Peony

6-8-08

Chives

6-8-08
That's sage blooming in the background.

Iris

6-12-08

6-8-08

Early June Notes

Double Yield Cucumber

I haven't had much time to post (or garden) lately, so here are some notes on what's been happening over the last few weeks.

-I'm not sure when our last frost was. On May 1 there was frost in areas around the county, but I'm pretty sure we didn't get any in our garden. If we actually didn't get any frost in May, as I suspect, then our last frost might have been in the first week of April.

-May was only slightly cooler than average and quite dry.

-We are in the middle of a heatwave right now. This is day 3 of 90 degrees with at least 2 more to come.

-Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get everything planted before the heatwave. Thursday night I rigged up the trellis netting for the pole beans and I planted the beans last night. I also got cucumbers, summer squash, broccoli, thai basil and a few tomato plants in last night. Tonight I hope to finish the tomatoes and basil and plant as many peppers as I can.

-Most of my plants this year came from Black Brook Farm, who were selling at the co-op the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Our neighbor George starts his own plants from seed and he came through with peppers, tomatoes, squash, and one eggplant. I also picked up jalapenos and basil at the Regional Market this morning.

-After the vegetables are planted, we've got sunflower and zinnia seed itching to get in the ground, as well as some new perennials. I also need to prune the lilac bush.

-Strawberry alert! The local news was abuzz this past week that the first strawberries are ready for picking. Cobblestone Valley says they should have their organic berries ready in the coming week, which is slightly early for them. Since I have more free time with my June class being canceled, maybe I can make a weekly trip down for a season that might be four weeks long this year! Will trade berries for babysitting!

-Peonies bloomed this week.

-Someone is eating my peas. I've had a good-sized Hav-a-Hart trap set the last couple nights. I swear it was not tripped this morning but when I just went out to snap some photos, the trap was sprung and it was empty. And now I have both rows of peas eaten instead of just one. This means war. Or a fence.

Allium and Phlox

5-28-08

I know there are lots of varieties of phlox, but don't have a clue what these behind the allium are. Anyone know?

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Arisaema triphyllum

This was one of the first plants transplanted from Avon when we moved here in 2005. It was a rough transplant and barely came back in 2006. 2007 was much better, but the flower still didn't last very long. This year the plant began flowering not long before this was taken on 5/18 and it's still going strong. It's in a nice shady spot up front, but also a spot that gets little rain. I'm sure it would like a bit more to drink, but it's nice to see it doing well. I find this purple-striped flower both fascinating and haunting.

Leopard's Bane

Doronicum orientale 'Magnificum'
5/11/08

The Leopard's Bane was already spent by this past weekend, but it was at its peak for Mother's Day.