It’s that time to celebrate the season that was and start to dream of the one ahead.

Poor, frankly.

Was it me? Was it the weather?

Or more simply; fertilizer.

How grocery stores do it has me completely boggled. Massive amounts of the same veg, perfect in every way. Two days off the stem and mine are all suffering.

So I have fun with it.

Fennel vodka?

Indeed a rather poor year. The early rains helped generate green, but delayed the season.

The best evidence of this was the cactus. Just bloomed. Months late.

Back to fertilizer. Hate to admit it but a simple 10-10-10 made a big difference last year. So of course in “my more is better'” approach I spread a quarter bag Actisol – hen shit – all around last weekend.

This will be interesting. My intention was to prep the soil for a long winters nap. If it starts late fall growth I may be in trouble.

So I am going/ hoping for a long slow fall. Hope this prediction is better than at the start of the season.

First day of Summer.

The scapes have formed on the garlic. I’ve had two strawberries and salad greens are plentiful. The blueberries are starting to turn blue, so I will have to keep an eye on them.

The cilantro is well up and about to bolt. The first of the snow peas blooms are forming, but still some time to go. They look fairly pathetic to be sure. The tree onions have been doing their thing for a couple of weeks.

The peonies have fallen over and are starting to shed their petals. The crab apple still has lots of fruit on it. And the neighbours cherries are starting to ripen and fall. Squirrel and raccoon madness around the corner.

Potatoes really need mounding again. They shot up with the last hit of fertilizer. Tomatoes are generating leaf shoots, so pinching them out daily.

In for a rainy weekend. How ironic. Rain on the third Saturday in June. How ironic.

Planted!

R u ready? From north to south: lettuce, tarragon, arugula, strawberries, tomatoes, mesclun, sweet peppers, Thai peppers, bush beans, carrots, broccoli, peas, radish, carrots.

$50 at Loblaws for a dozen transplants. Georgous day. Mowed for the first time. Watered for an hour.

The biggest snow in five years. Started Friday morning and it snowed nonstop for 24 hours. Beautiful.

BTW: The fig upstairs has leaves and a fruit.