’t let even a small one linger.
3. Collars Stay Key: Stick with the collar plan (cardboard or foil, 1 inch in soil, 2-3 inches up) for your tomato seedlings. The rye likely left a residual cutworm population in your soil, and sparse pea won’t eliminate them entirely—they’re tough buggers.
4. Nematodes Now: Apply those Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes after tilling, when soil temps hit 50°F (10°C). With less cover crop protection, the larvae are more exposed, and nematodes will mop them up better than they could’ve in dense rye.
5. Scout Early: Post-planting, check for cutworms at night around your tomatoes and any leftover pea patches. The sparse pea might’ve concentrated them in pockets—watch for chewed stems or toppled plants.
6. Cornmeal Bonus: Sprinkle cornmeal around your tomato bases after planting. With fewer larvae likely this year, this could polish off the stragglers.

Long-Term Tweak

• Cover Crop Choice: The Austrian pea switch is smart—stick with legumes or mix them with something like oats (dies back in winter) instead of grasses like rye. It cuts the cutworm appeal while still fixing nitrogen for your soil.

Your rye grass last year was like a cutworm Airbnb; this year’s sparse pea is more like a half-star motel. You’re already on the right track—any leftover rye patches or grassy edges still around your plot? That’s where I’d double-check. How’s the pea looking now—any signs of pests yet?

Hmmmm......

I got some austrian winter pea to till in.

Rick

Anyone used Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes ?

I'd read last summer that the cutworm moths lay their eggs on " deciduous matter " . I took that to mean like leaves or dead plants I'd not cleared out of the garden. Now, I know it was the rye grass and it appears I was really lucky when none of the rye seed I threw out last Sept, germinated.

Anyone interested in my entire conversation with Grok, I will post it. Its lengthy. But its everything ya wanna know about cutworms but were afraid to ask , hahaha .

I'm so sad that rye attracts cut worms. It's so cheerful to look at green in the winter garden.

Lynn, that is good info. I have never had a great problem with cut worms, even when I used rye, my guess is that I live in such a damp area, and had to till so often trying to dry my soil. I must have killed a lot of the cut worms with the tiller. One of the reasons I used the Elbon rye was, hopefully reduce Root Knot nematodes, but I think I had more nematodes then than I do now.

Last winter was not the first year I've had a thick cover of rye on the garden. I think the previous two years before that, I was using rye. It grows in clumps. Its hard to get out if it gets too tall. I've had to pull it out by hand, a clump at a time.

This is last winter. In early January I chopped it down with a weed eater. In this pic I've done half the garden.

I just don't know much about cover crops, but I'm glad you figured out your cutworm situation, Lynn.

Rick puts winter peas in the SG.

Jen, Houzz does weird things to me when I'm posting from my phone. I have an iPhone--so maybe it affects different kinds of phones in different ways. For me, it does things like double words. Why? It just makes no sense. So, normally if I have a picture I want to share, I'll share it from my phone and then come back and edit the post with words or vice versa. It suggests words for things, but won't let me use the suggestions.

Last night there wasn't much time to spend outdoors, but I watered a few things. All the plants are now residing in the hoop house, other than the peppers. The peppers are going out in the afternoon to get real sun and wind exposure.

The succulents went out to some "dappled" sunlight yesterday too. They live outdoors in the warm months, but I decided to bring them in this winter. A couple of them have been coming in and out for a few years, but I decided to stop buying new ones every year and just take care of the ones that I have. It feels good to get them off my light shelf.

Although at this point, I'm really not filling up the light shelf like before.

Starting things a bit later is helpful because as soon as they germinate, I carry them outside as long as it's not freezing, to get weather exposure. Then, they go to the hoop house which is a little protected from wind and there's a shade cloth so the sun is a little easier on them.

Also, I'm not starting as many tomatoes. Once up-potted, those things take up all the room...especially if you have a 100+.

