The ground is still frozen...

[Chris_W]

Last day of March and the ground is still frozen here, even in some of the sunny areas. What an amazing change from a year ago when hostas were already sprouted! I'm glad that things are staying dormant so long, though, as that usually means less damage from late spring frosts Are any of you working in the gardens yet? Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can dig too.

Hope you are having a nice Easter

Chris

[ogrefcf]

I have over half my hostas up and have tilled my veggie garden and going to plant the early ones today. As cold as it is/was I was hoping they would stay dormant a little longer, but they have their own ideas.

[ViolaAnn]

Still frozen here too. And still mostly covered with snow, but about half of my front garden reappeared from under the snow in the last 3 days. The back yard? Well, that's another story.

[Linda P]

In the last couple of days we've gotten some thawing. I raked the old leaves off one bed Friday, and some of the hosta leaves were still frozen to the ground in a few places. I raked another bed right next to it, but in a little more shade, yesterday afternoon, and didn't find any frozen spots near the top. I haven't tried sticking a shovel in the ground yet, but I'm pretty sure I would hit a spot or two. I'm glad we didn't have a repeat of last spring. I had hostas unfurling by the end of March, and they were hit hard with frosts in April (and even May!) so it's good that they are still sleeping. I didn't find any waking up yet in the parts I've raked so far, but I did find a couple of vole holes, and put some bait out. I didn't get to that last fall, and I have a feeling I will regret that. I had a little damage last year, but then one of the barn cats moved in to the hosta bed and took care of the problem. I'd find her hiding under the leaves almost every time I went out there. With the snow cover this winter, I'm sure she had a little trouble catching the varmints.

[kHT]

Oh Chris, you made me smile.........we have had upper 70s degree days for the past 48 hours and the gardens here are all done. I have the tarps off the greenhouses and the roof off the brug house already. I will be pulling the brugmansias out before Thursdays rains. Most of the hostas are up and growing already. Early spring here but our last date of frost is the 15th of April so I'm keeping the plastic and blankets handy. Send our warmer weather your way as it's frying the tender spring bloomers.

[HostaDesigner]

We've been thawed for about a week, and I'm not too far from you. Probably from the slight zone shift I get from Lake Michigan. This weekend I was able to move several (nicely dormant) mature clumps of grasses, shrubs and hostas. I, too, am thankful for the cool spring so far.

[kaylyred]

We still have some snow in our yard. Ugh! Last I saw, though, the National Weather Service was predicting a "warmer than average" April for Wisconsin. Let's hope they're right, because we have some catching up to do.

I'm especially anxious for spring this year. My mom passed away in February, and my dad decided he could no longer live in the family home here in Wisconsin, so he bugged out for Florida, leaving the house empty. I'll be moving in, but I wanted to wait until I could get some of my best hostas out of the ground to take with me. (Fortunately, I have a lot of old hostas like lancifolia that I can divide to fill in empty spots for the next owners.)

I will have some of my mom's hostas at my next home, which will be nice. I'm planning on planting a memory garden, too. I also have an acre to play with. Only about a third of it has enough shade for hostas, but that's still plenty of room. Plus, I'm hoping my hostas will grow bigger because they'll be out of my deep shade yard and into spots that get a nice shot of either morning or very late afternoon sun.

I sure wish spring would hurry up.

[pauhaus]

I did some raking in one bed and covered up some hosta roots that were exposed with some compost I have pips starting to sprout in my pots stored in the garage, glad for the slow start of spring too but come on already. I'm ready to dig.

[thy]

Sorry for your loss Karen

Getting the hostas conected again will be nice I think and smart to move if their house is better than yours

Pia

[kaylyred]

Thanks, Pia. Their house is nicer than mine, and has much more room. I have a city lot here. It's big for a city lot, but nothing compared to an acre on a farm by the river. The only negative I can think of is that I'll be going from a nice silty loam soil to fairly heavy clay. But...my dad has composted a ton of freshwater seaweed (the city gives it to him for free when they harvest weeds from the lake) on the farm, and I can probably have as much as I need, plus access to a Bobcat.

[kHT]

Karen, so sorry to hear of your loss. Enjoy the new home!!

[redcrx]

My Magnolias were done by this time last season. The buds barely have any color yet.
Hosta are still hiding.
Last year:

[thy]

WOW ED it really shows the differences from last year to this year.. here it is still on crocus level and it will only be a tad warmer for the next weeks and even until mid May they tell us it will be colder than usual due to the cold sea

Karen I had heavy clay in my former house.. first year I could eaasy do a small élephant legs, nose and tail with out the clay broke Added tons of compost and chicken grit and it helped, but then Wanda ( I thinkit was her) told me to add woodclippings into the soil It did wonders.. just remember to add some nitrogene (sp)

Pia

[redcrx]

Went out yesterday to attack my bittercress weeds (finally tracked down the name of this nasty stuff - only started seeing it a few years ago, it grows through the winter so it's always around, and it dangerous if the seed pods are ripe - they can spring into your face). I was also taking out tons of chickweed which is also hardy through the winter. I found some hosta starting up under the mat of chickweed.

[Linda P]

Karen, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your mom. I know that being able to work in her garden will help you get through the tough times. I didn't move in to my mom's house when she passed away, but I did keep her flower gardens up for many years after she was gone.
Hostas don't seem to mind clay, especially if it's had amendments added over the years. My friend lives on a clay hill, and her hostas are beautiful.

[HostaDesigner]

Ug...bittercrest is awful. First thing in the spring and again in the early fall. I swear it throws seed 5 days after flowering. I have some mats of chickweed to wrestle out too.

[kaylyred]

Thanks, Linda. Today's my birthday, so I'm missing my mom in a big way, and your post made me smile thinking about the healing benefits of gardening, especially to keep a loved one's legacy alive and growing.

It's true that my mom's hostas don't seem to mind the clay. In fact, they grow faster than mine because they get more light and, I think, because the soil contains more nutrients than my silty soil. I'm just not looking forward to digging that heavy stuff--ugh!

[ViolaAnn]

((Karen)) so sorry about the loss of your mother. I do hope that your move will go well and you will enjoy living there. The family connection is a strong reason to move as well.

Pia - if you have crocuses, you are ahead of us. But most of the snow is off my south facing front yard now and I'm seeing crocuses coming up. I've got masses of them and if it warms up and we see some sun, I'll likely have some blooming next week. The back yard is another story. I won't see the crocuses back there for at least a couple of weeks.

[viktoria]

The ground is still frozen here in Upstate New York but that should change within the next few days. Rain is forecast just about every day, though, which will prevent the ground from warming up to the point that I can start digging hostas. Many of them need to be moved and/or divided.

We moved here 28 years ago. The low temperature then ranged from -25 to -27. Crocuses bloomed on April 1st each year (no kidding!). In recent years we might get a night or two at -10, so New York is clearly sliding into the ocean and moving into zone 5, or maybe it is global warming? Crocuses have bloomed as early as the middle of March. This year, after the winter that never really came, crocuses first bloomed on April 5th, the latest ever.

Go figure!

Viktoria

[Chris_W]

Sorry to hear about your Mom, Karen. Hope your move goes smoothly and you have good memories of her in the process

We are 99.9% thawed out now. I'm still finding some chunks of ice here and there, mostly on the north side of the tree line under the leaves, but that's not stopping me any longer.

And we are all caught up with the spring schedule after being almost 2 weeks behind. I'm really happy about that because I hate it when one week's schedule gets bumped into the next as we might never catch up.

The crocus are in bloom now, but daffodils are only up about an inch. Spring is here