Tomatoes, raspberries, and lilies

The rain continued this weekend, with moments of sunshine. The garden certainly is lush and weedy.

The dragon flies have finally arrived to knock back the mosquitoes and make weeding tolerable again.

The earliest tomato blossoms have set fruit, which is nice to see. The onions are also heading towards baseball size.

The raspberries are ripe about three weeks early and we have been picking. These are some terribly thorny back raspberries. They add some interesting flavour contrast to the more traditional reds we are growing along our north fence.

It also looks like we'll have a large number of black berries this year. We planted these canes about seven years ago and they have always yielded about five or six berries. Whatever the difference was this year, they have put out a huge number of blossoms and lots of proto-berries are visible.

The lilies and daylilies are really giving it this year. The variegated lily at the bottom is a survivor from a set of bulbs we plants more than a decade ago. I thought we'd lost them all in the construction but then up pops this fellow.

The yarrow is also doing well and looking to take over the lawn.

In the large bed by the deck I planted some scarlet runner beans (which are just making their way up the railing). I had also planted some melons, but the seed did not germinate. In front ,we strung a small trellis for a late sowing of peas. I had thought to plant some carrots in front of the peas but then I had a protracted war with some ants. I may drop some lettuce in here (some self-seeded).

Inside, Jess made a dark fruit cake to put away to age until Xmas. I racked off the rhubarb wine and stopped the ferment about where I hoped. We'll see how this wine tastes when it has clarified some. I also started my first beer kit and had a slight foam over during the ferment. Guess its really did need a 46 litre primary (I used a 30).

When this finishes cooking this week, I'll start a wine kit for the winter. My vacation also starts this week and Jess and I have a bunch of things to do including building a stand for a second water barrel for the garage and picking up a couple of crocks to store flour and beans.