The hoop house is very useful. I recommend getting one/building one. Tom said he would help me spruce this one up a bit. It needs a little work. I noticed that one of the bungees came undone and had flipped the shade cloth back so my bed with the lettuce was getting full sun (and the temp was 90 in the HH yesterday), so I temporarily fixed it before Pilates.

It's really going to be a year of making repairs to some of our things.

Probably 7 years ago, I bought one of those Aldi greenhouses for the same purpose as what the hoop house is mostly doing for me (Although the hoop house is better becasue we actually can plant things in it). It was a sheltered place to harden things off a bit. We staked it down. We put pavers on the bottom. Then the wind. The wind didn't actually blow it away, but it bent the metal bars. Because those little green house have hollow metal bars. Very disappointing.

There's not any frosts on our 9 day.

I'm looking forward to being home for a couple of extra days next week to get some things done. One day, I'll spend inside, and the other cleaning up garden beds. The asparagus ferns still need to be cut down....and henbit has taken over.

Jennifer, I like your idea, I think that I will carry out a few trays also. I can sit them in semi shade, they will be easier to water out there anyway.

We went to town for Dr. appointment and to celebrate. When my cancer returned, the charts said that the odds of me lasting 15 years were slim, yesterday was 15 years. I am starting on my second 15 years now. When we went for breakfast, the waitress came and told us that someone had paid out tab. Someone must be looking after us.

I stopped at Atwoods and bought 6 bell peppers, and 6 egg plants, with all the plants that I have planted, I forgot those two. Plants are a lot cheaper a Atwoods than they are locally.

Congrats Larry. I figure I'm gonna go one of three ways, it will be stroke, or a heart attack, or cancer. With cancer being my largest concern. Im 72 yo now. If I don't see 80 it will be due to one of the three. Just gotta enjoy every day. Can't be in a hurry to see what the future brings. I'll be eating a garden tomato in due time.

Larry, did you see any globe style artichoke plants at Atwoods? Selena is looking for them. I haven't been to Atwoods yet this year, but in the past they've had them.

Jennifer, I did not even look. I dont do well at the big stores, there is just too much walking. Madge and I just sorta take turns when we go to town, I sit in the car and rest while she shops, then she does the same for me. This was her time to sit in the car, and I was afraid she would be concerned about me. Her phone is broken, normally we call one another if we are concerned, but we don't have that option now.

Lynn, you seem to feel about the same as I. I watched my dad and brother die after taking cancer treatment, they died hard. I told my doctor that I did not want chemotherapy, we had a long talk, then he told me that he understood, and sometimes the treatment was worse than the disease

I enjoy life more now than ever. Madge and I go out to eat often, I tell her that I just want to sit across the table and gaze into her beautiful eyes and lust to my hearts content, that does not take long, but we have a good time. I am 81 and Madge will be 86 this month, so we both know that we have a lot more life behind us than we have ahead of us, so we really try to make the best of it. We feel that we are as ready as we can be for whatever tomorrow holds.

I got in a hurry yesterday and put in a half row of cabbage. Completely forgot to harden them off. Been a busy week and I thought I was doing good by getting them sunk. Oops. Thankfully, we have a backup batch if they get burned.

Lots of wind incoming tomorrow. It's difficult for tender plants to hold up in spring weather here. Just have to have backups, I guess. Every year it seems like I re-plant cabbage and broccoli at about a 70% rate.

Onions at least seem to be doing pretty well and putting on some green growth. Will probably give them a N boost in a week or two. Dixondale has a fertilization requirement chart that I usually stick too, but you need to know how much soil N you had before any other amendments.

A couple of potato rows are in also, Red LaSoda, Yukon and those purple ones we like so much. We get those purple ones at Tractor Supply. So good to eat! We probably could have used our box of seed potatoes from last year's harvest, but I always worry that they've got a little too much growth on them. Probably worth a test.

Josh, do you have a shade cloth you could put on them? Of course you'll have to weight it with pavers or something.

