Peas and beets in June

The garden enjoyed the rains and 70 degree weather in much of may, and I've been mostly neglecting it these last weeks...just letting things grow as I work on another huge project. The early spinach came in all at once and my mom has been helping clip and freeze the overflow. Nearly 6 feet tall now, the sugar snaps are finally blooming and fruiting out in early June, although they don't like the 80 degree noontimes.


6 different varieties of beets are adjusting to their outdoor beds, hopefully well out of the future reach of the tomato and cucumber plants this time. Two jalepeno pepper plants have been transplanted for a few weeks now but don't really appear to be growing much. Perhaps they are waiting for warmer skies.

I gave away most of my extra tomato seedlings and put in one each of the Striped German and Brandywine heirlooms and the F-1 cherry hybrid. I get striped zebras and sungolds aplenty from my CSA share so I thought I'd try something different this year. No sign of cutworms yet.

And finally, my herb garden is beginning to ballon with cilantro and parsley volunteers leftover from the seeds of last season, chives, sweet and purple basil, fennel, dill, thyme, and several varieties of mint.

lettuce seedlings in

Yesterday I tucked a row of lettuce seedlings I'd started indoors into the spinach bed. They look a little droopy but I'm hoping they'll perk up in this cool weather. I edged the bed with marigolds that I also started from seed and sprinkled some sweet alyssum seeds around them. And I direct sewed a row of mixed greens around the pea trellis.
Also today, the wisteria blooms are continuing to unfurl.
And the peas are struggling to recover after the 90 degree stretch last week scorched many of their growing ends. A few seem to have begun to grow faster, but the rest are sort of lagging. I wonder if they don't get the right kind of sun in this spot, or if they are just slow growers.

While nearly all of the first tulips fell apart in the rainstorm last night, a few late bloomers keep a little color going amid the green.

spinach, peas and seeds

While tomatoes, beets, marigolds, lettuce, cucumber and morning glories were sprouting under lights this month, the peas and spinach that I had direct sewed with my mom's help in March were emerging.

April 23rd

Peas took nearly two weeks to show any signs of life, but by early April they were starting to look like they'd make it. Only 1/3 of the seeds I sewed germinated--next time I will try to inoculate them beforehand. Around April 10th I sewed a few more in the bare patches.

April 6th.

partially constructed bamboo lattice, April 6th.

April 19th

April 19th

The Spinach seedlings emerged in step with the peas, and by April 19 they, too, were taking off.