Time to plant..............

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to Allen,Sterling and Lothrop in Falmouth, Maine. We in Maine have many great local sources to buy seed such as Johnny's, Fedco, Pine Tree Garden Seeds, etc. I choose A, S & L because they have been in business since 1911, they have an awesome seed room where they still sort, pick over and weigh out their seed, etc. Shopping here is true joy for a farmer/gardener :) Anything you may need, you can find here.

Summer has arrived as it has been 90 the last two days. Two hot for me to do anything other than basic chores outside. I must admit the inside of my house looks much better! We cut our seed potatoes and they have skinned over and we will plant them tomorrow. We also picked up Better Boy and Early girl tomatoes along with sun gold sweet and cherry. Ace green peppers and a new one for us this year, banana peppers. Broccoli, cabbage and several varieties of basil made it into our cart along with swiss chard, lettuce mix and leeks. This is our first year with leeks. I love potato leek soup and as we have never grown any, I thought I'd start them from plants instead of seed this time. The coming weekend is supposed to be an ideal planting weekend with weather in the high 60's, low 70's, we will be busy.

These are a few of my favorite gardening reference books. I plan out each garden and then set up my seeds in a basket arranged by garden. It makes it easier for me to find everything. During my reading I've come across some new interesting tidbits that I wasn't aware of that may be of help in our gardens this year. The first and most important for me is that growing basil near your tomatoes will help reduce the occurrence of tomato hornworms.....oh my gosh, that is HUGE....I hate the dang things. They can wipe out a tomato crop overnight. I grow tons of basil - it will all be planted around the tomatoes this year! Planting thyme around cabbage deters the cabbage looper. Growing radishes with cucumbers helps ward off cucumber beetles. I love companion planting, can't wait to try them all. If anyone has more, I'd love to hear them.

My sweet boy (Tom) surprised me with this lovely bouquet of lilacs this morning. My entire house smells wonderful. Perennials are mostly in full bloom and the lawns are finally turning green with this warm weather. My bleeding hearts are enormous.

Our bee hives are thriving. Steve tends the bees and I watch from a distance :) He will be tending them this weekend. I'll try and get "close up" photos. The bees are on every flower on the farm, gathering pollen and taking it back to the hive. We should be harvesting honey this summer.

My two helpers, below, decided it was a good time to take a break in the shade. Banjo (on the right) is lame on his right front. He and Danny really roughhouse and he wrenched his shoulder a couple of days ago. He's been favoring his leg since. Today is better as he is putting more weight on it. He should be right as rain in a few more days. Boys will be boys!

~ Wishing you all a safe, enjoyable Memorial Day weekend~