Hard to Keep Up

Spring has turned to summer here at Steepmeadow. Everything is blazing green and plants are lunging from the soil. Case in point; these peas. I just wrapped some string around the supports yesterday, and today when I checked on them they've already entwined their little tendrils around them. 

We're going to harvest our first arugula in a few minutes to be part of dinner. In order to start the progression planting, I sowed some red romaine lettuce in the salad bed between the two rows of arugula, here:

The clover has come in nicely.

The weather changed from cool and spring-like to actually hot and humid yesterday - low '80's with heavy humidity. This is our favorite kind of weather, and apparently that of plants and lawns. The extra squash that I sowed last week has popped up, as have the beans.

The carrots in the mitgarten red tomato bed continue to be reluctant.

I did some ruthless thinning of beets and carrots in the upper beds. Having experienced the screaming mandrake carrots of last summer, a lesson was learned.

Milkweed. It's a weed. How hard can it be to grow? Apparently, pretty hard. The tiny little seedlings I put out don't seem to be faring very well in the barrel with the cosmos.

So I just got in from planting out the rest of the seeds. I dug up dandelions and stuck them in the bare dirt that was left in the under-tree no-mow areas. If none of them come up, oh well. If all of them come up, awesome. 

I did the same with the lemon mint seeds that we had. I also dropped a few into the blue planter by the garage door. I pulled the last volunteer sunflower from there and planted it in front of the deck. It looks like if the seedlings are big enough, the burrowing rodents leave them alone.

No deep thoughts at the moment, just trying to stay on top of the weeding and keep moving in spite of being at the end of marathon training. The 20 mile run yesterday in the heat and humidity was a warm one, and left me a bity enervated and not especially productive in the blogging department. Kiki remains laid up with no weight-bearing on her foot as the toe fusion surgery heals. This keeps me busy.

June 13 is the looming day of the Manitowoc Maritime Marathon. While I'm looking forward to the event, I'm looking forward to shorter runs, which will leave me more energy.