Can't wait!

The summer harvesting season is almost upon us. I have been eating one or two peas here and there for the last few weeks, but now the pease are blooming in earnest and hopefully we'll have enough for some stir fry soon - assuming I don't eat them all while watering the garden or pulling weeds!

Came home from business travel to find the first of the strawberries blushing red. I was wondering when to get my bird netting... I think the answer is now!

Here's a little view of the south side of the garden looking East.

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Happenings

• 32 sunflowers growing so far
  
• 4 Royal Purple bush beans breaking ground
  
• Peas blooming - continuing to eat a few here and there
  
• First strawberries ripening up
  
• Bearded Irises still blooming like crazy
  
• Tomatoes have survived hail and transplanting
  
• Garlic scapes doing their thing
  
• Harvested some lemon balm to freshen up my garbage disposal
  
• Oregano going crazy
  
• Basils outside looking good (hopefully they'll go crazy once the warm weather gets here)
  

Local Denizens

Some of the little uglies that live amongst the weeds.

Survived the Hail

I was so bummed over the shredded irises that I decided to post some pre-hail photos of them to cheer me up. Luckily, the plants themselves are doing fine. And it looks like the buds that will bloom in a few days are also fine.
Don't know the name of this one, but it is a lovely blue color. It could be "blueberry", but I may never know as all the ID tags went bye-bye when the dogs started pulling them out last year. Thank goodness for fencing (and thank God for a husband and son who like to build fences!!!)!

Among the plants that were not phased by the rain, hail and cold were the peas. Moments after taking this photo, I ate this one! Crunchy, sweet, yum!

Surprisingly, nearly everything did OK with the hail. Probably because, even though it hailed three days in a row, the hail actually only lasted 5 or 10 minutes each time and was promptly melted by reasonably warm rain. In fact, the trees are looking possitively lush with all this water they've been getting. Much better than I can do with a hose.

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• Five tomatoes in the ground
  
  
  
  • Tomato Vera (hollow, "pepper-like", tomato)
    
  • Classic Roma
    
  • Red Pear cherry
    
  • Mexico Midget cherry
    
  • Steak Sandwich
    
  
  
• A dozen or so more tomato babies inside under lights
  
• Sugar Snap Peas starting to bloom - and the first few peas already eated off of the vine
  
• Basils
  
  
  
  • All Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil that were in the ground died during the hail
    
  • 2 Purple Ruffles planted - both survived hail
    
  • Mammoth Basil survives
    
  • 2 Genovese Basils survive
    
  
  
• Other Herbs
  
  
  
  • 3 clumps of Lemon Balm - the small ones that were burried under tomato trash have caught up with the one that was cared for - all looking vigorous
    
  • Rosemary sitting around not doing anything - not looking poorly, but not growing - just hanging out and waiting for warm weather, I suspect
    
  • Oregano loves this weather
    
  • Sweet Marjoram loves the weather, too
    
  
  
• Strawberries - some are as big as my thumbnail
  
• About 10% of the garlic have scapes
  
• Sunflowers looking healthy and vigorous - sowed more the other day, but they aren't up yet.
  

Hail at the end of MAY!

Sadness is ... a lovely blue bearded iris shredded by hail - 3 days in a row. Where did the Desert go?! It's supposed to be getting into the 90's by now! Well, at least the basil and tomatoes survived, and the iris plants are all fine - just the flowers look sad. I'm glad I took lots of photos before the storms!

Royal Gala Apple Tree

Apple trees apparently like living here. I have several, both in the orchard and in the back yard. This one actually bloomed this year. Even if I never get fruit from them due to our climate, they are robust and green, and I am totally enjoying them. The bugs and the birds are enjoying them, too. In addition to this Royal Gala, I also have a Grand Gala and a September Wonder Fujii in the orchard - along with my unknown "Rescue" apple tree.

Garden is starting to take off!

I am certainly paying for staying out at sunset to take photos of the garden - the biting bugs had a field day feasting upon me!

