It has been a very cold week with some snow here in central Oklahoma. I had a tasty dinner for Valentine’s Day. The brownies turned out great. I also made some blueberry 🫐 muffins for National Muffin Day. They were delicious but didn’t rise much on top. I used a recipe from the WinCo frozen blueberry package. I planted many seeds on Saturday, including: Anemone, Mexican hat, Goat’s beard, Motherwort, Elderberry black, Witch hazel, St John’s Wort, Datura, Orange milkweed, Common milkweed, Swiss Chard, Astragalus, Cilantro slow bolt, Oregano, Wild senna, Poppy pink and lavender, German chamomile, Showy milkweed, Valerian, Hollyhocks*2. I also planted two plants, an Angelina sedum and a purple poppy mallow. The wild ginger and hellebores haven’t been planted yet and aren’t looking good after the cold and snow. I think I should have brought them in but hopefully they will recover when the weather warms up. I plan to do some more planting this weekend once it is warmer but will have less time than last week. My indoor seed starting is going well so far. I am getting lots of germination of purple tomatillo and cherry tomato. Bunching onions have also germinated well. I also planted marjoram and thyme. They are just starting to come up. I have a few peppers starting to pop up. The large Walter tomatoes haven’t germinated yet. I am using a heat mat for one tray and no heat mat for the other. The one with the heat mat is showing better germination rates so I guess it is worth using. I finally used up the last of our sweet potato harvest this week. I made some yummy mashed sweet potatoes with sage and white pepper. One of the last sweet potatoes had begun to sprout so I put it in a bag with some dirt under the grow light. I put some small holes in the bag for drainage.I really enjoyed digging up all those sweet potatoes last year and hope to do it again this year. If this bag method seems effective, I may try to start some other seeds in bags next week. The weather seems to be warm next week and I hope it means winter is done. We have ordered two pawpaw trees and they will arrive in the next week or two. We have gotten a lot of compost and other things to amend the clay soil for the tree area. I have not been able to work on the trellises due to the cold weather but I have been researching the best designs for different types of plants. I am learning that the weather in Oklahoma is more unpredictable than Texas due to the strong winds. I will need to make sturdy trellises that can handle the winds here. We’re also continuing to expand the drip line irrigation area. I hope to plant another two packets of wildflowers this week along with some cold hardy greens like kale and spinach. I am going to plant lots of chives and bunching onions around the greens to hopefully repel the grasshoppers. I am very happy to have so many seeds and am excited to see this year’s result. So patiently waiting for spring.
Lisa Ledbetter 