http://statebystategardening.com/ok/blog_02_summary/ en whitehousequartet@gmail.com Copyright 2011 2011-08-05T00:42:13+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/the_desert/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/the_desert/ In the interest of "keepin' it real," I'm going to share something with you that I'm ashamed of. Are you ready? Prepare yourselves... Now, before you cut my blog from your reading list, please let me explain. Our area is officially 12" below the normal rainfall for the year...combine that with a record number of days over 100 degrees, WAY over 100 in fact, we're regularly seeing temps like 108 and 111 degrees...and you get the veggie garden pictured above. :( I have no doubts in my mind that some of you could have done a much better job of saving this garden, but Homestead Man and I had to make some tough decisions regarding the time and water available and what we wanted to save on our acre. When watering restrictions began in our area, we used the water stored in the rain barrel for a time, but of course that dried up as well. We have fruit trees, blackberries, and perennials planted here on our acre that have taken years to establish. We decided that those needed to take priority over the veggie garden when watering. In addition, we have the dogs, cats, bunnies, chickens, horses and cattle that needed us. I've been taking out ice water to the bunnies and chickens every day and trying to train them to get in their ice water bowls to cool down. Even with this, we lost all three laying hens to the heat and have had to begin our flock again with two baby chicks. The situation out at Willow Run (our land that is apart from our home acre) is even worse. The ponds have all but dried up and it looks like we'll loose all the fish that were stocked there years ago. When it finally rains we'll have to restock everything. For now we're hauling water out to the horses and cows, but we've decided to pay the cost of running water lines out there with the Coop for a dependable source of water for the livestock. It has occurred to me that if we were in the prairie days, we would not have survived this summer. That's a pretty sobering thought. I hope and pray that this is the most severe summer we will ever see, but we have learned some valuable lessons that I will be sharing in the next few weeks. We do have some ornamental plants that have fared pretty well and we know that we need to concentrate more on mulching the veggie beds. We're already planning a fall garden with the hopes that the weather will even out a bit soon. I can't bear to leave you with the image above, so let me share a little bright spot from our acre. The Rose Moss is loving the heat and drought! 2011-08-04T23:42:13+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/good_news_and_bad_news/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/good_news_and_bad_news/ Well...which do you want first? The good news or the bad? Yeah, I always go for the good first, too! Well, the fruit trees are blooming like crazy here on the OAH. Check out these pictures: The little plum tree that we planted last year is in full bloom. Here's a shot of the pear tree where you can see all the swollen little blooms. Do these remind anyone else of pregnancy? Maybe my mind just romances those months with my girls growing in my tummy, but I always equate the excitement and joy of pregnancy with this stage of my trees...when those buds are all swollen and ready to release their flowers and new leaves at any time. Here are the blooms on the pear tree...I think they'll be opening fully tomorrow or Saturday. The peach trees' blooms are so pretty when they open. Here they are preparing for their debut. The apricot tree will be blooming soon as well. The bad news? Oh, yeah...I was enjoying the good news so much I almost forgot! Well...our last frost date is generally April 15. If we get another hard frost with the fruit trees blooming that will mean no fruit this year. I'm really trying to remember Matthew 6:34 right now! "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Matthew 6:34 (The Message) Do you think we'll have another hard frost...or worse one of those freak spring snows? Our first fruit trees will be three years old this summer, so we'll soon have a variety of home grown fruits, but it may not be this year. Time will tell.   Would you like to read more about the OAH?  Over 200 entries can be found at: http://oneacrehomestead.blogspot.com/ 2011-03-03T16:12:14+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/its_here/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/its_here/ Lowell from Loch Ness Pools came by today to bring us the drawing he created of our new backyard! Check it out! We can't wait to see it all come to life! We've asked for some outdoor cooking options to be applied to the fire pit...really excited about that area. Lowell mentioned providing them with any special objects we would like worked into the design of the fire pit, so I need to go out to the flower beds and dig out all our special vacation rocks we always bring home after a trip. What a perfect way to use them and revisit all those great memories! We'll be talking trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses soon, and I'll be sure to share all the details with you.  