As a reminder for everyone already reading our letters, and as an explanation for those who haven't previously, Carol from May Dreams Gardens (Zone 5), Mary Ann from Idaho Gardener (Zone 6) and I so love books like  Dear Friend and Gardener and The 3,000 Mile Garden: An Exchange of Letters Between Two Eccentric Gourmet Gardeners, that we decided to create our own 1,000 mile garden project.  This gardening season, we’ll be exchanging letter s with each other about our vegetable gardens, and we're now in week eight.  We hope you’ll enjoy our travels around three different hardiness zones. Dear Carol and Mary Ann, It's a cloudy, gray day in red dirt country this morning.  Yesterday, the sun was all smiles, but today, he's pouting behind the cloudcover.  That means it's a good day to transplant, and transplant I did.  I spoke in Claremore yesterday at the Everything Gardening Festival...

This morning, I chaperoned a field trip, and one of the other moms, Julie H., handed me a sack. Inside were pumpkin seeds, four different kinds, including a blue one, which she said was her favorite last year.  She couldn't remember all the names, but her face lit up with excitement as she described the attributes of each.  This one was bumpy.  That one was white, and another was good for cooking.   They were only seeds, but . . . her gift was priceless, for it was her friendship she shared. When I was a young gardener, I had no money, and for years, my finances continued to be between slim and none.  Still, I had neighbors and friends, and they provided me with the best plants in their gardens.  Some of those I carried to my Guthrie garden twenty years ago, and every time I gaze over its new...

Dear Carol and Mary Ann, My letter is a tad late this week.  This Red Dirt family had much too much going on over the weekend.  The Diva was confirmed and had a school function yesterday.  This week, ASW and Bear have field trips.  Such is the busy life of a family in April and May. However, now that we're here, let's all take a deep breath, walk through the garden gate and stroll.  Yesterday, while on the main path, I smelled the scent of roses.  I turned and saw the first rosebud on 'Cl. Old Blush.'  With that first bloom, I truly know spring is finally here to stay.  Soon, 'Cl. Old Blush' will be so decorated with blooms, that you will hardly see her green petticoats. In the vegetable garden, lots of wonderful things are starting to happen.  Bear and I thinned the radishes, and she even picked...

Thanks to our friend, Carol of May Dreams Gardens, all garden bloggers have a once-a-month chance to show off what's blooming in our gardens.  Carol was inspired by Elizabeth Lawrence (one of my favorite garden writers), when Miss Lawrence wrote that "e can have flowers nearly every month of the year." The phlox continue to bloom with abandon, and a few daffodils still linger along with violas and pansies; but this month, in my garden, it's all about containers. Once my Lenten sacrifice ended on Easter, I felt starved for color.  I went to all of my favorite nurseries (except Bustani which is only open on Saturdays) and gathered up plants for my containers.  Two of the places I visit are box stores.  I can hear you shuddering, but in Oklahoma, Home Depot is about the only place that carries a lot of Proven Winners plants.  I wanted 'Diamond Frost'...