Hurry Up Season Has Officially Begun

Peony buds... the first sign of the "hurry up season" for gardeners in Zone 5. Suddenly, it is warm outside and things are starting to move at a remarkedly quick pace. Now is the time to get going, no time to procrastinate. Hurry up Season is here!

We sat around all winter lamenting the cold and lack of gardening activity. We griped through a colder than normal spring slump, and now it is like summer outside. It's time to put in motion all of our plans and dreams for the garden.

When I saw those peonies with buds this evening while mowing the lawn (for the 6th time, but who counts how many times they mow the lawn?) I darn near panicked, there is so much to do in the spring, and never enough time to do it all. Got to make hay while the sun shines. Got to take advantage of daylight and sunshine, for tomorrow it might rain.

Do you want some advice on what you should not procrastinate on in the spring?

• You should not hestitate to buy the perfect plant or the perfect flat of annuals at the garden center when you first see it. If you wait and see if the next garden center has something better or cheaper, they won't, and when you go back to get what you wanted, it will be gone. Some other gardener will have purchased it.
• You should pull weeds when they are small. Big weeds fight back when you try to pull them, and they flower and go to seed.
• You should transplant perennials while they are small, they'll do better in the long run. This evening I checked all the perennials I transplanted yesterday. All looked good, no plants seemed droopy or pouty about being divided and moved.

And how about some advice on some things you should not to do in the spring...

• Don't buy frost tender plants too early. It seems all warm and summery now, but we could still have some frost. I've personally experienced frost as late as May 20th in my Zone 5 central Indiana garden.
• Don't look at the garden center if you are just driving by. Keep looking straight ahead. Otherwise, you'll get all crazy and twittery with the idea that when you finally get there, all the good plants will be gone.
• Don't forget to actually relax and breathe and enjoy the process of gardening. Remember this is supposed to be fun!

Trust me on this advice, I've learned from my own experience. I've passed up on buying plants I later wanted. I've left weeds until I almost needed a chain saw to cut them down. I've planted too early and lost precious tomato seedlings to frost. I've gotten all twittery thinking about people getting to the garden centers before me and taking all the good stuff.

But I think I've always managed to have fun gardening, Why else would I do it all these years, since I was 5 years old? Why else?