Growing at the farmette

It's a sunny, lovely day and is supposed to stay that way. Yay! The mosquitoes really like it too. Like the seventeen squadrons that were out hunting my blood this morning.

Which is why I look a bit grumpy and over-clothed despite the 16C temperature. I will not spray the crap out of myself with OFF first thing in the morning. NO. Long sleeves, long pants and rubber boots were the ticket. I still managed to get bites on my face and hands. Oh well.

It was worth it to take a tour of the grounds. I gathered a wee sampling for a higgledy-piggledy bouquet that looks quite fetching on the deck coffee table. Bonus breakfast strawberries from Sandy's plants that have really started producing. I wasn't expecting a harvest until next year.

Yarrow in full bloom. They'll keep going most of the summer. If I pay attention and dead head.

Win.

Gotta say the shrubs are pumping out the blooms right now. Dogwood, spirea and mock oranges are all in full bloom. The dogwood is really special, given that it grows in deep shade under a huge maple tree.

Rob's potatoes are going to be fantastic. The plants grew about three inches after the big rain we got last week. He planted Kennebecs on the left and Red Bliss on the right. Can't wait to make a salad with these tasty tubers.

The beet crop is looking good as are the sunflowers. They're already tracking the sun through the day and they will be eight to 10 feet tall in August. They're the most magical, when you think they come from seeds the size of the ones John Schneider munches on during Jays games.

We had to put up a fence to keep out Gordo and his groundhog family (we counted three babies), although we haven't seen them grazing lately. The construction is a bit Red-Green. Snow fencing and bamboo. Not the sturdiest, but it's meant to deter the hungry rodents so they'll choose something else, like the sweet, sweet clover in the lawn.

We've already had a couple of fresh same-day salads from the lettuce patch. But my crowning achievement this year is my tomato plants. For the first time, I grew them from seed (planted indoors in March) and managed to coax them to the robust beauties you see here. We'll see later what kind of production we get.

So that's it for now. We'll keep chugging along at the farmette. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer like we are. Until next week.

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Fred, looking all sweet and innocent in the sunbeam. It's temporary.