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Given our recent deluge of rain, it may seem that the word dry should not be included in this article, but last week I promised that I would review my observations of the growing season to date.

Following a rather mild and dry winter, April brought us unusually warm and rather dry weather. I live in a normally cold spot and did not record a killing frost after April 9, which is unprecedented in my memory.

May followed with cooler than normal temperatures and again, enough, but no surplus moisture. That trend continued into the second half of June when really hot, rather normal, temperatures appeared followed by the flooding rains of this past week.

The above scenario produced winners and losers as occur during any growing season. It has been a long time since I remember such a stellar performance from the spring perennials and flowering trees and shrubs. The ingredients that destroy spring blooms are frosts, high temperatures and heavy rain. They were absent for the start of this growing season.

Perennial decline and mortality was also limited by the warm and dry winter.

Some annuals may be the losers in this spring's gardens. The April weather sent people to the greenhouses looking for annuals earlier than normal.

Annuals in April are fine if you let those that need high heat there and wait for warmer temperatures. Unfortunately, those really warm temperatures necessary for many annuals did not arrive until June, long after many such plants were in the garden.

Our propensity to mulch as we plant and to water any plant that looks unhappy only increased the problems for our high heat loving annual selections. Unhappiness reports came from both the flower and vegetable gardens. I have seen a world of difference in the heat lover's enthusiasm in the last several weeks.

On the plus side, the cool temperatures smiled on new plantings of shrubs, trees, perennials and many annuals. Slower top growth from cooler air temperatures aided root development.

A mild winter had less insecticidal characteristics than an extra blanket one. We had the former and insects got a head start this spring. The downpours of the past week should have drowned a lot of the little villains, but I would expect a bigger war with insects this growing season.

I need to add a few comments on containers. There seem to be two schools of thought. One wants a heavy soil and limited drainage that requires less frequent watering. The other is just the opposite. I let you guess which one was the best theory last week.

Perhaps the above will help you understand what you saw unfold this spring. It is not meant to be guidelines because next year will be different, but if I have any say I would take a repeat anytime.

The longest day is past, the days are getting shorter and yet the heat of summer has just arrived. I am often fascinated that our hottest temperatures occur in the six weeks or so as the sun begins its slow journey south, or away from us.

Likewise, the same is true in the winter as our coldest temperatures usually occur just when the lengthening days give us hope that the sun is headed our way again, bringing springtime. The answer, of course, is that the earth's temperatures change very slowly as we march through our four seasons.

On this date one can look back and examine what has happened to date in this growing season, or review the gardening opportunities remaining, as we move through summer into fall and winter. I will do the latter today and perhaps follow up with comments on the spring gone next week.

In the vegetable garden we still have plenty of time to duplicate most of our spring plantings, thus extending our harvest season. You might want to check the days to harvest on things like fall squash, pumpkins, eggplants and watermelons but I think there is still time if you hurry and we have a normal growing season.

For the spring vegetables not listed in the past paragraph you need to act soon but have another week or so before hurry needs to kick in.

Some of the cool season vegetables now are between seasons. I'm talking about the cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower family, peas, spinach and lettuce. They will do quite well as a fall crop if planted after the fourth of July. Again, consult the days to harvest and count back from the date of expected cold weather.

Doing that, I am planting my sauerkraut cabbage shortly after July 4, but waiting until August 20 for turnips. Peas should work if in the ground in early August followed several weeks later by lettuce and spinach.

On the ornamental side, some of the heat loving annuals are just now wiping the frowns off their faces. I am amazed at the wonderful reports I have gotten over the years from late plantings, especially with plants like flowering vinca and the known tropicals.With perennial plantings, the length of the garden hose and/or any rain that comes our way will determine our enthusiasm. I usually water until they have experienced several rains and then my perennials are on their own.

One of the prime reasons to consider summer planting of perennials is our habit to buy and plant what we see in bloom. If you find blooming plants now, most likely you can expect that they will shine in your garden in late June or early July next year.

As fall approaches, and my target date there is August 20 or when the rain returns if it is a dry year, one should think about dividing spring blooming perennials. That period is also a great time to add new plants to your gardens. Early fall planting produces better root establishment than spring planting.

Looking at the date, one can begin to retire the garden tools to the storage shed or proclaim "I have just begun to garden." The choice is yours.

Successful gardening in grandmother's era employed crop rotations, plant diversity, specific plant groupings, lots of straw-laden manure, and probably a few old hens for insect and disease control. I'll never forget, as a child, watching the old hens dash toward any webworm who lost his footing and plunged to the ground.

As we moved into the post World War II era, chemicals gained supremacy as fertilizers, weed killers and insect control introduced what is often called 'modern agriculture'.

In a few years, some voices questioned the wisdom of this movement, but it wasn't until about 1985 that the drive toward chemical dependency slowed. The trend shifted to try to let nature work, aided by chemicals only when needed, and in harmony with nature. Integrated pest management is now a mainstay in agriculture production.

At the time I was operating a rather large orchard and produce business and in several years was able to slice my chemical bill in half. I feel a bit sheepish now admitting that chemical controls in the early 1980's slightly exceeded ten percent of our gross income.

