Not for me, still prime cross country skiing weather :

I admire your energy, enjoy the spring weather !

I'm skipping out on what we call 'breakup' while the snow melts, heading to New Zealand by way of Honolulu) to see my daughter , then in late April I expect to be in your position, cleaning up, starting more seeds, etc.

Very different here. The daffodils are over and lawn mowing has begun.

You have a nice climate Floral! More months of gardening then we have here in New England. I would enjoy just ONE more month of gardening weather and I would be happy! [g]

lat62...oh my! You are in Alaska aren't you? That is a LOT of snow still on the ground. If you are young and healthy enough to cross country ski and do other winter activities, then I would think you'd be happy to have another month of snow. lol At this point I am beyond that ability....so I try to make the most of the garden season and extend it as long as I can. :-) I always wanted to go to New Zealand. All those sheep! And was there a lot of flooding in Honolulu? Enjoy your trip!

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA - you are so right that we need 1 more month of gardening weather in NE!

Thank you for mentioning your bird bath as it reminds me to take mine out tomorrow. I am also going to try to get some pansies, violas and alyssum tucked into my basket hanging on my front door. Hopefully the birds will not try to nest in it again!

Spouse and I have been outside taking advantage of the recent nice days to do some trimming, cleanup, taking out hoses and starting to mulch. A bit earlier than usual but it’s partly to get away from contractors doing some work in the house.

Oh, you lucky duck....Design Fan, we really need to get work in the house done and we're just not getting it done. *sigh* Yard work WHILE the work on the house gets done! What could be better than that...lol.

Yes, I'm in Alaska, it was a big snow year :)) I think my garden will be delighted with the solid snowcover. I'm slowing down at 63 but never giving up on my cross country skiing - we live near a lovely park with groomed trails. It's been a wonderful winter with many clear days

The flooding in Hawaii was crazy, our neighbor's daughter lives in Maui and their house is okay I think the wind might be still an issue, but the rain has let up, fingers crossed

When I'm back, I'll be more on point to the topic of gardening , in the meantime, enjoy the spring, and thank you for your kind thoughts !

Lat, We had the same, a big snow year. We just didn't have the big cross country skiing part...lol. We have to be careful even walking when it is slippery out in the winter and we had a lot of that this winter. When I was younger I never had to think about it, but we spent more time indoors this winter, then any winter in recent memory. And we've barely seen a handful of days over 50F so far. But, the forecast looks encouraging.

We saw the flooding in Hawaii in the news, such a mess! I hope your daughter is doing okay there. Wow, you're in Alaska and she is in Hawaii, how different can you get! lol

Thanks for posting your photo of your snow, gives me something to be grateful for. :-)

Have a great trip!

My dh was walking down the driveway a couple of weeks ago in his ski boots on the way to ski our loops, and slipped and landed hard on his back side - he came in almost in shock - i thought I should take him to the ER but he didn't want that and seems to have recovered just fine. I also took a fall , luckily on the powdery soft snow as we were helping our guy who plows the driveway get unstuck from our silly driveway which has a 'dropoff' that our plower guy knew about but somehow that day the powder was obscuring the edges ! Anyway, my dh 1987 Ford F250 did the trick to pull him out (omg, tmi) . anyway , it's been a winter for everybody, I've tracked the east coast storms too, and always think about my mother in MI.

Thank you for your well wishes - to be clear, my daughter is in NZ , hence my visit- my neighbor's daughter is in Maui, they grew up together - boy how our kids spread their wings !!

And back on topic, enjoy your spring in the garden !! You're a good month or more ahead of me :)) Keep this thread alive, I'll get back to it late April/ early May when crocus will emerge!

Lat - so glad your Dh is okay after his fall. And you! You both must have good bones! A 1987 Ford truck?! Wow! That must be a good story. [g]

Now i have it straight. Daughter in NZ, her friend in Maui. I look forward to hearing all about your trip when you get back. And another start to spring in a month!

@lat62, I very much enjoy wintry weather but as I have gotten older I have become more wary of my footing and so this past December I bought a set of "icers" (specifically MicroSpikes by Kahtoola). With them I feel almost "invincible" going on hikes in the snowy and often icy landscape.

I have Kahtoolas, but rarely do real hikes anymore, so I lean into my icebugs for my easier trails near my park... my friends use kahtoolas to hike all winter long !

The icebugs are great for ease of use with the studs built right into the shoe, but you can't go indoors with them on .

but rarely do real hikes anymore

Given your location @lat62 I bet 100% that your "hikes" are much more challenging than mine.

For sure "Icebugs" are so convenient. I may invest in a pair next winter season.

Icebugs and Kahtoolas?! lol Never heard of them. But you've reminded me that I do have something with spikes that slips over the shoe. I don't find them easy to use, so I forgot I had them. I'll have to look into those two items for next winter. I should get out more than I did this winter.

I agree @prairiemoon2 z6b MA the "slip overs" are a bit of a pain and so I use them only for more serious walks/hikes. But "Icebugs" are easie peasie as their studs, as @lat62 noted, are built right into the shoe sole and so perfect for around the town walking.

