Photo by Jessica Walliser We’ve been enjoying lots of crisp, green lettuce straight from the garden this season. |
So much is happening in the garden that I don’t even know where to start!
Our landscape crew from Lighthouse Landscape Designs arrived with the excavator and Bobcat and began the grading process in the backyard. They laid the gravel base for the retaining wall and expect to begin setting the wall in the next day or two. They will likely be here for about two weeks, weather willing, and then it will be our job to create the flowerbeds, sow the grass seed and set the steppingstone pathways once they are finished. Perhaps by August we’ll have our backyard back!
The vegetable garden is looking great, on the other hand, despite my lack of attention. The tomatoes are nearly a foot tall already, and the first few lettuce harvests of the season have been absolutely superb.
I decided to dedicate an entire quadrant of the veggie patch to cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. The tiny seedlings have begun to emerge. So far, they’ve avoided a major slug onslaught.
I am continually amazed at the number of sunflowers that return to the veggie garden each year from seeds the birds drop. It’s always such a pleasant surprise to see what colors and types re-seed and where they manage to come up.
And, with great pleasure, I noticed a few tiny peaches clinging to the branches of our young peach tree. Let’s hope they can hold on for a few more months and reach maturity (and that the squirrel doesn’t find them first). The tree is only 4 years old, so I didn’t expect to have any fruit on it yet, but I’m certainly not going to argue! No apples or plums, though. I guess that’s a pleasure that will have to wait for another year.
