No, I’m not dead.

No, I have not given up my blog.

The combination of lots of work and a couple of weeks of crappy weather, and I just didn’t have it in me to write at the end of the day for a while. And, yes, I have a real job. Surprising, I know.

Let’s catch up a bit. I still have lots of work, but it was in the 80s today. 50s a couple of days ago. 96 tomorrow. It’s the end of the world as we know it.

The shade garden continues to fill in. You’ll notice that in the front… it’s not real shady. One thing I’ve learned is that the line between part-shade and part-sun is, well, shady. When I took over this place, it was a jungle. All we had was shade… the lovely dappled shade of blackberries and English ivy. Now, though, (did I mention it’s gonna be 96 tomorrow!) real shade’s at a bit of a premium.

The raspberry patch is pretty dense. I think, had I to do it over again, I’d have made it two rows with room for maneuvering in the middle. As it is, it gets pretty thick, and any extra yield from more canes is lost to their being inaccessible.

The aronia is blossoming nicely for its second year.

One batch of potatoes is (almost literally) shooting out of the ground. When they decide to start growing, stand back.

The over-wintered garlic and onions are taking off.

Their cousins, the alliums, have multiplied nicely to a few blooms for each original bulb.

The Van Buren grapes are growing into their desired form and, what’s even better, are covered with flower buds. GRAPES!!!

The Venus grape is rigged up to go horizontally. It’s a little slower off the mark, but a couple more days, and I should be able to tie it on.

Both the PVC (horrible stuff) bee tube and the wood block have a half-dozen or so filled straws. Sadly, I think most of the bees have either died of natural causes or, more likely, been eaten by the scrub jays that live in the yard. Haven’t seen much action on any of the blocks in the last couple of days.

Gratuitous aquilegia picture. Pretty, tho.

What the heck. Another flower shot. This is the first shasta daisy to open up.

There are going to be a LOT of strawbs this year.

I’m probly the only one who cares about this, but my new fence is nearly done I’ve planted a kiwi and cherry tree against it already.

I don’t know if it’s something I did or the weather or what, but I’ve seen far fewer slugs than in years past. This is a nice, uh, Pat Morita hosta that came through nearly unscathed. It’s a hosta, anyway. I’m really not good with names.

Don’t look at it! You’ll jinx it! We might get a peach this year! Oh, now I’ve done it.

Favas next to the chicken coop. I don’t know. I just like favas.

The aforementioned chickens. No eggs yet. They eat like hogs.

The lettuce patch on its run from seedling to bolting. Looks nice now, though.

I post this only because in the not too distant future, this will be tomato land. You see the little buggers in there having just been planted. They’re all raised from seed– speckled roman, brandywine, hillbilly potato leaf, principe borghesie, oregon spring, oregon star, and celebrity.