In the Garden

these lovely heirloom potatoes are really growing well- seems amazing after our potato flop last year.

"Speckled Trout" lettuce- almost ready for eating.

"Bright Lights" swiss chard- our favorite garden staple

Tansy in bloom by the asparagus

The Peonies are buzzing with bees- and smelling delicious.

 It's starting to grow well this garden, we're starting to catch up on weeding, and looking forward to some first harvests of Lettuce and Strawberries and Rhubarb. I was happy to find a few volunteers while weeding- some Borage re seeded itself and Dill. I'm always on the lookout for beneficial volunteers in the garden but so far haven't really had much in that way- tilling the pathways probably stops them in their tracks. This year I've planted things that are notoriously good self seeders-Bachelors Buttons, and Poppies, Cilantro and Dill. Apparently Calendula will self sow too- but I've never had it happen for me- though this year I've planted a lot of it- hoping to save the petals to add to soap and salves.

Anyways things are getting bigger out there- the garden is looking more full than ever before, and I'm hoping to make a couple of scarecrows this weekend to try and keep the deer away. We've been very lucky so far but it looks like we're going to have to fence the darn garden at some point, because the deer are randomly eating things, it's seemingly impossible to detect what they're going to try next. Every other year they've demolished the peas and left everything else, and I'm sort of okay with that- we were going to fence the peas in this year, and I've planted twice what I think we need/want to shell and freeze, but they've left them alone so far, and have instead nibbled at my beans, and sunflowers, and eaten the entire grape vine which was finally ( three years after transplanting) growing pretty well. I wouldn't at all be suprised if they started eating the prickly squash plants and Rhubarb too.  Anyone have any ideas about how to keep those deer out of the garden?