This week in the garden...: 05-25-2013 A beautiful Spring day!

Corn in the making.

A few weeks ago, just after only two weeks of gorgeous Spring, temperatures shot up for a week putting an end to my lettuce and endive and forcing more than a few groans from the locals about "never having a Spring around here."

As a gardener, you need to take into accounts those weather fluctuations and be ready for losses and prepared for the unexpected.

One of the things I did was to re-seed some lettuce, a totally crazy move in Raleigh at this time of year. It usually goes from hot to hotter and forget cool weather crops like lettuce.
Well, just last night, we were eating lettuce that still has the true taste of Spring. How???? Because our Spring temps have fluctuated so much that this morning, we had 49 degrees Fahrenheit, totally unheard of around here at the end of May. Tomorrow morning could even be cooler!

To be a successful gardener, you have to be prepared...and prepared...and prepared. Prepared to take it on the chin when the weather does not cooperate but also plan for the case that things could turn around. Does this mean you waste some time and some seeds? Yes, but time spent in the garden is usually so enjoyable (save maybe having to weed in mid-Summer while feeding the skeeters) that it is all worth it, not to mention that it becomes some kind of betting competition between you and Nature and, who ever wins, the competition itself really is the cause for excitement and...being able to eat fresh lettuce at a time where temps should already be cooking.

My wife has been enjoying the snow peas and we both have had more (transplanted) wild strawberries this year then ever before.
The unpredictability of crops production is part of the fun, providing your living does not depend on it, just your stomachal enjoyment (and new words creation in the process.)

The open space is filling up quickly. Those great Spring rains and cooler temperatures have really helped.

First lily of the year!

Blue sage will be with us until frost. A favorite of bees and hummingbirds. Because bees cannot reach this deep into the long flower, bees just drill a tiny hole at the bottom of each bloom and suck in the nectar. Very efficient! Hummingbirds just hover and dip their beak into that same nectar's receptacle.

I bought this "dwarf" rose when we moved in. For years, it has been growing to the top of my adult Crepe Myrtles. I'm curious to see what the standard variety could do if this is the dwarf.