I got done the most physically hardest part of my tomato patch. Making the raised rows is an upper body workout. I would rake a while, then sit down and let my heart rate subside. It took it out of me and I've been riding my bicycle three times a week and lost 20#'s since January. I'm also starting to wonder it its really worth it.

My plants are hardened and ready to be planted. When we have strong south winds, I can use my storm shelter as a wind break and keep the plants out.

I think tomorrow or Friday, I will plant.

Lynn, everything looks really nice. I have a hydraulic top link installed on my tractor, I hope to be able to make raised rows something like your's by changing the pitch on my disc. If I cant be able to do more with the tractor I will have to cut back, or quit gardening all together. I hope to get one of the kids to help me install the disc this weekend.

I was hoping to put out some tomatoes, but I am a little unsure about the weather. I expect to give away most of my larger tomato plants to the kids that will be here this weekend.

It looks like you have really done a great job with your plants, they look so healthy.

Larry, I wish there was a way to automate making the rows in my garden. They really do a good job of keeping the " feet " of the plants out of the water. I get puddles inbetween rows.

Every year I say I won't do it next year, but I do.

Ibuprofen is helping me , right now :)

I'm shooting to plant tomatoes Saturday. We got a front coming through Friday with some strong north winds. Hopefully, it will settle down on Saturday.

Lynn your raised beds and plants are amazing! We used to do raised beds many years ago when we had a Troybilt tiller. They were easy to make with the tiller and winged attachments. Best loose soil to plant in

I am tired of the winds. I’m right on Eagle mountain lake and it’s just brutal. I’ve lost a few flowers and tomatoes. They are just getting beat up. I trimmed my sweet peas to encourage bushier growth. It’s hard to do but in the long run it’s for the best. I have so much planting to do.

Girl, I know. The wind is awful. It's (usually) my least favorite part of spring.

I overslept and was 20 minutes late to work but I had to get the asparagus. Some of it was 2 ft. tall. And water the Vego bed with the carrots. I brought my office manager the asparagus so she didn't care so much that I was late. lol Not that she would care anyways. She grew up in Oregon where her grandparents grew amazing gardens, so anytime I can bring her fresh garden food, she appreciates it. I brought her some of the oranges my neighbors' parents brought from their orchard in Cali. West coast food is good.

Hopefully everything in the hoop house is okay. I didn't make the time to check it before leaving. Maybe nothing got too dry. I will harvest the lettuce tonight and water. I feel like I could plant the green beans and cucumbers now. Maybe I'll do that but probably won't until Saturday.

I'm still confused about the radishes and salad turnips. It's been 2 and a half weeks since they were planted. They would be up by now. I'm going to just make the call that the roly pollies got them before I realized they were even up.

Jen, are you still at Oakcrest ? My daughter is taking her 2 yo to the day care there. His name is Everest Yaninek , her name is Mandy and she still goes by Dollar.

I made a mess last night. I was up potting tomato ans pepper plants. I was working in the center bedroom. I was using the hospital bed, and two large tote bins and their lids as work surfaces. One flat of plants slipped and slid in to the other flat, knocking both flats of plants down into the tote bin of potting soil UPside Down. I have many kinds of pepper and tomato plants. I spent hours trying to figure out which tags went with which plant, hopefully I got some of them right. I have two flats of Guess What Pepper and tomato plants.

I am as bad as Madge, she ask me yesterday to help identify the seeds that she had coming up in her flower pots. I told Madge that she should have marked the pots, that I had no idea what was coming up in her pots, and besides, I told her not to place the bird seeds in the flower pots this past winter when she was feeding the birds. Madge told me that the birds loved eating out of the flower pots, and did not get wet while eating on the front porch. We are the only people in Arkansas with dry birds, but they are happy, they are all over the front porch now, laughing, singing, and pooping everywhere, and we still don't know what is coming up in the flower pots.

Lynn, I do. I know Mandy. And Lily, Barret, and Presley. From what I understand, a nanny drops off the toddler to MDO, so I haven't seen her in a long time other than on Facebook. I used to work part-time for the little school here--the Pre-K through 2nd grade. The older 3 children went to that school. (The MDO is only 3 days a week vs the school here which is Monday - Friday) I personally worked with Barret and Presley. All beautiful children. And Mandy is a stunner and very sweet too.

