Green, you mean you made a grapefruit margarita? lol. Im more partial to Jim Beam and coke-a-cola myself, but I too have solo parties from time to time, I don't think it's sad, I have a great time! If were still venting garden frustrations: Between Tuesday and Sunday we had several inches of quarter sized hail every day, drowning rain and even tornadoes (which for Denver is NOT common). My in-ground tomatoes are now suffering from waterlogged feet, a lot of the onions have been cut back to nubs, and the lettuce looks like it was sent through the paper shredder. Everything is looking like they are a bunch of prize fighters fresh out of the ring. This comes two weeks after we had almost a foot of snow on the ground. Now were pushing right through the 80's and into the 90's. I will be lucky if I get anything out of this garden besides the scallions (courtesy of the hail) and radishes I already picked. As a nice little bonus yesterday I found cutworm damage in the corn. But wait! There's more! If you call within the next 10 minutes, your National Guard Unit will schedule a 2 week Annual Training from June 7-21 and all you can do is HOPE that the people you leave in charge of taking care of the garden do a good job so you don't come home to death and destruction. Did I mention I was fond of Jim Beam?

Niels, I really liked what you said, here: But it is better to want what I have and make the best of it, than focus on all the things I wish I have. I am so going to enjoy smelling the roses the next 2 weeks ... Seeing so many beautiful gardens on the forums, it is really easy (for me) to become discouraged and want something different than what I have. (more sun, more room, more, more more) I am determined to be content with what I have, which lets me be happy with what others have and can do and helps me to just be determined to do the best with what I have, and keep learning and trying more things. Thanks so much for your pics, I really enjoyed seeing what you've done. Gean

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my small garden - it warms my heart that you like it too. I posted the Pics in 2 threads so they would load faster. The weather is very warm here (90F) ... and I really enjoy the early mornings and the afternoons different places in my garden. I truly take time to smell the roses and enjoy my garden this year. The fragrances of all the roses is outstanding and all I had dreamt roses could offer ... and is healing. (True Ingrid - I have had some adversity in life) - but it has made me more sensitive and stronger - and I live well. Many times I have wished that I lived in warmer climate - and I always imagined that - California - would be close to heaven for roses - but I realize now the PROS of growing roses here (good clayish soil, good rainfall and it is very few days in a year that the temps are above 90F and the sun so strong that the roses FRY. And roses do not grow very big here (Frost and less sun intensity limits their size - it means I can grow many more roses - even if I have just smaller areas to garden - In California I would have to choose ... So my illusion of how easy it is to grow roses in California is gone ... It is hard to find anything as lush green and beautiful as here - on these wonderful summer days - where I regain my strength and get a new sense of purpose and direction - now that my garden has peaked. Also do not have as many garden design jobs lately - but some hard maintaince jobs. And creative writing is a skill I am working on. At least I make half sense in my native language ...LOL. I am so blessed to be able to grow all these roses and grow most of them well - each of them are so interesting and so different and the colours of OGRs do not clash - I have however tried to plant more dark "Red" Austins and HPs even modern shrub roses like Burgundy Ice and they slowly blend in well among the Old Garden Roses - in a year or 2 they will make more of an impact. I all ways have one of my 3 roses benches ready for friends dropping by and they are owerwhelmed by my garden too - one friend said today - but it is almost too much! I said NO - - just wait until next year - I take out some roses and plant some more perennials (later and long -flowering Hardy geraniums) and Dark Leaved Perennials and some smaller ornamental grasses. He shook his head ... And the whole neighbourhood is smitten by my roses and are working on arches and want advice to create the same effects - and I will help them - because I will be able to enjoy these roses too - in a few years. Just saw the weather forecast - we are in for so very warm summerdays - I will take picures of roses in mine and others gardens the next days. This might truly be the best season ever ... next year it might rain and the roses turn into ugly brown mush ... like we heard it did for some forum members Celeste (last year) and Thorngrower. But we all try to make the best of what we have and hope for the best weather when our garden peaks. May all of you enjoy the summer and this season too ...

I just moved to Santa Fe last fall, and I've been wondering the same thing. Last weekend I mixed compost innoculant into my compost bin, but I fear it might still be too cold for that to do any good. I've started raking leaves, and noticing where the trees and bushes have dead branches that could be cut out. I won't cut live branches until the new Spring growth starts up. I'm designing a rain barrel system, and collecting the parts to attach to inexpensive garbage cans, so that I can hope to keep my over-ambitious garden watered this summer. I've been collecting materials for building self-watering planters, as described in the Container Gardening forum. As the weeks wear on, it becomes an ever more complex engineering problem, involving float valves and such so that they really *are* self-watering. I've been re-potting, pruning, and propagating houseplants to keep myself busy and allow myself to dig in dirt (or faux dirt, anyway). Soon I'll start a few seeds, even though it's early, because I've decided to take my chances with germinating my collection of old seeds (some quite old indeed -- though experience has shown me that many old seeds will germinate just fine), and I'd like to see what's going to make it before it's too late to go get new ones, if there's something I can't live without. I'll also try my hand at propagating the indoor herbs from cuttings, because I've never done that, and a few more herb plants wouldn't be a bad thing. As for amending your soil, I'd guess it's not too early for that -- some amendments are best done well in advance of planting, anyway, so that things can settle in. There may be a couple of things that could be planted this early. Garlic and the like comes to mind. You could try radishes, which don't seem to mind the cold, but don't be too heartbroken if you lose them. If you build a cold frame, you might be able to start other cold-tolerant crops. Good luck, Linda