Catch Up Time

May was a busy month, so busy that I never would get around to posting on this blog...

I would find myself outside until there was no more sunlight left to work in the gardens. There was much expansion this year as well. I broke new ground expanding the big east garden even bigger and added a forth new garden beyond that.

I will try to catch up in this post with photos taken back in May, right up to the first week of June.

First important note:

Hardening-off seedlings in flats is a worrisome task. Setting out plants can be risky because you need to pay close attention to the amount of exposure to the real elements. Too much sun, too much wind, and too much cold can kill sensitive succulent plants such as tomatoes.

I chose to put out the flats on my front porch the morning of May 9th. This would keep the plants exposed for two weeks before setting most of them out on Memorial Day weekend.

I only lost 2 or 3 plants during the hardening-off phase, not bad. After all, mother nature has a way with "thinning the herd" so to speak.

Now it was Memorial Day weekend which is the traditional time of year for folks in New England to set out tomato plants. I got as many planted as I could, but the rest would have to wait until the following weekend.

Pictured below are the first tomatoes planted. I use the plastic from juice containers & 2 liter bottles to protect the plants from wind & insects while small. These containers also collect water when it rains and act as a small greenhouse. Best of all, they can be used for many years.

I was happy to have picked the first Rhubarb of the season on Memorial Day Weekend. This stalk was picked on 5/24/08.

Good thing it was a long weekend... I discovered that mice had made homes in both my lawn tractor and my roto tiller! This took a couple hours of my time to take apart the engine covers and use a shop vac to clear out the nests.

Dame's Rocket is a local wildflower that likes to bloom around June first. It comes in 3 colors; pink, purple and white. All three shades are abundant around here. Also note that my flower bed of German Chamomile (to the right) is close to full bloom & ready for picking & drying for tea & tinctures.

I find it fascinating that certain flowers such as Chamomile, open during sun, then droop like rabbit ears whenever it rains or when the sun goes down. Then there is the common sunflower, which will be pointed east in the morning, stand straight by noon, then will lean towards the west when the sun goes down.

This year's Sunflowers are special. I tried ordering some seeds from a person on the Seed Savers Exchange back in April but never heard a word since. The check was never cashed either. Strange... Good news though. In early May I saw about 5 volunteers in the east big garden, so I ever so gently took a shovel and moved each plant to the sunflower section out by the road in front of the house. Then in the first week of June, I saw 3 more! So I moved them as well. All 8 sunflowers are doing well, so I got my sunflowers for 2008 after all!

Patches of wild Daisy's are opened up all over the lawn (I am careful to mow around them the first few weeks of mowing).

The first two weeks of June are indeed full of life & color. which brings me to one last observation; In the 2nd week of June, evergreens such as spruce and hemlocks are loaded with new bright green buds at the tips of their branches!

This is turning out to be a hot June... I logged the first seasonal reading of 90.1 degrees on June 7, 2008 @ 2pm. Since that day we've had thundershowers & temps over 90 for the last 3 days.

:)