I just got back from visiting my daughter, her husband and two of my granddaughters in Italy. The trip lasted for three weeks so my time schedule had a chance to get used to Italy time. Coming back to Eastern Standard Time has proved to be challenging. So I’m still catching up on sleep after suffering from jet lag. But even over in Italy I had a small problem sleeping in the form of a cuckoo. No not a cuckoo clock, an actual cuckoo, apparently they live in northern Italy and one lived right outside my daughter’s apartment. Everyday at sun up and sun down that sucker would be outside with a constant cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo, you get the idea. So to say I’m sleep deprived is an understatement. 

There is a six hour time differential between here and Italy and I’m finding I can compensate for the time change about an hour per day, being able to stay out an hour later and sleep an hour longer in the morning. It’s real easy getting up in the morning, but by three or four in the afternoon I’m ready for bed. Hopefully by this weekend I’ll be back on Eastern Standard Time schedule again as I have a lot of catching up to do around my house.

 Practicing No Mow May was easy as I wasn’t home for most of it, but now my lawn is like a hay field and hopefully it will be dry sometime this weekend to mow. On the subject of rain, how crazy has this spring been? We haven’t had frost in most of Sullivan County since late April, but the weather has been so cool that it just doesn’t feel like spring. Sure we had a couple really nice days here and there, but the constant cooler weather has been a challenge getting plants now that people are finally starting to think about planting. Usually the weekend before Memorial Day weekend is the busiest of the spring but the cold and rainy weather has put the brakes on planting. Monday and Tuesday this week were cool, but we got to see the sun and everyone came right out of the woodwork. Monday was like a typical spring Saturday for us with the bright sun bringing in the customers. 

At the time I’m writing this, the weather for the weekend looks fickle with the chance for rain and cooler temperatures. We just haven’t seen a real warmup yet, even though we haven’t gotten one of those surprise late May frosts. Yes, there was a frost warning that many of you saw Monday night into Tuesday morning, but that was for further upstate and Claryville. I had forty-one degrees in Eldred Tuesday morning and Monticello had forty, so no frost in sight. I could have planted my garden before I left for Italy, but I didn’t just in case there was a frost, which there wasn’t. 

Now that the weeds are a foot tall, it’s time to get rid of them and get the garden planted. Tomatoes and peppers, I’ll use starter plants for but cucumbers, pumpkin, peas and beans I’ll just directly sow right in the garden. My wife planted some potatoes before we left, and they are coming up nicely right now. I wasn’t worried about them with a frost as potatoes won’t sprout up until it’s time. Cold crops like broccoli and cabbage could have been planted before I left too, but last year I had a big problem with cabbage worms and didn’t want to plant them until I could keep an eye on them. Cabbage worms just seem to appear overnight and if not dealt with quickly can ruin your plants. 

Surveying my yard this week, I noticed peach leaf curl on my peaches and nectarines that I need to spray for fungus and disease. I have something chewing my apple and pear tree leaves, so they will need some spray too. I have some neem oil that will serve both purposes, I just need the time to do it when it is not expected to rain for twenty-four hours. I should be caught up with my yard projects by June and I better hurry up, because June is next week already.