Brr.
I'm not sure what happened to the warm, sunny (albeit windy) weather we've had. It feels like someone flipped a switch that sent us back to March. It is overcast and 5 degrees this morning. The furnace just kicked in. I dug out winter socks and put them on. After days of cold drinks and sunscreen, I want nothing more than hot chocolate and a cozy sweater right now.
There is a welcome drizzle outside but the overnight temps for the next 14 days is forecast to remain well below 10 degrees. (Daytime temps forecast to be in the teens.) If that's the case, planting the tomatoes and peppers might have to be put off until early June. It has been years since that has been necessary! It will also delay the planting of beans, squash, and cucumbers.
In the last few days, sunflowers, alyssum, candytuft, bachelor buttons, cosmos, kohlrabi, Green Beauty snow peas, zucchini (Fordhook), Early Prolific Yellow squash, and Swiss chard seeds were planted. A few lavatera (Pink Blush), kale (assorted varieties), dahlia (Unwin's Mix), and cabbage (Copenhagen and Jersey Wakefield) seedlings were planted around the garden as well. The dill (Bouquet) is about an inch tall and looking good. A number of potato leaves have poked up in their grow bags. The cooking peas (Swedish Red and Gold Harvest) have come up with gusto.
The morning I began hardening off the tomatoes, I was startled to see a small deer quietly nibbling on the strawberry plants. I scolded her from the step, but she merely looked up for a moment, then resumed her nibbling. She decided she had had her fill when I approached her, turning and sauntering back toward the street. R. set out stakes with scare tape throughout the strawberry bed that afternoon and, fortunately, the plants have since bounced back.
Deep, distinctive tracks indicate that a moose walked through the corner of the garden patch in the east garden a few nights ago. It squished one garlic plant and narrowly missed another.
Several small crows have been frequent visitors since we set out the bird bath. In addition to drinking from it, they've been using it as a dip tank. (More later, as that really deserves its own blog post. I hope to capture pictures to illustrate what we've seen them doing!)
Bees, bees, everywhere. That makes me happy. Wonderful to see so many after several years of having been able to count the number spotted on one hand. Yesterday alone, I saw 6 big, fuzzy, mellow bumblebees. Three of them had to be escorted out of the house.
The kitties have been enjoying the double-decker hammock chairs that R. put together for them. They are tucked against the lilac bush, in the shade. Here, the cats can snooze or supervise us while we work outside. The day R. set the chairs out, Lou decided to investigate...
Her sister was sleeping in that one, so...
In she went!
Bea, tucked away and sound asleep.
May began with the arrival of some fun snail mail. Last month, I mailed tomato seeds to a lady in Ontario who was seeking new varieties (one, in particular) to try in her garden. As a thank-you, she sent me a greeting card with 3 pepper varieties enclosed, all of them new to me: Ají Escabeche (Peru), Padron (Spain), and Espelette (the Basque region). An unexpected gesture that really made my day! It is too late in the season to grow them this year, but I am eager to try them in the future.
