Design

The tomato plants in the satellite garden continue to thrive. Currently the Sungold, Tomosa, Chelsea hybrid, and Super Marzano (grown from Totally Tomatoes seed) are the most prolific. They seem to be suited to the current droughty conditions, are resistant to the usual tomato diseases that are cropping up elsewhere, and keep growing, flowering, and fruiting. This was today's harvest. I've got a second round of tomato plants coming along -- from tip cuttings and seedlings. I'll see how the heirloom Black Russian tomatoes fare, along with more Super Marzano and Sungold. Young broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus (an experiment), and basil are doing well, too, along with happy summer squash. Who knew there'd be so many this year. Maybe the particularly cold winter zapped most overwintering larvae or pupae of the squash vine borers that are the usual difficulty for summer squash here. My gardening companion noticed this little tree frog (we think) this evening when h...

My gardening companion just reported seeing fireflies, about at mid-canopy in the surrounding forest. They're the first, aside from a few that appeared after a brief warm spell in May. We had a thunderstorm this afternoon, but not a lot of rain. When I went out to look, I didn't see fireflies, but heard the trills of tree frogs and night insects. Summer is almost here.