Oh, My, William, what will the world do, if you and I both plant less tomatoes??!!!LOL
Seriously, this is the best time of the year for my gardening, everythings beautiful, there's not a bug or worm in it--as I sit beside the fire with my seed catalogs and dream.
I am going to plant colored bell peppers this year, and I've ordered onions and sweet potatoes.
wondering if I need to take a year off while building raised beds, maybe just slack off a bit.

I'm bored too. I've been going to different websites and ordering more seed catalogs. I'm going to have to plant another tree to replace all the paper that's wasted.

I've been checking out recipe websites too and cooking a lot. I'm not going to be able to bend over in my garden to pull weeds this summer. lol

I guess there is always the ole faithful to fill my winter indoor time....housework.....ugh!

Hey you can all come to my place an help...
I have been taking off the base boards one at a time and redoing them.
They do look quite nice I must say.
How ever I may not be able to use my hands for gardening in the near future. The sanding is a real pain.
Sure is sad to have all these aches and pains of winter. lol
Since you two are going to plant less I guess that makes up for me starting a fairly good sized garden.
House work... yep ug, but I do do it very regular. (I'm a neat freak).
I'm w/you I may have to plant a tree for all the seed books I have received.
Bonnie

I used to plant Valencia bell pepper. It was a wonderful orange color. I loved it. The darned seed got so expensive, I haven't planted it lately. It's a good one.
I did a mixed color one year too, some chocolate and purple.

I see those bell pepper prices and am glad I froze so many last summer!

Potato prices are up too. I will be planting a lot more next spring. I have saved my small ones for seed.

I am also shocked at the prices in the seed catalogs...don't know why; everything else has skyrocketed.
Some I toss immediately into the trash. Seeds of Change comes to mind!

I am going to try going to open pollinated everything so I can save seeds. I am worried about sweet corn....we are addicted to the super sweets. Do any of you grow the old time ones?

ceresone, I will be thinking of you building all those beds...........I finally got bales of old hay drug to the garden to build a cold frame. I want to sow some lettuce and spinach the next warmer day.

Glenda, I recently had pointed out to me on another forum, even saving seeds from hybreds, will result in a tomato, not a cucumber! Such a simple thing, but had me thinking, I have seeds from everything we like saved--but if I save the seeds from a hybred, what will it turn out like? One of it's parent lines, probably, which might not be a bad thing-and I'm finding out OP tomatoes don't cross as easily as I thought, and when they do--sometimes you end up with a tomato thats uniquely yours.

william....
WMT has always been VERY expensive for produce in my area or anywhere else I've checked when traveling.

Here's what their cohorts sell the multi-color bell peppers for, at the nearest Sams Club.
{{gwi:1107394}}
6-pack - Cost-$6.86 + tax
Still expensive, but they have to travel all the way from South America!
My nearby Farmers Market is usually cheaper.
Rb

This doesn't have to be a boring time of year. You know all of those things that it's too hot to do in the summer, mostly related to digging? This is the perfect time of year for it as long as it's not downright muddy or hard frozen (like it will be tomorrow morning!) Any kind of landscaping-type project is most easily done when the soil is cooperative, like it has been for the last two months and will be for another two. And if you start sweating, you just peel off a layer of clothes! Double digging spots where your heavy feeders will be planted, building new beds, defining walkways and terraces, these are the kinds of things I mean. Spending fifteen minutes or an hour a day outside this time of year keeps me from getting cabin fever.

But physical work aside, I do get a little stir-crazy myself in the winter. This is the time when I go through my gardening notes and make plans for doing things better next year. Not only that, but this is when I come up with experiments. The plan I have been consumed with for nearly the past week is a Jalapeno experiment. I'm going to plant several types of jalapenos chosen for four characteristics - colors, earliness, mildness, and jumbo size - together and let them cross freely. Then I will distribute the saved seeds to anyone who wants to grow them and choose the best ones to save seeds from in the next generation, and so on and so on until there are several new open-pollinated lines adapted to the volunteers' climates and desires. If any of you want seeds, keep this in mind and contact me about it.

That is an interesting experiment. I don't eat hot peppers, but I appreciate your offer. I also dig in winter because it is not fun in warm weather and good exercise. I just read an article in Science News. Someone did an experiment in tents with soybean plants, bees or no bees, and pest caterpillars. The ones with honeybees had less damage. Of course this is a limited experiment, but their take was that flowers planted with vegetables may deter pest caterpillars. The caterpillars may sense the buzzing as predatory wasps maybe?

william: For me, winter was a great time for me to indulge in my other hobby...which was to bundle up and walk around the property and go rock hunting! I love rocks and our place is so full of those kinds that had the tiny fossils in them. If I couldn't find fossil rocks, then I'd look for "sparkly rocks." Very scientific, I know, but that' what I call them ... My Missouri house has my rock treasures all over the place ... on the porch, in the house...Any place I can put them so they are within easy reach for me to pick up and peer at them at my leisure....Best time of the year to go looking for them...no ticks...no chiggers...no snakes to freak me out... Wish I could do it right now :(

guess i am getting older and spend some time on the past.
in 1964 i remember gas at 19 cents/ gal and pinto beans for 15 cents. on the way to vietnam, remember a sign at mcdonalds that read over one million served. had to be a billion ago. watermelons were 50 cents a pc all day long.
winter is normally productive for me on my cedar projects. these very low temps are not conducive to any outside projects.
i will never pay 2.48 for a pepper or anything over 50 cents. jalapenos are ridiculous too!!!!!!!!!!!!!
william- feel better now

