June 10 Friday Farming

Oh gosh guys. We're not even to the nice weather part of summer and I want to dig my heels into today and not let the day go by. June 10, already? Why must May and June go so quickly?

A few bullet points about farming this week, before I forget them:

• Spaghetti squash sprouted on Monday; all of the seeds are germinating right now. 
• I busted a gopher in the garden on Monday morning! I walked back there to water (it was really warm at the beginning of this week), and the little bugger was nibbling on some sugar snap peas. I aimed my hose at him and watched him jump through the opening in the chicken wire. You know, the loop part which is part of the chicken wire. Not like an actual gap in the wiring. The MFing Gopher when through the wire. 
• I had home-grown spinach and buttercrunch lettuce in a dinner salad on Monday. I tossed in a bit of cilantro too, which added a nice kick.
• We added chives to our roasted red potatoes for dinner on Sunday. Yum! I need to find additional chives uses. 

Alright, on to the photo evidence.Let me preface these photos by saying that while Sunday and Monday were in the high 70's/ low 80's, Tuesday onward has been cold, rainy spring weather. These photos aren't great, mostly because it was drizzling and cold out. I couldn't tell if a photo was suitable because of the rain on the view screen.

I love the red tips of the spirea. 

The co-planted spinach and pepper plant seem to be working well together.

Ditto the coplanted pepper and cilantro.

The ecchinachea in the pot on the front porch is doing okay.

The last of my seed-starting attempts. Visible here is larkspur, a single zinnia and purple basil.

The allium is starting to bloom. These big purple poufs of flower are cool. I think their height will make great cut flowers.

To the right of the stairs, clockwise: Iris, daylilly, burning bush, crysanthemum and sedum.

To the left of the stairs, from left to right: aster, red twig dogwood, tulip, salvia, daisy, Iris, aster, spirea, daylilly, iris and allium. This, and the previous bed, will be reworked this weekend and then we'll bury the sprinkler hose.

I have a lot of irises around our house. Some are splits from my parents house at the lake which I planted 18 months ago, the rest are from my friend Shannon which I planted last July. I think all of the second-year corms are producing flowers, while the plants from Shannon will get established this year and bloom next.

Many of my neighbors have beautiful spring bulbs planted around the bases of their boulevard trees. I tried to join the club with crocus, tulips and alium but was pretty unsuccessful. I'll leave the bulbs in the ground for another year to see what happens. A mystery occurred with the single allium I had blooming out front. It was upright when I came home but was laying on the ground after dinner. 

Closer inspection reveals that the bulb was pulled out of the ground. And a robin's egg. Wonder what happened?

The grasses in the powerbox bed are taking off.

The last of the tulips.

Autumn Joy sedum.

This is a lavender plant. I thought for sure it was dead, but it seems to be coming back okay. Remember this plant for later, when I show you the other lavender plant in our landscaping.

From the other side.

Prairie flower? Returning after I was sure I'd killed it!

Counter clockwise, from the top: reed grass, irises, daylilly, bee balm, blue fescue grass and Russian Sage.

I finally planted annuals in the pots on the back patio. These pots also have gladiolus in the center, so I tried to keep my Kramer-hardy petunias around the edge.

The garage bed, from left to right: lilac, iris corms, lupine, iris corms, tulip bulbs, delphinium, clematis, hosta, sweet peas, lilly, iris corms, Autumn Joy sedum and muscari.

I threw seeds in for hollyhock earlier this spring. Since this plant is pretty uniform along the wall, I'm going to assume it's the hollyhock seedlings.

Lilacs.

And in the garden? The grass clippings are brown, which makes it easier to see what's green!

The in-ground spinach is taking a while to get established.

Carrots are growing.

Lettuce! I think after this weekend's nicer weather we'll be eating a lot of home-grown salads!

The Juliet tomato has a blossom on it! I don't think much will come of it, but still, a blossom!

Early Girl tomato:

Eggplant in the back, more hot pepper plants in the front. Walla Walla Sweet onions to the right.

On a terrace below, more hot peppers. I'm determined to can salsa this year.

A summer squash has germinated:

The potatoes are also finally pushing up. I wonder how often I should keep hilling them?

Spaghetti squash is germinating well.

Sugar snap peas are beginning to trellis. I planted a second set of seeds this week. Notice anything to the right? Yep, still no sign of the asparagus. I wonder what happened?

More pots, on the steps near the driveway. These are full of shade-loving plants, mainly a trailing lobelia and pansies.

Remember earlier in this post I said to pay attention to the lavender in the power box bed? Well this is the other lavender. DJ accidentally snow-blowed it last winter. Amazingly, it seems that cutting back the plant makes it grow better!

Twist and shout endless summer hydrangea. Makes me smile.

DJ's "Fern Gully" is growing back well. These ferns are really cool to watch unfurl! I think we might have to plant more.

More hosta are coming back.

I think these aliums are so cool too.

Things are regenerating in the driveway bed, after our windstorm. I removed and relocated the muscari, tulips and daffodils.

Millennium Delphinium.

Lupine.

I also transplanted all of the herbs I've been growing inside to along here. The tall things? I pulled one out, thinking it was a daffodil bulb. Not a daffodil; apparently I forgot that I'd planted garlic out here too. Oops!

Across the driveway, the raspberries are getting established. I wonder how big they'll get this year?

Speaking of plants which are getting big, check out the chrysanthemum! I'll trim it back about the middle of June, which will help the existing shoots grow bushier, thus producing more fall flowers.

What's on tap for the weekend? finishing cleaning up spring bulbs in the beds. Burying sprinkler hose and planting more soil pep. One last stab at trying to find and install a cherry tomato plant; everywhere in town seems to be out.

Yay, garden is 98% in!