anyone have objections to planting garden b4 mothers day

I am sooo excited to get started I dont think we can wait :) We are in the Frederick area :)

Dad,

I am right up the road from you and I don't normally start planting myself until mother's day but I couldn't wait myself. I want to get a headstart since I am always behind. The weather has been great. I even have my hummers a few weeks earlier this year. I have only put pansies, stocks, geraniums and million bells and a few perrenials in so far and they are planted close to the house. I am watching the weather very closely every night just incase of a frost so I can cover them up with newspaper.

Dott

I've done the same as Dott with the annual flowers. Every time I'm tempted to pick up a pot and move it farther from the house, I turn around disgustedly about midway to the intended destination.

But last week I put peppers and tomatoes in the raised beds with plastic protection that came off Sunday for the rain to get in. But with tonight's forecast and tomorrow's high supposed to be only in the 50's, they'll have their "greenhouses" re-established today.

Loads of perennials and shrubs have been going in the ground since mid-March.

I've been putting perennials and shrubs in the ground next to the house for several weeks now...geraniums and other annuals will go out in the next day or so. Still going to play it safe and wait until mother's day with the tomatoes and peppers, though. :)

pam

Well it looks like my son and I going to get started !

Thank you all for the great Tips :)

dottnmd - you are just right around the corner - weather is beginning to swing our way :)

Thank you Mickgene and phuggins :)

I'm pretty much the same as Dott and everyone else. We live just a few miles south of Frederick. I've put in perennials and shrubs but no annuals. My tomato plants are still sitting in the mudroom looking out the window . . .I may set them out next weekend if the weather is okay but I won't plant them for at least another week after that. Peppers probably another week later . . . My gardenia has been on the front porch for two weeks along with geraniums (catching morning sun) but I pull them in at night if I think it may be too cool. You can kind of tell by looking at nurseries (not HD or Lowes or others like that but local nurseries). If they are selling their annuals from indoors, it is too soon to put them in the ground. When I made the rounds last weekend I noticed that impatiens are still inside, same with marigolds. Most tomato plants, too. In our veggie garden we are harvesting asparagus, and have peas, onions, broccoli and cauliflower doing nicely. Also some lettuce. They can withstand colder temps although a hard freeze would not be good. Our strawberries are also in flower so we are ready with the plastic sheeting in case freezing temps come along. Long range forecast looks pretty good for these plants but I would wait at least until early May before putting annuals into the ground and then see what the long range forecast looks like.

Local forcast calling for a drop to 36 tonight. I will deffinately be covering up a few things tonight and bringing in a couple of hanging baskets.

Ah the difference a few miles makes.

I haven't put out tender annuals in the vegetable garden yet, but only because (1) I was out of town for several days and haven't quite finished hardening them off which is primarily a matter of adjusting them to direct sun light and (2) although I don't fear frost at this point, the soil temps are still low enough that the heat lovers like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants will just sit there anyway. Beyond that, the vegetable garden is already producing. I plant some things in the fall and others in late February. I will keep adding more as the spring plants finish and/or as the soil warms sufficiently for proper germination and development of the heat lovers. The only plants I set out as transplants are eggplants, peppers and tomatoes -- I direct sow everthing else.

Outside of the vegetable garden, my borders are primarily mixed perennials and woody plants. I will probably put a few hanging baskets of annuals out, but that won't happen until all my other spring garden work is done just because that's when I'll get around to containers. I really don't put out many other tender annuals as transplants -- I tend to direct sow them which I am doing now. I consider it almost already too late to be putting in trees and shrubs.

Gardening is a continuum for me. There's always something going on out there. People at work will often ask me if I've got my garden in yet and it always strikes me as an odd question. I want to ask in turn what part of it they're referring to.

I started planting peppers and tomatoes this week.. Next week cukes and squash - I usually wait until may 10 but it has been very warm

Well we have just broke ground :)

My son Justice and I will spend all day Saturday planting seeds and seedlings.

I will post a pic or 2 of us. He is super excited to get started ( me too )

Hi there!
I have been planting Perennials and Annuals for 6 weeks now and have had no problems even when the temps started dipping dangerously low. Call me either really, really lucky or really, really stupid; granted I live in a townhouse with some protection on either side but still....my deck tomatoes and berries are blooming, my water bill has gone up and the flower boxes are brimming!! I have followed absolutely no "rules", correct spacing between plants, what is that? Zone 7, hmmm, should I have paid attention to that? Clay soil....no big deal, added / mixed in some topsoil last year and the plants seem to enjoy that. Seeds instead of seedlings, not a problem, they are coming up with a vengance. The perennials I planted last year are coming up and a lot of them are blooming already. Planted on a whim, spent $$$$$ on mail order / nursery plants and I am already seeing the results!! And it's only May!! Here is a picture of the "dreaded" Gardenia, I had no idea if I was going to get lucky or not, (I read the stories here), they are in big pots on a table with an umbrella for shade. Blooming like crazy! I have had more enjoyment with throwing caution to the wind than I could have ever imagined.....I work from home and need a plant or two to look at to get some calm in my life when I have a deadline hovering over my head. (I work to be able to buy plants!!! )

"Hi, my name is Becky.....and I am an plantoholic"!!

Hi Becky - I can relate. For about a year now, I have been obsessed with plants too. Well, this is Mother's Day Weekend. I guess that everyone will be working their fingers to the bone for the next little while. All systems go.

I have a lot of work waiting for me this morning. Like I needed more plants, I bought some at local hardware store this week. I couldn't resist. I also received two mail order shipments yesterday. Along with that, I have several things that need to be transplanted from one area of bed to the other. So my work is cut out for me.

Oh yes, my older son gave me a potted palm yesterday for Mothers Day. I haven't had time to read the tag that came with it to see what care is involved. He also gave me a small cedar bird house. Will have to research and see what small bird will fit in it too.

Anyways Becky, don't feel alone with your addiction. Most of us can really relate.

Ruby

Hi Ruby, since I am "done" for all intents and purposes, all I will be doing is pulling a few weeds and deadheading!! :) I can always add more once I see how the garden progresses, but I do need some more black mulch!!