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MESSAGE FROM MOTHER NATURE RECEIVED LOUD & CLEAR

May 1, 2017

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.

spring
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
12 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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Comments

  1. Lisa Greenbow says: May 1, 2017 at 5:16 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: May 2, 2017 at 5:36 am

      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.

      Reply
  2. LINDA from Each Little World says: May 1, 2017 at 8:27 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: May 2, 2017 at 5:35 am

      Snow in May? No thank you!

      Reply
  3. LINDA from Each Little World says: May 1, 2017 at 8:39 pm

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

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: May 2, 2017 at 5:35 am

      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.

      Reply
  4. Karen says: May 2, 2017 at 3:03 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: May 2, 2017 at 5:34 am

      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.

      Reply
  5. Unknown says: May 2, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: May 3, 2017 at 4:53 am

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

      Reply
  6. Anonymous says: May 3, 2017 at 3:22 am

    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!

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: May 3, 2017 at 4:54 am

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

      Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Pen These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Penhill Watermelon (first picture) and Penhill Dark Monarch are the best two HUGE dahlias that I grow. They share slightly twisty petals (Watermelon more so) and, when you look closely, subtle striations that add a beautiful depth of color. Watermelon grows taller than Dark Monarch (7 feet tall or more sometimes) and they both need serious staking, but it’s worth it because they produce a lot of flowers for a large-flowering dahlia. 

I like them both but if I was forced to choose (and who would make me do that?) I’d give the edge to Dark Monarch because it’s a little easier to manage size-wise, produces more flowers and has a bigger variation in flower color so it’s always interesting. 

Which do you like better?
I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But w I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But when there’s only one tool that does that one thing really well, I’m here for it. This pottery/container knife from Sneeboer makes it possible to actually get plants out of pots without breaking or damaging the pot. It’s also really expensive. 😀
A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zi A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zinnias, pycnanthemum muticum and bronze fennel shown here.
My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love tryi My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love trying out new varieties and I feel like they just work so well in my garden from both a design standpoint and a cultural standpoint (they are happy here). Because I grow so many, the ones that self sow can be surprises. 

All of these self-sown Nicotiana are probably at least partly the children of the F1 hybrid Perfume series, which grow to be about 24” tall or so. Last year I grew purple, pink, white and lime versions and these are likely new variations on those. 

Picture 3 is, in my opinion, a good example of how these self sown second-year hybrids can go wrong. I’ll probably rip that one out. 😀

And the last photo is of my favorite colorway, lime, popping up amongst the Zinnias. I find these self-sown Nicotiana popping up all summer, so there’s always a fresh-blooming supply. 

Are you as enamored with Nicotinana as I am?
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