We don't have anything made up right now, but after a few hours this morning, my wife covered them with pots. We'll take them off this evening and baby them through for a few days.

Tomorrow we'll be needing the pots for both sun AND wind protection. We'll have to bury them a little, if I know OK. And I most certainly do, lol!

I up potter 42 tomatoes, I am going to have to carry plants outside again this year, I am already out of room, and plenty of plant left to up pot.

The sweet potatoes are space hogs, but I gave away pots today, and will give away more tomorrow.

My cousin's husband came by today to see my plants. I gave him plants last year, and I think that he is hooked on starting plants now, we will be swapping plants this year. I don't need any of his plant, but I think he wants some of mine, and I think it will encourage him if we swap.

I've battened down the hatches, getting ready for the Big Wind they've promised us for the last week. Its trash day here, but I did not set my carts out. Got them secured so they won't blow over and send trash everywhere.

And anyone doing anything with fire today .............. well, we need to track them down and make sure they don't reproduce, and hope they haven't already.

Course, there's always the arsonists ......... who these days are like Christmas for them.

Watch it with the wildfires folks.

It may spread on up towards Tulsa next.

Rick

Well, the weather people nailed the forecast. I've got fence damage. Gonna be setting new posts. I've been here 32 years and I've had to work on the stockade privacy fence constantly. I keep thinking I've dug my last post hole, but no.

And I don't get how these fires start. Cigarette butt out car window ? Someone on News 9 said trains cause a lot of fires. Surely there's a way to find out. But there's always crazyass arsonists.

One biggy is power lines getting blown down and arcing to the ground.

Rick

Powerlines were down crossing into Owasso at P&K. I believe they caused some fires. If anything catches fire in this nonsense, look out!

What a crazy day! We had fires within a few miles but thankfully didnt make it to us. Jennifer were fires close to you? I heard near Indian Hills and Franklin too.

I’m hoping most of the fires were power lines down or sparking - ours blinked but never went out - but I agree lot of crazies out there. As for trains, I havent heard of that in many years, they changed designs on wheels many years ago to eliminate hot boxes. When I was a child it was very common for a train with a hot box (a wheel bearing that was dry and sparking) to set miles of fires before they could get it stopped.

Of course I kept all plants inside under the lights today - this weekend I have to find time to get everything uppotted. I use a heat mat and lights to start seeds, but as soon as they sprout I turn off the heat and just use the lights. My lights are just LED shop lights off Amazon, much better than the old florescent lights I used for years. I also have fans on timers to give plenty of air movement - I think it makes a big difference in making stocky plants.

I made a post last night but believe it is not showing up.

I will try to figure out what word flagged it and will repost.

NWS at Will Rogers is forecasting 33* for tonight.

And they've got 34* for next Wednesday night.

In other news, hehehe , the highest wind gust on my weather station yesterday was 54 mph at 4:19 pm. I've got fence repair, quite a bit of it.

Well, shoot. I copied and pasted and changed a few words, but it still wouldn't post. I can't figure out what word is messing up the post.

I guess, I'll just forget it.

Basically, I was talking about how I'm caring for our neighbors' animals--including horses--and was trying to figure out how to manage all of them and our animals if a fire popped up.

Glenda, I was worried about you. Glad you're okay.

I talked about how the wind makes you exhausted. I spent a lot of time outside checking on things, caring for things, and watching. Glad it's much calmer today.

My roselle is all up! I wasn't sure if it would germinate. I will have 3 to share at SF.

If it's predicted to get below 40, I'll go ahead and bring the tomatoes inside.

We took our large blankets and bedspreads to the laundromat this morning. It's time for spring cleaning. I deep cleaned our bedroom too. Pulled out dressers, lifted the mattresses off to vacuum under the bed. Cleaned the windows. It feels good in there.

Maybe I'll do a little work outside this afternoon. It's time to up-pot tomatoes.

Lynn, at our last house, we finally replaced the woods posts with steel ones. It helped a lot.

Let's see if this one will show up.