Larry, it will be an exciting gardening year--surprises coming up everywhere!

I have grapes forming : 0

Jennifer I’ve had a dickens of a time getting plants up this year, both inside and out. Greens, radishes, sweet peas, and turnips have been the hardest this year. Inside I had peppers not germinate at all or maybe 3 out of a dozen. I planted some of the Silky Sweet turnips from Burpee. Supposed to be very small, tender and sweet. I planted them in a mineral tub and only have about 10-12 left. I don’t know if birds are eating them or what. I found a cricket eating new plants in the greenhouse so put out some sticky boxes. I have planted sugar snap peas three times now and they just come up and disappear. I only have about a dozen left. Kim, please explain about trimming your peas? I hope to at least get a few to snack on. Larry you are not the only one to have unknown plants. One year my little granddaughter helped me by gathering all the plant labels for me. Lol

I just planted them and the ones I gave away I just said they are good tomatoes.

I purchased two new plants this year. Compact fire bush, Hamelia patens and Vermillionaire, cuphea hybrid. They both are supposed to be very drought and heat tolerant and look like hummingbird magnets.

Lynn, Jerry installed the disc last night, and I got it greased up this morning and played with it a while.

This is where I want to plant some flowers along the hwy. in the wildlife garden. This soil still needs a lot of work, but I have grown some flowers in it before, but the soil was never amended.

This is a smaller bed I am making. I have grown peppers in this time one time before, and the soil was amended a little at that time. I think that I may try some peppers and flowers here again. I don't have any water over here so anything that I do grow will have to be early.

This is my pasture garden, I will never be able to get this soil productive. I tried growing some sweet potatoes here last year, but what few vines that grew were eaten by the deer.

I am going to have to go through a learning curve using the disc with the hyd. top link, but I do think that it is an improvement.

From that last pic, Larry, it looks like it makes a raised row. Also appears to save having to run a tiller.

Jen .. huh ... how bout that, all this time. Small world. I'm sort've out of that loop, I don't talk directly with Mandy often. Everything I hear comes through Mrs Dollar. And Mandy has a lot on her table, she's very busy, don't know how she handles all that.

The sweet peas I am trimming are flowers. I am sure the edible peas would be the same. When they get about 10”-12” tall slip them down to 6”. Leave at least 3-4 leaf nodes. Then they will branch giving you more peas

Lynn, a disc bedder would be great, but I really cant justify one. But if I could get one like a lot of the junk that I have, I would have one laying around.

This old disc I got for FREE, but I had to do a lot of repairs to it.. I had my daughter order that hydraulic top link, I have never owned one before, but it will put enough down ward pressure on that disc to lift the rear tractor tires off the ground, but that is very dumb to do because it creates too much stress on the pins and linkage.

There are pros and cons both with a tiller and a disc. I like to use a disc when making a food plot because I can cover more ground with a dist, and I don't think they are as hard on the tractor

Kim, hopefully at least one of my sweet peas will make flowers. If not, I'll try again next year.

Lynn, yes, small world. You might know this, but Oakcrest will soon be Santa Fe South El Camino. However, the MDO (your grandson attends) and the little school will be allowed to stay for another school year while we try to figure out exactly where we are all going. Sorta funny. They'll be 3 schools there next year. Santa Fe should begin remodeling next week once the final closing happens. All of this puts me in a situation. I don't know what I'll have access to for Easter and the Saturday Egg Dash. Possibly not the kitchen. We do have the Family Life Center that they probably won't touch right away and luckily it has a full kitchen. We are keeping 2 offices in the office wing, however my office didn't make the cut. So, I'm moving to an extra nursery room with the other CM which is also the new teachers supply room. Another children's room is becoming a conference room. It's weird for sure. We will be leasing the east wing from the school for a year. And will be allowed to use the auditorium on Sundays. I'm not sure how our internet and server is going to work out, but I'm not a tech person so I can't deal with that at all.

All of this is one reason I've been so spaced out lately.

The people who run Santa Fe South charter schools are good people. My son took piano lessons for years from the superintendents wife. I've spent a lot of time at their house. They are well regarded for sure.

Today. I'm about to tidy up the house and do laundry. But, I do need to go shopping for clothing. I have no short sleeve tops. Lol. I must have given them all away last year when I was cleaning stuff out. I like to shop, but really don't feel like it today. There's too much other stuff to do. But, I don't know when I'll have time other than today. And I would like to get a new dress.

