It’s -23 C / -10 F right now. The sky is blue and finally we have had a good snowfall. The brown fields have been sad to see. March came in like a lion.🦁

I just came in from a walk and everything is so fresh outside. The chickadees are loving it.

Happy gardening, Kath

It is still 74F now, I do think it must have been warmer earlier - and rather muggy, too. I walked around the yard to see how close things were to budding out - there is one apple that I still want to reduce the size of that I should have handled weeks ago, and a mini dwarf apple tree that I want to move because it is getting shaded out by an adjacent pear. Plus I need to spray again for fireblight - looks like one apple has it & I will need to take it out, I think.

I never expected it to stay so warm this early! although it has happened before - I particularly remember in 1998 that my roses were leafing out in mid February. Warm and wet so early is a bad set up for diseases on the fruit trees (crying emoji here).

Last week (or thereabouts), I noticed that my autumn crocus was up and blooming! too bad the weather turned very cold again and did them in. The birds have been singing their spring songs for a couple of weeks now. I saw a bluebird on one of my feeders the other day - first time ever.

The only thing blooming right now for me, is a ground cover, think it's Veronica.

Reached 81°F today. Forecast is 86°F / 87°F for tomorrow.

It is cold here with temps in the 60s, and it's been raining and is supposed to rain a lot on Wednesday - half an inch is predicted.

I planted my first round of veggies last week. I have the Vego raised garden beds. I ordered and put together 2 new ones that are pretty big, and I just got the dirt to fill them. Between the new ones and the old, I planted 30 broccoli plants, 9 collards and 6 cabbages, as well as a couple types of lettuce and onions. The only day I had off to do it, the weather was really nice. Not hot or cold, and cloudy. I did not know when the dirt was going to be delivered so I spent most of the day outside in my gardens. I have a HORRIBLE grass issue in my rose beds and I took out the copious amounts of cardboard we have in our house from various packages and spent a few hours staking it down in the rose bed, so that I can put more mulch over it and hopefully tame the grass invasion. All the veggies I planted my SO surprised me with. I have been working a lot of overtime and have not been able to get out and get plants. He was out and about one day and was passing by one of my favorite nurseries, and went and got all the plants for me. Why he thought we needed 6 heads of iceberg lettuce, I do not know. But I was THRILLED. He also got some red lettuce because he thought that I would think its pretty. I actually really like red and purple veggies, as I think they are healthier somehow. I have one empty raised bed yet. And I think I may plant tomatoes in it. Or I may plant them in pots like I always do and give that bed a rest. I have planted broccoli in it 4 seasons in a row and I know I am not supposed to do that so...…

That day I also planted a poor blueberry bush that I bought last year and never planted, and it miraculously survived in its pot. And I gave everyone, fruit trees, flowers, old garden beds, their first shot of fertilizer for the year, and sprayed my roses to prevent fungus.

I have never been good at growing plants from seeds. I ordered some strange (to me) tomato seeds because the plants were not for sale. One is a white cherry tomato and one is a new, GMO created purple tomato. I started a lot of seeds last year inside and they all germinated, but none survived to transplant. I will just try to direct sow these in. They are a novelty and I will be planting the regular lineup tomato wise anyway so if they fail its not a travesty. I always plant yellow pear, husky red and black cherry tomatoes. And I will just pick a couple regular size ones too, one red one yellow, no particular ones.

It is pouring down rain now. I hope to have nice weather later this week. I have room for a few more rose bushes and would like to go pick some out and plant them. I was really sore after hauling and opening and distributing all the dirt for the new beds. They each hold 84 cubic feet of dirt, and it took awhile to do that solo, and my muscles got a good workout.

Kathsgrdn, I think you have the birdies raised beds dont you? They are basically the same as the Vego beds I have. I use this method I learned from this video with an insect net on all my brassicas and have not had a single cabbage worm. I am happy to not need pesticide or to spend lots of time picking bugs on worms off.

I rarely raise any vegetables, except for my arugula and chives that I let reseed and come back every years - occasionally a squash. I do let this one very delicious volunteer cherry tomato come back every year, but only eat one or two in a week (tomato aggravates my arthritis). The deer aren't interested in those (so far) but I have to net everything else to keep the deer, raccoons, and squirrels off them. I bag the apples to keep insect damage at bay, also (just using cheap baggies).

ETA: the deer do munch on the tomato plants, but just the tender tips.

Amylou, yes, I have three of the Birdie beds. I also have some old wood frame and plastic framed ones that are starting to break down. Haven't decided which beds to plant what in this year. I watch Self Sufficient Me a lot! I really enjoy his videos. I bought some hoops and netting from Home Depot and had them sent to me.

Forecast blown ... reached 88°F.

Kathsgrdn and Amylou, I love reading about your gardens, and it turns me almost green with envy. My poor old worn-out body just refuses to let me play in the dirt anymore. And that may be just as well, temperature here was in the mid 90's yesterday. It hit 93 one day during the last week of February, too. So I'm thinking summer is going to be way too hot for anything to grow worth a durn. Not to mention we usually are plagued with drought, too. I sure do miss walking out into the back yard to pick some tomatoes or green beans for supper. So satisfying and rewarding!

Rusty

Rusty, sorry to hear you can longer garden. That's a little too warm for me.

It has cooled down a little here and the rain has returned. Waiting on a delivery of compost but they said they couldn't deliver until they had about a week of no rain....looks like I'm SOL.

If our 30 day long range forecast can be trusted the temps here will range between 40-65F with no freezing temps at night. I rolled the dice and planted all the cool weather crops this past week > cabbage & broccoli, cauliflower transplants, plus the lettuce, beets, carrots, and pea seeds. I spotted some "cheddar" cauliflower transplants at the nursery and couldn't resist. Grew them once before and they are pretty.