Wet, wet, wet.

The rain simply doesn't want to stop, here in Oklahomegrownvegland.
Everything is very green..............

....very soggy and VERY LONG. The ground is far too wet to get Herbie out so things are just going to have to get a whole lot longer.
The Happy Gardener will now pull on his Wellington Boots before taking a stroll around.

Plot 1

Everything looks fine. I may start and pull a few of the Winter Onions and get them dried out indoors. Some of the others will steadily get spread around the various plots as I slowly re-open this area of the garden to other duties. My plan is to have a few of these in each plot if possible so I have a continuous but controlled supply. They aren't the prettiest looking plants but are good at keeping out some of the bugs so they pay their way.
Plot 2
The Tomato plants have survived the downpours, but only because I sheltered them with one of my floating row covers.

I've managed to get one African Blue Basil plant so far and that is now in place. I'm on the look out for at least one more, possibly two. A few Winter Onions are now established at the far end. Once things dry out a little I'm considering putting in some All American Parsnip seeds along the front part. If they germinate (and Parsnip seeds are famous for not doing so) I'll leave them in all this season and harvest late Fall/early Winter as and when required. I'm soaking the seeds indoors at the moment in an attempt to stimulate germination before planting.
Plot 3
Potatoes are good so far but I'm watching them like a hawk.

I'm applying Iron Phosphate on a weekly basis just in case. I've already "hilled" these twice, as I have with the ones in Plot 5, so now they are on their own. To the left are two small additions to this plot. A little bunch of Dill and a small Winter Onion which needed a home.
Plot 4
Adding the manure to this plot the other week seems to have giving the Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi plants the kick-start that they needed.

They still needs to get a bit of move on though if they are going to be "early".
The Red Onions are doing good but I'm worried about all this excess moisture rotting them, a problem I had with some of these last year.
Down the left hand side, the Cherry Belle Radish seeds are through. I mixed these with Nantes Scarlet Carrot seeds, the idea being that the radish come through first and break the ground up for the carrots. Well, it all sounds good on paper............
Plot 5
The Potatoes in here are doing good and the same applies to these as I said about the ones over in Plot 3. At this near end the rainbow Swiss Chard from last year has started to get some decent sized leaves on it and is now ready to be used as required.
These two amazingly hardy plants survived throughout the winter in this plot, simply covered with a layer of straw. There's a small empty patch at this end. I'll have to think about putting it to good use. Marigolds?
Plot 6
Will I ever get anything planted in here, I wonder?

Way back when we were having temperatures in the 70's and low 80's it seemed a good idea to remove the mulch, dig it over and prepare it for use. Now it's a mud bath and will need at least a week of dry weather to get to a state where it can be worked. I now wish I'd left it covered but we are all much smarter with hindsight, eh?

The Mesclun Box is showing progress......

...but like a lot of other things here it needs a little less rain and a little more sunshine.

Due to the downpours the potted herbs at the front of the house have had to be moved to a more sheltered position.

I was up around 5-30am the other morning dragging them under cover as the heavens opened above me.
The Determinate Tomato plant has survived the elements uncovered but it was a pretty

well established plant when it went in.

I've given it a small Curled Parsley plant as a companion
Indoors, the Spicy Globe Basil seeds have produced a fine set of plants.

Here's an example. Germination rates on most herb seeds are low so I sowed plenty and got some. I'm starting to nip the tops off to encourage bushy growth, similar to what I've been doing with the Catnip.
Speaking of which........................

The plants living on my office windowsill have been cut back and are now starting to grow their second batch. The harvest from this heavy pruning now hangs in the kitchen, drying out.

I have more seedlings coming along in the growing room

OK, it's stopped raining so I'm off to the Garden Centre.................

Busy, busy, busy.

So busy, it's hard to find time to blog!

I love this time of year, I really do. Things are growing, looking healthy, promises of full crops of abundant produce are everywhere.
Then things get planted out and the bugs arrive "en force" and eat all my hard work.
But, am I downhearted?
Of course not!
Anyroad, this weekend has been great. Sunny enough to be pleasant and windy enough to keep the bugs away.
Perfect combo, methinks.
So, lets get out and see what's happening.........................

