Hot!

What a hot weekend! I planned to get started early each day, take a siesta and then get back to work in the evening, but there was so much to do, I ended up working through with only small breaks to rehydrate. I went to a local nursery to see about getting shade cloth to protect the lettuce from the heat. They didn't have any, but I spied the burlap and realized that would be a great inexpensive alternative to shade cloth. Last night, we finally received some much needed rain, but I have been watering the gardens every day.

We ate the first two strawberries that were ~almost~ completely ripe, and had the best harvest yet of lettuce. The arugula was all going to seed on Saturday so that was all pulled, the snap peas are flowering. We planted about twenty sprouted basil seeds from the baggy and transplanted some volunteer cherry tomatoes that were sprouting up from last year's fruit. Also, fifty new strawberry plants were placed in a newly built frame and two new dwarf plum trees were planted.

We haven't seen Woody the woodchuck in quite a while, but another more skittish woodchuck has been around. A toad jumped from the strawberry frame as I was watering Sunday morning. A Baltimore Oriole has been gracing the neighborhood with his varied song and the bird bath in the front has been a gathering spot for cardinals, cowbirds, finches, sparrows, starlings, juncos and robins. The catbird has probably visited also, but I haven't seen him. On the flowering front, iris and dames rocket are in full bloom, garlic mustard is fading. Little one counted more than 100 iris blooms in our front yard. Peonies are on deck. Next year, I am hoping that the Oriental poppies just planted will be blooming with the iris.