What crazy spring weather!  Frost is forecast for tonight, so be sure to protect anything tender that you have already planted out.  Tomatoes and peppers should be protected with Walls-o-water, plastic, an empty milk jug…you get the idea.  The annuals most susceptible to frost are impatiens and begonias, so if you have these in pots or the ground, it would be good to throw some floating row cover over them for the night.

This is unusually cold weather for this time of year – just a reminder to us all that Mother Nature does her own thing in her own way, and we gardeners need to pay attention!  Hopefully in a week or so we will return to more normal weather patterns.

We have been urging caution over the past few months when planting tender vegetables and annuals, as historically we can get frost and cold tomato-killing weather into May.  We also promised that we’d let you know when it was time to plant, and we would have a great selection when that time came…  So, without further delay…  It’s time to plant!

Our average last frost date is towards the end of April or Early May depending on where you live, and the “safe” first planting date is usually in mid-May.  Well, here we are nearing Mid-May, with no frost in sight, so it’s pretty safe to say that we are out of the woods now as far as frost goes**.  So, get out and plant up your vegetable gardens with warm weather loving tomatoes, peppers, corn, cucumbers, and beans and start your flowerbeds off on their path to summer glory with impatiens, petunias, and geraniums.  We are fully stocked with everything you need to make this year’s garden a huge success, and we are here to answer your questions and assist in any way we can!

**In Oregon, “out of the woods” is not always able to be guaranteed (some of us practically live in the woods), so keep an eye on the weather for the next few weeks, especially those who live at higher elevations or in outlying areas.  It is highly unlikely that we will get anywhere near freezing, but stranger things have happened around here (look at the past winter for reference).  If it looks like we are going to have that once-in-a-blue-moon cold snap, take measures to protect your tender plants, like covering or wrapping.

We’ve been having some pretty chilly nights still – and to top it off, I’ve heard that our spring will be unseasonably cooler than normal till June.  That is going to make growing any of the warm-season crops especially challenging this year.  Darn.  I’m talking about tomatoes, peppers, melons, cucumbers, squashes, and eggplant.  Fortunately, all of these are good candidates for using our Gardeneer Season Starters.  These early season plant protectors are pyramid-shaped and water-filled — they surround the plant, absorbing heat from the sun during the day, and giving it off during the night.  Think of it as a blanket for your favorite veggies!  You are able to plant up to six weeks earlier with this protection, which also means you HARVEST weeks earlier too.   Take good care of them and they will last several seasons.  We have one on display here – come in and feel how much warmer it is inside!

The weather is warm… at least for today.  We are having some of the first nice weather of spring, and it’s great to see so many familiar faces and new acquaintances back at the nursery after the winter break!  With the nice spring weather though also comes a caution.  Notice how that word is red, in bold italics and underlined?  That’s because we desperately want to save you from major heartache and despair later in the season.  So here it is, here is our caution.

Despite the warmer weather, it will almost certainly get cold and rainy again here and there. We probably won’t see ice storms or snow (you never know in Oregon though), but frost is a very real threat until the first half of May.  We are getting many requests for tender summer vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and also requests for summer annuals.  It is simply too early for these frost sensitive plants to be outside, and their chance of thriving or even surviving is very limited.  The soil is just too cold, and a hard frost will probably wipe these plants out with no chance of recovery.

We are currently carrying limited numbers of these plants for those who are really adventurous and like to gamble or have warm indoor spaces to grow them on for a few weeks.  For everyone else, please be patient for at least a few more weeks before setting your warm season annuals and vegetables outside in the garden unprotected.  We will still have a great selection (actually, we will have a better selection when it is appropriate to plant), and you won’t have to go through the heartache of losing your plants to a late season frost.  Besides, you really won’t be gaining anything from planting now.  Tomatoes won’t even think about growing until the soil warms up, and by the time it does you are better off putting in new plants that have just come from a warm greenhouse and are actively growing.

While it’s still too cold for the cold-sensitive annuals and vegetables outside, this is still a great time to plant trees, shrubs and perennials.  There are also many cool season garden crops that can be grown now, that won’t have trouble getting through a few colder days.  We understand the itch that gardeners all over the area are feeling right now (all of us here love to garden as well), but we’ve also been doing this for a long time, and have seen firsthand why patience is needed at this point in the season.  Don’t worry though;  before you know it, our gardens will once again be overflowing with bushels of fresh produce!