Danger Lurks in the Spring Garden

It's dangerous out there - the spring season and the devoted gardener are in perils that may also occur at other times of the year but are at their very worst during this season. After a long, cold winter, it's as if we become infants, faced with new toys - or rather an old, familiar and much beloved one that we have been deprived of for far too long. Or perhaps it is like an empty toy chest. We are a bit older and wiser as gardeners now, and so need new toys to replace those that were damaged or destroyed or discarded last year. And - like kids - we are all too eager to get started in filling that void.

So what's the danger? I shouldn't even say danger in the singular. There are many - and we must all be wary.

Winter Plant Lust
It is too late to warn you of the first one - Winter Plant Lust. You have probably already succumbed to it. How else does a gardener spend winter, except going through all those beautiful catalogs that come to our mailboxes, checking off plants that we think we can't live without? And how many of us, in an attempt to persuade ourselves that spring would really come again some day, then picked up the phone and placed our orders?

Are there boxes of plants arriving on your doorstep almost daily - or at least weekly? Are you going a bit mad trying to figure out how best to care for those that can't go into the ground yet because the weather has been so unsettled? And are you scratching your head in bewilderment, wondering where on earth all of these new toys are going to go? Are the bills starting to come in, now that the orders have been shipped and charged to your account? Are you feeling a bit of guilt? Mental confusion? An unsettling sense of greed?

It's too late to do anything now but to forgive yourself and start finding homes for those babies. If you have empty pots, get some nice, fresh soil-less potting mix and pot up those tender plants. If you have room in the house, keep them there until you are sure the ground has warmed. Otherwise, store them in a sheltered place and don't forget to water them. They will at least have a head start when you finally feel that it is safe to plant them.

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