Category Archives: Oklahoma Gardening

January 8, 2023 · 7:21 pm

AND SO IT BEGINS

While our gardens are taking their

Long winter’s nap

Most gardeners are dreaming of spring.

The volume of seed catalogs we receive

Only makes us yearn all the more

For those first few days

When we know winter is fading.

Over the last few years

I’ve been filling this void

With indoor seed starting.

Each year I get a bit better at it

But I still have much to learn.

This year I’m improving the light

Available for seed germination and growing.

Thanks to a generous gift of LED lighting

From my friend Jenny

And a Christmas gift of a seed starting station

From John

I have a new found hope

Of even better results.

The first thing up is always cabbage.

Here in zone 7a cabbage plants need to be out

Between February 15 and March 10.

So last week their tiny seeds

Hit the dirt – so to speak!

It felt good to have my hands in soil again

Even if it came from a bag.

I’ll start Italian Parsley and Basil this week for Faith Farm

And a winter lettuce crop for myself

Since the pre-Christmas -20 wind chill

Took out all that was planted in the ground.

I think of gardening as one grand experiment.

Often pushing the limits

Or defying the “rules”.

I’ve accidentally done that this year

With the fact that the last of the spring flowering bulbs

Are just now going into the ground

Taking full advantage

That is the grace of God’s great earth.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Basil, Cabbage, Community Garden, Gardening, Herbs, Lettuce, Oklahoma Gardening, Seed Catalogs, Seeds, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Winter Garden

October 17, 2021 · 9:54 pm

THE POWER OF A SEED

My mother loved to garden.

Her only problem was

That for much of her life

She lived in two different towns

At the same time.

Sometimes even two different states!

That made tending a garden

A bit of a challenge for her.

When Daddy finally retired

They added a greenhouse

To the house on the farm.

She would putter there for days.

I watched her tenderly

Prick out baby lettuce plants

And give them their own home.

Knowing that since they lived in the country

Chances were pretty good

That a mouse

Would likely enjoy more lettuce

Than she would.

But she kept at it

Year after year.

She died suddenly one summer

While we were all on vacation together

Leaving everything in her life

And her greenhouse

As something of a still life.

One glorious fall day

I walked into

Her untended playpen

To find it full of vines

Covering floor to ceiling

And loaded with dozens of

Baby Boo Pumpkins.

She had been gone

For over a year.

Yet the power of a seed

Brought her right back

To me and my memories

Of her in this place.

Perhaps that’s why

I have an endlessly

Growing collection

Of seeds.

They connect me to the past

And show me

The hope of the future.

Gail

“A seed neither fears light nor darkness, but uses both to grow.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

2 Comments

Filed under Fall, Farmers, Gardening, Gardening Mentors, Generations, Oklahoma Gardening, Pumpkins, Seeds, Uncategorized, Wise Women

September 5, 2021 · 8:59 pm

THE MYSTERY CONTINUES

A month or so ago

I wrote about a 12 foot tall sunflower

That had planted itself

At the front of the garden.

A sort of “magic bean” situation.

Over this month I have cut dozens

Of blooms from this tower of sunshine.

It simply makes me smile

Everytime I look it’s way.

But the blooms have faded

And it’s setting seeds.

So I decided that today was the day

To chop it down.

After church I went out my back door

Only to be stopped in my tracks

By something glistening in the sunlight

It was large – really large.

A very industrious spider

Had spun a web on the side

Of the sunflower.

But the really amazing thing

Was that it connected the other side

Of the web

To the cedar tree TWENTY FIVE FEET away.

I’m not making this up.

My neigbor Torry and John

Are witnesses.

We have no idea

How this was accomplished

Simply a miracle

In my own backyard.

It reminds me of something Elliott said last week

When we had all climbed the side of a mountin

To help H & H look for fossils.

Some in our group scoured a big area

While H & H just kept digging

And looking in a small space around them.

Elliott noted that looking closesly

Right in front of our eyes.

Revealed more and more.

Looking closely.

Slowing down to observe.

Delighting in the mystery of nature.

Time well spent.

Gail

” When one tugs at a single thing in nature they find it attached to the rest of the world.”

John Muir

2 Comments

Filed under Fossils, Gardening, Grandchildren, Grandchldren Generations, late summer garden, Miracles, Mystery, Nature, Oklahoma Gardening, Spider Web, Sunflowers, Uncategorized

June 6, 2021 · 7:44 pm

POPPY PLANS

Years ago,

When I designed

And maintained gardens

For other people,

I had a friend with a sandy spot.

We planted purple larkspur

And red poppies.

I have repeated that combination

In my current garden.

They are the star of my late May

And early June garden.

When they finish blooming

Seeds fall.

This pattern has repeated itself

Each year in this garden.

But…

One day I was walking the neighborhood

And saw a PURPLE poppy.

The generous neighbor gave me seeds

Then I ordered a few more packets of

Lauren’s Grape poppy.

This year

For the first time

I have PURPLE poppies.

They are divine.

Now I’m trying my best

To keep the red ones in the “red bed”

And creating an area just for the purple ones.

