Larry.

P.S. do Gardeners go Nuts this time of the year?

I have not started any of the warm season stuff yet. I'm not in the oilfield now, just did'nt care for the lifestyle.

busy1, I'm in the same boat with you. I started a few things but had to be away from home and mine got too dry and too hot. I'll be starting over tomorrow. I don't think we have to hurry.

I only have enough space for four flats. I cut out the boards to build another shelf this afternoon. I had planned on being able to sit some flats out in the day, but its too cold so I will have to pot up and use the other shelf.

busy1, do you still have the store in Talihina, I haven't through there in 18 month or more.

Larry

Do gardeners go nuts this time of year? That's your question? My answer is "yes", but then I think gardeners sometimes go nuts at every part of the year...just for different reasons depending on the season.

If it is a pepper, it must be a Fungi pepper. : ) If you add a fan for air movement, the mushrooms usually will stop appearing.

Busy1, You're braver than I am. A Habanero is about as hot as I can stand and my mouth starts burning just thinking about the words "ghost pepper".

Welcome back from the oilfields!

Carol, I've done a pretty good job with the cool season stuff, but feel like I've been dragging my feet a little on the warm-season stuff. I have tomatoes and peppers inside on the light shelf. I had them out in the greenhouse for a few days, but then the weather cooled off and I moved them back inside. They were too small to be exposed to the low temps in the 20s. Actually, the green house is staying in the low to mid 30s even when we hit the mid to upper 20s, but I don't want to risk having a cold night freeze all the little tomato and pepper plants.

As I transplant cool-season stuff into the ground, I will be opening up available space in the greenhouse, and in a couple of daysor so I'll likely move the tomatoes and peppers back out theer...maybe early next week so I can start seeds of other warm-season herbs, flowers and veggies inside on the light shelf.

So far this week, I have planted all 7 bundles of onions and some cauliflower and brussel sprouts transplants into the ground, and transplanted a few volunteer chamomile plants from their volunteer location to an actual bed where I want them. Spring is busting out all over here and the weeds are popping up quickly, so tomorrow I'm going to do a lot of weed removal to get beds for snap pea, broccoli and cabbage transplants.

I wish my summer garden plants would grow like crazy overnight the way the winter weeds do. One day they are a tiny rosette on the ground and the next week they are two feet tall. It does give me lots of green stuff to throw into the hay bale beds.

Larry, You beat me to asking Robert about the store. So, c'mon, Busy1, inquiring minds want to know if the store is open?

Do yall feel like spring is about to arrive? I do. We have fruit trees and daffodils in bloom, various wildflowers are starting to bloom, butterflies, moths and bees are out, I have ladybugs on the henbit in and near the garden, and the purple martins are returning. If all those don't scream spring, then what does?

We have solved the mystery of the disappearing ladybugs. They used to try every trick in the book to sneak into the house to overwinter, including riding in on the body of a human being. Then, a couple of years ago, they stopped coming inside. I'm not complaining, because now I don't have to gather them up and put them outside. Still, I wondered where they were.

Last week I found them. They are overwintering on the sun porch. We use it more like a porch than a room, so the door is open all day every day, but closed at night. Apparently that makes it a nice space for ladybugs. On a really warm day last week, we had the porch door closed and the lady bugs were crawling all over the windows trying to find their way out.

I'm not sure if the ladybugs I am seeing in the garden overwintered on the sun porch, or elsewhere, but I am just glad we have them around. Last year they were really late to show up. This year. they're nice and early.

Dawn