Time seems to be flying by, and it turns out being first sick from the second shot then busy playing catch-up on indoor chores was a good thing.
![Dance :dance:](./images/smilies/eusa/dance.gif)
Not great for photo sharing, though, because I've not had time to even take any in the last week and change save my Tuesday office window view just to keep tabs on progress to a point. So just putting this progress report here.
Had my monthly Garden group meeting on Sunday, and everyone that had planted out during warmer times have found themselves struggling. Here, right after the very warm spell in April, we then had a more typical May dip back to frost towards the end, then a heatwave leading into June followed by downpouring rain and shearing winds. So a lot of folks lost fragile seedlings and starters. Next month we'll meet at the farm again, and now that I'm writing about it I can't even remember what the heck we're going to do. But it's scribbled down in my notes so I can always find it later. The lady that runs the meetings warned that this year looks to be a lot of uneven weather like this, so we discussed a few ways to better protect our plants for that. We also discussed what bees (and other critters) folks were seeing and if the number of them seemed average. A common response no matter where we were from in NE was we noticed them earlier, then they seemed to have dropped off with that weird roller coaster weather time. Apparently beekeepers are very worried because hive numbers are not where they should be.
Fortunately for me, all of our starters are still handling things ok under the cloche (save the mint taken indoors which apparently had picked up some bugs that came along and it's actually now doing the worst!) The first two Sequoia strawberries we had, though, have been our last so far. Apparently a critter figured out it could get in under the cloche and it stripped the plant bare of all the fruit it had at that point. We may yet see more flowers, but I'm honestly glad we did eat those first two and it was them and not the tomatoes getting robbed. The little Napoli is flowering, but the cherry can't seem to make up its mind what it wants to do. I hope to get them in the ground before next week, and I'll be amending the soil to try to help bolster them both. It would be nice to get some tomatoes after all the effort to keep them alive since April 1st.
The only seedlings I lost was the first batch of snow peas I'd germinated and moved outside when sprouts were forming above the starter pots (aka repurposed egg carton). I had forgotten to vent the cold frame during the heat wave, and what seedlings that were poking above ground had joined the choir invisible because I hadn't yet taken them out of the egg carton and they simply had no other way to find moisture beyond a daily can spritz I had managed. I still planted them today, just in case maybe some of the slower growers might make it, but I'm not holding my breath either.
On the other hand, the second batch of the same type of snow peas...had roots and sprouts several inches long because they never left the kitchen windowsill. I kept topping off the water with last year's rainwater in the germination bowls, and my friend that sent them joked it was my first success at aquaponics. Today, though, they finally got planted out since I noticed last night they were starting to try to tendril to the window screen in the kitchen.
![Embarrassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
I planted them where I can see them from my office window.
More seeds germinating, some flowers already gone to seed. Our new iris is already spent, and the one I accidentally put the cloche edge over has only leaved. It did really need dividing anyhoo, and hopefully the cloche won't be there shortly. The columbine is still budding, much to my delight. Both of the rhodies are doing well and recovering from the winter burn. I hope to move the lilac soon now that the flowers are about spent. All of the day lilies apparently LOVED the crazy weather pattern and are growing like gangbusters. The one inherited batch in the garage bed seems they will be first to bloom, though the curly tawny daylilies are hurrying to compete. I need to get the glads out of the cellar. Probably tomorrow when Sean has off, and we'll FINALLY be getting the rain barrels out--latest we've ever done so.
I did trim all the burdock berries off that I could find today. They really are an aphid magnet and I'm sooooo glad I've been using them as such. There's not nearly as many on the milkweed, so organic + a bit of extra labor=totally worth it. I also once again hacked back the various trees that took root in that awkward spot between the end of the neighbor's fence and the corner of our garage. I did ask her specifically to give us notice when she would remove the old fence so we could much more easily dig up all those problem located plants. Sean and I were trying to think of some ways to make sure that doesn't happen again there, but he thinks we may be ok because now we'll keep an eye on it, where some of them had established before we bought Beebe.
I admit I am a bit overwhelmed by the garden overall. Between the time lost in good weather from the shot, and the crazy warmer than usual weather, the garden has exploded. Flowers that normally are blooming now are well spent and seeding, others confused by the later freeze are now struggling to figure out if it's time yet. It's going to be an interesting year, but I'm still looking forward to seeing how far we get!
I will try to make some time later this week to take pictures.
I did spot my first ladybug egg clutch today under a milkweed leaf! No idea if they're a native or not, but WOOO! 1st time in our garden...I'm hopeful they're natives.
![popcorn :popcorn:](./images/smilies/Popcorn-emot.gif)