Other than that, our daughter and grandson is coming out this evening so Tom can change her brake pads. That will be fun because it's supposed to be nice today and we can play outside.

The peppers need to be up-potted too. And everything watered. And the lettuce harvested. I still haven't done that.

Oh, I need to go get the food for next Saturdays Egg Dash. It's a lot to pack into a day.

I'll have a couple of hours tomorrow afternoon that possibly the up-potting can be done. I really just want to work in the garden today.

What are y'all doing today?

Jen, the only thing that doesn't change, is that everything changes. That's pretty radical change for the church. Is Santa Fe South charter related to Church of Christ, in any way ?

Honestly, if I still had school age kids, I'd put them in charter schools.

No, Lynn. Charter schools aren’t faith based really. Nothing to do with C of C other than a lot of OC (Edmond) graduates came over with one of the professors to work at one of the campuses a couple of years ago. The Super is baptist. I do know that. But its a type of public school.

Jen, I recall now reading about a Catholic School that was trying to become a State Charter school, but Supreme Court would not allow it.

That will sure be a change for that building, when I drive by.

I got the tomatoes in the ground today and wrapped the bottom of the cages with plastic wrap so I'm ready for the next wind event.

Planted a row of 6 Cherokee Purple, a row of Big Beef + , and two rows of Big Beef. I only planted the Big Beef + because I had the seed leftover. After studying BB+ , I see it only adds some resistance to some diseases. Which has not been a problem for me with BB. I planted BB+ last year and could not tell any diff from BB .

Looking at pics from last year, I planted on March 27. I'm right on schedule, I shoot for the last week of March. And I see nothing close to a freeze in the 10 day forecast.

Larry y’all look great. Tell Madge happy birthday

Kim, I told Madge, and she said "thank you". Madge might get me for posting that picture, we both are losing weight, and looking like a well used bar of soap. I had been working in the garden, and didn't even change clothes.

Madge's daughter's car broke down in Poteau, Oklahoma, and went to get her, the car was hauled here, and will be repaired near the end of the week. In a way, I think the brake down we a blessing, Madge, her daughter, grand daughter need to have a long visit, and rest here.

When it warms a little I plan on working in the garden, we are expecting rain later in the week, and I wan to have the gardens in better shape.

Cute picture, Larry. Happy BD to Madge!

And right on cue, the wind is howling up to 35 mph gusts. The very reason I wrap the bottom of the cages. March is going out as lion.

Again, I was really impressed with how thick the stalks were on my plants, and they were not leggy, making them easier to plant. I'd been skeptical of using fans, because I really could not see much diff last year. But these Vivosun 4" fans made a big difference, and they're three speed, I only used them on low.

The leggy plants with thin stalks of past years, would be taking a beating today.

This is the flat of Ashe County pepper plants that I dumped. These were seeded about 3 weeks ago, and seem to be a little slow, but that is often the way peppers treat me. I just sat them out in the wind and sun to punish them for mistreating me. This should start their hardening off period.

I disc all 3 of my garden, both of the large flower beds in the wildlife garden, and a pretty good size garden for my neighbor. I need to go till some spots with the rear tine tiller that I cant get into with the tractor.

Madge, two of her daughters, and a grand daughter have gone to ear and shop in Fort Smith, I have been having a ball with the women gone. There is nothing like running all the women off, then go play in the dirt till you are too tired to wiggle.

Could the wind just die down a bit. Good grief.

So far all of the new strawberry plants are alive. Two look a little rough. The calendula started blooming but this wind is so hard on them and everything else. Snapdragons aren't blooming yet, but hanging in there.

Yesterday, I watered everything and up-potted the peppers. I've gotta do better at up-potting more quickly. I tend to let things stay in their pellets for too long. Usually, they do fine, but it's a bit stressful on them.

The Big Beef are growing the most quickly and it's really time to put them in the garden. The other varieties aren't far behind. I'm going to hold onto the extra plants for a couple of weeks after planting as back-ups. At that time, I'll know if there's any to share. There won't be many, tho. Maybe 2 each of Big Beef, SunGold, Isis Candy, True Black Brandywine and 1 Dr. Wyche. I could probably squeeze everything in, but my desire this year is to have fewer plants so I can keep up with pruning and tying them up. Last year was a disaster with all of that.

