Community Garden: Do you really want to take that chance?

Well how did you like the weather this past week? Eighty-degree days followed with an extended period of below freezing temperatures. This is Oklahoma and you can never tell what is going to happen but I bet you are ready to get that garden in the ground.

Are you sure? Do you really want to take that chance? Now is the time to really keep an eye on the temperature because it can reach out and touch you real quick.

I would love to tell you to go ahead and plant but you are going to be on your own for that decision for a while. Once it gets into the month of May you can be pretty much guaranteed that it is all right to plant.

We are going to try to get some plants in the ground as soon as we can but we will look very closely at the weather next week. Maybe we will try some Golden Club water lilies or something similar to improve the look of the pond as well. I’m sure adding a green touch to as much of our outdoor space as we can will be appreciated by the animals we share it with. Apparently we have some new visitors to the Mineral Wells Park area. Have you seen them? Families of foxes living in a den or maybe just passing through and visiting the area are one of the newest attractions to the area. We know we have lots of smaller four legged visitors because we see their tracks all of the time. There are a few deer that come around but it is too early for them. They are probably still in hibernation? I know, I know, deer don’t hibernate. Just seeing if you were paying attention. But it is almost time for them to start bringing their new babies out and start showing them off. They paint little white spots on them so you can get a good look at their new babies. When the parents get tired of them hanging on they take away their spots. About the time the watermelons and cantaloupes are ready and smelling sweet is the time you will see all the deer come to the garden. They try to beat the other smaller four legged thieves to the dinner table. It is hard to be mad at them though. Wait until they show up in your backyard garden and take that only cantaloupe and leave nothing but a couple of tracks to show you that they were there. Consider it a badge of honor and get over it. That is all you can do.

Plant some early peas or some cow peas and watch the deer come running. Even a hot wire won’t keep them away. If the rain doesn’t come and the pond dries up then we can start putting out cameras to catch the pigs passing through the pond. They do get brave.

Have you noticed that it is getting hard to talk about the garden when you hit that time frame when you don’t have anything in it for the coming year? Just a little longer and the garden will be full. We still need to finish prepping your tools for the year so get ready for that.