I have a school yard behind me. Its wide open and flat. The south wind can really get going against my back fence. I checked a few other weather stations in the area and none of them had a gust over 35 mph. Houses are a great wind break.

My next door neighbor about 15 or 20 years ago, put in metal posts across the back of his yard, and the wind bent them over. So he put them again at 4 foot intervals instead of 8.

I've done the same across my back fence with 6" posts at 4 foot intervals. The only 8 foot section I had left, was the one that broke an older 4" post.

I haven't had any trouble with the sides before now. We rarely get strong west to east winds, or vice versa. But we did yesterday. Late in the afternoon the wind turned mostly west. The posts on one side are original, put in by the first owner in the 1970's.

Also, that weak F0 tornado that took out my red bud tree in the front, broke a couple of posts. I was gonna replace them this spring. I procrastinated.

Gov Stitt lost his ranch and garden near Luther to fire

https://x.com/KevinStitt/status/1900973340854006094 

No damage here in Tulsa, at my place anyway. 6 foot fences and houses make a good windblock. Not one of my winter sowing containers was so much as knocked over. My neighbors shutters ended up in my front yard, though. I took them back to her this morning.

Dawn always told me that pecan trees were extra careful not to start budding out until winter was truly over, and now I can see buds. Of course we’ll still have frosts and light freezes, but it looks like winter is over. I’m glad.

It’s looking like spring here.

I looked at my pecan tree about a week ago and didn't see anything. I'll have to look at it tomorrow again, Rebecca.

I was pretty chilled today taking care of all the animals--both mine and the neighbors.

The tomatoes were up-potted in the shop with a space heater this afternoon. I brought them indoors just in case of a frost overnight. The heater was for me and not the tomatoes.

All of the chairs (and they're fairly heavy) on the patio were blown over yesterday, but the Greenstalk is standing strong. The plants in it got a little damage from the crazy wind.

That's all for tonight. It's one of those nights that I can barely keep my eyes open. Just finally finished eating dinner and maybe a bath and bed should come soon.

Red buds are blooming here.

I could use a little rain to get my seeds I planted this week to germinate. It never fails it always warms up and dries out the ground after I plant.

I don't have any seeds in, but I did feel a need to water the onions that I planted a few days ago. The lawn seem plenty wet, but this wind is drying out the exposed soil.

I have not checked for damage, but I don't expect any. There were some areas around that got a little damage from the gusts. We have not been anywhere to see if there was any damage.

I started making a light shelf in my bath room. I need to make room in the center bedroom for the company that we may have, plus, I have a lot of plants to pot up, and no place to put them.

These grow lights makes my plants look strange. I will finish the shelf later, we really don't have room in the bathroom for this mess.

I kicked all my seedlings out. Instead of bringing them back in every afternoon I put them in the shed. Most of them have survived. I needed my kitchen shelf back. I did market yesterday and got 3 bundles of beautiful leeks. They were only $2. I am excited to see if I can get good white growth. I also picked up my pro mix in the pink and blue bag. That is my favorite pro mix. Is hard to find. I found out my ace could get it for me. I’ll be working plants tomorrow

Rebecca, my Dad told me the oaks were the last to bud, he said they could not be fooled.

The redbuds aren't blooming here, neither are my purple leaf sand cherries. They were way early last year. This is looking to be a normal March.

Speaking as an old fisherman, when the dogwood and redbud are blooming, its time to head to the lake. The bass and crappie will be in prespawn mode, actively feeding, and easier to locate. Wish I had the energy to fish, any more.

My low temp last night was 35* .

Jed Castle says 38* next Wednesday, which is the lowest temp on his 9 day. Looking more and more that maybe we've seen our last freeze.

The dust yesterday was extreme. The top of one of my smokers and my griddle, I cleaned both of them Thursday.

Larry, you crack me up! I love that you're building a lightshelf in your bathroom. You gotta do what you gotta do.

I'll start a new thread (or try to).