Read more about the One Acre Homestead here:  http://oneacrehomestead.blogspot.com/ 2011-02-20T03:07:45+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/ground_cover_with_benefits/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/ground_cover_with_benefits/ When we moved into this house, I made the decision that I would concentrate my gardening efforts on plants that produce food for our family. We've learned a lot along the way & had our most productive season ever last year. One idea that has surprised me was the thought that I could plant strawberries as ground cover. Why not? They have nice broad leaves that shade the soil, they spread quickly, and they are beautiful even in the winter in our zone. Check out the bright red leaves they wear during their off season: These were planted two years ago and I continue to take starts of them to fill other beds around our property. Here's an area that's just getting started: This is in our front yard, just off the sidewalk that leads to our front door. Other areas of this bed are so thick with strawberries that I harvested 3 gallon bags full of berries this year! I'm so pleased with the results, I've ordered 50 more strawberry plants for a brand new bed we built this winter. Try it...I bet you'll be sold on the idea, too! Stay tuned for our backyard makeover!  More to come including the drawings of Lowell's plans and photos of the progress! Read more about the One Acre Homestead at our blog:  http://oneacrehomestead.blogspot.com/ 2011-02-09T13:49:30+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/a_long_way_to_go/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/a_long_way_to_go/ We recently met with Lowell Brauser, the owner of Loch Ness Pools in Oklahoma City. He's one of the people we spoke with at the OKC Home and Garden Show and we were really impressed with what he had to say about backyards and pools. He expressed his desire to be sure a pool is really integrated into a backyard...I believe he said something like "making it look like it had been there forever." You guys know what he's talking about, right? Some pools look like they were stuck in the middle of the yard with a few feet of decking around them. Well, those were not installed by Loch Ness...Lowell is a guy who knows his trees, plants, and landscaping! Anywho...back to our story...Lowell came out to our home and checked out the yard where we want to install a pool. This is what he saw: I know...disturbing, isn't it? All those pretty pictures we post come from what we eloquently call "the back-back yard." It's just beyond that little picket fence. That's where we've invested our time building beds, planting blackberries and fruit trees, and creating a veggie garden. I've never showed you this part of the yard, but it is high time we are honest with each other, isn't it? Let's hear it for keepin' it real! The section of yard you see in the pictures has always been home to our male dog. He is a stud dog with typical stud dog issues...he likes to mark his territory, dig holes, and chew trees...but we love him so we keep him around. He'll soon be moving to a newly fenced area just off our "pool yard!" Oh, and the broken trampoline? Well, there's a funny story about that which involves a sound "I told you so!" to sweet Homestead Man...maybe I'll tell you that story someday. Not sure if we'll replace it, but it is most certainly a goner. Lowell showed us some amazing pictures and laid out all the options his company offers in landscaping and pool installation. During our consultation we laid out a plan that just amazes me...with a retaining wall, dyed and stamped concrete, a beautiful pool, and a waterfall! I'll keep you up to date with the process as we move forward, and I know we'll all be amazed by Loch Ness Pool's work. If they can transform this yard, they can make any yard beautiful, right?   To read more about the One Acre Homestead, go to our blog at: http://oneacrehomestead.blogspot.com/ 2011-01-30T23:55:05+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/okc_home_and_garden_show/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/okc_home_and_garden_show/ This weekend our little quartet loaded up and headed to the city...Oklahoma City, that is! We are hoping to add a large water feature to our garden this year in the form of a swimming pool with a small waterfall and desperately needed to gather ideas and information from area pool companies. As usual, the H&G show is full of more garden inspiration than anyone could possibly implement in one year, so my head has been spinning ever since...but let me give you a few highlights. I'm going to save the pool info for another day (or days), but here are a few other sights to share! Looking around at all the featured plants, it occurred to me that I LOVE weeping trees...of all shapes and sizes! The problem is that I don't have even ONE weeping anything on this acre or out at our land! We'll have to remedy that this year. Any suggestions on weeping trees that perform really well here in Oklahoma? Secondly, I'd love to add some shade structure in our big backyard. We have a very small back porch, but really no other shade at all. I really liked this little structure. I'm thinking something like this would suit me much better than a fancy schmancy gazebo. I believe they put an acid wash on the tin to make it look like that. Perfect! I always love fountains, but really prefer things that look a bit more natural. This fountain was so beautiful! Don't know if we'll ever add anything like this to our yard, but if we were going to put in a fountain, this is my model! We also caught up with some old friends who've opened their own plant farm! Years ago we were in a wonderful Bible Study group with Steve and Ruth Owens when they purchased some land and had plans to open their own greenhouses...well, guess what...they did just that! Bustani Plant Farm is up in Stillwater and has some unique garden specimens...check them out sometime this spring! I also spied the Oklahoma Gardening booth, but didn't take a picture. :( I almost walked up and introduced myself as "One Acre Homestead," but I'm pretty sure whomever was working the booth would have thought I was a crazy woman. LOL! Anywho, the booth was rockin', so hopefully we'll have a lot more traffic and subscriptions in the coming months! One thing I didn't realize (but should have) is that they have GREAT deals on trees and shrubs at the show...next year we'll be taking the truck, that's for sure! Want to read more about the One Acre Homestead?  