The Last Frost, etc. and Your Perennials

[ducks4you]

Looks like the cherry blossoms and pear blossoms made it through the scattered frost this morning. One more scare next Monday morning, then, unLESS there is a REAL cold snap, we should be done until October.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

DS was going to go get manure for me last weekend, but he is not feeling good, so I put that off and then it rained anyway. Planning to till towards the end of the month. It is 40 right now and going to be 29 tonight. There are no blossoms on the cherry bush. I have pictures of DH and DS tilling in April 2016 and the cherry bushes are covered in white flowers. I finally saw a dandelion flower yesterday, so spring is getting closer.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I am sure it is not the last frost yet, but things are looking up. I can see green on my rose bush. I thought maybe it died and the raspberries are still alive. Not as many as usual, but enough. Warm enough to take the plants out to the greenhouse today and the sun is shinning.

 

[ducks4you]

I posted pictures of my Christmas tree light stringing on my thread, post #240
I bought 6 packages of outdoor C-7 strands that create heat in December, 2021.

 

[digitS']

Using perennials as guides for scheduling plantings for growing seasons is taking a hit this year, I suppose. When they respond has to do with past weather, not future forecasts -- we all have to realize that. But, their development has really been caught off guard here in Spring 2023.

My steady guide for planting peas and potatoes has been the blooming of the Oregon Grape bushes. Okay, the nextdoor neighbor has 8 Oregon Grapes. One has flower buds beginning to open. Near the distant veggie garden, I still see none with any yellow show. And yet, we suddenly are having record warmth. It's difficult for me to imagine that there can be much cold left through the month. And yet (once again), the Weather Service has forecasts of lows in the thirties Sunday morning and continuing!! That might take us very close to freezing and it sure should discourage anyone from setting out tomatoes, eggplant or peppers.

There's little reason for me take the risk. I have sown the plant starts anticipating that they would go out in the open garden in about 2 weeks, not NOW. I'm not sure how something like kale and lettuce would appreciate having been set out about 1 week ago and having to deal with this 80+ degree heat (27+°C). Those plants and others are in the hoop house and experiencing those temperatures. It must help that the sunlight is filtered through the plastic and, they are not having to deal with the wind and wild swings in temperature early morning to mid-afternoon.

Steve
ETA: I wanted to say something about other plants blooming: Another neighbor's cherry tree had no noticeable blooms 2 days ago. I was having trouble distinguishing it from the 2 other trees growing behind their house. Boom -- it was covered with blossoms by yesterday afternoon. The tulip blooms appeared in my yard 2 or 3 days ago and are burning up. Native Balsamroot Sunflowers and Service Berries are only blooming in one nearby location, along the southside of a steep hill in full sun and just above the river. The Black Locust are not blooming and don't appear even close.

 

[Phaedra]

What we had this morning - like two worlds

However, it should be the last frost. At the end of April, the temperature in southern Spain was close to +40 °C (104 °F), and the heat from the south might be more powerful than the cold air from the north.

 

[Alasgun]

We’re having similar @Phaedra except ours is fresh snow falling from above. Im really thankful for the Toyo; when i go out to do chores it’ll be 64f in the Greenhouse.

It looks like they’re predicting snow till this evening so this might get interesting?

 

[Phaedra]

We’re having similar @Phaedra except ours is fresh snow falling from above. Im really thankful for the Toyo; when i go out to do chores it’ll be 64f in the Greenhouse.

It looks like they’re predicting snow till this evening so this might get interesting?

wow, hopefully the weather will become more friendly soon at your place, @Alasgun . The three young rhodiolas were transplanted today in a raised bed. It feels like that they suddenly turned into teenager plants.

 

[Alasgun]

@Phaedra, im happy you’re “teenagers” are doing well. Mine have just begun to emerge! Next month i’ll pick up some year old plants and attempt to establish a small patch!

The remainder of my perennials are coming outside. Self heal, Chocolate mint, Comfrey and of course the Strawberries look fine. It’s a little early for the Asparagus but i did clean up that bed and gave them some Fish bone meal.

 

[Branching Out]

Fish bone meal, because asparagus needs lots of phosphorous, right? I missed the opportunity to harvest a few asparagus spears this year because it was buried under a mountain of larkspur. I'm not going to let THAT happen again!