Four of my 10 tomatoes.  Clockwise starting at the top left: Sandul Moldovan, Sun Gold, Sun Gold, and Kellogg's Breakfast.

My composters in back.  Mixed strawberry varieties in the raised bed in front of them.  The front bed is Music garlic and Kennebec potatoes.

 Caroline raspberry plants.  3'x3' bed.  I planted only THREE plants here in the fall.

My Fat N' Sassy (King Arthur) bell peppers.  This is a 3'x3' raised bed.  I placed one pepper in every square foot.  This spacing works beautifully for me each season.

Oh yeah!   It was just as sweet as it looked!  Best year for strawberries yet!

Reading dimensions and visualizing them in your head are two different things.  Here is my new S&K 16 Family Purple Martin Barn.  It seems so much bigger in person than I expected.  I'm not really complaining.  I'm hoping to have a lot of happy bird families living in this very soon.  Since I'm not around water, most likely it will be filled with sparrows.  I don't mind one bit.

This is one of the birdhouses I made this Spring.  A nesting wren pair has already claimed it.  They have been loudly building their nest all day.  They put on quite a show.

This Earliglow is almost ripe!  The underside is a bit pale, but I don't think it'll last until the end of the day.  There are several others just like it!

This white throated sparrow really appreciates something that a lot of people despise.  A tasty dandelion seedhead.  It stayed around quite a while munching on these seeds.

My feeders have been up for weeks.  The migration maps state that they were spotted in the area weeks ago.  But no hummingbird sightings HERE yet. I'd like to think that I just miss them EVERY TIME they visit.  Either way, I'm pulling out the big guns!  The bright red table cloth.  If they can't see this, then I give up. Okay, not really.  I just need to feel like I'm trying.

I didn't have great germination with my outdoor sowing of carrots so far.  Granted I didn't try too hard like I did last season.  Last year I sowed them, watered, covered lightly with plastic wrap until germination, and had great results.  This year I was optimistic (lazy).  I just waited until the night before a rainy day, tossed them down, watered, and ignored them.  There were huge fluctuations in temperatures around this time as well.  Frosts.  Record heat.  A strange Spring.  Needless to say I had a few bare patches.  To fill in, I cut off the bottom of a milk jug and sowed some seeds on top and watered them in.  Covered with plastic wrap until germination.  I just transplanted them outside before the taproots got too long.  We'll see how this method works. Now to go and stare at the hummingbird feeders...

What's worse than having the stomach flu and severe head cold AT THE SAME TIME like I do right now?  This.  I cut this off the top of my Lady Emma Hamilton rose from David Austin.  I looked it up to be sure.  Definitely Rose Rosette Disease.   :(  There is no cure.  The only suggestion is to dig up the plant (roots and all) and burn it.  It's the only way to protect the other roses.  It's RARE that I would spend $40 on a plant (includes shipping).  I would like to think that this is just an opportunity to try something new, but she was just getting into her prime.  Such a lovely rose. 

 On a brighter note, my Earliglow strawberries are starting to ripen.  Three weeks ahead of last year.

Since it was a nice, partly cloudy day, my young plants made their journey from my covered porch to the sidewalk to get a bit more of sun.  With temperatures staying in the mid-50s tonight, they will be able to spend another night outdoors.  Maybe even get to feel a little rain dancing on their leaves.

There are some thirsty plants out there.  Lots of rain should be heading our way in the next couple of hours.

Strawberries and Champagne

We finally have some decent rain in the forecast.  3 inches over the next couple of days to be precise!  Okay, that's more than I really wanted, but with such dry soil, I'll take what I can get.

Earliglow Strawberry blooms are already forming berries.  These are growing outside their alloted spot, so they don't have any straw beneath them.  The rest of the plants are nestled with straw to keep soil from splashing on the berries.  Last Spring was extremely wet and rot became a problem with berries that touched the soil. 

 

My favorite clematis is in full bloom.  Cheers to Pink Champagne.

Seedling Updates

Post #2 of the day.
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We are having yet another above-average warm stretch. With the potential of record-breaking heat today, I decided that it's time to start hardening off my plants. They are now outside on a covered porch. The slight breeze will help sturdy up their stems, but they will be protected from the most intense hours sun.
Above are three of my five trays. The other two trays include one with seeds waiting to germinate (cukes, cardinal climber, nicotiana, carrots, lettuce) and another tray with small seedlings that have already germinated but are still small (petunias, cukes, more tomatoes, more peppers). Here they are up close.
Left to right:
There are two Salad Bush cucumbers that just germinated that are in the back, left corner.
Tomatoes ( just a couple of the ones started)
Fat N' Sassy (now called King Arthur) peppers in the front center.
Tango Celery tucked into the middle back.
Tropical Milkweed for the monarch cats to munch on.
In the front, Snow Crystals Sweet Alyssum that started blooming when it was quite small. It has a lovely fragrance which is what I was hoping for. Nicotiana sylvestris in the back...also for fragrance and moth appeal.
Dwarf Janie Deep Orange Marigolds. Just the other day I had to pick the first blooms off of most of them. They are nice and sturdy so far. Behind them in the tray are Oklahoma red zinnia and Fruit Smoothie Orange and Purple zinnia. It's funny. I used to look down on marigolds. That somehow, since they are easy to grow, that they aren't as impressive as other flowers. It wasn't until last season when I saw my daughter picking marigolds to place in vases that I saw them as something special again. Now my gardens will be filled with deep orange marigolds, so my daughter can make bouquets to her hearts content.

Hummingbirds and Natives

Last season I purchased two pots of Little Lanterns Columbine at Lowes while it they were on sale. Another step in the journey to add more natives to my garden. I hope the hummers find these soon. They are in full bloom right now, and I have yet to see a hummingbird this season.Check out these lovely blooms.

Finally! After a period of no rain since the end of March, we got a bit of rain. Not enough to penetrate down into the soil enough to reach all spots effected by drought, but it's a welcome start. Hoping for a little bit more before the morning is over.

My Prairiefire Crabapple tree is in full bloom. The other night we reached 27 degrees with a Real Feel of 19. I was worried about the blossoms that were waiting to open. They must be tougher than I thought. What gorgeous pink blossoms against burgundy and green foliage. I love this tree.
Last year I cut back the laterals on my blackberry bushes. Tossed them in a pile to be taken up to back to decompose. After an hour I thought, why don't I try to plant some and see what happens. So I decided to take 1 foot cuttings and cram them upright into a container of soil. I tossed some plastic wrap over the top to keep the humidity up a bit since it was still quite hot and dry outside. I gave them a quick drink of water and ignored them. Darned if those cuttings didn't survive over the winter unprotected. Just sitting in this container out front. Wow. Blackberries are tough. The cuttings are putting out new growth. A friend of mine is now the proud owner of a few blackberry plants. Plant propagation is cool.
My Copra onions from Dixondale Farms arrived this weekend! This variety (along with Red Zeppelin) did very well for me last season. I still have some in the fridge from last season! This year I gave them approximately 4 inches of space rather than just the 3 I usually give. Curious to see if there is a significant difference.
They were just planted this morning. Above them are some Scarlet Nantes carrots that have germinated (too small to see in the photo). I direct sowed some a couple of weeks ago and tossed down a few more seeds to fill in some bare spots while I was working on the onions. I direct sowed some more Jericho lettuce in one of the raised beds as well.