It is a crazy gardening year already, though maybe in a good way, if the abnormally warm temperatures last through April or May and then return to normal so we don't cook like we did last summer.

It was 80 degrees here today and the greenhouse hit 88, but I only had the doors open, not the vents, and no fan running. All the plants were out on the patio enjoying a cool breeze.

I got my broccoli into the ground last week before the rain fell and it really enjoyed the 2 or 3 days of cloudy, cool, rainy weather. Today it was less than impressed with full sun all day. The broccoli didn't wilt or anything, but it was sighing and begging for a tall glass of sweet tea.

I put the first 14 tomato plants into the ground. It seems odd, but with temps running about 20 degrees above average, I'm not going to waste this weather.

I have back-ups for every single thing that is in the ground. I remember April 2007 too. To be specific, April 8th. I remember hurriedly building temporary hoop houses over 5 or 6 raised beds of tomato and pepper plants. It took all day and a lot of rolls of 6 mm plastic from Home Depot. I left those hoop houses up for 3 weeks just in case, and my plants survived the 7 or 8 nights we went into the 30s during that cold spell, the sleet, the frosty mornings, the cold rain, the endless gray skies, etc. I am prepared to go to those lengths again if a significant cold spell threatens, but I hope we don't have a big, late cold spell after all this gorgeous warm weather.

Dawn, I went out with a shovel and a couple totes and dug up my tomatoes and peppers and brought them back on the porch with a heater. Then I draped sheets over all the broccoli and used clothespins to attach sheets to the trellis that had the peas. I still lost several of them. I sure hope nothing like that happens again this year when it is even warmer than that year was.