I'm addicted to my garden. Every afternoon when I get home the first thing I do is a quick walk around to check on the plants. I am amazed daily at the growth and am continually learning.
A recent lesson was the advantage of placing river stones around the base of my various seedlings. I initially did this to stop the blackbirds from damaging the roots of my tender cabbages when they dig around the base looking for worms. Now they dig around the outside of the stones instead, a safe distance from the base of the plant and its delicate roots. There were other unexpected advantages however. I noticed after several weeks that the lettuce and cabbage plants with rocks around them were growing significantly faster than the others (even ones the blackbirds had left alone). I'm guessing there are probably two reasons for this. First the rocks are holding some of the suns warmth absorbed during the day, and keeping the plants slightly warmer into the night. Second they will be helping to keep the ground beneath them from drying out.
I'll be eating fresh strawberries in a week or two. I've got heaps of them this year so I'm hoping I'll have enough to make some jam.
The iris' are out in all their purple splendour.
The black-currant bushes are loaded and developing nicely.
Look! Tomatoes! After my little disaster with frost, where I lost all my early tomato plants, Devon gave me some of his that he has grown in town (where the frosts aren't nearly as bad).
8:42:41 PM 
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