I know it’s going to happen every year but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.  Every year we are teased with a couple of weeks of above seasonal weather in April to be followed, unfortunately, by a long cold snap in May.  And this year was no exception. Once again, my Endless Summer hydrangea have frost damage and their blooms will be late this year.  I have too many, and they are too large, to consider covering.  I may have to rethink those garden areas and plant something else in their place.  While the plants survive fine, the blooms are so delayed it hardly makes them enjoyable.  Luckily this year the cold snap came after I was able to enjoy the majority of the blooms on my magnolia.

Knowing a cold May could again frustrate me, this year I invested in a few garden tools that would help in the vegetable garden.  These little beauties are called Dome Sun Tunnels and were only $25 each.  They are 43 inches in length and 20 inches wide, perfect for a single row.  Each is about 18 inches high, have an air vent on each side, and they are very lightweight yet solid.  They are super easy to move around the garden.  I bought one mini-greenhouse first and planted my kohlrabi starts straight out in the garden, no hardening off.  I will remove the covers a bit each day when it warms up to harden them off but in the meantime they are growing bigger every day!  I was so happy I went and purchased three more.   I used them to cover my lettuce and spinach during an expected freeze and left them covered as it was unusually cold for an entire week.  Later in the season I can use them to cover my pepper or cucumber plants if it is unusually cold in early June.  No more waiting for mother nature to warm up at her leisure!