![Dance :dance:](./images/smilies/eusa/dance.gif)
We had our first vax shots on Friday, and didn't do much because we both had some minor side effects and didn't want to push it. (Sean had to work the day after, but he's already decided to take some time off after the second since the Moderna tends to have stronger side effects at the second dose.)
We did make a trip to the one local nursery Saturday to pick up the rosemary starter. It wasn't the one it was supposed to be (it was roasting instead of the barbeque), but since the rosemary we covered isn't yet showing signs of life we bought the variant they had for now. I may just get the one Sean wanted online, as it's available from multiple sources. I'm going to try to source it more locally if I can. We also picked up a few other starters: a sauce basil, mint, parsley, and a sweet yellow pepper. I'm a bit nervous about the mint, but am considering planting it in a buried bigger terracotta pot I have. We almost bought some catmint too (which was much more mature in pots), but I was trying to remember if we had seeds or not, so we held off.
We lifted all the winter covers with their oak leaf stuffings because the low 30s temp predicted later this week has since been changed to 40s, with a possible dip to mid 30s next Friday night. We'll see how that goes. The ornamental basil is once again surprising us in that it survived. We also have NO IDEA why we're seeing onions we long ago gave up on that happened to be under the baskets. Some of the shallower planted garlic is also still pushing out, and I'm unsure if I should leave it be or not.
We also put the cloche together, and stored the starters we bought under there. I'm a bit nervous about the pepper, but tonight will be warm. Tomorrow I plan to move the two tomatoes outside with these (very worried they need repotting), as well as some jugs of rain barrel water we still have leftover to act as more heat sinks that can radiate back out at night if it does get frosty. I haven't yet decided if we'll definitely be planting all the warm loving starters there yet, or just leaving them in their pots until after the predicted frost cut off. I've been watching predicted temps daily.
![Image](https://www.growingingardner.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/PutTheClocheTogether.jpg)
Unfortunately, the Ozark witch-hazel is already too big to fit under there, so I kept it near the garage for the heat sink, but it seems to be doing well so far. They're not as cold-hardy as the Americana, so I'd been keeping it in the garage by the big window until the rains the other day when it was warm when I brought it out so it could get more sun as well as some of the rain.
In that image above, you can also see a lot of burdock. That was where our original compost heap was, and not knowing any better back then, I had tossed the berry tips I'd cut off in the heap, and am still paying for that mistake since!
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon/lol.gif)
Now I know to put any burdock berries in the baking bins.
Two of the blueberries are budding, but the third just...isn't or it's still too early to tell.
We also had some raspberry bush surprises that I'm waiting to see if I can trace the roots back to see if they just happened to come from dropped fruit or are connected to the mother but much farther away than I would expect. The mother plant is not doing much of anything, and I don't know if it's because it's just old, or I didn't prune it well.
The baby of doom that rooted through the low rock wall exploded in growth since last week's rains and warmer temps. I can't wait much longer before removing it, and putting the Ozark where it was. (The parent is the darker green plant you can see behind it--my heavy pruning last year apparently triggered it to send out panic roots. I'm just glad they're a shallow rooter even though I'm worried I might miss some under the rocks.)
That one cold snap we had with the snow and ice seems to have killed off many early shrub buds--hollies and lilac in particular. There are leaves aplenty on the lilac, so there may be hope yet, but the hollies' buds seem rather far gone. The transplant guides all said the lilac could be moved after bloom time, so now I don't know what to do if it doesn't make any new flower buds. It really needs to be moved so I can work on the walkway along the east side of the house along the driveway.
Many, many, many volunteer invasives this year. (One example is the autumn olive in the image above between baby of doom and the parent plant.) It's going to be a big headache for us. I'm sure many were just tiny last year and we missed them with the slacking off we did.
![Whistle :whistle:](./images/smilies/eusa/whistle.gif)