I envy you, SoCal! I miss good, home grown tomatoes! Our season is so short here that only the fastest ripening tiny ones produce early enough to bother with...I have at least 50 different varieties of seed ready for AL. And if those fail another gardening friend has already clued me in to a huge tomato producing farm north of Birmingham....yum!

Yes, home grown tomatoes are the best! Even in Alaska it's worth growing them!

Anya...My Aunt-in-law grows them indoors in Homer and has for 5 years...best tomatoes ever she says!

Annie, summer in Homer is cool so greenhouse would be the best option though for us in the interior also. I grow tomatoes mostly on a sunny deck but average day temperature is still not very high, When there is not sun it becomes too cool for tomatoes. I try different varieties, mostly for cool climates. I grow a couple of dwarf tomatoes indoors so I can start them very early (now) and keep them until November with some additional light. Yes, home grown tomatoes are the best!

I planted my Russian fingerling potatoes. I also laying the paper core pots with foxgloves seedlings on the ground, hopefully the rain coming Wednesday will help them. I didn't cover them with anything yet. I'm waiting to see which ones will survive.
I also moved some muscari plants to the alley, I need them to hold the edge.

I've started bringing the plants from the enclosed porch outside, but I still have to bring them in and out. They stayed outside two nights ago, but the weather was supposed to cool down significantly yesterday. It was sunny and I didn't pay attention. When I checked the weather website, it was -4C, and it was very, very windy. I went outside and found that the plants were solid frozen. Everything (i.e., soil, plants) froze in a matter of hours. I brought them all in, but they recovered really fast. These are all alpine plants (hellebore, blue campanulas, violas), so, fortunately, there was no damage.

Glad there was no damage, Jasmin! Can't wait to see the additions you make to your garden this spring!
It was a really nice day here today, think it got up to 60 and sunny. Supposed to be the same tomorrow then snow on Thursday and Friday. We need it but I sure am dreading it!

Wow Jasmin, I would have freaked out. Glad there was no damage.
The extreme cold we had ruined my hellebore blooms. The middle of the stems is rotting and h the e blooms are folded down.

My daffodils were fine, of course.
My iris reticulata look great.

Do you have different colors of iris reticulata, LG? I moved several different ones to AL this year, hope they survived the extended period in the grow bags...

I have been surveying the damage in my garden. I don't know if it's deep or rabbits but my hyacinths and irises have been eaten. I thought irises were safe! At least those weren't eaten to the ground, just nibbled. Even a few daffodils were nibbled. Snapdragons and poppy too (I have just the one). I'm so thankful that my peonies have been left alone. They are just red nubs aside from what is either Cora Louise or Morning Lilac, the only one leafing out. I keep checking that one obsessively for bites!

Hiyamakki, both deer and rabbits love hyacinths!

I have had wild turkeys pecking at my daffodils this year. They break off the leaves and buds.

Watch your peonies for rabbit damage too. They love the bark on the woody ones.


Liz, I have several different colors of those irises. I Will try to take some photos of them.

I did walk around and look at my peonies are really sprouting.

Hiyamakki...After I had Lupine munched (poisonous), I read that mama's let their babies try anything and so some poisonous stuff gets tried.....

We are trying to get over loosing a pet duck to an eagle...

Annie, I am so sorry that an Eagle got your duck. I tried to have African geese two years in a row, and the foxes got them every year. So I know you can get attached to fowl.

Guineas are a little tougher and I still have one.

Annie, I am so sorry for your duck. It's hard when you lost a pet.

I tried to clean up the garden today when I saw the sun, but it was too cold. I only managed to entangle Lonicera that has been growing on the handrailing; that is because the steps and handrailing will be demolished as soon as the weather permits. I've started cutting the Christmas trees that I used to protect the plants from cold, but my fingers froze, so I had to go in. Hopefully, it will be milder tomorrow and on Saturday.

Beautiful sunny and cold day again. Too cold for gardening. Hope for more luck tomorrow.

I fertilized my peonies again. Most of the peonies that I got from Costco in a bag have a bud or two, even their roots are exposed. I was worried about them, but I guess in California, they are not damaged.
Even the Sarah Bernhardt that I thought had botrytis a few weeks ago, has a tiny bud.
I counted that Sonoma Amethyst has 5 flower buds and not 4. I have too many Sally Field's "you like me, you really like me" moments today, haha.
I also added some dirt to my foxgloves, I broke the paper cores that cover the emerging seeds so that they can grow. Maybe some will die, who knows.

Sounds great, SoCal.

I did some garden cleanup. Lot of peony noses are coming up.

I moved my old Command Performance to a new location, it still does nothing, I had to move it because it's near Garden Treasure, that one is setting new growth.

Hopefully your Command Performance will like it's new spot and grow well for you, SoCal. I think it's my favorite red double, fades so pretty.
I think I'm off all next week and we're supposed to have nice weather at least for the next 4 days—have to clean windows outside 1 day but hoping to spend the other 3 cleaning up garden beds! It'll be nice to get my hands in the dirt, first time this year here in CO.

Thanks Liz, I'm in love with my new Command Performance, after the rain, the bud is looking bigger and better, I'm so glad I bought it on sale last year. This is one of the few things that I didn't expect anything and it turned out better than I thought.