Garden time!!

We're about to have a week of summer: it started warming up on Friday, and the weekend has been a prime gardening (and lawn mowing, and horse training) weekend. During the week it's supposed to be hot and dry, so I've been really busy.

It took 3 45-minute sessions to get the lawn mowed - May and June the grass grows like mad, but I lowered the blade so that I only have to mow every 5 or 6 days (instead of twice a week) and it hasn't grown to ankle height.

I've been weeding like crazy, but with the temps so warm it was time to really get going on the garden. So I bought my tomatoes (one cherry, one early salad tomato, one heirloom variety and two later, larger varieties).  I had bought new tomato towers that are taller and sturdier than the wire cones.  I'm going to be diligent about feeding the tomatoes this year (Miracle-Gro and Epsom salts), and hope that we don't have a soaking wet summer like last year. And I've already put grass clippings around them.

Pictures of tomatoes will have to wait a bit, but here are the pole beans that got planted today.  The spinach went in last week.

The beets went in a couple of weeks ago and have started to sprout.

The arugula and lettuce have been in for almost a month. I will eat my first home-grown salad tonight for supper.

I spent most of Sunday working on flower beds.

I dug the dandelions out of the daylilies, and started clearing out the bed by the brook, that has the yellow iris (Tim will remember digging it out) and phox, and catmint and valerian. 
These beds by the brook got ignored last year and they'll take a lot of work to get in shape.  But my determination to make the gardens take care of themselves is starting to pay off.  Most of the plants are moderately invasive, but easy to control by pulling them out (not digging!).  So I can have a nice full garden without it being a jungle.  (This does not apply to the garden by the fence, though.)

Tim will be happy to know that the maple that he tried to loosen the roots around is trying to get a shape.  My friend James said to fertilize it and TRY AGAIN, after the brook repair happens.  He says the contractor is likely to loosen up a lot of the surrounding soil.  

Tuesday I'll plant the red climber and the morning glories.  The seed has to be scratched with a nail file or sandpaper or something rough, and soaked over night. I don't have time to do that until Monday.

Lots of pictures coming in a few days.