Good morning, and happy May! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Denver's average last frost date is listed variously as May 10 to May 15 — it kinda depends on elevation. In any event, this year it's not really a consideration: we last got below freezing back on April 16 when the low was 29°; the forecast calls for our continuing to have lows tending 5° to 10° higher than normal, in the upper 40s through the mid 50s. These are lows temperatures more like June than early May.
Daytime temps have also been pleasantly warm, with highs getting up to mid-80s several times. Those temperatures are forecast to moderate a bit, dropping back down to more-normal upper 60s and 70s.
And the poppies have been popping: I got the seed for this brilliant red poppy from Renee's Garden — Renee's calls it "Legion of Honor", as it's the red poppy immortalized in the World War I poem In Flanders Field. I particularly like the contrast of the olive green pollen against the vivid red petals.
Along with the corn poppies, the oriental poppies have come into bloom. I really love oriental poppies, and I'm happy to report that I finally got enough of them to "take" — I think I've lost at least 2 poppy plants for every one that survived. But, once established, oriental poppies thrive, needing only to be whacked back after their bloom cycle to keep the foliage neat.
With all the warm weather, I've been tending to gardening chores that usually don't happen for another two to three weeks: planting gladiolus, dragging the brugmansias up from basement storage and out to the back yard, putting the tender herb plants in the ground.
The tomato plants have outgrown the closed off wall-o-waters, so I filled them to the brim and opened up the tops. With the warm overnight temperatures they'll be able to set fruit as soon as they blossom.
Zucchetta, cucumbers and green nutmeg melons are also in the ground in wall-o-waters; the charentais melon plantsweren't quite big enough for transplanting so they, and the corn seedlings, are hardening off in the back yard.
I never did get the begonia tubers started under lights — it's been so warm I decided to just put them in their planters and start them growing in place. Of course, I used up most of my potting soil repotting brugmansias, so I have to go buy more before I can plant the begonias. I guess I'll make a run up to Paulino Gardens where I can find non-Miracle Grow potting soil, and buy some fuchsia plants at the same time.
I pretty much have the back yard tidied up and the Mister has the swamp cooler running. This weekend I'll be working on cleaning up the front porch and putting up my hammock chair.
And, I believe I've solved the mystery of why all my garden hoses have been going to hell so damned fast. I mean, last summer all but one of my hoses started leaking. Most of them were several years old, so I just figured it was time… although it was odd that all of them developed pinhole leaks at the same. So I bought three new hoses, and within a few weeks the two that I'd put into immediate use popped pinhole leaks.
After I filled up the wall-o-waters this spring, I was heading to put the hose away and discovered Caligula biting the damned hose. I don't think he can bite hard enough to outright puncture a garden hose, but I'd bet those sharp little teeth are enough to weaken the rubber such that water pressure can finish the job. I mean, if he can gnaw a pair of Crocs to pieces….
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your garden?