Thanks, gottagarden. I plan on cleaning up my grasses and perennials, too. I have one long border that is full of mostly perennials that is a raised bed that I can access most of it from pathways, without stepping in the bed itself. And the front perennial bed is bordered by the street and the driveway, walkway and lawn, so I can access quite a bit of that too without stepping into the bed. I thought I would have my pruning done by now, but the person who was scheduled to help me with it this year, has had a sudden health issue and he is still unsure if he can do it. So I may have to do the pruning myself, adding to my time crunch. I don't have a lot of lawn and can easily get around without stepping on it if I need to. Isn't that great that you have good soil. I think you are the first person on GW that I've heard say they actually are happy with their soil...lol. I'm not unhappy with mine. It is clay but on the loamy side too. I don't have drainage problems and it is not difficult to dig. Our yard, is rarely wet. I have one walkway across the back of the house that puddles from the downspouts, probably because it is compacted there, but it is a mulched walkway and it is quickly absorbed. Other than that I can't remember seeing a puddle in the yard. It has to be all the mature trees around the property that just suck the moisture out of the soil. My vegetable beds are raised too, and they are usually warmer and drier, sooner than the rest of the garden. It's such an unusual year, that I would like to try to get a jump on things. This entire week is supposed to be warm again and 60 on Friday.

Thank you for your sensible inputs...Jeri, Kim and Kittymoon I don't think we'll be seeing rain any time soon. And of course, it's unseasonably hot and dry, is it still Santa Ana? The whole 5--is it 5 already?--years I've living in SoCal I vaguely remember rain, or what some locals consider rainfall here during the wet season. (I would really like a downpour, a thunderstorm with lightning claps etc... but that's not the case--I guess I would have to go to the desert or go up to mountains for that!) I'm in Los Angeles--about 15 minute from downtown. I think we have a little micro-climate here, it's always a few degrees cooler than the temp. reported for downtown. Well, I guess I'll wait till Dec. for the move or even later--since I can't think of anything I have as replacements off my head right now.

Northern Japan can be very cold and snowy. With the warm current flowing by, I think it must be the equivalence of the US zone 5 or 6a. I do not like to transplant seedlings or young plants in the fall, because I found that the young transplants' roots did not have enough time to settle to withstand deep frost. Most of them ended up dead no matter what. I normally transplant them in early spring right around the time the soil begins to thaw while the soil is still cool. Seedlings have a better chance of survival then. I would like to suggest that you allow the young plants to go through their first winter before transplanting them. They will be much stronger next spring.

I'm in the same boat. We had wind-chills of 30 degrees today and 40mph winds and steady rain yesterday. Rain is forcasted for the next ten days. My annuals are in flats on a covered porch that is fairly sheltered. So far so good. I have one caladium that has moved indoors with me. Since the others are already hardened off, I think they will be ok. If the mothers' day pots are not too heavy, you could put them in the garage at night. Ask the greenhouse if there are any really tender plants in the pots.