I've cut back all of my hydrangeas (Annabelles) and butterfly bush, trimmed bushes and trees, and now am working on cleaning out all the sod and quackgrass that grew under my fruit trees. I didn't keep up with that last year, so now it's a miserable chore but better to get it done now and get it out of the way. Then it's on to cleaning out the overgrown mess of a vegetable plot....

Experience is everything in this hobby but doesnt one usually trim back buddleia after one has seen greenery ie leaves at the base? (I was thinking @porkchop_z5b_MI that in a z5 it is still too early for BB to show signs of life?).

Most all my many paniculatas have been indiscriminantly pruned to within 6" of the ground by rabbits :(.

I just started pruning my paniculatas yesterday and I got 3/4 of the way done and didn't want to step on bulbs that are coming up so I left it to finish next week, when I'll be able to see better where to step.

Porkchop...you are right on the ball! I'm trying to put the blinders on and not look at the mess and the jobs waiting for me and slowly get back into it. [g] One of these years, I keep telling myself that I am going to get all the work done before I have to put the garden to bed for the winter, so it's all ready to go in the spring. I've been saying that since I started gardening and never done it yet. lol

Rouge, Rabbits chewed your paniculatas to 6"??!! OMGosh, awful. The rabbits here decided they preferred the roses that were next to the paniculatas. *sigh* Really had a field day on them. I planted new small shrubs late last year and those are now stubs. I do see some growth at the base, but...wow. This year I am going to make up a lot of hardware cloth cages to go around things in the fall. I'm resigned that is the only way I can keep anything growing.

"Experience is everything in this hobby but doesnt one usually trim back buddleia after one has seen greenery ie leaves at the base? (I was thinking @porkchop_z5b_MI that in a z5 it is still too early for BB to show signs of life?)."

I experimented a couple years ago and cut back my butterfly bush to the ground in the fall because let's face it they're unattractive over winter. I found cutting back in fall had no negative effects on them. I couldn't do it last year, I was out of commission for a while, so it had to wait until this spring. I will note these are "Black Knight" -- an old, tough cultivar -- and they are well established bushes; those two points might make a difference.

Ah. "Black Knight* is quite bullet proof as BB go.

"I'm trying to put the blinders on and not look at the mess and the jobs waiting for me and slowly get back into it."

I need an XXL double-dark pair to keep the mess of a vegetable plot out of sight...I'm just dreading going out there. Same story every year. That's because I bit off way more than I can chew, the plot is very large and I just can't keep up with all the weeding. The worst is the grass seeds that blow in and germinate, once they get a foothold (er...roothold) and take over I'm done for.

I've been planning on putting in a new raised bed vegetable plot over by the barn and dismantling the plot I have now and turning it back into lawn. I think I've now got a good idea as to how much I want to plant going forward, it's a matter of the final layout (size and # of boxes) and getting the fencing up. Goal is next spring. DH wants to do the fencing himself but if he doesn't retire next year it's not gonna happen, so we'll see if I actually meet that goal....although I could always just hire a fencing company and be done with it. (because, you know, the most useful tool in the toolbox is the CHECKBOOK...).

I also have to figure out what do with my raspberries, blueberries, and grapes that are behind the fencing in the current vegetable plot -- maybe another small fruits plot on the side of the barn by the orchard, not sure. Will have to figure that out this summer.

I've gotten the bins in the kitchen garden cleaned up, some planting of seed and potatoes- those bins are under caps. Got the water collection tank reset. Started some deadfall pickup.

But it's still too early for me to start yard cleaning here. The bees and other little critters haven't really started emerging yet. But I had a friend get their first tick of the season and I saw a couple little jumpers yesterday in the kitchen garden, so I know I'll be having too much to do soon enough, lol.

"But I had a friend get their first tick of the season..."

I got bit two weeks ago by a tick, and one got DH last weekend. Not to mention the one crawling on the floor in the house (likely brought in on DH's clothes, he was out back in the pasture and woods that day). The little buggers are out and about already, looking for a bloodmeal. Got the dog on the flea-tick med already.

We've started the cleanup process and what a mess it is! Our weather has fluctuated between gorgeous and hideous over the past couple of weeks. Today is a high of 35 and blustery, but Sunday & Monday will be sunny and around 70F. No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

I love that expression...'No winter lasts forever, no spring skips it's turn.'

Thanks for that reminder, Cyn. Well...nothing is getting disturbed out there yet. I have 3/4 of my yard that goes undisturbed. Shrub borders with leaves left in place since fall. Another cold and windy weekend and we stayed in and cooked all weekend. We had planned an outing for Sunday and rescheduled, it was just too cold and windy.

I think the garden survived the overnight cold for 2 nights. The forecast was for 26F Friday and Saturday night, but that is a Boston forecast and I find I am usually a littl warmer. Sure enough my thermometer read 32F both mornings. I hope that was the end of the freezing temps.