I'm here every spring. In my garden here in MA, I never have mud to deal with. Vegetable Gardening starts in April, clean up of the perennial beds, moving any shrubs or perennials before they start serious growth, seems to be an annual event for me that I try to accomplish as early as possible. I am usually further along by now, so this particular April, has been much less accommodating then previous seasons. And I just looked at the 10 day forecast and it's pretty dreary. So that seems like the whole month of April, with uncomfortable weather. I normally look forward to April with happy anticipation, but too many more Aprils like this and I can see my attitude changing. [g]

And has anyone noticed that pansy season can be a non starter in the spring now? I usually would have pansies in pots by the 2nd week of April at least, but last year I didn't and I noticed that the nurseries had a lot of pansies left over, because by the time people were buying them, it was warmer and they were buying other plants. And the nurseries had to hold the pansies through all the bad weather and they were pretty beat up by the time it was warm enough and snow free enough to plant them. I am not rushing out to buy pansies any more on the first sunny day of March or April and looking at the forecast, I'm not sure if I will bother with pansies this year.

This April has been COLD. Forecast doesn't give much hope of that changing. We ski in the winter, but by April we're done and ready to move onto spring. Most years by now we've had a couple warm, sunny days giving some hope to May. Not this year. Every time it edges near 50F, the temp plunges and it snows or sleets :(

We also have no mud to speak of - our yard is up on a hill and tends to be bone dry. I struggle with the unique need for drought-tolerant, shade-loving plants. I organize a couple community gardens that donate their produce to local food banks and we've had to push back clean up several times due to weather. We've seeded cold weather crops, but I don't see those sprouting anytime soon.

I have the same problem with dry soil, for a different reason. My lot is level but my neighbors have many trees within 5-10ft of my lot line that suck the moisture out of the soil. 5 Silver Maples, 7 Spruce Trees, a Pine and a Sycamore Tree. I seem to have the most success with epimediums, Solomon's Seal, Bleeding Heart for the spring and Aquilegia that reseed well. Hostas do pretty well too. Japanese Painted Ferns are pretty drought tolerant too.

I was feeling bad I hadn't sown seed yet in the vegetable garden, but I guess it wouldn't have mattered. The 10 day forecast has one day that is expected to be mostly sunny. [g]

March is mud month. This year April is freezing. I love being here in spring to start seeds and start the garden. I love buying new plants.

It's January and February that I feel like a caged tiger and want to travel to warmer places. Spring and autumn are the best times here for me. Winter has lasted too long this year. Kind of depressing.

Every other April in my memory has been warm, as in 50 - 60 F degree daytime temperatures. We have had the occasional snowstorm in April, but typically it melts quickly.

This year we have the April from hell. The month is half over and I think we have had a total of one nice day so far. Right now the landscape, including our road, is covered in sleet, sleet which never melts because the temperature stays well below freezing, day in and miserable day out. Add to that high winds that are expected to escalate during the day. To say that I'm disgusted with this weather wouldn't even begin to describe it.

(It seems to be unanimous, April 2018 is nobody's friend!)

Here's the ultimate visual comparison:

17 April 2017

and a photo taken from the same spot 17 April 2018 (today)

Oh, wow! That's HUGE!

Yeah, it's the continuous cold temperatures that have set everything back this year. Snow and ice happen quite often in April, but typically they melt quickly. Not this year! Lucky you getting out of here to travel to Alabama for a wedding - I'm envious. Bring back some warm weather with you!

Last month when we had 4 consecutive heavy snow storms, I postponed the dogs' (routine) vet appointments to mid-April, figuring that by that time the roads would be clear. After yesterday's trip to the grocery store over sleet covered roads with the high winds buffeting my car about, I called and rescheduled the vet appointments for mid-May. We'll see if May is better than April! (I expect that when this weather does finally break, it will be drought-stricken 90 degree climate overnight, just like flipping a switch.)

Well, ladies, according to the weather, Spring might begin TOMORROW. Woo hoo!

Late spring here too. yard is really wet this year, it always is, but this year it's very wet. we have a vernal stream that is going pretty good now....the perennial bed is a mess, needs to be cleaned up...like everything else. Maples are late flowering. Willows are out though & forsythias are in bloom....Star magnolias are in bloom too. Azaleas just coming out in bloom. Hostas are peeping through the soil. Daffodills have been in bloom for awhile now.

I was just out in the garden to work but now it's 80 degreesF and too hot for heavy cleanup. Winter into summer.