The potatoes haven't popped up yet. I wonder what the hold up is....

Glenda, where did you purchase your 2 new plants? I'm looking for things that are non-native to plant around my house. I want some things that are not eaten completely by the critters. I plant a lot for the critters but want a few things for me. I can't even keep passion vine long enough to get flowers much less fruit. The fritillary caterpillars gobble them down so quickly. Same with sunflowers and coneflowers. SO...I need some pretty things for me to look at.

Alrighty. Time to get back to work. Have a good day, Friends.

Jennifer sounds like we are on the same page. We are expecting rain. Wed-Sat. I hope to get at least one “. Watering at work is too time consuming. Yesterday I put out 50 plants and fertilizer the orchard. That took two hours. I have a granular hand spreader and twenty seven trees. Is a good size. My sister keeps saying they need to get me a gator. That would be awesome and I could get a lot more done. I don’t see it happening. The orchard is doing great. I have baby peaches and plums.

I just found a great deal on a greenhouse. It was already tore down ready for pick up. And it was free. It’s 8‘ x 20‘ RION. I have never heard of them, but their greenhouses seem to be legit. They’re all over the Internet. It took two car loads completely packed to the hilt in my little ELANTRA. I really don’t think I’m gonna set it up here because this is not my permanent home home and I really don’t have space to put it.

Kim, that is the type of deals that I like to find, but I am not sure that I have ever gotten that good of a deal. The free stuff that I have found required a lt of repair.

Did anyone else see 39° for this weekend?I planted medley bush beans, cucumbers, squash, and more radishes today . Not putting out plants until after this rain. My potatoes are popping up nicely. The Kindergarten sunflowers I planted in pots inside are all up. Jennifer I got the new plants at TLC on Memorial. I went in to get a bag of potting soil snd some peppers because mine didnt come up. They were kinda pricey but I had a gift card and a weak moment. If they live and do what I’m hoping they will be a good investment. I saw our first hummingbird on the redbud tree today.

I’m going to put the firebush where the passionvine was and the Vermillionaire will go in a big pot on the patio. I just hope the deer read the same information I did and won’t eat them.

Larry you and Madge look great - I admire your persistence and energy.

Hey, Friends.

Glenda, I'm gonna try the Kindergarten variety next year. I don't show a 39.

This morning, I watered before work but that's all I did garden related.

I am more tired than I've ever been in my life. I won't have any days off including Saturday or Sunday or evenings (on some days) this week. But, I will take off next Wednesday even if people need me. I can't keep going like this. I do think I'll have Easter evening free too. If the weather cooperates, I'll sow the green bean and cucumber seed that day.

I am really tired also. I worked most of the day in the wildlife garden. The spot that I call the wildlife garden is an area that was never use by us when I was a kid, so when I was in the 9th grade I planted 700 pine seedlings over there, so later mom gave me the land because I was the only one to show an interest in it. The timber has been harvested 2 or 3 times since I planted it, but it has not been cared for till I had about 3 acres cleared to make a building site.

The kids own the land now, but it seems as tho the kids don't have the same interest in the land that I do.

My neighbor and I tried to grow produce there for a couple of year, and bedding up the rows has left it so rough that it is hard to mow. I mowed about 3 acres today, and disc up about 1/2 acre spot to plant flowers, peas, or some kind of cover crop. I am not going to make many raised rows, because they are too hard to get rid of.

I am just beat to a pulp. I wore a mask today, but I am sick from all the dust, but the place looks much better. Madge and her daughter and grand daughter were gone today, and I knew that I had to get the work done while they were gone. Madge is very over protective of me and thinks that I over do it at times.

I hope we get a very light rain to settle the dust, and I broadcast seeds and drag the area that I had to disc 4 times to get the ridges out.

Mesonet says 41 for Saturday night, that's OKC. Weather Underground has 40* . This warmer than normal weather pattern is beginning to worry me, if it persists. July type temps in June mean no tomatoes. That was 2022.

But what's that thing about not liking the weather, wait five minutes .... or something.

We've yet to get our hummingbird feeders out. I think Mrs Dollar has been waiting for the wind to ease. First week of April is when they're suppose to migrate through, but we've never seen more than one or two and they don't stay.

