What you CAN'T grow in Oklahoma

I have made Oklahoma my home and become a full-time gardener. Growing anything here is a Herculean task because everything you grow has to be able to survive four horrible seasons: 

1. Torrential rain in spring
2. Blistering hot summer 
3. Gale force winds (spring and fall)
4. 10° f winter

Torrential rain will flood your backyard. This causes potatoes to rot, along with brassicas (cabbage, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts) spinach and carrots. Even some of your onions will die. 

Gale force winds will break asparagus spears, snap fruit trees, and knock over everything tall and spindly. 

Blistering hot summer kills some species of onions, and some flowers.

10° f winter kills all citrus, avocados, olive trees, date palms, all herbicious plants except onions and garlic, and most herbs.

So what can you grow? Well most of these things.

You can grow brassicas, potatoes and root crops on hills to protect them from flooding. You use insect netting to protect them from being devoured alive by bugs.

You can trellis your asparagus and fruit trees. These should also be on hills. Your fruit trees will literally spend their entire lives strapped to a pole.

You can buy dwarf citrus, avocado, and olive trees and bring them indoors during the winter. Or you can build a greenhouse. If you build a greenhouse it better be strong so it can withstand the wind.

When in doubt trellis it, grow it on a hill, spray with copper fungicide, and cover with insect netting. Mix perlite, spagnum peat moss, and slow release fertilizer into the soil. Water only at the base of the plant. Cover unprotected soil with wood chips. Make hills or raised beds for everything.

Without this all you can grow are onions and garlic. There might be some political lesson here but I can't think of it.