The Waiting Game

The next couple of weeks always seem the most painful part of spring - at least to me.  The weather has started to warm.  We begin to experience multiple, consecutive days in the low 70s with nights squarely in the 50s.  No signs of rogue frosts or bitterly cold days.  The sun is out -- well, some of the time -- warming the earth from 5 am until 8pm. The cold crops are in the ground, as are any new arrivals of bare-rooted shrubs and roses.  Summer perennials are slowly awakening and stretching their foliage upward.  So you begin to think "it should be safe to plant those tender annuals and heat loving transplants (such as tomatoes, peppers, etc.) outside."  You look out at the beaming sun, startling blue sky and emerald green grass and think "surely it will be okay."  The temptation grows; you've been hardening off the transplants for a week and you're positive they can withstand a little chill in the air in the evenings.  But there is this little nagging voice in the back of your head (wait, that's Nora) telling you "it's too early."  The soil may not be warm enough (generally,65-70 degrees) and, in our gardening zone, you just never know when that last, unexpected frost will show (see our posts last May regarding the doomed dahlias). So I wait...and I weed.