First time posting here, but I'm always happy to read what all you've got growing!

Hoping to get out and continue edging beds this weekend (as last weekend was a wash!).

Need to move a few roses around, plant a few more, train/tie up a few others (quite the addiction!!)

And need to start (already!) the never-ending battle with black swallow-wort vine which is one of the most pernicious pests I've ever dealt with (and I've got an entire back lot filled with Japanese knotweed so that's saying something!).
Any advice on non-chemical ways to deter this vine would be most appreciated!

Lastly, hoping to dig up some goodies to bring to the Woodbury plant swap!

Happy gardening! Amy

I'll tell ya what happened.. A ground hog came buy and munched down 6-10 heads of broccoli, and 4 heads of lettuce... I got a have a heart trap set up for him now...other than that I've noticed carrots and beets starting to poke their heads up out of the soil... I'm gonna make sure he doesn't get any of them....

Bigdaddy, sorry to hear that! That's very discouraging, and good luck with preventing further damage.

More of the same here - raking leaves (the never-ending job in my yard!), amending my raised beds (finally finished up that one), transplanting 63 annual larkspur seedlings I found in those raised beds (and to think I winter-sowed four milk jugs of larkspur - yikes!). I'll have larkspur coming out of my ears!

Got my Bluestone order in today, so I know what I'll be doing the rest of the week!

Cut back lots of perennials and roses for spring cleaning, potted up some container perennials to bigger pots, and watched anxiously as the 5 inches of rain we got this Sunday swamped the yard. Hopefully everything, including my basement, will survive!

:)
Dee

Dee, I'm envious of your 5" of rain! Here in Mystic we only got 1.4" and last night's rain missed us entirely. There's something strange about Mystic...some type of atmospheric phenonenon...storms just seem to stop at New London or Groton & fall apart or lift north. We are so dry, I'll take whatever we get though and be happy!

Yes, Tricia, we did need the rain and things are nice and green now, but getting that 5 inches of rain all at once wasn't so great. People in local towns were evacuated, roads were washed out in spots, lots and lots of flooding (roads as well as basements and houses) and unfortunately, a girl in my son's class lost her baby sister in a car accident (of which there were many, but thankfully mostly non-life-threatening). Let's hope the weather won't go in such extremes for the rest of the year.

Going out to clean up some more beds and plant some groundcovers - if I can get up the initiative to sit on the cold, wet ground!

:)
Dee

Dee, I still have leaves to deal with here too. I think they multiplied over the winter. I have two sycamores(as well as a sugar maple and a few smallish oaks) in the yard and those leaves are huge.

We got a couple of inches of rain over the weekend but nowhere near 5". On Sunday afternoon I got all my stored canna and dahlia tubers potted up as well as the new stuff I received from Brent and Becky's. The Brugmansias I saved over from last year are alive and the Musa basjoo I overwintered in the ground is growing up and out of the protective mulch. Soon the tropics will be returning to CT.

This week I plan to finish moving the last few woodies that need new spots then I'll start moving and dividing perennials and potting things up for the CT plant swap on May 7th. I still need to cage all the Peonies and Baptisias, fertilize the roses and Clematis and cut back the Annabelle hydrangeas. Time to make a list.

Sue

I finally got last year's garden maps out to see what came back, what didn't, and what I can't identify (there's always a couple of those). I've been weeding, potting up and planting out wintersown seedlings. Looks like I may have to mow soon.

- Raked some more oak leaves, and moved some more wood chips closer to where I'll need them. Spread some of the wood chips.

- Played musical chairs with plants - moved a small Osmanthus Goshiki over to where its compatriots are happy. Moved a very unhappy Ilex crenata out of the windy spot. Filled their old holes with a rugosa rose (Blanc Double de Coubert) and a Miscanthus Little Kitten, respectively.

- Tied up the old rambler rose (Dorothy Perkins?) which is stretching to cover the relocated arch.

- Planted a Miscanthus Adagio near the Little Kitten. Planted the Bluestone order of asters and goldenrods and hosta and ceratostigma in various spots.

