When your tomato plants get frosted they will die (or at least start a quick downward spiral). It is good to get all of the usable fruit inside before then (the fruit might still be usable after a frost - it probably will not freeze, but I don't see too much reason to wait). The sun angle, shorter cooler days, and longer cold nights are all working against your tomato plants - there is a point at which they seem to stop and wait to die. If it is not going to get warmer your tomato season is probably over. You can pull the tomato plants with a bit of a root ball intact (knock the dirt off) and hang them in a shed, it is amazing how many of the fruits will ripen this way (I grow mostly paste types, different varieties could behave differently). There is a bit of a problem doing this even if you have the extra space, the ripened fruit is of decreasing quality and at some point it will be best to compost them. I hope this helps, best of luck!

I guess if you are concerned about compaction, you could slowly add "layers" of soil back to the planting hole and compress the soil FIRMLY with your hands and water between each layer. With bare root, you need to insure that all of the roots are in VERY good contact with the soil. You don't have to be concerned about this with potted specimens because their roots are not cured and dried out. They are planted with the existing soil ball intact. If your soil is such that it is prone to compaction, then amendments to the backfill soil might be in order. Those are just my thoughts..... Kristi

thyme - definitely remove the seedheads from the big tulips and daffodils as soon as you see them start to form - actually, as soon as the tulips drop their petals and the daffodil flowers start to fade, I cut the flowerstalk down to the base. It reduces the 'mess' factor considerably by not having that dead-straight yellowing stalk poking up. It's easier to hide the basal leaves among other plants than it is to try to hide that stalk! But the small 'botanical' tulips and dwarf type daffodils should be allowed to set seed because most of those will spread nicely from seed without as much weakening of the 'mother' bulb - or at least the seedlings get to flowering size before the 'mother' bulb wears out. Judy - tulips are usually recommended to be planted about 6" deep - I aim for 8" in heavier soil and 10" or more in lighter soil (which I don't have!) In your climate, I'd think planting deep would increase their odds of returning for more years. Another important factor I think is to not water where they are too much during their dormant period. I don't think they like that. So make sure any companion perennials are not water-hogs that you need to provide a lot of supplemental water to in the summer. If I know I want to divide or move a clump, I wait until the foliage is ready to be removed and do it then (usually early July here). I that is not good timing (e.g. because I have to move/lift the companion perennial too and it's not a good time to disturb that plant...) I just mark where the bulbs are, either by leaving a bit of the old stems showing or put a few sticks in the ground or something like that... Then I can find them easily again when the time is right to move them. When we dig them, we start the hole back from the edge of where we've marked the bulb location. We know how deep them are, so it's fairly easy to dig them up without too much risk of damage.

"Is it just taking longer because I sowed them a little earlier this year, and the ground is cooler? Are the "fancier" carrots more finicky about germinating than the cheapie seeds I got from Wally World last year? Or is my usual impatience showing?" I noticed you're in Western Colorado, Bonnie. If you've had the horrible winds we've had, I'd replant the carrots. The worst thing that can happen is both sets of seeds germinate and you'll have to thin them latter. Last year, I had to replant carrots three times to get them to germinate and I still didn't get many carrots. I figured the winds dried out the soil just as the seeds were beginning to germinate so they died. This year I planted mine April 22 and they've been up for at least a week. I finally got smart enough to out wit the wind. This year I put a small PVC pipe & plastic cold frame over the bed with my carrots and early salad greens. This is that cold frame's 5th spring so the plastic is pretty tattered and doesn't provide much protection from the cold. It is still freezing most nights here at 7800 feet but everything in that bed is doing great because the cold frame is keeping the moisture in. Who isn't impatient to see their garden grow? I know I sure am. I check my garden babies several times a day just to see who has poked their little green head out since the last time I checked. Gail