Hi Little Dog,

Well, it must have been fun to pick up all those goodies!

What I am wondering is...why don't you have a pick-up truck??? lol

I hope the weather stays dry long enough for you to get everything into the ground soon.

I love plant sales, but our ground is too wet to even think of planting anything yet, so I can't let myself go near a plant sale right now. I already have way too many things in pots STILL waiting to go into the ground.

I don't suppose you made a return trip today to see if they had any coral bells or tropical palms left????

Happy planting,

Dawn

Actually, we have two trucks; one full sized, one mid sized, but we decided to take the car to save on gas. We *knew* the feed and chaff hay would fit, and really hadn't planned on trying to clear the parking lot at a plant sale. I didn't make it back up there yesterday as it seems I have lost my glasses. (That's one way to make sure I stay home and get stuff done...VBG)

Sure hope someone in the area manages to get by and take advantage; lots of outdoor shrubs left, and those palms were just lush.

I do know what you mean about having things waiting to be planted. I have a rather nice little pot ghetto (or two, or three) situiated in the shade with all kinds of goodies waiting for us to move the fence back and terrace the north side of the yard. Still, the ground here is so sandy that it doesn't pack down like a clay based soil. So far, I've been able to get away with pulling weeds or planting a few things everyday, as long as my feet don't sink into the mud too far. If I keep at it, by August I'll get everything into the ground, but it looks like the weeding isn't going to be caught up until November.

Isn't it sad that we all are still working to get our "spring planting" done and it is already July?

I have about 250 plants in containers of various sizes that should be in the ground by now. A lot of them are annuals which I started from seed. If they don't make it into the ground, the world won't end. They look pretty good considering a lot of them are root-bound and are only in 4" pots or plastic Dixie cups.

I have been trying to get the shrubs and perennials into the soggy ground when I can. Since it has rained almost every day in July, though, it is really slow going.

I have about 70 containers which have various hot peppers, sweet peppers and tomato plants that never made it into the ground. The tomato plants are in very large containers and have been producing ripe tomatoes for quite a while. The peppers have produced some ripe peppers and have many more in various sizes and stages of ripening. I had hoped to eventually get the peppers into the ground, but now think I will leave them in the containers as they are fairly large and wouldn't appreciate being transplanted at this point.

I also have a lot of coleus, ornamental sweet potatoe vines and pentas in pots. They were originally intended to go into the ground, but I may just leave them where they are.

In general, I prefer having the plants in the ground, as they dry out so much faster in the pots (most years). With all the rain, though, I have only had to water them a couple of times.

I have never had a year where it was so wet that we couldn't plant.

Now I have to figure out what to do with the fall tomato plants I have raised from seed. It is time to plant them now, so I need to decide....wet ground? 10-gallon grow bags? containers?? Whatever I decide, I won't be doing it today. Rain is expected, again, and we have thunder now, so the rain must be getting closer.

How wet is my yard? When I walk in it wearing flip-flops, the shoes make a 'sucking sound' as if the mud is trying to suck the shoes under and into the mud, and when I yank my foot out of the mud, mud and water fly up and splatter all over my clothing. At this point, it is better to just stay inside. :(