Summer is Here!

 

Volunteer Foxglove overlooking the lake in the morning sun.

Finally, lake is warm enough to swim every day, plants are getting sunshine to grow, and life is good!  My favorite time of year is late spring/early summer, but I actually love every season - if winter is very short!

Broccoli and cabbage in the Hugelkulture mound are thriving.

The pole beans have found the trellis and are growing by leaps and bounds.  Peas along the lakeside fence of the mound are producing peas. 

The beets at the north end of the mound are WAY bigger than the beets I planted in the main garden at the same time. All in all, the 14' x 3' Hugel mound is doing a lot better than the main garden.  But that may be because it's in full sun all day, and the lake is like a big heat sink that keeps the area close to the lake warmer.  Or it could be the composition of the mound itself - where the decaying wood in the bottom creates extra heat to the plants growing on top.  

Raspberries - I'm about a week away from being up to my eyeballs in raspberries.

The corn we planted early came up spotty, so the replanted corn is only about 2" tall.  The corn that did come up early is about 6" to 8" tall.  The coming days of warm weather should change that quickly.

Blackberries - looks like a year I'll finally get a crop of blackberries.

Strawberries every day now!

Lots of figs forming - hope I can beat the birds to them!

Apples are always dependably abundant.  I've been thinning every time I go to the orchard, but it is like one of the tasks of Hercules to get them all thinned.