Garden thoughts, plans, and daydreams are captured here while sipping a cup of coffee and enjoying some type of food that is probably not good for me.
I work the night shift at a local hotel. I have worked at this hotel for over 11 years and really enjoy it. The night shift isn’t for everyone. However I make it work because I keep the same schedule seven days a week. During peak garden season I water my plants as soon as I get home which is usually around 7:20am. I get into bed around 8:30am and get up in the afternoon between 2-3pm.
My first activity upon awakening is to make coffee. I add some type of snack that goes well with coffee and then spend 15-20 minutes, weather permitting, sitting outside and thinking about my garden. This is when I determine what needs to be done that day, review my lists of tasks, take pics of plants and wildlife and daydream.
This daily appointment helps me focus my mind for the gardening tasks I need to complete. It also helps me start my ‘day’ with positive thoughts on my mind. I must confess that much of what is currently going on in the U.S. doesn’t make sense to me.
But gardening always makes sense and allows me a refuge away from the negativity that seems to dominate the news and conversations. I will never get political in this blog. To me, that is a waste of time because this blog is about gardening. I will leave the politics and/or negativity to others.
Today, during my ‘first coffee’ time, I focused on assisting my sister with her gardening wishes. She has recently sold her house in a small town and moved into a house in the country. It is set in a wooded area which leaves most of the space around the house in shade or partial shade.
We have previously had a conversation on what plants might grow well for her. I walked around the shaded areas of my own garden and took photos of some of the plants I have growing. I sent these as suggestions. Today’s list included Heuchera, Hellebore, Hosta, Caladiums and Irises. In July I will give her Irises. Mine are in a desperate need of digging up, separating and transplanting. (Update: This was done in July and her Irises her doing great!)
I have a new fig tree to pot up today.. I have to move all the plants out of my garage where I put them earlier this week to protect them from a late Spring hard frost. I live in Northwest Arkansas (Zone 6b) and on April 20 we received snow. This is very uncommon for this area. Our last expected frost date is normally between April 10-15. Fortunately the snow melted after falling upon the ground which was warm.
Most of my cold tender plants survived. I had a little damage on the leaves of a couple of potato plants that I am growing in 5 gallon buckets. They were covered but I had not weighted the cover down well enough and it had blown off. Everything else that I am currently growing is cold hardy. This includes onions, garlic, kale, radishes, and Swiss chard.
For protection, I moved a large potted fig tree, several pots of herbs and three pots of tulips which had already started blooming, into the garage for protection. It probably wasn’t necessary to put the tulips in the garage but they were all in the same area so I moved them at the same time.
Did you have a late frost in your area this year? What did you do to protect your tender plants? Were any of your plants damaged? If so, what do you think you can do next time this happens to protect your plants? I would love to hear your answers and thoughts. Please post them in the reply box at the bottom of this blog. I read all responses.
This is the current partial list of tasks I want to complete this coming weekend:
Move plants from garage back outside..(Done!)
Continue to harden off vegetable garden plants. (Done!)
Pot up new fig tree (Chicago variety). (Rainy day. I’ll wait until tomorrow.)
Plant out and stake tomatoes. (Too wet! Do tomorrow.)
Plant new seeds in cups. (Done! Indoor activity.)
Turn compost piles. (Not in the mood. Do another day.)
Plant new beds… salad bed and new flower bed. (It rained heavily today, I’ll wait until it is dry to do this.)
As you can see, my “But First, Coffee” time can bring random thoughts that move around to different topics and concerns. Never fear, I do remember what I have contemplated because I make lists or add tasks to my calendar. I mean, as we all know, one thing we constantly have with us is our phone. And every phone has an app for writing notes, and a calendar for posting reminders, etc.