The weeks have flown by and June
is right around the corner.
A pup sitting job took me away from home
for a long stretch, and I've been playing catch up in the garden.
There really is no place like home...
Believe it or not, we've gotten over 10 inches of rain
in May alone. Temperatures have been cooler than average,
which makes for great working conditions outside.
With more typical temps on the horizon,
I managed to fit a few tasks into my gardening schedule.
The pollinator beds are bursting at the seams
from all of the precipitation.
The pink yarrow has really taken off,
and shares space with purple coneflower,
daisies, rue and a huge parsley plant!
The other half of the bed hosts salvia, dianthus,
balloon flowers and baptisia.
I have an affinity for flowers in the blue family.
The nasturtiums are getting huge and spilling
out of the raised beds. They are planted
alongside the veg to attract pollinators.
These are a standard every spring in the garden.
They are edible too, if you like a peppery addition to your meals.
Aren't these sea oats a riot?
A friend shared these with me and I absolutely
adore them!
They require very little and come back each year.
I would love to find a spot where
they can just go wild!
There is a ton of milkweed coming up
in the chook run. This is the host plant
for the monarch butterfly.
Everything in this area is a volunteer.
Last year we had not one monarch caterpillar,
despite having two different varieties of milkweed growing.
It's the first time in more than 10 years
that we didn't host these critters.
I'll be on the lookout this year for them.
This monster is an elderberry bush.
When I first planted it,
I wasn't sure it was in the right spot,
because this is the northeast side of our property,
and it was underneath a canopy of trees.
It seems to be doing just fine, thank you very much.
It's started to flower,
so the hope is for berries to make a healing syrup.
These red cabbages were bought as starts
from our local organic farmers.
They are absolutely exploding out of the raised bed!
I make coleslaw out of red cabbage and carrots often,
so this will be one less thing to buy at the grocery store.
When I came home from my dog sitting job,
I couldn't believe how much the potatoes had grown!
We have Yukon Gold and Yukon Red planted
this year.
The fun part begins with uncovering the buried treasure
in a few weeks' time!
Lettuce, anyone?
This bed of lettuce has been feeding me for weeks,
and let me tell ya, this stuff is scrumptious!
This netted bag is hung around my neck,
and a harvesting-I-go!
On occasion, I share it with the chooks,
and they aren't complaining one bit!
I am blessed beyond measure.
Once a month I work as a volunteer at the Community Garden.
The garden has been overhauled this year,
being managed by one very dedicated and hard working
Master Gardener.
The harvests will go to feed others in our community.
It's such a worthwhile and rewarding project.
Thankful for the rain,
and especially for being home to enjoy it.
Gardening is a wonderful way to feed one's soul.
May you be thoroughly filled up.
