Summer arrives

Summer decided to arrive while I was visiting family down in California.

How lovely it is to come home from a week away and find ripened strawberries and sugar snap peas. My squash and pumpkins are thriving and the lettuce hasn't bolted yet. The tomatoes are unfurling finally willing to put some energy into growth now that the heat has come. I picked a cup of gooseberries to make jam and can now see that once again my apple trees are putting forth a bumper crop.

While it is still early, I am going out to pick a bouquet of roses and delphinium. Perhaps some herbs to make some fresh pasta sauce for dinner. I'm sure I can find many a chore to keep me outside today – weeding, watering, pruning – anything to smell the heated soil and freshly cut grass. The cedar tree and rosemary. I can continue to pull up all the bronze fennel that reseeded itself throughout the garden. One thing that I also enjoy is watching how the corners of my yard waste pile are now producing all sorts of garden plants that I would be happy to see go wild in the unkept grass beyond my yard. The Valerian and catmint. There are some hollyhocks as well. Seed well, my friends and fill that corner of the property with your bounty.