HA!

I just went out in my winter coat and boots to cover a few newly planted seedlings due to low temps tonight.....just as snow flurries started to fly.

I wish I could say I’ve been overactive out there....

The past 3 days have been in the high 70s . First time since last year. Yesterday and today I have been working out in the yard all day, prepping 3 new wall hanging planters, painting a new "no dog peeing on bushes" sign, newly edging a flower garden (80ft) and transplanting some ribbon grass. I'm pooped, I ain't a spring chicken anymore. The weather is going back down the tube this week. Tuesday snow showers again. Old man winter just doesn't want to let go. Still sooooo much to do.

Yeah, sorry GH, a bit insensitive to those still under snow. :(.

The weather is turning tomorrow for us as well. All day thunderstorms and then rain on Monday with lows back in the high 30's. Not as bad as snow and frankly the rain is very much needed. I watered the daffodils on Friday and it felt surreal.

Adding - wall planters sound intriguing! Pray, tell more!

Apparently this is a perfect time for planting roses though. All the nurseries that sell them insist on shipping the instant the ground thaws in your area. Gotta plant 'em while they're dormant.

Those will look great!

I've finished turning 2 of my veggie garden beds (20'x4' each), working a half bed at a time over the last week as I had time because I spread manure over the top of the garden last fall and it needs to be incorporated. I've been raking gravel out of the lawn (courtesy of plowing) and cleaning up ornamental garden beds that didn't get cleaned out already. We are predicted to get about 3" of frozen precipitation of some kind starting tonight followed by over an inch of rain on Monday, so I will have several days off while things dry out enough to go back to work outside. It is still fairly chilly here most days, but I know that I need to get most of the spring chores done before the first week of May because otherwise I will have to be contending with the black flies . . .

That's quite a lot! I have met those black flies and I understand your wanting to get things out of the way ahead of time!

Yep. It seems as I check off one thing, I find two more to do...or two more while I am still checking off one thing. Lol I still love being outside, though! I hope the rest of you get better weather soon.

The weather here in NW Illinois is too cold and windy to plant anything out yet. We had rain, sleet, heavy winds and temps dipping down to the mid-20's. I wouldn't plant anything now including roses. Monday we are supposed to get snow. I can't wait for Winter to leave already. :-(

Sorry Bella! :(. How are your WS jugs going? Are they sprouting yet?

I keep trying to be, but the weather isn't cooperating. I've been trying to get the paths in the veggie garden weeded then laying down landscape fabric and straw to keep down the weeds (what a mess last year!). I got two 70' paths weeded, one finished with the fabric and topped with straw. DH is going to take me to get more straw today, but yet again it is too windy and rainy to work out there. I have one more 70' foot path to weed and straw. This is a hands-and-knees job, a lot of it is quackgrass (!). At least it goes fast with moist ground. Then it's onto the beds -- have to till in manure in most of the planting area. The area where I have spinach, leeks, and peas ready to plant out I'm not going to manure - just have to weed it and wait for the soil to warm up a bit more then I can plant. Hopefully this coming weekend I can get this done already! Perennials aren't even on my radar yet...

Posierosie, thanks. Some of my WS jugs are sprouting. Just poppies for now. Some were flipped over by yesterday's and today's winds. Oh, well, I guess it's a good thing that I did 165 of them! :-)

I much prefer outdoor chores to indoor projects. Well, perhaps that's not 100% accurate. There are a lot of creative indoor projects that I like to do, but for some reason it is just easier for me to get started on outdoor tasks, and to complete them.

However.... right now, with some kind of disgusting sleet-y mixture on the ground, I don't even want to stick my nose out the door. I had to change some outdoor lights yesterday with my fingers numb from cold and seeing my breath as I worked. I should be starting plants from seed indoors, but I just have no motivation at all.

Mxk that's quite a lot of work! I bet those rows are a thing of beauty. You are all putting me to shame. I mostly just puttered in comparison!

Bella I did 12 jugs this year and added a few poppies in there. Kale and carrots are emerging. Tragically some of the jugs I used 'seed starting soil' and it was too moist and there are little fuzzy white dots where the seeds were. However, I planted out chunks of California poppies yesterday since those were planted in cactus soil.