I mowed of course. I mean, we have thunderstorms forecast for Sunday evening/night so I got that out of the way on Friday evening/Saturday morning so the whole area is straight(ish).
I was determined to get at least some of the trees in and managed to plant new conifers down by the creek (photos later). I also put in two Eastern Redbuds and one White Flowering Dogwood at the front of the house......

.....as can be seen above. These are the saplings I started last year and grew in containers.
I also put in two Goldenraintree's.......................

.....at the rear of the house. These need mulching and I'll be picking some up after work tomorrow.
Now to the veggies......
Plot 1, which is now the Onion patch. What can I say?

These Winter Onions and the Garlic I planted last fall look great! Some of the Winter Onions have the appearence of leeks and if the garlic is as good below ground as it is above I'm going to be delighted.
Already, the onions are forming the bulbils......................

.....of next years crop.
Extended Plot 2 will be the home of the 2009 Tomato crop.

It's been dug over, compost added, weeded, dug over again. I would have put some in today but the stiff breezes and pending thunderstorms made me hesitate. I can wait a day or two.
Plot 4 and the Kohlrabi seems at a standstill.....................

...so I added some manure and compost to try to get things kickstarted. Perhaps, if we do get rain tonight, the moisture and added nutrients may get things moving along. These are cold weather veggies and I want them ASAP.
The Red Onions around the perimeter seems to be doing fine.
Plot 5 is, for this season, one of my potato plots (along with Plot 3 which I seems to have forgotten to photograph and part of Plot 6 which I haven't started work on yet).

All looks great. I've started to slightly hill the earth around the plants and am continuously watching for woodlouse/pillbug activity. All potato patches are/will be given a covering of Iron Phosphate at regular intervals as I'm determined that 2009 will go down as the year that The Happy Gardener did not lose his precious potato crop.
Plot 6 is ready.

This will be where I'll be putting my 3rd crop of potatoes and my Yolo bell peppers if all goes to plan. Mind you, when as that ever happened?
I've sown the Mesclun mix...............

......in the box. I really want to grow a few greens this year, another area in which I'm lacking. The problem being, Oklahoma seems to go from "freezing and unable to plant out" to "really hot and frying temps" in hours, then back again. It's very difficult to gauge what to plant and when?
Indoors.......................

....my "BBQed Chicken" container has become my Cress propagator. Watch this space..............
Tomato plants are ready to move on. It's like sending the kids off to school for the first time............

I mean......................

I worry!..............
I brought these up from seeds...........

.......and finding good homes for them is essential.
All in all it's been a very, very busy weekend. But pleasurable too.
I've "ticked off" many things on my "to do" list and I even...................

......managed to clear out the shed a bit.

Enough!

April Showers

Awakened at 7-00am by noises of the Alvin variety crying at the bedroom window.
"It's raining dad, we want to come in!"
I faithfully drag myself from the bed and, as any caring father would, let both cats in and serve them with breakfast.

Last night it rained quite heavily and continued at a lesser rate throughout the day. Both Alvin and Tommy were both quite dry when I let them in so they must have spent most of the night out of the rain, snuggled up in the patio chairs.
Lots of standing water around..............

....................as you can see.
It's far too wet to work the soil but fortunately I did get some outside jobs done yesterday while it was dry so all is not lost.

So, the Happy Gardener will now don his wellies and show you around.

Here's the box that used to be situated between Plot1 and Plot2...........

With it's purpose fulfilled I removed it, dug up the area it had been occupying and supplemented the spot with some fresh topsoil and compost. So now I have.......................

......well......... I suppose it will have to be called Plot 1.5? But this change around has given me around 2 or 3 extra feet of growing space. The onions and garlic will continue to occupy Plot 1 and the newly extended Plot 2 will be the home for 4 or maybe 5 tomato plants which I plan to place up against the shed wall. This will leave the whole front section of the plot available for other usage. Those of you with sharp eyes may notice that the Determinate tomato plant I put into Plot 2 a couple of weeks ago has mysteriously disappeared. More about that later.
Here's another little idea I had for creating extra room. I removed the young trees from their winter positions at either end of the centre path.
They are now sat in Plot 6 until it dries out enough for me to site them in their (yet to be decided) permanent positions.
I then dug up either end of the path, made brick barriers, filled them with fresh topsoil and compost so now I have......................

