Our Knockout roses are all covered with blossoms now, and we are enjoying looking at all of the flowers. The pink old-fashioned rose is the one with the most fragrance, the Knockout roses do not have much fragrance at all, but they bloom for a long time and are nice to look at. I want to get the Peach Drift Knockout Rose, but they are very expensive, so unless I find one on sale, I probably will not be able to get one.
Sometimes just putting them outside to harden off will help. The natural predators sometimes enjoy their new meals.
We are hardening many things off now. The ground is still frozen in many places, although much of the snow is now gone. It is still getting below freezing most nights, but the days have been glorious for the most part. My wife buys plugs from some producer down south and I think they bring a lot of bugs into our "society", but I cannot convince her of that. I have begun up-potting tomatoes and tomatillos, but the room to put the tall plants is getting scarce. We have started 29 varieties of tomatoes and peppers--coincidence the number is the same, and probably a dozen types of cucumbers and squash but I haven't counted them yet. We still have a few weeks before the ground will be warm enough to plant in the gardens, but there are a few perennials emerging and my garlic is showing.
I forgot to ask if anyone here participated in International Naked Gardening Day? Apparently it is May first of every year. Too cold to do much naked here even in the greenhouses.
Good morning to all- Mr. Alaska- Naked Gardening? I can see some problems with that sort of operation. I am having some problems in my garden with an invader. It seems that one of our many armadillos has decided our kitchen garden is a good place to dig for grubs and insects. My early potato patch looked like someone had taken a garden tiller to it- new taters rolled up everywhere. of course, I do like new taters a lot, so it's not like we lost anything. But I will be most unhappy if the diller starts digging up my blooming green beans and early squash. you all be safe and keep well- Ed
Ugh, I'm so annoyed. My tomato plants are loaded with green fruit and were doing so well, but the squash bugs are ruining them. I'm so hot, sweaty and irritable; this is definitely my LAST outside garden attempt. Plus, the mosquitoes are horrible this year; they just swam if you step in the grass. Just miserable out there with the heat and humidity. Gah.
I can relate to ALL of that, @Beth Gallagher . Every year, I tell Bobby and my kids that I am all done with gardening, but then, every spring, the Gardening Bug bites me, and I am out there trying to grow stuff again. I do okay in the spring once it warms up enough to be outside, but I know that by June, it is going to be too hot and humid for me to do much more than go outside and water whatever i have managed to plant, and by fall, I will never want to see another tomato in my whole life. I guess I am like Charlie Brown and the football…..
I hear ya. I am so anxious to "get out there" by January, but by June I am DONE. I had such a nice garden last year but somehow things aren't doing as well this time. My cucumbers are done; that stupid tree my neighbor planted has just about ruined my raised beds with shade. I have been shutting down the Aerogardens as those plants play out. I want to terminate them all so we can go see my sister and family in GA. I'm sure I'll get back to Aerogardening in the fall but right now I need a "garden break." I seriously need to learn moderation; I'm not as young as I used to be!