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More frost, but I didn’t cover the roses again, for fear of breaking off the leaves. They seem to be fine. Started painting the fence yesterday. Got the small section done – looks good, but the work is tedious. Five to go. Dropped off the bad fence post to Reliable Fence in Hyannis as a template for a new one. They can’t duplicate the cut exactly, but I’m hoping it’ll be good enough. A/C in the truck isn’t working again, probably a leak and probably I won’t get it fixed – too expensive. Good meeting yesterday with Marie Sastre at 4Cs. She had some interesting suggestions for Mentor TechWorks. Give Camp con call with Jim and Kelley yesterday morning.

It was around 20 degrees when I woke up this morning. Removed two of the pillow cases that had covered the roses in the circle. The fabric was frosty and had that nice fresh air scent.
The cure may have been worse than the disease for the other roses; I’m afraid some of the delicate leaves may have broken off.
The sweet pea seedlings survived, as did the few healthy plants in the cold frame.
I threw some daisy and wildflower seeds in the planters next to the stairs. Think I’ll start the poppies and put them in the cold frame.

The lawn and tree people were here today, fertilizing the grass and spraying the oaks and the ornamentals.
I pruned all of the lavender – need to replace four plants.
Finished pruning one of the Miss Kims, two more to go. The fourth really does look dead.
One of the roses had black leaves at the tips, and the rose expert at Mahoneys thinks it was due to the cold. Seeing as how frost is predicted after midnight tonight, I put pillow cases and other lightweight fabrics on the rose bushes.
Spent several hours and hundreds of dollars at Hyannis Toyota this morning while they completed 120k service and recharged the A/C.
Had a job interview this afternoon.

Talked with a new arborist/landscaper yesterday; he thinks the azaleas will be fine. We sat on the deck to go over his pricing for tree work, and he was kind enough to say “This is nice.”
What a change from last April, when the yard was still a disaster!
He passed on a lot of good information about the St. Johnswort, butterfly bushes and Clethra, suggesting that I hold off on pruning until everything leafs.
He said it will take two years for the grass to come in completely, not necessary to overseed until the Fall. He said not to worry about the grasses that haven’t started yet, they are warm weather plants and probably won’t show new growth until May.
There is life in the fourth Miss Kim, although it will need to be pruned.
The lettuce and radishes “fried” in the cold frame over the weekend.
Jonquils are blooming in the back and the sweetpea seedlings have started.
The Siberian iris I planted in the front last year and the two clumps of home-grown iris in the back (that I thought I’d obliterated) are up and seem to be healthy, along with the phlox. No sign of Mike’s Easter lily yet.
Since rain seems to be holding off, I sprayed the roses with Fung-onil today to prevent black spot. The ones by the house are days ahead of the ones in the yard.
Emme and James helped me plant pansies in the shed flower boxes. I posted the weekend party photos yesterday.
Cleaned up with the new leaf vac at Edgewater yesterday. Finally caught up with laundry and email correspondence today.

The rabbit has eaten all of the crocus in the front yard, but left the back yard alone. Even so, I sprayed all the spring flowers today with a garlic and egg infusion.

The crocus in the back are quite pretty, purple and white. I’ll have to plant some yellow this fall.

Also sprayed the azaleas with Fungi-Oil. We’ll see if this helps.

I really need to enrich the soil in the front. Big difference in the size and robustness of the flowers between the front and the back.

First of three plumbing classes last night at Cape Tech. Learned a lot. No hands-on this week, but we’ll get into blow torches next week.

Picking up the kids later today for their weekend at South Cape Resort. Why did I offer to do this?!

I had a $10 coupon and a $25 gift certificate to Ace Hardware, so splurged on a Toro Super Blower Vac.
Azaleas appear to have leaf spot fungus. I am devastated.

Definite signs of life in 3 of the 4 Miss Kim lilacs.
The rabbit appeared this morning, first time I’ve seen it this year.
Pansies starting to show up at supermarkets and nurseries.
Not sure about the small lavender plants, although the big ones look good.
All the roses are starting to leaf.
3 of the 4 azaleas aren’t looking too good.

It was bad enough yesterday going to Cambridge and back, but the weather is even worse today: driving rain and wind, and there are puddles everywhere.
At such times, it’s well to remember that gorgeousness like this is not that far away.

I fed the front garden. It being just too nasty to hook up a hose, I used dry Miracle-Gro and filled the new 2-gallon watering can from the rain barrel, which is not in place but collected enough water nonetheless.
Took the lid off the compost bin so it’ll get a good soaking.
Still no signs of life in the grasses. Hope I didn’t plant annuals!
Moss growing in the cold frame. Bad?

The seedlings in the cold frame survived two nights of below-freezing temps.
I crazy-glued the gazing ball to its pedestal today, will have to cover it in the winter.
Was very pleased to see that my tiny fir tree seems to be doing very well up in the corner of the back yard. It was originally planted in a clay pot and transplanted last year when the pot broke. I forget where it came from.
Missed the Home Show (again) this year. Was in Hyannis today, too, but I hadn’t written it down.
Fluffles scared Scully today.

Glad to see the rain today, really wanted to rest, it’s been a busy week, and a busy day planned for tomorrow.
Got to a task left over from last year: deep-pruned the small holly, which once again has black mold on the leaves. I’m hoping that the pruning technique Candy and I used on the front inkberries, which are healthy and beautiful this year, will work as well on the holly. Pruning from the inside-out is hard work and murder on the arms, but the results are impressive.
Meet with Kelly and Ed Reed yesterday to get their bid on siding at Edgewater and replacement of the front door and front stairs. Kelly is a natural teacher, she’d be great for IFG!
Did some weeding yesterday at Edgewater, dug up grass clumps that I’ve been wanting to clean up for quite some time.

Last Electrical class was last night. Some of us are looking forward to plumbing, which starts next week.