Is this June?

Every year around this time I write about being completely disgruntled by the weather. I can't help it. I spent 25 years looking forward to June – in California. It was the perfect month. School was ending, the temperature was warming up and the beach was waiting. Well, I'm waiting for the drizzle to disappear, the temperature to warm way up so I can lose this sense that somehow I've been kicked back to March.

My tomato plants are barely a foot high – waiting for that warmth to tell them that it's time to start growing. Some of my cucumber seeds poked their heads out of the soil last week to see if it was time – and promptly stalled as if to say – wait a minute, I thought it was almost summer.

Sigh.

Even as I wandered the farmer's market this morning, I realized that there is a part of me that is ready for the bounty that summer brings. It is the warmth of the sun that creates that abundance and I am sorely missing it. Okay, I've said that in about as many ways as I can. I'll try to stop.

There is bounty right now – my red leaf romaine is ready to be picked – so tender and yummy. I've had spinach fresh from the garden and brought home some asparagus and sugar snap peas today. Most of my fruit is coming from California at the moment but next week the cherries should be ready. I can already tell that my strawberries will be late this year – they haven't even begun to set up fruit yet. And the carrots and peas are coming along, the beets and beans as well. My summer squash, like the cukes, is slowly making an appearance and I'm almost ready to set my pumpkins out.

Gardening is never an exacting practice. If it isn't the weather, it's the soil. If it isn't the soil – it's the pests or bunnies. There are always challenges to be rolled with. I read a report that says that we are going to have cooler than usual temps through mid July. So I think I'll plant some more spinach and lettuce and take advantage of what is there to be used.