I sow perennials and hardy annuals thru the winter and wait until March'ish to start cool season veggies: broc, lettuce, chard, ect.. Heat loving tender veggies: tomato, pumpkin, melon and tender annuals usually hold off until mid April early May. A few times I got impatient and started things like Zinnia, Tithonia, Marigold and tomatoe 2-4 weeks too early and paid the price :) Vera

For me, as an amateur, I would not reuse the bleach water. I wouldn't know the correct smell nor would I want to have it on my hands. So fresh bleach water for me! "I have had limited experience with virused plants . . ." Good for you Bruce! After removing dead tissue, "they will come back SLOWLY if they are healthy." Makes sense! Thank you! I would like to note here that the concentration of bleach can vary depending on what brand you are buying. It would be good to check that out. You know what I would love? I would love to be there when you Bruce are dividing and/or redoing some of your hostas. I think that that would be a real education for me! But I will dream on . . . well, that's part of gardening, don't you think . . .

It's the 10th of May and they are still forecasting frost for the 'burbs around here. Normally I have my tomatoes and peppers out by now, but it has just plain been too cold yet. They are outgrowing my light garden space; so they will have to go out soon, regardless.

The brown late winter/early spring look due to leaves on the beds is the common one here! It is a good time though to look at things without the distraction of color, so you see more clearly what needs to be done to improve structure and layout - for instance, it has become very clear that the euonymus on the iron arbour in the front needs to have two more of the euonymuses planted (one for each side) to cover the back part of the structure as the front two are not likely to ever cover the back section of the arbour. Hopefully the right side of the arbour will fill in more this year. I am still not sure whether the euonymus on the arbour will ultimately be too much work or not, but we like the look so we'll continue with it for now. Adding two more plants is now a priority item for this spring. In the backyard, at this point my biggest worry is whether the sod we had replaced on the lawn is going to return well this spring! The grass always looks pretty ratty at this time of year, so we just have to wait until it gets warmer here before assessing what work might be required. The little bulbs under the pines are speaking of spring.... I am also one of those people that enjoy having 4 distinct seasons. But, at this time of year, I want full spring to come as soon as possible as the brown stuff is getting a bit boring to see - and the thought of the clean-up effort required is a bit more intimidating the older we get :-)