lilkittay:

It’s been so dry since the heat wave and I’ve had to keep the garden on life support carrying buckets of water until they put out the hoses for the year.

My little plant babies are hanging on, although no sign yet of the carrots or parsnips.

The blackberries are finally blooming in their third year. I’m hoping I get to have some fruit and that birds and beetles don’t enjoy it all.

It’s hard to “condition” straw bales when it’s so dry I can’t soak them. Hoses will help. I also don’t know if they didn’t do it on their own over the winter as they did sit out in the weather since last October. The bottles have holes in them that are supposed to trickle water down into the bales. They empty fairly quickly so it ends up just being a little extra water after soaking the bales. Which isn’t a bad thing, in summer.

Unexpected strawberry bounty. I had no idea this many flowers were on the plants. It’s their third year so I am not expecting as much from them next year. This year I will NOT miss picking them.

The lupines are blooming again this year. I am seeing little baby lupine plants all over the place. I am going to try not to step on them or till them or let them get smothered by weeds. I wouldn’t mind more of them around next year.