...not one............................

.........but two new growing areas. Both of these will probably house a tomato plant each.
I mentioned the onions and garlic in Plot 1 earlier.............

..........I hope they live up to their promising looks.
In Plot 5 the Swiss Chard is slowly returning.

It's had plenty of water, now it needs a bit more sun to get it started. In the background are the sad remains of my potato plants which, despite being covered, were mauled by the freezing temperatures that hit us last week.
But I'm not giving up on them......................

...............as new growth is coming through daily. This killer frost proved too much for the new Determinate tomato plant I'd purchased and planted in Plot 2. Sadly it didn't make it.
Moving indoors, well............. it's all go at this end!!

The tomato seedlings are doing great.............

......with Old Virginia, Giant Beefsteak and Big Red varieties all coming along nicely. I'm planning on growing around 6 or 7 plants myself so any spares will be give to neighbours and workmates. I've made a conscious effort to grow less tomato plants this year but, even now, I have around 20 plants on the go plus the Cherry Tomato plant seeds of which I promise I'm only going to keep one.
The Determinate tomato plant........................

...........has been replaced. It's too wet to do anything with it today so it will spend the next few days in the comfort of my growing room.
After a week, the Cherry Tomato seeds are starting to germinate..................

.....with around 4 or 5 showing now.

And the cats are going to love me. Look how well the Catnip is growing!!

I'm still faithfully nipping off the top buds and the plants are looking great for it and bushing out all over the place.
Finally the Spicy Globe Basil.

I do believe that every seed I planted has germinated.

Basil is a great herb and I've planted some of my fresh batch of seed today so I should hopefully have a bountiful crop. Some will be placed in the flower beds and some with the veggies. I'll also be purchasing at least 2 of the African Blue variety as they do such a fine job of attracting the Honey Bees.

OK, enough for this weekend. The rain continues to drizzle but hopefully the temperatures will keep above freezing now.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Temperature drop

Here's the scene in Oklahomegrownvegland at the moment.
Sad sight, isn't it?

The weather has once more taken a dramatic turn and we are now forecast to get snow these coming days. Night time temperatures are forecast to be around 20F (-7C).
We had an unexpected heavy frost the other morning which has nipped the potato plants pretty severely though I'm sure they will pull through. Luckily, my determinate tomato plant in Plot2 was covered and survived.
Yesterday was warmer and calmer so I made a start on my favorite chore.....................


Mowing with my old mate Herbie. I was late starting so only got around the house done.....................

.......around the back...........

.....and front.
Whilst trundling around on Herbie I see that the Fuji Apple tree blossoms.....
...................are still there despite the cold temps and frost.
Even the Tulips are hanging on in there




For how long is any ones guess?
I left the rest of the mowing for Sunday but this morning The Happy Gardener arose to extremely high winds of around 40 mph making it feel very cold even though it was above freezing. A 10 minute walk around the property and my earlobes are burning.
I decide against it and Herbie is left in his stable
This a blow as the land down by the creek gets extremely boggy and if the grass grows out of control it's difficult to cut. So, I chop some firewood instead. A log fire may well be required this evening and tomorrow.
Back indoors, things are still moving along. I picked out the strongest looking tomato seedlings and re potted them.

The Old Virginia and Giant Beefsteak are at the back. At the front left are two pots containing Big Reds and to the right some more Catnip. Speaking of which...................................

These are doing great. I moved them from my office windowsill and put them back under the grow light as there was no sunshine or heat to be had and probably wont be for the next few days. They seem quite happy with the move though.
Below are a couple of other things I've started.

On the left are Spicy Globe Basil seedlings and on the right are some Cherry Tomato seeds, something I've not grown before and want to try. I recall that the Basil is pretty slow to grow and this seed is over a year old now. I have more on order (hopefully).
Then, around lunchtime, on the way back from the filling station I called in at the mail box.

At last!! The seeds have arrived. Phew, panic over. But in a way I'm glad I haven't been able to start some of them as they would have surely perished in these cold times.
This season I'm hoping to get a supply of parsnips and carrots growing and leave them in the ground for use during next winter. But, the soil is going to have to warm up quite a bit before they can be started.

Enough!!