Plant instructions said to let them readjust to the world before planting, so they are outside in indirect light to start.Cilantro turning to coriander (the seed).White currant tomato seeds saved from last year grew true to variety!!Garlic harvest was very sparse. I guess the big February deep freeze got more than I thought.Moon and stars watermelon leaf has such adorable “stars”! I can’t wait for the fruit.Added more cardboard to my backyard Bermuda grass killing operation. Thank you Dad for this excellent giant cardboard!!One area of Bermuda grass in the backyard seemed dead enough to reseed with buffalograss and curly mesquite grass.A beautiful very smooth gray moth.Maybe an Arctiid? I need to look it up.My finger for scale.
Yellow granex onions (white granex flowers appear same as far as I can tell).Garlic flowers with cilantro/coriander flowers in background.Mini bell pepper begins!Another sweet pepper, this one called corbaci!Moon and stars watermelon leaf. The fruit is speckled and honestly I think the leaf is that way too? I searched for online images yesterday and few showed the leaves well but I think it’s not a disease.
Okay I lied this picture is from when it was still cloudy. But the rest are sunny pictures. Anyways, the Hedeoma is getting larger.You can see sun and shadows! I’m capturing strawberry runners to get more plants for elsewhere in yard.A very small William’s pride apple!!Garlic about to bloom (front) and in bloom (back, blurry, purplish).Salvia greggii is doing beautifully!!A lone zucchini bush considers flowering. Last year we had one plant but in a shadier spot and the flowers never “took” and eventually all the leaves got a nasty gray mildew or fungus or something. Hopefully it likes the sun better.
Paula came over and we planted many things, as well as doing some trimming and raking.
The semi-dwarf Arkansas Black Apple arrived. We planted it and pruned it to ensure it will have lower main branches for ease of picking fruit. The hose there burst in the freeze (I didn’t drain it) so we’re using the break to water it. We trimmed up the garlic (this picture), as well as Salviagreggii and mealy blue sage. The potato experiment results say don’t plant potatoes when there’s about to be a major freeze. There was a lot of rot and slime. We put the leftover seed potatoes in that I had saved from two weeks ago. Four varieties of cabbage for Paula’s fermentation needs and Wes’ occasional soup needs. As soon as they sprout, the best seedlings will get covered with a jar to protect from bunnies. They seem to be tasty for bunnies. We also planted assorted other cool weather things (greens and carrots).Better than nothing, Briar says, but why don’t we do something fun instead?
This front yard cilantro survived while others didn’t. No idea why. Unless it’s I’m wrong and it’s a parnsip. Mystery. Walking onions in their usual winter state. Sad garlic leaves. Helper puts her face in my face as I lean over to look at plants. I think the onion sets might make it. Moss curled parsley might make it. Backyard ones much happier right now. Lettuce seems damaged but alive. Spinach is fine. Oregano may make it. Goodbye, sugar snap peas.
Well, on the way out to walk the dog, I started lifting up some tubs and towels to let things have sun and see what survived. I’ll go out again later and see about the kohlrabi and one cabbage as the chef wants them for dinner. Any feedback on whether to trim back the damaged perennials (irises, garlic, rosemary) would be appreciated!
The saffron leaves seem intact. Strawberries with the saffron seem okay too! These were all under a towel and a tub. The cilantro was under a tub. It died. The leaves of cilantro in the cactus planter also died, but there appeared to be some live bright green at the base. We’ll see if it grows back. This native plant rosette (I think Gaillardia?) seems fine and i didn’t cover it or its neighbors at all. It had more snow on it during the coldest cold. The oregano in the herb bed by the plant window looks a little worse for the wear. It had two plastic tubs over it. Some leaves look damaged but some seem maybe okay. Both the front and backyard faucets and pipes seem to have survived!!! That’s a relief. I opened both slightly for a few minutes, just in case to clear any bits of ice out, but it was all liquid coming out that I could see or hear. Whew! Front yard strawberries seem overall okay on the northwest side. These had towels and tubs in the center, and just towels around the planter base. Even the un-toweled leaves seem okay so far. Other parts of the bed had an aluminum trash can lid and leaves over them. I’m feeling pretty optimistic. The irises by the mailbox got frozen. Anybody know if I should trim them back or just let them regrow on their own? Most of the rosemary is now a very dead looking brown-green, but at the base of at least one there is still life (the brighter green branches) so I hope they can all grow back. Presumably insulation from snow helped the base. Like the irises, the garlic is very unhappy. I hope they too will grow back from their roots.
Garlic under the snow from Thursday. Front nook from Thursday. Dog for scale. Front nook on Friday. Dog scale not cooperating. Melting progress in front nook as of Friday night. Dog cooperated this time. Front nook early afternoon Saturday. Plant window and herb garden from Friday. The Norman official temperature made it to 32°F.Plant window and herb bed as of early afternoon Saturday. Backyard cactus planter, cilantro, and strawberries/saffron bed coverings on Friday. Not related to melting, there were two crows eating suet mix on Friday. Front yard raised beds beginning to be exposed again on early afternoon Saturday.
This picture is from yesterday (Wednesday) showing the additional inch or three of snow on the herb garden-to-be! Morning walk. The raised beds sure are buried! Only Gram’s favorite mousie will play right now. Good thing it’s walk time now!
