.....welllll J. H. Cripes !!!! That's two hours of my life I"ll never get get back or credit for.....twice my connection dropped after I'd typed up a nice long post trying to catch up to you all. This third attempt will undoubtedly be shorter and not nearly as entertaining.

...but the fire is stoked and there's whiskey in my coffee, so I'll give it another go.....

Garlics are looking really good. Grnhs. is poppin'. I took some new pic.s last weekend that I need to get sent to Dave for your viewing pleasure.

Weather has been typical Iowa in April - unsettled and unpredictable. Gravel roads in my part of the state are gone. Rains combined with the heavy contractor equiptment of the wind generator erecters are more of a load than they were ever expected to bear. Triple-trailer rig used to haul the blades sank to the axels ( unloaded ) right thru the road bed in front of my mailbox yesterday, took two big Cat dozers to pull him up and out today.

Dave - as much as you hated the snow, you have to admit your garlics looked pretty happy sitting in it.

Haven't taken the time to look at my grape vines yet. Should have started mowing last week, but as it is I haven't even gotten the snowblower off yet. Weatherman on the tube behind me say's there's a blizzard north of me tracking west to east tonite. More rain for me tomorrow. Beats the hail we had. Now if the wind would quit stealing shingles.

Beets, carrots, peas, and leeks are in the ground. Couple sacks of sweet yellow onions and 300lbs. of Yukons are waiting their turn.

Took the day off from the "job" to do a Meet-n-Greet at one of my customer's stores today. No doubt this next year's marketing will revolve around pricing; customers are showing they are feeling the pinch and making up some of it in the produce isle. And it ain't gonna get any better any time soon.

Don't let the rice shortage spook ya.....it's the specialty ethnic imported rices that are short, most rice is consumed within 600 miles of where it's grown, so the stuff here in the States is still plentiful even if your retailer tells you otherwise.

....ok.....let's see if I can get this posted......

quote:

...but the fire is stoked and there's whiskey in my coffee, so I'll give it another go.....

dang, coffe at morhavens, i used to have a shot or two of bourbon in my coffee on occasion, mostly hung under medication,lil hair of the dog so to speak, but it is flavourfull

quote:

Beets, carrots, peas, and leeks are in the ground. Couple sacks of sweet yellow onions and 300lbs. of Yukons are waiting their turn.

dang, i thought i planted a lot of taters at 150 pounds, i'm glad i help off on all my beets n cabages ext, we have had some mega pounding rains and a freeze predicted for monday nightits been a funny year so far, late spring, hot then cold, maybe its all typical but still glad i havnt jumped the gun yet like i allways tend to do, hang in there my friend, i'd help if i could, i didnt realize you lived in iowa till now, pretty close,

MHG,

Holy cow! You took a day off of work already! What did you do, call in sick, or tell them the truth?

Well, it's sounds like you are getting stuff planted in spite of all your rain.

Looking forward to your pictures.

I got a surprise when I got home last night from work! I go to work everyday, by the way! Haha

A new raised bed. I posted pics on Bluestreak and the Raised Bed thread. Both threads are on New Gardener forum!

Maybe everyone will be up to a conference tonight? What time would be good for you guys?

Let me know!

Since the rain and storms rolled thru here I wont have much going on here.I could be hanging around about 7:30 central time if that works for others.

MH, I'd sure like to take a week uhhh... day off to play in the garden! But on the other hand, I'm so darned happy to have the work right now in my day job, it isn't gonna happen. Seems like when I do have a few minutes, things are less than optimal in the weather department (nippy forecast today, but at the moment sun is out).

I'll try to check in tonight. Will no doubt be ready for a break by 7:30 CST. Miss you guys!

Well sounds like a conference is forming! I'll hit you guys tonight! Oh, it will be BYOB, do to the rise in price of Hops, I cannot supply you all! Hahjahahahahaha

MH, love your multi-level GH set-up (pix over on garlic thread)! So what are your plans for those lengths of 4" pvc? (If I might ask... since I have a few very similar looking contraptions lying around here except you obviously did a better job of cutting them to length than I did...)

Liz - they are 6"x18" tall.....the bottoms are capped, drilled for drainage, filled with a vermiculite/ perlite/styrofoam bead mix that I start woody ( trees and bushes ) cuttings in. I'll have forsynthia in them as soon as my bush in the yard gets done flowering.

Ok, thanks! Mine are 4" x 8". Was thinking of trying to cap them with weed fabric, but I like your idea a lot better! Ty.

By the way, did you cut them with a chop saw? I don't have one (yet, but it's on the list). While a small-toothed blade on my circular saw made the cut ok, I couldn't keep it straight.

yes, I used my chop saw. You might ask around of your neighborhood handier guys and see if they have one and could cut them for you, or if you are going to the store to get end caps they most likely have a way to cut pipe for you if you smile nice when you ask.

Thx again, MH. Menards won't cut anything!

New handy guy just moved in to the north; more likely. Saw chop saw box in the trash last week over there. He's doing a little remodeling. Or one of these days I may actually get one -- got another project I need it for anyway.

Ty * 2.

Bumping for an update on everyone and the weather, and wind, and well, all the stuff that has been happening to everyone , while this thread dipped down to page 2!

Oh, I'm cool, by the way, and everything is out there now. but the Jacob's cattle beans. That will be tomorrow!

Page 2! How can that be??????

We had 6/10 of an inch of rain today. Woo hoo! First decent rain since the first week of last July. Grass is happy. Trees are happy. Beet seeds & peas I just put in are happy. People are happy. Most important, garlic is happy!!! Burn ban is still on, though. Charcoal grill is not happy quite yet.

Other than that, just lots of wind and cool weather. Soil temp almost up to 50. "Early" tomatoes (tallest of which now measures 40") still in the basement.

Speaking of Max... how does this grab you... poodle / min pin. ??? Someone just emailed me a picture of two dogs who could be his identical twins, up for adoption at an animal shelter a few hours' drive from here. Of course I emailed the contact person there. She said they were owner surrenders. The owners said their dogs (Holly & Buddy) were poodle min pin's. But the animal shelter people thought they looked more like terrier min pin's and listed them that way on their site. I'm thinking maybe the owners knew what they were talking about. He looks kinda poodlish to me. But min pin? Never even considered it!

Pic of Max supervising new bed construction:

Happy Friday Guys! My faVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK!

My weather is cold and dreary, but that's alright. Got the wood stove cranking up. Don'y ya love this roller coaster weather?

Boy Liz, everything is coming right along! Max must be a great supervisor! Everything is coming together for you! I bet you are very pleased with your efforts! I know I am pleased with your efforts! Woo Hoo!

Well MHG, what's in store for you this weekend? Do you have to get another week's worth of gardening in over the weekend?

Okay, just checking in and saying hi!