Check out the blog at http://oneacrehomestead.blogspot.com/ 2011-01-24T01:00:52+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/winter_gardening/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/winter_gardening/ Isn't it funny how temperature is somewhat relative? Today our high was 51 degrees and oddly, it felt wonderful outside! Homestead Man and I headed out in hoodies and layered long sleeve shirts, but before we were done we had both shed all but the last shirt and shoved the sleeves up past our elbows. Now, in the summertime, I'd step out to a 51 degree evening and say, "Brrrr...I'd better run back inside and grab a sweatshirt!" Anyway, back to the gardening bit. I originally was heading straight for the coop to let the hens out then to beeline right back into the warm house, but along the way I noticed that I could still feel my hands...in fact, the sun felt pretty amazing. I thought I'd hook the garden hose up and water the trees real quickly. Then I remembered that I'd meant to slowly but surely begin shoveling the straw from the hen house around my fruit trees to give them a boost for spring. After cleaning out half of the coop, I thought of the pile of rock we'd rescued from a demolition site in our hometown so I popped my head in the back door & "invited" Homestead Man to come out and help me move the boulders to the backyard to create a new flowerbed around the backside of the kiddos' sandbox. While we were shuffling rocks about, my youngest joined us outside and pulled up some of last summers' dried up sunflowers and added them to the burn pile and the hens were busy at work stirring compost and cleaning up the last of the tomatoes that had fallen. Whew! Before I knew it, one thing had led to another and we'd accomplished quite a bit of winter gardening! Just goes to show what can happen when you take advantage of one nice January day, doesn't it? I love to visit the backyard in the winter and imagine what it will look like this year. When we moved into this house, the "yard" was just clay...no grass...no trees, absolutely nothing. Each year the trees grow, the bushes thicken, and we add more garden beds. It's so much fun to see the plants mature and to hope that this will be the year of the bumper crop of blackberries, or that the blueberries will make it past June this time. Every year we learn and adjust as the yard turns into our own little Eden. Here's a pic of our veggie garden last May: I can't wait to see what it will look like this summer! I know every little bit that we get done on these nice winter days will help make this growing season that much better! So, tell me...what kind of winter gardening have you been doing? I'd love to hear tips about how to make the best of our off-season! 2011-01-16T02:56:48+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/is_it_spring_yet/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/is_it_spring_yet/ I see you there...sketching out garden plans for spring, gazing longingly through seed catalogs, carefully recording planting dates.  I know I am not alone!  My dear neighbor sent a message saying that Atwoods had their seed potatoes in, which sent me into a gardening frenzy.   No, it can't be time to put in potatoes, what about other early spring crops!  Maybe I should be out there wrestling with the jungle of dead tomato vines RIGHT NOW!!  (Okay, I know I'm not the only one with ginormous dead okra stalks standing tall next to trellises of gnarled tomato vines...am I?  Fess up, people!) Then, I went to Wal-Mart and saw this: I know...it's enough to send you right over the edge, right? I'm not good at doing this winter thing.  I prefer the promise of a new garden and the smell of freshly turned dirt, the summer harvest and canning season, the late summer tomatoes and okra.  Christmas keeps me occupied for a bit, but then I'm ready to jump right back into the garden.   Well, the good news is that spring will be here before we know it.  The seed catalogs are pouring in and there's plenty of sketching paper nearby.  The dates you see above are from my iGarden app on the iPhone, but I've yet to check these against the lunar recommendations for planting.  Anywho...they do give me hope that planting time is closer than it seems and I suppose that's all I need to make it through the next cold week!   If you would like to read more about the One Acre Homestead, check out the blog at: http://oneacrehomestead.blogspot.com/   2011-01-07T22:25:13+00:00 http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/new_blog_post_here_soon/ http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ok/blog_02/new_blog_post_here_soon/   Stephanie White hasn't published her first blog post yet.  Check back here soon to read her first entry in One Acre Homestead.     2011-01-04T22:38:22+00:00