I hope you get rain soon too. I watered my garden yesterday since the rain has largely gone missing in recent weeks.

I planted broccoli and cabbage extremely early from purchased starts (so who knows if the broccoli will bolt, you know how that goes) because we were so warm in late January and early February that I couldn't resist. The weather has been so warm overall that they have grown incredibly fast. It is just crazy. I look at those plants in amazement. I've never had broccoli and cabbage plants this large in early April. They are almost full-sized and starting to form heads (hopefully not broccoli button heads). Still, I'm starting to view the early and persistent heat (86 here yesterday on two thermometers and 88 on a third) as a threat to the cool-season crops and to the growing season overall. It never feels right to have this much heat this early in the growing season. I fear my cool-season greens will end their productive period early in all this heat. There is no way the spinach was happy in yesterday's hot weather.

My early, purchased tomato plants are loaded in fruit and some of it may be on the verge of breaking color, just adding to the persistent feeling that being this warm this early isn't good overall. It just feels wrong. I still haven't put my home-grown tomato plants in the ground. I spent too long harvesting and processing cool-season crops yesterday and then felt it was too hot when I finished all that to put the tomato plants into the ground, so now I'm waiting for the next two windy days to pass before I plant. I haven't seen anyone near me put in their tomato plants yet either, though some likely planted them this past weekend and I just don't know it yet. We hit freezing one night last week and had frost on two different mornings, so everyone has been proceeding with caution, tomato-wise, even though we now are past our LFD. Last year our last freeze and frost were very early and people did put tomato plants in the ground earlier, but this year has been very different because of the way the cold nights have hung on rather persistently despite some really hot days.

After over 3 weeks without frost, we had 23 one night and 25 the next the 20th and 21st of March. Since then it has frosted 3 or 4 more times, once to 28 and a couple times 31 or 32. It's certainly a weird year.

I put my tomato babies in the ground starting last week. After the abuse some suffered in my makeshift tunnel the ones that were in the middle doing awesome are over a foot tall and needed new pots. Which I don't have. I put 7 in last week and so far 18 in since Sunday. I am 6b/7a. The last 2 frosts have been south of me.

My soil is as dry as baby powder. I water 3 or 4 times to get it to soak instead of run off

I'm not liking how suddenly the rain stopped falling. It is like someone turned off the faucet and we can't get it to turn back on. It is too early for this. I watered the front garden yesterday and will water the back garden today so that the corn will grow. I noticed it looked really dry back there yesterday.