Sunshine at last

It's looking more like a normal year temperature-wise now.  Hot and humid.

The tomatoes are starting to come out of their cold-reaction and unfurl their leaves.  

Sadly, the peppers still don't look good.  They appear to be starting to flower, which seems to me to be a desperate move before dying.

The green beans seem to be doing the same thing, while the basil, on the other hand, is coming back to life.  

'Calima' green beans

The lettuce never skipped a beat, but the arugula bolted and flowered early.

left: 'Mammolo' (green) and 'Purple Ruffles' basil; center: 'Calima' green beans; 

right: arugula and mixed leaf lettuce

Fortunately, the pumpkins I planted directly from seed on the compost hill are coming along nicely, after the ones I grew from seed indoors and transplanted were eaten by deer.

The weather and the critters also put the hurt on my canteloupe, so I also planted some seed directly next to each, and they're coming up now.  I imagine they'll overtake the transplants before long.  This year, like last, I planted marigolds around the canteloupe in the hopes it will mask the smell and thereby save the melons from raccoon robbery.  I didn't get a chance to find out last year, as the weather wasn't favorable to any cucurbit family member.  But the marigolds went wild.

left: shallots and onions; center: overwintered lettuce; 

right: 'Fireball' marigolds surrounding barely visible charentais melons

I haven't yet put up the cages around melons or tomatoes, as they're not big enough.  I hope they produce fruit before October's killing frosts!  

The deer-pruned onions are finally getting a chance to grow.

I harvested a few Egyptian walking onions, and with some basil, kale and asparagus, made some pretty focaccia.

It loses something in the baking!

Still tastes good, though.

Over in the flower gardens, the roses are starting to bloom, while the lupine and wallflower have come and gone, as have the iris and allium, which were beautiful while they lasted.

This is the first year I've grown 'Ambassador'.  It's big!

Finally, I'm getting around to patching up the grassy paths.  Well, what are supposed to be grassy paths, but until now have been mostly weeds and bare ground.  Weed & Feed took care of the weeds, and now newly sewn grass seeds have germinated and are growing beneath the straw mulch among the existing grass, which I'm guessing is fescue.  I'm anxious for the new rye and fescue to get large enough to walk on.  

The deer also pruned the Ozark coneflower (Echinacea paradoxa), and I would have been hopping mad if they hadn't left some to flower.  I planted them last year and had to wait until this year for them to bloom.  I enjoyed watching how the petals form: first small and angling somewhat upward like other coneflowers, and then gradually reflexing downward...

...to their final fully reflexed position:

It's been many years since I last saw Ozark coneflowers, and I didn't remember them being such an intense yellow.  I suppose it may fade, but right now, this flower is brilliant.  

I love the reflexed petals, and I have also grown from seed and planted pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida, related to Echinacea purpurea, the common purple coneflower), which also has reflexed petals. None survived from last year, so I may have to wait until next year to see the bloom on the ones I planted this year. 

That's it for now, and I leave you with a glimpse of a bird's nest hidden deep within the foliage of a forsythia bush.

Brown thrush eggs