A lot can happen in a week.

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I spent a week in San Francisco and it seems summer arrived while I was gone. When I got back yesterday I hardly recognized the place. We had a few rainy days and some hot and sunny days, and then a little more rain, and everything really took off. The picture up top was taken just before I left. I took the next one when I got home yesterday. Everything has just about doubled in size.

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These peas in the front beds are nearly waist high!

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The ones in the next bed aren’t nearly so tall, and they never will be. But they’re covered in pretty little white flowers. We’ll be eating peas really, really soon!

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When I left none of the beans had sprouted yet, but now they’ve all popped up out of the ground.

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Last week the shasta daisies were just starting to open. Now they are in full bloom.

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The poppies are going to bloom any day now. . .

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The chard is getting big, despite the critters that have been nibbling.

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The kale and arugula are growing, but the flea beetles aren’t leaving much for me.

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Growing Herbs

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I inherited the gardening gene from my mom’s side of the family. Back when Queens was still the country my maternal grandfather’s family grew vegetables there while the city grew up around them. My mom never really grew vegetables, but her flower arrangements won many a ribbon in the local garden club’s flower shows. She had a big herb garden in one corner of the backyard that was a little wild and overgrown. I spent a lot of time in that garden as a kid, picking big handfuls of spearmint and chives, and plucking honeysuckle flowers off the vines that grew along the back fence. Continue reading →