It is a chilly, overcast, drizzly morning. The kind of day that makes you want to turn up the thermostat but you resist doing so because, well, it's June. I've donned a sweatshirt, a pair of winter socks, and have a throw around my shoulders. The kettle is on for a cup of tea. It feels like a day to focus on coziness.
Yesterday was another matter: sunny, clear, and warm. I took pictures early in the day and the sun was so bright, some of the pictures seem washed out. I'll post them, anyway, as an update.
The north garden. The beans, dry peas, and White Scallop squash are mostly up. Some zinnias just poked through, and wispy evidence of carrot seed germination has appeared. Only one zucchini has sprouted, and I'm impatiently waiting for the others to catch up.
EM-Champion tomatoes. This variety is determinate and on the early side. The first flower has opened on one of the plants.
Some more determinate varieties of tomatoes, as well as 3 varieties of beans I'm trying to refresh/grow out.
Dwarf Beauty King tomatoes. These look like they're going to be compact!
Petitec (also called, "Doucet's Petit Bec") tomato. A determinate heirloom that originated in Quebec. I purchased the seeds from the PEI Seed Alliance. It is early and the first variety to put out flowers (hard to see in the picture - click to enlarge). I'm beginning to think I should have planted more of these.
This bed is a bit of a mish-mash: Burpee's Butterbush squash (a small butternut variety), some Bonbon calendula (dwarf), a sunflower (Taiyo), and a volunteer asparagus that R. thought he dug up and moved with the other asparagus two years ago!
Clear Pink Early tomato (determinate) in the bottom right corner, the cabbage bed in the middle, and Jacob's Cattle beans (dry/bush) in the bed beyond that.
Clear Pink Early tomatoes, Ruckle (dry/bush), garlic, and carrots. This garlic came up as volunteers this Spring in the south garden. We moved them to a raised bed to make room for pea planting in the garden.
The onion and beet (Detroit Red) bed in the front, and a mix (by mistake) of Coco Jaune de Chine and Ruckle beans (both dry/bush) and Emalia tomatoes (determinate) in the bed beyond that. Garlic patch to the left.
The beds along the driveway. Galeux D'Eysines squash (C. maxima) and a few sunflowers growing in the bed at the front.
Loulou loves to explore the garlic patch when we're working outside.
The potato patch.
The cucumbers are just now coming up. Two Early Annie tomatoes (determinate) and Loulou in the middle. Water barrels to the left.
One of the Monomakh's Hat tomato plants (indeterminate) has a flower. It looks like these are going to be large tomatoes, indeed.
There are a few spots in the bean beds and garlic patch where things didn't germinate. Nasturtium seeds to the rescue!
The pea patch (south garden).
One of the containers of VOLUNTEER garlic bulbils that R. found sprouted in the north garden when he was tilling. They are robust and doing well. These are in addition to the bulbils I deliberately planted in pots in the garden last autumn. Abundance!
Speaking of shade, a spot to rest for us humans, too.
Tomatoes (Andean and Reinhard's Chocolate Heart - indeterminates), beans (Ireland Creek Annie - dry/bush), chard, calendula, and lime mint on the south side.
The Pineapple sage I overwintered (and moved/worked/tripped/cleaned around all winter) in the plant room did not enjoy the hardening off process this Spring. I questioned whether it would bounce back when replanted, but it did - in partial shade, no less.
Orangelo Thyme. I bought the seeds on impulse, even though it was a splurge in terms of price. When the packet said 25 seeds inside, it meant 25 seeds. Tiny black pinpricks of seeds! LOL! Don't cough or sneeze while sowing! I managed to get 6 to germinate and after much babying, they are doing well. The scent is pleasant. You can detect the light citrus and the overall scent strikes me as more mellow/softer than your average thyme. Maybe because the seedlings are still relatively small and tender? Time will tell.
The sage came back beautifully after spending the winter in place. Winters here, for better or worse, are not nearly as cold as they used to be.
I did a trade last week with a woman I met through a social media gardening group. I gave her some dry beans and tomato and herb transplants, and she gave me transplants of chives and lovage (lovage pictured below) and eggs from her hens. She and her family live on a half section (320 acres) out of town. Needless to say, she has a large garden, along with chickens (heritage varieties, I expect) and cattle. The eggs were lovely and ranged in colour from light tan to olive green! We hope to connect later in the season to do another trade and to natter excitedly about the obscure heirloom varieties we're growing. (I discovered early on that you either "get it" or you don't, where this interest is concerned. Those who don't just smile politely and hope you'll change the subject soon. Ha!)
I'll have to ponder whether there is a spot on our property that would work for lovage. I have wanted to grow it for years, but it is a perennial and gets very large. Hmm...
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