Another boring garden post

I love to walk around my garden, which is not perfectly tidy but is interesting (just like me) and observe the progress of the vegetables and blooming things.

Let's start in the vegetable garden. 

This is my second batch of cucumber seedlings. I planted the first seeds directly in the ground and they did not germinate. I resorted to planting some in my milk bottle bottoms and got better results. I'm a bit worried about leaving them in there while we are gone, but I think they have a better chance of survival if I wait to transplant them till we get back.

I had a lot of potato starts this year, thanks to some serendipitous acquisitions. They are in several beds and pots and even bags.

Lots of little lettuces are ready to be added to salad plates. I pick the larger, outer leaves and let the inner leaves keep growing and producing. The plants will last for several weeks this way. I'm also going to transplant some to a pot so that I can keep them going when the summer heat finally arrives.

New Zealand spinach is growing nicely. It is unaffected by heat, so we should have a good supply for smoothies and salads all summer. 

I was rapturous over a dozen-or-so baby kiwi fruit that were hanging on the vine last week. Then, in the evening of the first hot day, I went to gaze on them and more than half had dropped.

I was ticked!

There are still five or six left on the vine.

I started a couple of dozen tomato plants this year, all from seeds I saved from last year. I traded most of them for things like raw milk and other plants. I kept five and I'm hoping they have an enormous growth spurt soon.

Now on to the flower beds, where I have inserted some tiny kale plants this year. Hopefully, they will grow into big kale plants and I will learn to like kale!

The penstemon is blooming like crazy and making the hummingbirds and bees very happy indeed.

On the north side of the house is one of my favourite places. The ferns and hostas have filled in now that the violets, hellebores, and spring bulbs have died down.

Next to that, in a slightly more sunny spot, is a little raised bed with this lovely salmon-hued huechera.

If anyone can instruct me on the proper pronunciation of the latter, I would be greatly obliged.

Lori rooted this lovely miniature rose. 

Yes, that Lori. 

Is there anything the woman cannot do?

Rooted roses are the best. They can live for a hundred years.

My front flowerbeds still haven't been cleaned up from the spring bulb mess so we shall close our eyes tightly as we saunter past them. This sweet little thing is in a concrete planter by the front door. It wintered over and made me happy.

Remember Harvey? The poor thing has lost his nose. Several times. Grandchildren have disclaimed all responsibility for said nose decapitation, but I am dubious.

It sits between his feet until I can come up with a better solution.

Come to think of it, his feathers are looking decidedly worse for wear too. Maybe he needs a makeover.

Next to the path up to the front door is a jasmine vine, growing over a metal headboard. It is just starting to bloom. Walking up to our front door can be a heady experience during the several weeks of the jasmine bloom.

There's the door. Come on in, there's bound to be something yummy to eat.