taking it outside

summer is finally here. it sure took long enough coming. i can finally safely say that i won't be posting any more complaints about unseasonable snow until september. hopefully october, but i don't want to get my hopes up. stupidass prairie weather.

one of the great things about my new house is that my some of predecessors were (and still are) gardeners. thanks to these fabulous people i have deliciously cool ferns near the front door. i like ferns because they make a little ecosystem all their own. no matter how hot the day gets things stay cool and breezy under the ferns. bugs can go there to cool off. many do, when things get blazingly hot. when i was a kid i tried to hide from the sun under a bank of ferns and got chased out by a million irate bugs defending their territory. bugs aren't the best at sharing, it turns out.
the previous inhabitants of my home also planted strawberries. i will have berries soon. there are no words for how much i'm looking forward to the sun-warmed berries. is there anything better on this planet? maybe, but not by much.

i have daisies. the summeriest flowers i can imagine.

lilacs. my boy eats these by the fistful. i did that at his age, until i became agile enough to dissect the flowers so i could have just the nectar. eating lilacs is one of my favourite annual traditions.

i also have lily of the valley and a bunch of other nice stuff already flourishing without my help.


because of the preexisting plants i don't have a whole lot of space to plant. i don't mind, since i've had no time at all to be working outside over the last few months. it turns out that work, school and childcare all take up a great deal of time. who knew?!?!?
i've been container gardening to compensate for the lack of garden space. i've never done container gardening before, but so far it's pretty straightforward.

the simplest kind of container gardening is bringing houseplants outside and letting them soak up the sun. my homepeppers are infatuated with their new environment. i've never gotten such a fantastic number of peppers at once, and never seen such fat, tasty looking peppers. my salsa will be damned good this year.

my tomatoes are happy and flourishing, and so am i. i hope you are, too.