The Impatient Gardener: MESSAGE FROM MOTHER NATURE RECEIVED LOUD & CLEAR

01 May 2017

MESSAGE FROM MOTHER NATURE RECEIVED LOUD & CLEAR

I hate to complain about the weather, but this weekend was complete garbage. The end of last week was cold and dank, and things have only gotten worse from there.

I spent Saturday frantically working in the garden because I knew there would be no gardening on Sunday with 3 inches of rain predicted to fall and temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.

I finally relented and moved the racks around inside to accommodate the rapidly growing tomatoes.

Such weather is not great in the garden, but it's hell on the gardener. And I'm convinced that's because I got way too confident. Overall spring has been nice here. At a master gardener meeting last week, the general consensus was that everything seemed to be about two weeks ahead of previous year. I've been anxious to get the tomatoes outside to the temporary greenhouse (they are getting too big for inside and they really need more light than they are getting), but there's no way I can even entertain that idea in this cold weather. It appears that somewhere along the line I forgot that this kind of weather can and does happen at the end of April, beginning of May in Wisconsin.

The sun came out this morning, but these daffodils tell the story of the wet weekend.

One of the jobs for the weekend (that you'll see in the video below) was dividing overgrown carex that was so cramped it actually died out in several places.

This poor rose (and several others). I planted it Saturday and since then it has been poured on and freezing cold (literally ... it sleeted on Saturday night). 
Sometimes Mother Nature has a way of letting us know who's in charge. Message received.

I made a little video of my Saturday gardening craziness. There were so many other jobs on the agenda that I completely forgot about but I feel good about what did get done. And those poor roses that I planted have been enduring complete cold. I hope they forgive me.


I also made a video on dividing hostas the other day. You can check that out here.

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12 Comments:

Blogger Lisa at Greenbow said...

I can't wait to hear about the edger. I like to see beds with neat edges. I hate to edge. I have often wondered if one of those edging machines would be worth the money.
I admire your carex. I have tried to get that started here in a couple of places but it has failed here. Hmmmmm I might give it another try.

May 1, 2017 at 12:16 PM  
Blogger LINDA from Each Little World said...

I swear I can't even remember Sat. and Sun. but they were spent indoors out of the cold and rain. Pouring right now and the temp. is 41. I do have May Day pix of snow on the deck so I guess I should not complain. Off to watch the video!

May 1, 2017 at 3:27 PM  
Blogger LINDA from Each Little World said...

i love the video. It's so charming and interesting and it looks really cold there! What Carex is that?

May 1, 2017 at 3:39 PM  
Blogger Karen said...

I know just how you are feeling, Erin! Here in northern NE we had 19 degrees one night last week. And that was after an early fast-moving spring that got everything going. Ugh. I tried to work out some this week-end, but with 2 coats and a stocking cap on, I was still cold. It takes the joy out of gardening if you have to clean out flowerbeds in snow pants! Now it's supposed to be 80 this week-end. So you know where I will be! PS. That little chive hedge is looking great in your circle bed!

May 1, 2017 at 10:03 PM  
Blogger Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

19 degrees! Oh my gosh that's just cruel. I hope your weather turns around soon! And thanks for noticing the chive hedge. It's grown quite a bit in just the last week. I guess it likes rain.

May 2, 2017 at 12:34 AM  
Blogger Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

Thanks, Linda! It's 'Snow Cap'. Well behaved but spreads easily. A big area had completely died out from being too cramped in there after my neglect.

May 2, 2017 at 12:35 AM  
Blogger Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

Snow in May? No thank you!

May 2, 2017 at 12:35 AM  
Blogger Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

I'm looking forward to trying it out. If it works well for garden beds I'll be thrilled. Edging is my No. 1 tip for making a garden look good even when it's otherwise in sorry shape, but edging beds is no fun! I've not done much with that carex. It just kind of does its thing.

May 2, 2017 at 12:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ya. The weather is cooperating just like we don't want. I'll be harvestin tomatoes in October at this rate. 80 one day, 42 the next 6. Ouch.

May 2, 2017 at 7:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In IL. Spent a lot of the rainy weekend finishing transplanting tomatoes and peppers. I was able to take Friday off for Arbor Day plant Sale, so managed to get some garden work done Friday afternoon before the rain started here. Hopefully, my plants will catch up to yours soon. Love the video. Love Newfies!

May 2, 2017 at 10:22 PM  
Blogger Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

It's a bit unsettled, to say the least.

May 2, 2017 at 11:53 PM  
Blogger Erin @ The Impatient Gardener said...

Glad you were able to get some gardening finished before the terrible weather put a cramp in every gardener's plans!

May 2, 2017 at 11:54 PM  

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