Tiny strawberries are popping up everywhere. Several dozen so far - most smaller than my pinky fingernail. But still, they are strawberries, and they promise all sorts of sweet delights!I have both June bearing and ever bearing strawberry plants, but, alas, due to poor planning and poor labeling, I have no idea which are which. I am assuming the ones going crazy with the flowers right now are the June bearing, being that it is almost June...

The first peas are now blooming, so hopefully we will also soon be crunching on the first sweet, tender sugar snap peas. They don't last long when spring goes from 25 at night and days in the 50's to days in the 90's - inside of a week. Even the vines that have not attained full size should start going crazy trying to make peas before they die of heat exhaustion.

Probably I should have put more tomatoes in the ground last week, but with being sick and preparing to cross the mountains, I just didn't have it in me. I was, of course, quite pleased to find that the one tomato plant that I did put out survived fine and greened up well. So I am thinking that setting out tomatoes is going to be high on the list of things to do this week.

And, of course, the Oregano is trying to grow everywhere! I think I am actually glad that some of my transplants died while I was gone - as the ones that survived are doing almost too well. I guess I will be drying Oregano for winter use this year! All this from two scrawny little seedlings that almost didn't survive last summer.

Some accomplishments today:

• Deep watered established trees and all the non-tree plants (did not water the not-yet-established trees as it was very windy today - and I was concerned that with 50MPH winds, that watering them would loosen them up and let them be toppled over)
• Enjoyed the bearded irises
• Transplanted 1 tomato and 5 basil plants
• Planted a pack of Royal Burgundy bush beans
• Pulled some weeds - they are making a nice mulch around my rescue apple tree
• Pulled a few dozen porcupine quills out of one of my dogs, Max - he wasn't pleased, but he's much happier now.

Still haven't decided what to do with the black widdow who is living in one of my apple trees. I know where she is, so I am careful, but I am concerned for my grand daughter. I have an afinity for anything that gobbles up bugs in the garden, though, and her web is full of (nicely dead) bugs. Maybe I can relocate her to the far corners of the property? For the moment, though, I am letting her be...

Came home to find...

The scapes were barely reaching for the sun and the buds just beginning to fill out when I left my little plot of sand to spend the weekend in California. What a lovely site to return to. Bearded Irises are among my favorite flowers. They are heat and drought resistant, can take sub-freezing winters and have silky, delicate looking flowers in a rainbow of colors.

Trek Over the Sierra Nevadas

Traveled over the mountains to see my daughter graduate Magna Cum Laude from the university this weekend. On the way home, took some photos in the mountains.
I've always been fascinated by tree bark (and lichen, but that's a topic for another day). In the days before digital cameras and photo shop, one never knew if the photos would turn out to be anything useful. They are often taken under challenging lighting conditions and at the edges of a lens' capabilities. After the cost of film and the cost of developing, you were often left with over exposed tones of grey. But here we are, in the digital age, and with some color balancing and some cropping, here we are with some acceptable photos of pine tree bark after all. I like these two photos - it's almost as if I can feel the roughness of the surface.

The "To Do" List

Seems like no matter the good intentions, after months of planning and waiting for the weather, once agreeable weather actually shows up, it is all a race to get everything done for Spring Planting - and invariably, many things just never get done.

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Current List of Things to Do:

• Build a little alter in the garden area
• Feed the backyard trees
• Feed the front fence trees
• Continue the loosing battle against tumbleweed
• Clean up potting table
• Cut back all the yellow "ferny" weeds (and use as mulch)
• Sow more sunflower seeds
• Prep the main pole bean area
• Add dirt/compost to the sand
• Put up a trellis or string
• Pot up more toms and basil
• Start more seeds
• Toms
• Peppers
• Basils
• Herbs
• Buy/Order
• Hybrid Poplars
• Lavender plant

A Productive Weekend

Of course, there's always more to do, but I did at least accomplish something. Actually, my husband and my son accomplished a huge amount of work - for Mother's Day and for my Birthday (in December!) and for all holidays requiring presents for the next several years - they are building me an awesome chicken run and chicken coop!