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!!

A little progress

Rising at 8-30am
The Devil Bug has struck me. I have sore throat, runny nose and a pounding headache.
Not a very happy gardener today.
We have a little progress to report though.......................................

The first couple of potato plants have pushed through in Plot 5. The one in the picture is a store bought Red which had sprouted and was consigned to the compost heap. I stuck it in here at the end of last season and it looks to have survived the winter. Nothing showing in Plot 3 yet.
In Plot 1 the winter onions look really well................

I pulled a few small ones last week to have with dinner and they were delicious.
The garlic is in the same plot and............

that too looks to be doing fine. I expect this will be ready around mid summer.
In Plot 2 I have a new arrival in the shape of a Determinate variety of tomato plant, purchased from Lowes.

I've always grown Indeterminate varieties so this is a first for me. I may also try a Cherry Tomato plant from there too if they get some in.
The Kohlrabi in Plot 4 has survived it's first week outdoors................

I now have to find a home for the others which are waiting patiently in my growing room.
There's a few of the red onion sets sprouting around the edges too.
Tree planning and planting has been discussed and the Crape Myrtle is ready to be transplanted to it's new location.

But not today. I feel too sickly to do any hard digging so it will be next weekend, I hope.
The daffodils are about done now but the Tulips...................

..................are coming up right behind them.
Back indoors:
I got an email from Heirloom Seeds informing me that my seed order would be dispatched this coming week. This caused me a certain sense of relief as I was beginning to wonder if I had, in fact, ever sent the order in?
In the meantime I've sown a few Tomato seeds from my own seed stock and they have begun to sprout...............

A quick count reveals 9 seedling sprouting where there was none the day before.
The larger Catnip plants seem to be enjoying their new home..............

.......on my office windowsill. I also re potted a few more of the smaller ones and have put them on there too.
OK, I'll leave you with my lovely sunset.