Rainy Day Musings

We've jumped ahead soooo quickly since my last post in early May! It's a spring I can't ever remember experiencing before. The PJM Rhododendron bloomed along with the Magnolia. Early tulips opened with the daffodils; the cherry and plum tree are a flutter of blossom; close on their heels are lilac and Red Chestnut. Finally, days are warm enough to sit out and relax listening to an anthem of birds and bees. At least two blue jay families have set up home nearby, also two crow families but sadly, the one tiny male hummingbird distinctive by his slight size, has not convinced a female to join him in matrimony. He tries his heart out, swooping on his dare devil flights up and down, but I guess, we will just have to wait and see.

Ignoring his attention!

The beds are almost finished having their spring tidy up, but I am a little perplexed by a fern in the side bed. That's the photo in the header and if anyone would like to give an opinion on this unique scape (there are four or five of them) half deep green with the top almost white. I would appreciate that.

The tomato plants have grown well and we are glad we waited a few weeks longer to start them inside or they would be far too leggy. The're just about the right size now, so managed to get ten in the ground before our three days of rain set in. The rest will have to wait.

I've written before about our experience with late blight about four years back and how we lost so much of our tomato crop. So, with guidance and suggestions from Niki Jabbour and other blog friends, we are planting our so far faithful, Sub-Artic Plenty and new this year, Mountain Merit, Oregon Spring, Torento and Jasper. These should all crop early. Mexico Midget has always taken a long time to germinate but there was no success from the seeds this year, started inside, and out. Very hardy against late blight I might add. I love that little tomato and so does our puppy Chief, so we hope to get some reseeds from the garden itself. My original packet came from The Tomato Man via Niki...thanks you guys.

The raised beds with the lexan cover and sheet plastic cover, have kept up with their greens supply so we have not had to buy any so far. Even the radishes plumped up well this year.

Todays Rainy day Photo

I was so looking forward to the lovely dwarf cosmos I planted in the back raised bed and boy did it germinate well. Did you ever notice how much it looks like dill? Well we had a good laugh over that, as it was not cosmos in the raised bed at all. My foggy memory seems to think someone advised to plant dill when it is cooler and I must have thought, why not give it a try in the raised bed and plant it out if that works. Well, it did germinate. So you might try that if you find you can't grow dill as I had very poor success with it in the past.

The herbs are a wonderful addition to our salads now, along with the green garlic and baby Egyptian onions. Lots of zing along with the mustards and radish. But on rainy days, I don't feel like a crisp salad, so, we make a pesto out of whatever is going, with the usual cheese, nuts and oil, tossed with a bowl of pasta and a squeeze of lemon...hot and comforting.

Here's to a warm, wonderful June and a warm smile from Johnny Jump Up and his orange Pansy friends.

An update...the fern is full of spores and is called an Interrupted Fern! Only the mid area carries the spores which after being distributed, that part of the frond falls off, leaving top and bottom and no middle. Interrupted!