thank you all soooo much! i appreciate all of the comments! tropiczone- no the tres havent started budding yet but i suppose soon they will as tonight is the last night near the 30s. im soo glad! all the bulbs are coming up and you can def see the sun is out much longer and it is higher! Mrs. Laura- thanks so much! tropical smoothies for a hard worker like you? ANYTIME! haha we love seeing you drive by, your help, encouragement, knowledge...everything you have done to help us! Mr Hardy- thanks a lot for the nice comments, just a lot of time and hard work, but it will all pay off! thanks to everyone again -Justin in Vb

Terri, consider looking up no-till gardening/farming for the area over your tree roots. Even making a raised bed one or two boards high can give you the space you need to plant, and the plants' roots will take care of themselves. I prefer raised beds, actually, and will be building 3 more this year. I hate the messy edges of directly in-the-ground planting. Got those beds, but I think they look like crap. I think I showed you the raised bed I made last fall, where I used Hugokultur and lasagna gardening methods, didn't I? Hugokultur would be perfect for all the untreated scraps of wood, saw dust, and even brush from cut-down trees. That's why I decided to try it. Can't wait to dig into my new bed to see what turned to dirt over the winter. There's also a preservative called Ecowood ($about $17 on Amazon) that you can spray on any wood. It's nontoxic, environmentally friendly, blah blah. It does weather wood, which I like. It's purpose is that it changes the make-up of the wood so it doesn't rot. It's not a sealant, in that it'll still draw water, but the wood doesn't rot. I used this on my new bed and the giant potting bench I built. I figure what the heck. It got great reviews from long-time users and if it makes my outside stuff last a bit longer, great.

It's definitely a bit later this year than last, but I wouldn't call it abnormal. Last year was VERY mild in comparison. Interesting year-over-year data recorded at DIA: February 2017 was the 6th warmest in history at 7.6F warmer than normal and we reached the only 80F temperature on record during the month of February (on the 10th even, which is mind boggling). February 2018 was 2.6F below normal and we hit -7F on the 21st. March 2017 was the 3rd warmest in history at 7.5F warmer than normal. We had two highs above 80F. March 2018 was only 2.3F above normal. April 2017 was 1.5F warmer than normal. Interestingly, we didn't hit 80F at all. April 2018 is running -.7F as of 04/05/18. Long range forecasts are calling for April to be slightly below normal overall with a trend towards dry, as well. The weather next week is supposed to be quite warm and I would bet we'll see lots of things coming into bloom soon. All signs are pointing to a very warm and dry summer season in Colorado and all of the Rocky Mountain region. I hope "dry" means no hail (I was lucky not to get any last season at all) - that's the only thing I really "fear" during the gardening season.

I have been potting up more plants. I have grown basil the past few years because my grand daughter like it. Madge does not use it, but now that I have the urge to learn to cook, I think I will read a little about basil, if that stuff taste as good as it smells, I could get fat on it. I have been starting sweet basil, and rubin basil, that sweet basil swells heavenly, but I can see where the rubin basil could find its place also. I expect that I have at least 10 of each of the two. I don't see how you are going to cover your garden with insect netting, and make it work, I don't even do a good job at keeping the flies out of the house, and I think it would be a much harder job keeping insects out of the garden. Kim, what growing zone are you in? I have you pictured somewhere along the TX OK border. I can tell by the way you post that your weather is a little warmed than mine. My zone has changed a little, I think most have, I think now I am located on the border of 8a and 7b, but my microclimite puts me closer to 7b