Living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest has its challenges. This spring has been one of them. Record lows. Record rainfall. Scarcity of sunshine. It’s reminded me more of winter than summer. And the results in the garden have been a bit disappointing.
First, I babied and nurtured around 75 seedlings. They grew into healthy looking plants. I did all the right things with hardening them off, getting them used to living outside. I planted them on non-rainy day (a rare thing these days), and hoped for the best.
Instead, I got the worst. More rain. Rain in buckets. Rain like it rains in winter. And more cold. I mistakenly thought that waiting until deep into May would keep my plants safe. Not so.
After almost all my carefully tended young plants died, I went off to the nursery to gather some more (so much for saving money by starting from scratch at home!)…and replanted.
It all hasn’t been a lost, though. My potatoes are growing great. I’ve got them planted in buckets in the driveway, adding dirt or wood shavings or straw as they grow. They’ve already made it half way up the bucket. I’m thinking of ways to extend the sides of the buckets up, to give them more growing room (which will give me more potatoes).
And I’ve somehow got volunteer catnip growing on my balcony (I suspect my cat had something to do with this, although he won’t fess up).
My sunflowers are about 2 feet off the ground…but they’re so tiny…I hope they bloom in time to take part in the Great Sunflower Project this summer.
We’ve experienced more iffy weather than I’d like, but it’s slowly turning the corner. How good it feels to be slowly warming up. And, occasionally, we even get blue skies and sunshine. What a treat!
Finally, this week, the official kick off of SUMMER, I spied a tiny green tomato. It’s the promise of summer coming. Thank goodness.
Even though my garden is struggling along, I’ve got a great crop of chickens thriving. I think they’re my best crop yet. And by far, the most fun!
Happy SUMMER to you all…