And we're not spending much time on the patio to see the hummingbirds, if they're here. I've been low carb dieting since January and enjoying beers on the patio doesn't fit into that diet. Its a no fun time.

I'm very very much liking the thicker stalks on the tomatoes. Wind has tore off plastic wrap on a couple of them, but its really not mattered to the plants. They don't whip around. I might very well not wrap them next year.

Got 3/4" of rain here last night. I put lime and fertilizer on the lawn yesterday counting on the rain. I like when a plan comes together.

Still no temps below 40* on the 10 day. Mesonet has 44* Saturday night.

We got rain also, my guess would be around 1/10", but it was enough to get the soil ready for me to seed the flower beds in the wildlife garden. I may put out a few tomato plants, but I am uneasy about the weather in this valley, I get too many unexpected frost. I will up pot a few plants to 6" pots and let the grow a while.

We got a good rain. SO grateful. I don't know how much but nothing needed watered today except the plants in the hoop house. I did that before and after work. The plants really need to go into the garden now, but there's simply not time unless I wore a headlamp and planted in the dark.

I can see the potatoes about to push through the soil. I let the asparagus get too big. I hate it when that happens, but when I get in after dark, I forget to check it. But, there's more coming.

I see no near frosts on the forecast. If Sunday is nice, I'll plant things Sunday afternoon after work. Saturday is the Egg Dash and we'll go see my daughter and her little family afterwards. We'll probably just grab a pizza and make a salad. There's just not time to get my house ready to host Easter. Or time to cook anything. I hate that too.

So...Saturday is out for gardening.

Part of me feels "off" because I didn't do my "spring cleaning". It's a ritual and comforting to me.

I really wish we had a couple more months of winter. To rest and get things indoors accomplished.

Somehow I got sick. But, pretty sure it's not a cold. The house I worked at on Tuesday and Wednesday is an odd situation. The house was very elegant, ornate, and "fancy" at one point. The remnants are still there....but the woman died in 2017 at age 91. And apparently her brother lived there until recently. But it looks like he lived mostly in the pool room (?). The room that opens up to the pool and terrace. Nothing was maintained. The basement was full of water--like you could swim in it. Nasty. I worked in the room that is close to the basement this week. Pretty sure it's mold sickness. But, there was no time to stay in bed. And, I am feeling a lot better, so that sorta confirms it was the mold and not a cold.

Even weirder that someone will pay 900000 dollars for that house and tear it down and build a new house because of the location.

I will take a day off next week even tho I know they need me (Both jobs really) and try to get my house in order. The baby is staying with us next weekend. If we get some good days next week, I'll try to plant some things in the evening too. Also need to figure out our trip to Portland and Seattle. Trying to find things that my Mom can do that won't be too much walking. She does pretty well, but I always want to hike (on these bad feet) and she can't do that. I love looking at the wild plants there. Different from our own wild plants here.

What wild plants are waking up on your properties now?

Jennifer I hope you get a respirator. As someone with lung problems it is not something you should mess with. Your employer should provide them. We got 1” at work and will be getting more tonight and tomorrow. I planted some seeds at work. I hope they don’t float away.

Kim, normally we don't experience this type of situation...and I'm especially sensitive to mold after a 2013 storm hit my workplace...and mold grew rampant during the clean up and proper mold remediation wasn't done. So....I'll figure out how to protect myself. Luckily most of the house doesn't give me that reaction--just the pool room.

My first red poppies from the seed that Stella gave me in 2021 have bloomed. They will always be special to me. It's amazing that they're so much healthier after 5 seasons of reseeding on my property. That first year they were so anemic. Now, they're beautiful and healthy. Especially after getting some rain.

Expecting more tonight, but so far, nothing.

Well, we've got rain now. With the winds and storms, phone alerts, and sirens from all the cities--Norman, Moore, and OKC. So far the power is on still. How's everyone else?

I think a tornado went between my house and I-240. We were in the storm shelter. I think I saw on my phone it was near SW 84th. I live on SW 93rd.

All of my tomato cages are blown over. Its still raining a lot . Won't know till in the morning. But we heard some pretty strong winds while in the cellar.

At morning light, I got a limb down, I will rebuild

Seriously, It appears right now, that I only lost one tomato plant when a cage fell on it. Those plants have thick stalks, hahaha. I've got cages over half the yard. None of them in original spot. Our plastic wrap held up amazingly well.