I am too old for digging up plants that have spread too far that I shouldn't have planted. Time for hiring help. I keep talking about it but now it has to be done.

Lettuces are sprouted and peas are sprouted under the soil. Vole tunnels are apparent. Traps in the works. Tick spray all over me now. At least the spring bulbs bring a smile. Plants indoors under lights are beginning to flower. So beautiful! But too early to start hardening and potting up.

Is it May already?

Oh yes, vole tunnels..we have them too. and ticks, what the heck is going on with the ticks? I actually thought they would die when it gets -20*?..We have to check each other before we come in the house...it's getting tiring.

Debra, in addition to checking for ticks when I come inside, outdoor clothes go right into the laundry and I spend 5 minutes every evening before bed doing a more thorough tick check in ears, between toes, in hair, anywhere clothing is tight, etc. I sleep better knowing I am not taking extra company to bed with me.

Debra, Ticks don't die over winter. They burrow under leaves. Also, they produce a protein that behaves as an antifreeze. You are never safe from them.

Tuck pants into socks, spray your clothes and skin everytime you go outdoors, put clothes in hot dryer, shower everyday you are outdoors, check for ticks. Ticks can bite and drop off before you know it. 50% OF PEOPLE DON'T GET THE RASH. TESTS ARE NOT ACCURATE. 50% OF TESTS ARE FALSE NEGATIVE. SHORT TERM ANTIBIOTICS DON'T KILL ANYTHING. I COULD GO ON... IT'S AN EPIDEMIC...

WATCH OUT FOR CHRONIC FATIGUE, JOINT PAIN, SENSITIVITY TO LIGHT AND SOUND, BRAIN FOG, MUSCLE PAIN.

OMG I am so sorry for the caps lock! I just looked up and noticed it. Forgive me.

Prevention is better than having the disease which never goes away. Take it from me. Spend the time and effort to prevent it. It'll ruin your life as you know it.

Thank you for your concern. I do shower every night & my Mr. explained why ticks don't die here...Geez scary..What spray do you recommend?

I'm disabled with chronic pain..since 2004..

Chronic pain is one of the symptoms. I am in constant pain.

To answer your question, Debra, it's recommended to spray your shoes and outerwear with permethrin (it's a repellent and a poison that lasts on the clothes for weeks) and your body with cedar oil, peppermint oil, geranium oil. Most of the essential oil bug sprays are good for the skin.

The usual recommendation is to spray clothes with DEET, but not skin. Some folks I’ve heard of using natural alternatives, but I don’t rely on sprays to keep me safe. I am compulsive about tick checks, and always go out with full coverage clothing with everything tucked into everything, even if I do look dorky when I am outside.

The other recommendation is to reduce rodents in your area using traps or set out pyrethrin-laced nesting materials (if you don’t have cats) to kill the ticks in the rodents’ nests, something like Damminix tubes.

Thank you so much Ladies!!! Hugs.

Babs, I use Permethrin in the tick tubes, sprayed on cotton balls.

Thanks for the correction, Susan.

I miss our chickens and guinea hens. We stayed with friends in the Worcester area of Boston, and I have never seen so many ticks on people after just a short time outside. It was extraordinary. They were considering chickens and I heartily supported their idea with tales of our NH chickens and their eating prowess. We visited them the next year at the end of summer when the chickens were leaving juvenile status, and the decrease in ticks was phenomenal. They live in a fairly dense neighborhood, but next to them is a horse field, the only farmland remaining from the original homestead. The ticks from that field were terrible, and the chickens must have been surviving on a high tick diet. It's amazing the difference those creatures make.

Whoever was talking about voles and moles in their garden, there was an article in Horticulture magazine, Nov 2017, about garlic repelling them. Written by a gardener who successfully repelled them after discovering by accident that their tunnels diverted away from her garlic beds. That was after she had lost hundreds of bulbs to the varmints and decided to use the bare space where they grew for garlic. Now she grows tulips in beds circled with garlic, and none of them have gone missing. You can probably get that issue at the library.

My voles actually eat Alliums, including leeks, onions, garlic and ornamental Alliums. I sometimes go out into the garden and just find tops lying in holes. So far they haven’t eaten daffodils, colchicum, tomatoes, or pepper plants.

Oh, wow. That magazine already went back to the library, so I can't double check if the author was talking about voles and moles or just one or the other. This was specifically, a bed of garlic. Whether the amount of garlic she planted had anything to do with it or not, don't know. I guess if you can get the article, the details may be important to notice.