Ahh...what a great weekend. I got so much done and i'm definitely looking forward to warm weather this week. Here's what I did this weekend:

-Planted 13 1 gallon boxwoods
-Planted 12 3 gallon boxwoods
-Planted 4 red twig dogwoods, 2 yellow twig dogwoods
-Planted 20 illumination periwinkles
-Planted 3 giant spotted foxglove
-Planted 2 dill, 2 chives, 2 sage, 2 parsley
-Planted 4 broccoli
-Planted 6 cauliflower
-Put down about 200 ft of soaker hose
-Renovated the strawberry patch
-Planted 1 forsythia

...wow...when I write it all out, i'm not sure how I got all of that done. And I still didn't get around to planting those darn potatoes!

-Matt

Man, I worked by tail off. I got another raised bed built, with dirt in it and all. I got the "cages" around them built, my plants transplanted, I swear 110 runs to Lowes, LOL, my carrots, radishes planted. My experimental pea patch (I call it, threw them in the ground, sans anything to see if they will grow)actually sprouted. Next weekend, herbs, I am starting to hardening the chard now. I will see about the soil temp. for the rest. AHHHHHHHHH.....feels good......

We have a hard frost and 32 degrees here this morning, which didn't surprise me because they said 37 degrees and a light frost. This is "supposed to be" our last frost of the year, and I feel about 60% confidence in that, but I'll be planting this week anyway.

Matt, I'm wondering when you slept this weekend? You sure did get a lot accomplished.

Ezzirah, Sounds like you're making great progress.

Today and tomorrow is all about getting potatoes and broccoli plants into the ground, and working hard on two new garden areas that will sit on either side of my 'new' potting shed. It isn't a new shed at all, but an old storage shed we've moved, set on a new foundation, painted and fixed up, etc. For the potting shed garden, we have to break the ground today and tomorrow, improve the soil and build the raised beds. If we don't get the fencing in this week, it will go in next week. It will give me a lot of space for a few more flowers and lots more herbs and veggies.

Spring is busting out all over here too, with the redbuds joining all the other blooming trees and with many trees, including all the elms and some of the oaks, flowering and leafing out. It really feels like spring now, despite last night's freeze. (Here in the Red River valley, we often have some very late frosty nights compared to higher elevations in other areas, so frost won't really and truly be out of the picture until May.)

Today/tomorrow are our weekend since DH is off on those days. Once he's back at work on Wed., I'll divert my attention to planting tomatoes if the 10-15 day forecast looks good and if my soil temps look good. At this point, they both look fine for tomato planting here.

Not much time for sleep these days :) I work a 9-5 and then go to school at night, so i've got to maximize my gardening on the weekends. I keep telling myself, "ok, this weekend i'm going to work really hard and get all of my gardening chores done so next weekend i can relax," but it seems like next weekend never comes.

Isn't that the way it is? We wring our hands and hope for spring in the winter, and then when spring comes, we complain about not having enough time...

Is this the weather we've been waiting for? I went to the nursery today and bought yet more shrubs, veggies and flowers. It was 71 when I went to pick up the kids. They came home and complained about the heat. Now I have three kids stripped down to underwear. I'm not sure what they'll do when the real heat hits.

75 today. Mid to upper 80's tomorrow and Wed. One forecaster said possibly 90. After being 45 Sat. If you don't like the present weather just wait a few hours and it will change. I may wish I had started some plants earlier. But I'm still not convinced the cold fronts are finished yet. Been inside trying to finish planting the inside seeds this evening. Will try to get back out and finish the onions tomorrow. They are saying low to mid 50's and rain Friday. Better get back to planting. Jay

Dawn, I'm so jealous of your upcoming tomato planting! I just started the last of my seeds last week. I'm soooo behind in my seed starting this year. Ah, well, I know better than to get in a hurry because one thing or another will whack me upside the head to slow me down. But, still, I'm jealous!

Hmm, I do have a very few babies that might be big enough to throw out in the big, scary world...

Diane

Matt, What you said about spring is so true because once we finally have nice spring weather, there is just so much to be done and so much of it needs to be done 'now'. When I get all the beds planted and mulched and all just the way I want them, I just go and build a new bed, so there's never any time to just sit. It's my own fault I'm so tired all the time in spring!

Jay, We went from a frosty low of 31 degrees yesterday morning to an afternoon high of 73 and then the wildfires starting breaking out, though not in our fire district--but out in western and northwestern Love County which is always a bit drier and hot than the rest of the county. Today is expected to be about 80 or so and with a higher fire risk. I hope we luck out and don't have any fires here today because I have a full to-do for Tim to complete, although he'd probably rather be out fighting a fire.

I am not convinced we've seen our last cold front. Even this far south we have had very cold weather into the first week in May some years, but I'll probably go ahead and plant as much as I can cover up and then cross my fingers and hope a big cold spell doesn't come crashing down on us in mid-April. We usually have a pretty serious cold front around Easter, but it seems like we won't this year, and that's a nice change.

Adellabedella, Your comment about the kids and the heat made me chuckle because I felt 'hot' while working in the yard yesterday, and it was only 73. DH and I even discussed how odd it was for 73 to feel hot when a month from now 73 will feel cool. We're expected 80 today so I guess we'll get to complain about the heat some more. We did fill up the dogs' wading pool yesterday and one of them jumped right into it while it was still filling up...like she just couldn't wait another second.

Diane, I started seeds a couple of days after the Super Bowl, so my plants are about 6 or 7 weeks old, depending on how long it took them to sprout. I guess they're ready to go into the ground if I'm brave enough to put them there. Yesterday's full sun all day long was pretty hard on them. I don't think they've had a full day of sun once this year because of the perpetual clouds and rain, so they didn't know sunlight could last more than 2 or 3 or 4 hours. They looked kind of tired by sunset last night. It wasn't very windy here until late in the day and that helped because lately the wind has beaten up on them despite my efforts to block it or to put them in sheltered areas.

With all you've been through this spring (and I hope Steve's recovery is progressing well), I'm surprised you've managed to start seeds at all.

Today the peppers go from the light shelf upstairs to the screened-in back porch for the first time. I think our nights are supposed to stay warm enough here that I can leave them out at night which is what I've been waiting for, because once I carry them downstairs and outside, I don't want to have to carry them inside and up those stairs again. They won't go into the ground for a while yet because our soil temps are still in the 50s, but at least I can start hardening them off. Now I need to get busy planting some flower seeds and stuff, and maybe next week I can plant beans and corn.

I hope to get the first 60 tomato plants in the ground this week if the weather cooperates and if the fire pagers don't go off. The fire weather here in our part of the state is ramping up this week and I've been dreading it. I was hoping for a quiet fire season and we've had one so far, but it may not last.

We spent the day yesterday building raised beds in our granddaughter's soon-to-be Peter Rabbit garden.modeled after Farmer MacGregor's garden. Hopefully by the time she comes to visit next week we'll have it ready to plant. The last time she was here, she said "Don't plant without me" and so I haven't. lol

Getting the raised beds built took longer than I expected and we still have to build the picket fence, paint it and put it up. Her garden is going to be so much cuter than mine, but we are being very careful to do everything we can to make it low maintenance since she is only here occasionally.

I was in a nursery yesterday and showed remarkable restraint. I only bought one plant. Aren't you proud of me? That doesn't mean I didn't want a lot more, but I didn't buy them.

One of the best parts of yesterday was that while we were working, the purple martins were flying overhead in endless loops and singing and carrying on. It's so nice to have them back 'home' again.

Dawn