Certainly is a nostalgic time when one can think about the past an say " aw the good ole days".
Thats alright William.
I was just having a conversation w/one of the granddaughters recently about the price of a candy bar.
I was telling her I could remember getting a hershey bar for a nickel. She said "5 cents"? Then the little stinker asked "just how old are you"?
I think I'm like most who believed they would never grow up soon enough. An assumed everything would automatically be better when we did grow up. Now I wonder if maybe it was the other way around.
William is your work are enclosed so you can work in the winter on your projects?
missfourseasons, Your rocks with fossils in them.
That reminds me of when I take the grandchildren to the creek. They always come home w/"treasures".
My winter project for today , I'm replacing the light fixtures an switches in the kitchen. Two lights on 3-way switches. I'd rather be out digging in the dirt : )
Bonnie

I even remember nickel pop at one place and grapette was what I would pick. The dispenser was the type where the pop was in cold water and you had to slide it out. That was in San Diego at a nursery where my mother would buy bedding plants for 35 cents a dozen. Pop was a dime most places. That was the beginning of my addiction to plants. I remember helping to pick them out. We used to plant ranunculas and anemones which were beautiful. I am so thankful to my mother for giving me a life long hobby. I hope every one with children is involving them in gardening and making it fun for them.

The first Mc Donald's I saw, was in 1963. in Mobile. AL and the sign announced "more than 600,000 sold!".
Regular Leaded gas sold for 15¢/gal in MO and candy bars, soda pop or a bag of salted peanuts (to dump in the RC Cola) were 5¢ each.
Wages were also very cheap back then, starting wage for an electronic technician to service aircraft avionics was $1.75/hr and top pay was $2.55/hr.
I've been told that the 1950's were the best decade of the 20th Century, but I didn't get to enjoy them. Uncle Sam required my services for 8 years back then and you can guess where!
I don't remember much about those years, as I have tried to forget as much as possible.
Keep warm!
Rb

rb- do they still make rc cola? i put salted p-nuts in them too!
william

william...
I see RC Cola for sale in the local grocery stores, but never in a vending machine.
Our family seldom drink any of the sodas anymore, preferring tea instead. The regular one's contain too many calories and the diet colas are sweetened with aspertane, that leaves a horribe aftertaste(to me).

Helenh...
I remember Grapette...and Lemonette & Orangette! Was not a drink of choice for us kids, as the bottles contained only 5 oz. RC had 10 oz bottles for the same price!
Nehi grape was the best selling fruit flavored one, followed by NuGrape.
Rb

There used to be a Nehi Plant here in our town. I remember being so disgusted because one guy working there always needed to blow his nose!! LOL-bet you wanted to hear that, didn't you?
Hubby worked at a gas station here in town, gas wars (remember them?)would have gas down to 15--17 cents. He met Charlie Rich while he was there---but before I met him, he worked at the bus stop in Cabool, Mo. While there, he met a young service man--called Elvis Presley!!
Do you also remember, before they raised prices on candy bars, they downsized them??Thought we wouldn't notice?
While hubby worked at a store, they had to dispose of several cases of Payday candy bars. Supposed to be wormy--but kids were all home then, and never saw any worms , course, we froze them too!!
My, My, my youngest is probably older than some of you!!!

Yes william I see RC cola at wallyworld here.
I always like my RC w/peanuts also. My brothers likes yohoo (hope that is spelled right). One of my all time favorite things was banana moon pies. One year my children ordered me a case of moon pies from the company, ha. We all got a good laugh out of that one. Had them in the freezer for quite a spell.
I do remember the size of the candy bars changing, as well as the penny candy counter. We each received a nickel an had such a hard time deciding how to spend it.
Yes I also was told that about the 50's as well. I grew up in the 60's. There are so many things that have changed in the world. I think gardening is a one true constant for me.
My grandfather was the one who helped developed my love for flowers and gardening. Every sunday we would go to visit. The turn to go up the drive was always so beautiful. The grass was always mowed and the flowers, he had so many different kinds. I remember thinking that a rainbow had touched his yard. With the row of maples in the fall you just could not take your eyes for the view. He was a bee keeper so he had plenty of help w/pollination. As a treat he would cut us a slice of the comb. We had homemade ice cream a lot back then.
Sounds like your husband has met some interesting people.
The closest I can to interesting was transporting (?) for our government. Never knew an don't want to. I have enough trouble sleeping at night.
Has any of you ever written any of this down for your families? I keep meaning to write things down for them to have, just never get around to it. To busy planning my next dig in the dirt day : )
Bonnie

Bonnie, that does sound good, in theory-but my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are too interested in their day-to-day lives, to wonder about the "old ones" past.However, 2 gr gr daughters were interested in what THEIR grandmas cat did to her!!
Truthfully tho, internet friends know me better than family.My second daughter did tell me years ago, that it would be such a pity, if I should die, and her sisters never knew me.
After my Mother died, in 1977, I found a Mothers Day card she had bought for me-and never sent.
But soon--Garden Time!!!!

I love the idea of writing it all down. I sure wish Mom had; she was born in 1913. I do remember lots of stories she told me about the depression and putting me in a rocker close to the king heater and covering me with cardboard to keep me warm. They were living in an old house in Dad's mother's place where the cracks were large enough when it snowed, they would wake up with drifts of flakes on the bed!

I better Grandma was in a warm, snug house up the lane....she didn't share willingly! Not my favorite person!

ceresone, does anyone ever really know anyone else? I often ponder that. Especially daughters and Mothers. I often feel I know my daughter better than she knows me. It's like we don't really exist to me except as "mother".

Interesting stuff.