Crazy Garden Weather

It's April and a hydrangea is blooming. Crazy!

Yeah, Petra, that really is crazy. Everything’s blooming all at once here, too. And yesterday it hailed! Luckily, they were just small hailstones that didn’t do much damage. But the ground was covered in ice.

We’re expecting ground frost the next three nights, with temperatures ranging from -2 to -3 degrees. That’s why we wrapped a few flowering fruit trees in fluffy bedding today. It doesn’t look very nice, but hopefully it’ll protect them from the frost.

The greenhouse is full of tomato and bell pepper plants we grew ourselves. They’re all already in large pots, so we can’t just carry them inside like that. So this afternoon we set up a heating system: we hooked up a small space heater (which is always in my sewing room during the winter) to a timer. It’s now supposed to blow warm air into the greenhouse every hour at night. Don’t worry—it’s sitting on stone slabs, and there’s nothing flammable nearby.

And it’s only mid-April. This back-and-forth will probably go on for a while. Just typical April weather.

Love, Ina

My turtles are basking in the sun right now. I’m keeping an eye on the weather, too, but the forecast says it won’t drop below 5 degrees. That means it’s a few degrees warmer in the greenhouse, so everything’s fine for the animals.

We’re already seeing a lot of blooms—almost three weeks earlier than last year—but I haven’t seen any hydrangeas in bloom yet. 

I’ve already seen the first tulips blooming in the neighborhood, and the peonies are also pushing out their buds in full force. It’s all way too early—the Ice Saints are still to come. Only once they’re over can we expect consistently warm weather, except for those few days in June when the “sheep’s cold” sets in, but that won’t be nearly as freezing as the weather is right now.

Love, Inge

I’m waiting to plant the pots until after the Ice Saints. Although after the long, rainy winter, my fingers are itching to get started.
So, just a little more patience and then ......

@ Ina, when I first read your post, my immediate thought was, “Oh my gosh, I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly,” but after your explanation, everything’s fine. Let’s hope your plants appreciate the effort and reward you with twice as many beautiful blooms.

The tulips have been blooming here for a while now.
I still have the tomatoes and all the other plants in the craft room. Because that’s a nursery now—I don’t have time for crafts anyway. I hope the last few days were already the Ice Saints. Everything’s all mixed up, so the Ice Saints could come earlier than usual.
Yesterday it turned white every now and then, but it was only tiny little pellets.
In the greenhouse, I have lanterns on stone slabs—that’s always enough.
I’m still pricking out all the little seedlings in the craft room.
Then I still have to finish the First Communion cards.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday.

We’re having snow and sleet here today

Best regards, Inge

It’s not that cold here, but it’s still pretty chilly—around 7–8 degrees—and at night it sometimes drops to 5. But it rains very often, sometimes nonstop for days on end, and very heavily.
Everything was very early here this year—at least two weeks earlier than usual—so a lot of it has already finished blooming. On the parallel street, there’s a row of Japanese cherry trees lining the avenue—it always looks great when they’re in bloom, but this year the rain crushed the blossoms in the blink of an eye.

It snowed here this morning.

Everything is extremely GREEN
but also extremely COLD.🥶