I know…I know

It’s an attempt to manipulate nature.

Not a smart idea.

After all birds and winds and who knows what else

Move these tiny seeds around the garden.

The organizer in me just has to give this a try.

I’m marking the color of wayward plants

With pink tape

Hoping to get them back into their assigned seat.

If Mother Nature will indulge me

This one tiny bit of control.

I promise after this

I’ll surrender!

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Garden Photography, Garden Planning, Gardening, Gardening Friends, Larkspur, Nature, Oklahoma Gardening, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Uncategorized

Tagged as Gardening, Larkspur, Poppy

January 19, 2020 · 5:51 pm

WAITING

In the cold and snow of winter,

There’s a spring that waits to be,

Unrevealed until it’s season,

Something God alone can see.

Natalie Sleeth

SHOVEL SEASON

It’s been a glorious weekend here.

70 degree days

Lots of sunshine.

We are told tomorrow

Will be another story.

This on again off again weather

Has given me the chance to do

Some important fall chores.

So let’s just call this

The weekend of shoveling.

On Saturday I purchased

15 – 40 pound bags of manure

That’s 600 pounds!

I’ve developed a great system

Have it loaded into the back of my SUV

At the store.

When I get home

I just wheel the wheelbarrow

Up to the back of the car.

Split the bag open

And slip it into the wheelbarrow.

I never have to lift one of those big bags.

Then I just shovel 4 – 5 shovels full

Onto each Rose, Hydrangea and Hosta

In my garden.

It does two things.

Provides winter protection.

Serves as a slow fertilizer

Come Spring.

It also makes you a little tired

And sore.

You also may find

A few more Easter Eggs.

But by Sunday afternoon

I’d recovered enough

To attack the compost pile.

All those leaves, garden clippings and food scraps

Turn into a rich garden amendment

By fall.

So I got out my handy little shovel

And scooped it into my wheelbarrow

Spreading it onto the garden.

I got about 1/4th of it done today.

There is still more shovel time

In my future.

Having the right equipment

Makes chores like this

A lot easier.

Years ago John gave me this little shovel.

For Mother’s Day.

Last summer he snapped the handle

On the original.

He quickly replaced it.

A small shovel is a real help

For a gardener’s back.

I did have a friend to help me

With all the shoveling.

This giant praying mantis reappeared.

I first met it a few weeks ago

When it landed on my dahlias.

Now it seems to be scurrying around

Looking for a place to hide out

For the winter.

This is not the glamorous side of gardening.

It doesn’t make for lots of

Pretty pictures.

But digging in the earth

Playing in the dirt

Is the beginning of any garden

And perhaps a new gardener.

Photo credit Kristina Wynne

Gail

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has kindly mentioned the Oklahoma Gardening video of my garden house. My favorite comment was from my friend Kay…”I’ve never seen it so clean.” How true that is!

2 Comments

Filed under Children in the Garden, Compost, Dahlias, End of Season Rituals, Fall, Garden Tools, Grandchildren, Hosta, Hydrangea, Oklahoma Gardening, Praying Mantis, roses, Shovel, Uncategorized

October 27, 2019 · 6:44 pm

FREEZE WARNING…AGAIN

Our friends at the National Weather Service

Are predicting a freeze…again.

I think they really mean it this time.

So I’ve spent this weekend.

Picking what is left of my garden.

That’s my ritual as the end of the season

Draws near.

Make sure I’ve got plenty of pesto

In the freezer.

Pick all the green tomatoes

Spread them out on newspaper

In the cool garden house

To ripen.

Pull the pots of Sego Palms

Out of their big pots

And move them into the garden house.

Pick Cockscomb

And Hydrangea

For flower arrangements

And hope they hold until

The Loaves & Fishes fundraiser in November.

This year the fundraiser is a week later

And the freeze is coming a few days early.

Do you think it will hold for almost

3 weeks?

We’ll see.

That’s one of the things I love about gardening

The mystery

The experimenting

The challenge.

And if the Cockscomb doesn’t make it,

We’ll just find another way.

Rosemary maybe

Pots and pots of cut rosemary.

That would make the place smell amazing

And what could be more appropriate

For a food bank fundraiser?

So my garden house if full

Of the rituals

Of the season.

I’m lucky to have a place

To play

All year long.

In June I was honored to be visited

by Oklahoma Gardening.

They came to film my garden house.

It aired yesterday.

Click here if you want to take a peak.

The place is filling up

And the tulip bulbs

Haven’t even arrived yet!

More fun to come.

Thanks, John

For giving me such a wonderful

Place to play.

Gail

Here is literally the last rose of summer.

4 Comments

Filed under cockscomb, End of Season Rituals, Fall, Garden House, Hydrangea, Oklahoma Gardening, Tomato, Uncategorized

Tagged as End of Season Rituals

Category Archives: Oklahoma Gardening

AND SO IT BEGINS

THE POWER OF A SEED

THE MYSTERY CONTINUES

POPPY PLANS

WAITING

SHOVEL SEASON

FREEZE WARNING…AGAIN

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