Just remember...we are in Wisconsin and its still March. The extended forcast calls for lows in the 30s next week. ;-)

tj

Hey Tsuga, good to hear your voice on this forum. If I still had my big garden like I had years ago, I would have planted out cabbage, lettuce, peas, even some seeds. Should a frost appear, there are always the wonderful row covers. I used them for years, and they always did the job.
I should post on the shade forum too, I think. My yard is usually quite shaded by the trees planted on my lot line. Even tho none are giant-type trees.
I used to love pushing the envelope by planting out early.
Doesn't anyone do that any more?

Hi Pondy, nice to see everyone coming out of hibernation! I can't resist this weather. Even though we're in Wisconsin, and we can get snow in May, I'm moving plants and planning a few new purchases. I have alot of shade too, and it's full! Woodland poppies, bleeding hearts, helleborus, lungwart, periwinkle, lilies of the valley, adjuga, lamiastrum, and jacob's ladder are blooming. Sweet woodruff and columbines are about to start. Solomon seal, goatsbeard, ferns, epimediums, hostas, toad lily, turtlehead, wild ginger are all up. I also put daffs under the trees (they bloom before everything leafs out).

My new plants barely pulled thru this year. 'Wave' petunias barely spread at all. Deer ate my one and only tomato plant, but the basil looks great, as do my potted pepper plants. I let the grass in my back yard go dormant, but watered my tiny front garden.
I was most worried about all the trees on my property.
How did the rest of you cope?Did you water, or let everthing fend for itself?
Luckily, we in the SE portion finally got some rainfalls.
And, I am so glad that I (over) planted my lot with trees, because they provided much needed shade and shelter for the critters who eat everything I plant. pondy