For those of you just joining us, we're so glad you came to visit.  Each week, I, along with Carol of May Dreams Gardens and Mary Ann of Idaho Gardener will take you on the unfolding journey of our vegetable gardens.  For prior submissions, please see the links at the end of this letter. Dear Carol and Mary Ann, Well, when we discussed writing this series of letters, I wasn't so naive that I believed all would be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezey.  After all, tiptoeing through the tulips is fine in a song, but not very realistic or practical in application.  I considered how an infestation of tomato hornworms, locusts or a heat wave of historic proportions might hit the garden.  However, in all of my wildest disaster fantasies, I never dreamt of a blizzard in late March. This week has been full of anxiety throughout Oklahoma.  The meterologists, almost rubbing their hands...

There is an historic snowstorm barreling toward Oklahoma with blizzard conditions already reported in the western part of the state where my friend, Brit' Gal Sarah, blogs and gardens.  Often, the panhandle and surrounding area get much more extreme weather than we do in the central part of the state.  However, this storm is so large that we will not escape the snow, nor the freezing temperatures.  Some forecasters are kindly saying we'll have a low of 33F tonight.  Others are predicting 20F.  That's not a typo. I can barely write this, and you, my blogging friends and gardeners, will mourn with me I know. Meteorologists are often wrong, and as you all know, a degree or two, up or down, can make a huge difference.  Let's hope that this is one of those times.  Just in case we do get a late freeze of epic proportions, I've written about...

Dear Carol and Mary Ann, It was nice reading your letters last week and seeing that both of you are now, in spite of the weather, getting some garden projects done.  I'm surprised that Mary Ann seems to have the harshest climate when hers is a hardiness zone between mine and Carol's.  It must be that mountain range surrounding her property. I think I made some progress this week on the entire garden including the flowers and the vegetables.  Spring is such a blur with all the clearing, planting and feeding that I forget.  Bear and I sowed some seeds for beets, lettuce, snap peas and spinach.  She is a great help in the garden, making tags and sowing seeds while I pull more Bermuda grass and get the beds ready for her skillful hands. I still have one type of lettuce coming in the mail and another bag of...

This morning, a Twitter conversation I had with Margaret from A Way to Garden got me thinking.  She'd woken very early (3:50 a.m.) because work  streamed through her consciousness.  I wonder if that work entailed garden design ideas.  I have this same problem before bud break.  I'm so excited about all of the garden possibilities that (in my case) I lie awake at night.  When I finally do fall asleep, sugarplums don't dance through my head.  Plants and hardscape do. However, once things begin growing, and the actual labor starts, I have no trouble with sleep.  I nearly kill myself outside trying to get everything done at once.  I should take the advice from Dena, the Nashville Gardening Examiner and from Dan at Clearwater Landscapes.  Use the right tools and take it slow.  These days, I invest in great tools.  I did learn that lesson, but I just-can't-seem-to-slow-down. The sun...