- Stepped on hosta sprouts several times while planting above-mentioned stuff.

- Installed 10 peony hoops now that I can see the little red eyes.

- Assembled and tried out the new reel lawn mower from Lee Valley. The grass isn't high enough to mow yet (Yay).

- Moved the bird feeder so they don't lay guilt on me when I'm working in the garden.

Claire

Too much still to do so little time. Potted up small plants that came from Bluestone, finished planting new rose bed with 13 bare roots from DA. Hauled more stinking rocks from there than I have ever seen. It is a circle cut in the lawn, thought it would be easier than everywhere else., not. I hate rocks, who ever gardens here after me is going to owe me big time. Still have a few oak leaves to get out here and there and 7 more roses to plant in different beds around the yard. Did I mention i really really hate rocks. Happy gardening this week.

cut down and divided ornamental grasses, planted some divisions in a friends newly remodeled home (a clean slate for a garden!). On tap for this weekend: divide and move phlox, daylilies, spurge, salvia - does the "leap" year (sleep, creep, leap) count when they've been in my yard for 3 years...just not in the same place? LOL

Today I toom a vacation day from work and spent the day shuffling plants. More of the same tomorrow...lol. One pleasant surprise-last fall I ran out of time and energy for storing canna tubers and just tossed a couple of pots in my detached, unheated garage. One of the pots contained Canna 'Australia', a gorgeous dark leafed variety. Last weekend it looked dead and I figured I'd better start looking for another. Today I went to pull out the pot and clean it out and I noticed the canna was sprouting. Good deal!

Sue

As far as I know, nothing happened in my garden, because I'm in Arizona for the week. Reading your posts is helping me, I'm suffering from garden withdrawal out here. Being able to read this thread is almost as good as getting my hands dirty - can't wait to get home and get back into the garden for real, though.

Sue, so glad to see I'm not the only one who throws my "unfinished" stuff in the garage, lol! Although I don't always have as good luck as you did.

Got three oaks taken down today, to make more sun for my raised beds. Have a huge pile of wood chips which I'm not sure what to do with, lol!

Put down another can of milky spore this afternoon, and planted another dozen or so plants from my Bluestone order. It was a beautiful day to work in the garden today, and I actually have a full Saturday with no commitments tomorrow, so I can play in the garden all day! (Well, there *is* the Rangers/Devils playoff game, but the Rangers as usual stink so they'll probably lose. Sigh. On the bright side, it will give me more time in the garden!)

:)
Dee

Mostly cleaning up. Today started top dressing with composted goat manure. Divided an Astrantia and potted up some Geranium macrorrhizum for Annie's plant swap on June 3rd. Also rose pruning just about completed. Still evaluating winter kill...lost a few things, especially evergreen daylilies! Maybe I should know better than to even plant them? But some did fine, so I continue to gamble. Most of the other daylilies did just fine.

Finally dug up a couple of smaller Hemlocks that have adelgid and replaced them with Thuja 'Green Giant'. Widened that bed so that I can add some perennials in front of the evergreens. Hubby dug up dandelions in the yard since we cannot use chemicals due to our dogs thinking that the lawn is a huge salad bowl LOL.

well the expense and effort of planting ~1800 bulbs last fall is paying off right at this moment. I have to confess that my garden is breath taking right now.

I am moving all the plants that were not placed well to begin with. Having to water alot given the paucity of rain.

Continuing to reclaim the yard from the weeds and rocks. Fortunately I have plenty of plants to split and move to fill in.

I am top dressing the beds with compost. Not cheap (since I have to buy it) but will payoff in June and July when the beds are at their best.

Am finally beginning to think that my groundhog is actually gone. All of my hollyhocks are fine and if he was around these would be the first things he would destroy. I need to thank the foxes that spent about 2 months living in the vicinity. Last summer I would go out on the deck and beg them to make a meal of him. Apologies to those that have chickens but I am really into foxes right now.