In the last ten years or so, science has advanced to the point where modification of the genetic base of the plant is possible. We have created field crops that now resist insects without chemicals and desired plants that ignore the effects of some common contact herbicides.

While many herald the resulting diminished use of chemicals, many others fear this technology. I won't offer an opinion on what some distracters call Franken-science but will point out that it is now a mainstay of commercial agriculture in this country.

More recently, the research has begun to shift from bigger flowers, bigger yields and what have you to the actual workings of nature.In one trial, researchers planted 250 varieties of heirloom peas. To their surprise, 13 of these varieties exhibited natural weed killing characteristics. No word yet on what this did to yield or whether I would want those peas on my supper table.

Walnut trees are notorious for killing plants, but recently it has been discovered that lima beans will thrive in their presence. Interestingly, the flavor of the bean changes slightly.

A third example, reported in a nursery publication, shows that the flower lantana offers weed control of members of the milkweed family when planted together.

Much research today is focusing on helping the plant help itself. There is also a compelling body of evidence forming that plants communicate one to another. For example, it has been shown that an insect infested plant can inform its neighbors of its problem and that they will build natural defenses to protect themselves.

The future may bring a closer working with nature. Is this progress or are we just mastering what grandmother knew when she left her earthly gardens fifty years ago?

A few tugs on one of the largest weeds in my daylily garden yielded a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Nestled between the disappearing weed and a large daylily clump was a yellow box turtle.

He did not seem to mind my infringement and I lingered a while remembering turtle and child interactions from many years ago. I also could not help but contrast the turtle's composure with that of many of the humans I encounter.

I wondered if the turtle's daily newspaper is filled with as many stories about coping with stress as have appeared recently in our daily newspapers. I doubt it.

The turtle showed no indication that he was living large as the reports claim we Americans seem determined to do. Perhaps there are no turtles with the surname Jones who need keeping up with. He seemed quite content with the pace the garden invites us to have.

I am pleased and somewhat dismayed with the frequency that plant shoppers express that they feel like kids in a candy store when they go into a greenhouse. I am pleased that they have found a relief for the stress in their lives. I'm dismayed that their lifestyle runs with such constant intensity.

A recent conversation with professional in the medical field yielded the following confession. When she returns home from work she immediately heads to the garden. She pulls a few weeds or deadheads a few perennials.

Within a few minutes she says it is safe to go into the house and she has no fear that she will bite the head off the first person she encounters.

Another report phrased the same thing quite differently. She said that if you visited her garden and couldn't find a weed or a flower needing attention her stress level was up. If you could spot a few weeds or other jobs waiting life was good.In the garden, time seems to stand still. How often do a few minutes in the garden turn into hours without us even noticing?

Our gardens are our space. With your hands you can craft that space to be yours. It is something you can see, smell, touch and feel. I guess we could also add taste without too much imagination. Working the brain is wonderful, but I sense it quickly leads to stress if we never take time to enjoy our basic senses. Our well being demands a mix.

Gardening gives me the opportunity to forget about time, to establish and define my space, to escape the rat race and to keep stress from affecting my well being.

I will quickly admit there are other activities and hobbies that can bring the same results. My point is that you need something or some things to do it. Gardening is one of my some things.

Plants are just one of the components that build the successful garden. You already know my position on the role of fertilizer and water from the garden hose.

A conversation this week brought two more garden components to the forefront. They were mulch and soil amendments.

It seems that the questioner had the opportunity to get some free mulch. A friend of her brother or something like that knew a tree trimmer who was looking for a home for some of his chippings. Was this a goldmine or a problem?

Several issues quickly appear. First, when you use fresh or green material as a mulch, the aging or decaying process will suck nitrogen from the soil. Thus, fresh mulch may force you to increase your nitrogen levels to compensate.

Second, we probably have no way of knowing what is being chipped. If he were trimming walnut trees you would get the full killing power that you get from a walnut tree in your yard. Most of you know that walnut tree roots give off a rather effective plant killer to promote the survival chances of this slow growing tree.

Third, if the grindings included material from diseased trees there is a chance that you can bring additional disease problems into your landscape. Many of these may be species specific, but we are dealing with common plants found in the landscape.

Mulch purchased from a replicable supplier should be aged and handled in a way to remove the risks and do the job intended, while gradually adding compost to the soil. In fact, a primary source of wood for mulch is the grinding of old shipping pallets.

In the second instance, surplus mushroom soil, complements of her minister, had landed in her garden. The source probably has additional potential, but I'll limit it to saying I am not available for pastoral counseling. The after effects of the effort were that she was able to salvage one plant from the area before they all died. She has hopes that it will recover.

Mushrooms, I think, are grown in mix of soil, hay and manure. This combination is very high in nutrients. Soil coming directly from the mushroom house is so high, in fact, that it can prove deadly to normal garden plants.Aged mushroom soil is an excellent form of compost to add in limited or reasonable quantities. The aging process, I believe, should be at least a year. I frequently hear of garden disasters linked to this soil amendment.There is a simple test one can use to test any soil amendment you are adding to your garden. Tomato plants are very sensitive to soil fertility. If a tomato plant survives a week (I think it is three days in the industry) in your proposed soil amendment you will have no problems.

The people producing bagged soil go through a lot of tomato plants. Be careful that you don't join the carnage by using poor quality mulch and soil amendments.