Spedigrees, my fingers are cold in sympathy from your description! It's 49 outside right now - a big change from the 80's yesterday. Still feeling blessed and going grocery shopping before the rains come.

It has been so wet here in the PNW that my beds are too squishy to work in. Desperate to get out there! At least we don’t have snow on the ground ( feel for those that do).

The weather was beautifully warm on Friday and Saturday and I did nearly nothing but soak it all in. Then today it's windy and cold and miserable and I was out there all afternoon doing puttery things like edging bed borders and transplanting lawn to fill in dead spots. I think my Y chromosome forces me to pay attention to the lawn every now and then, lets hope it's short lived.

What is a WS jug?

winter sowing milk jugs. it's a great way to grow plants. check out the winter sowing forum. There are so many annuals, perennials and biennials that can be started in a milk jug and transplanted to the garden. it's fun too.

Katob, I was outside today in the rain putting a second application of grass seed out. Free watering can't be ignored!

WS = Winter Sowing. It's a method of starting seeds in the winter outdoors using milk jugs. You add drain holes and cut the jug in half, then add soil and seeds before taping it closed again. You put it outside and the milk jug acts like a mini green house. There's a WS forum and Facebook page if you are interested with detailed instructions. It's a lot of fun and frees up your windowsills.

Oh my Bella, we posted at the same time! :)

make a wish!

Haha!

Yesterday was the first day warm enough to be outside, it hit about 70! I was leaf blowing and raking in a tank top. Today it is snowing and I had to use my fiancé’s big winter coat to go to the store.

I knew we were only getting one day of good weather so I crammed in a few hours of garden clean up but it’s about 85% done. I need to finish taking up the little bits the leaf blower missed (darn pine needles), and apply a pre-emergent for the lawn (luckily it’s been so cold I don’t think my lateness matters). After that I’m going to call and hire someone to haul away all the brambles I cut up in my woods a few months back.

Thank you. I will have to look into SW jugs. I thought they were plants you were talking about. lol

• Function there's a forum devoted to Winter sowing . It's all explained there in the FAQ.

Saturday was in the 80s here. I drove an hour out to PA, bought some perennials and shrubs from a land preserve, then drove back home. I planted 3 3gal shrubs in my privacy screen and dug out and relocated a shrub that wasn't growing well. Then I planted 6 NJ tea plants into my front garden bed and moved a clump of purple cone flower. Last weekend I transplanted a couple things.

The timing was just too good on Saturday, the soil was perfectly moist after tons of rain and then a few warm dry days, and I didnt have to water anything in because I knew we would be getting 2" of rain over sunday and monday.

I think I'll use Wednesday to plant the 16 other perennials I bought, move several other ailing shrubs, and install 100ft of T posts and fencing to keep the deer off my new plants. Should I mention the 500 seeds I winter sowed? (Picked up a bulb auger to plant those quickly). To answer the original post, yes I have been overactive in the garden!

@ Posie: Yes, it's a lot of work, but when I think about what a flippin' MESS it was last season with all those weeds and how much time I spent out there hand pulling and Round-Up'ing, I'm more than enthusiastic about doing the work now and preventing the weeds. I've posted before about my dislike of landscape fabric, but I do admit in some circumstances it is the way to go -- like this one, where I'm making paths/walkways (not using it in any planting areas). Anyway, the very moist ground makes it a lot faster, the roots slip out easily -- it is immensely satisfying to pull out a 1-2 foot quackgrass runner in entirety, as it rips out of the soil and think die sucker die LOL!!! A lot of the other weeds haven't popped up yet, so I'm anxious to get the fabric down now before it starts really warming up and a billion and two weed seeds germinate. Hopefully this coming weekend. As long as the ground isn't frozen, I'm just going to suck it and up and work in the rain if I have to...

Wow Skip! That's a lot of jugs and activity!

Mxk3, my vege garden is far less substantial than yours, but after mulching the last two years, I'm never going back to bare dirt.