May flowers

The end of May has brought out a host of blooms, from chives to lilacs. I don't now if has been the drought or the heat, but the flowering trees and bushes have been pretty spectacular this spring.

 

The perennials in the front yard have also been really blooming. This phlox is beautiful and the early irises are booming in behind.

I've no recollection of what this yellow flower is but it keeps coming back despite several transplants so it must be something hardy. It also seems able to compete with the raspberries in the same bed.

The apple blossoms are done and some of them are starting to fatten into apples. It will be a few weeks before we can start to estimate the harvest but the blossoms were impressive this year. I need to go up and top the apple tree as it is just ab out as high as we want it. Maybe when I get up to clean the gutters.

The early vegetables are also starting to make progress in the heat. The storage onions have about caught up to the garlic in height. The walla-wallas are a bit behind.

The pole and bushes beans are also up and about. I was a bit concerned the bush bean seed was bad but they finally started to push up today. The pole beans are making some headway and the peas have grabbed the trellises finally.

The potatoes are going strong in the good beds. They are also up in the newly recovered beds and on the shady north side of the house next to the foundation.

Finally, the carrots have germinated. They are also so slow and the dry conditions have necessitated a lot of watering which sometimes causes the beds with more clay to get a bit of a hard surface. But the carrots have prevailed.

Hopefully Jess can keep everything under control while I head out of town for a conference. I knocked back and froze and bunch of rhubarb this week as it was again shading out the basil in the stone planter. We also pulled out half of dozen bunch of chives that were taking over the strawberry beds. Boy, chives are aggressive!