Garden Reports and Rejoicing – April 17
The weather in the Northeast has been beyond balmy. Monday and Tuesday were warmer than many days in June. Those who love summer are thrilled, but gardeners feel panicked. Eighty-degree temperatures tell us that we should be way beyond spring cleanup…we should be planting big annuals, vegetables and perennials. “I’m behind!” gardeners say to me. The calendar replies, “What are you nuts? It’s the middle of April!”
I’m prone to the no-panic approach myself. What good does a feeling of alarm do me, after all? Some springs are warm and some are cold. No matter what nature dishes out, we gardeners cope, right? We have no choice.
I remind myself that there have been years when I haven’t planted the vegetable garden until July 4th. By the end of that month everything had caught up with other people’s gardens and you never would have known that I was late in planting. Other seasons I was early and that worked too.
Whether the weather is so warm we think that summer is here, or whether it’s so cold that we suspect we’ve gone directly from spring to fall, gardeners proceed by doing what they can do. Day by day, seed by seed, plant by plant and weed by weed.
You aren’t behind…you’re exactly where you should be.
It's interesting to see some plants (Hydrangeas!) ahead of their normal pattern in the garden while others (Daffodils) are pretty much on schedule.