My neighbor lost the top of his red bud tree. That tree has weathered a lot over the past 15 years. A previous neighbor, three owners ago and the original owner of the house, planted that clump redbud. It was beautiful for a lot of years. The owners since have not cared about it. Young fella living there now is much like I was at his age did not know one tree from another and had no appreciation. I'm not gonna tell him how to care for his yard but he's got two more volunteer trees, that I wish he would cut down. Too bad storm did not get those. They're well on the way to shading my garden.

And I've got no fence damage, that's incredible. My weather station survived and highest gust recorded was 42 mph. Just to the west of me, a station got 55 mph. The community college has some damage, its about a mile from me, as the crow flies.

Sorry that happened. Plants look good. We got a bunch of rain at home and at work. I might work in the garden tonight planting some seeds. I hope everybody checks in today

Neighbor's redbud tree in 2015. This was in its peak prime before the storms beat it down . Not much left of it now.

Lynn, I am glad that your damage was no worse than it was. We got plenty of rain, but I don't expect any wind damage, but I can always find downed limbs if I go out and look hard enough.

I had hoped to get my wildlife garden seeded before the rain, but as always I was running late on that also. I have a lot of old seeds that I will broadcast in to the largest area, which will be a few thousand sq. ft.. I have corn, okra, pumpkin, peas, beans, roselle, turnips, kale, turnips, squash, and different kinds of old flower seeds that I will toss in and cover. I have no idea what will germinate, but I hope to create a happy spot for the critters. I plan on brush hogging all of that mess down about next fall or winter, and doing it all again next year if I am able.

My garden plants have really taken a hit because of my plant operation being kicked out of the center bed room, and having so many other appointments lately, but I will still have more plants than I need.

Glenda, did you get your sweet potato slips going? My slips are past their prime as far as size goes, but if they are too long I can just cut them in half. I have not counted how many slips I will have, but by planting time I should have all that I need.

While working in the wildlife garden I noticed a bed of Egyptian walking onion where I had dumped some garden waste in a washed out area. Egyptian walking onions are a gift that just keeps on giving. The onions that I have came from George, and they have been happy everywhere I have put them.

Well, the rain has about stopped, if it will give me a break I will go check on things, and plan on my next move.

I went out and checked on my garden spots, and they all look fair, all are a little wet. Fort Smith shows to have received 1.93" of rain, I expect that would be about what we have received also.

This is the flower bed I started about a week ago. So far only one of the sweet potatoes that I planted has come up, but I am expecting 5 or 6 more. I have no idea what the plant with the plant with the big leaves is, the ones this side of it are zinnias.

This is where I dug the soil to use in my flower bed. I wanted to create a low spot for the water to drain into. The area to the left is where I hope to grow a few vegges this summer, and this area is poor soil, and does not drain well.

This is the spot where I want to plant flowers and plants for the wildlife. I did manage to get most ridges worked down in this area, but you can see that I have a drainage problem in most of the areas that I try to grow flowers or crops.

Wow, Lynn. That's crazy. Glad you only lost one plant.

Larry, thanks for sharing pictures of your projects. Always good to see.

Kim, did you get any seeds planted today?

I am hoping to plant green beans and cucumbers tomorrow night. Those beds need to be weeded too. All of that is on the schedule for tomorrow after work.

I just got in and sat down. It was a good day. Egg Dash and cookout went well. Got to visit with daughter and family this evening. Take their Easter treats to them. We won't see them tomorrow.

I do feel cranky tho. I just have so much to do at my house and don't know when it will get done. I woke up at 5 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep because I remembered a couple of things that I had forgotten to do regarding the Egg Dash so went in really early.

But, it looks like tomorrow afternoon/evening will be a really good day weather wise, so I'm excited about that.

:D

Wind does funny things. Some of those cages were made from cattle panels. They're heavy. And one of them ended up next to the back fence. Maybe it rolled there or was lifted up, IDK.

I only lost one plant, confirmed. That's amazing.

Couple years ago, when an F0 tornado blew down my redbud tree in the front yard, not one tomato cage was blown over in the backyard. That was the first week of May, when the plants were maybe 3 foot tall and I had yet to secure them with T-Posts.

New thread up!