Spring Planting After the Freeze

The tomatoes are planted, radishes are at their best, iris buds that were not frozen on Easter are blooming, blackberry flowers are bursting out, Salvia May Night is blooming with deep purple spikes of flowers, all the Larkspur volunteers have flower buds and many of the perennials that were black with frozen leaves are putting out bright green growth.

Maybe spring will be saved after all.

There is still time to plant loose-leaf lettuce and replant the flower beds. Garden centers will bring in different flowers soon - the ones that can take heat. Plant a couple of pots, too. That way if a part of the flower bed looks empty next month, the pot can be popped into the bare spot.

If zinnias and other hot weather flower seeds are part of your summer garden plan, there is plenty of time. Last year I planted flower seeds in June that bloomed until the first hard freeze.

If you apply any fertilizer make sure it goes into the ground where plants grow roots. For transplanted seedlings, put the fertilizer into the planting hole and water it in before planting.
Do not fertilize perennials and trees that were badly damaged by the April 17 freeze. Let them come back on their own. Fertilizer can force growth too rapidly while they are vulnerable.Susie Lawrence and Sharon Owen donated 200 herb plants to our Earth Day event. The plants were given to anyone who came to our butterfly table IF they would agree to not spray the plants and to let butterfly caterpillars eat them when their eggs hatch late summer.
The "Animal Baby" books and Ranger Rick magazines we gave to children were donated by Sharon Owen. The children were thrilled to get them.