Buzzing, Blooming, Climbing, a Riot of Activity and those Strawberries

As I approached the garden, opened the barn red gate, herb garden straight ahead, Alaska mix nasturtiums spilling over the rocks in the front with their abundant orange and yellow flowers I felt a sense of calm. After endless weeks of rain we are having some warm sunny days. Beans are climbing, tomatoes and tomatillos filling out.
In the Chris Plot, the sprouted cucumber seeds that my neighbor slipped me a month ago are filling in and beginning to climb. I have lots of little cucumber forming at the base of small yellow flowers. These are heirloom Lebanese cucumbers; best eaten when young and tender not much more than three inches long. I'll be harvesting some soon.

I planted some sprouted bitter mellon seeds but it looks like the @#$#% rolly pollys got to them. Their such destructive little things. In garden books they are described as harmless scavangers of rotted leaves. Well, they are a pain. They eat young plants. One year I had to put gravel around my peppers to keep them away. The weeks of rain have only encouraged them.

Some of my tomatoes are getting that yellowish blush that comes before turning red. Speaking of tomatoes and thing that go with tomatoes, the basil is growing nicely and should be pesto worthy in a few weeks, I've got the pine nuts ready.

I've planted lettuce in the cleared middle of the Chris plot. It's just sprouting. The fennel is ready to pick and the Swiss chard has been delicious. Chard was my Nanny Walters favorite vegetable.

Over the 4th I did some grilling. I made a lemongrass, nam pla, red onion, lime juice marinade and salad dressing. I used some of the last frozen hot peppers from last summer for zing, and some sugar to balance the sour. I have little ones coming along in the back. This salad was a mix of lettuces, radicchio, perilla, red mustard, arugula, rustic arugula (sparingly - its intense) tender dandelion leaves, mint, the last picking of lacy coriander leaves from plants going to seed, sorrel and an abundant handful of nasturtium leaves and flowers, and Thai basil- at last. Great contrast of colors from zingy chartruse sorrel, lacy light green lettuce to ruffley maroon perilla. To the nam pla/ lime mix I added the first little picking of Vietnamese coriander.
Mint has become an obsessive addition to my salads. I also put it on cheese sandwiches.

I feel like the beans got crowded out a bit. With crowding from strawberries, the tomatillos and the attacking rolly pollys I don't have as many plants as last year. I love beans. As I'm clearing the turnips I'm putting in bush beans called provider. In the Chris plot I put up trellising for the red yard long beans. I have to admit that I planted them because I thought they looked cool, very exotic.

The herb garden is flowering like crazy. In the medicinal triangle, the bergamot is almost five feet tall, a great huge flowering mass. Between the purple bergamot and the stinky pink clary sage the bees are going wild. They are equally engaged around the echinacea purpura growing through out the garden. The coriander is going to seed. As it dries the seeds fall and soon we'll have cilantro for salsa.

The turnips keep coming. Under some of the turnips I found beets. Surprise.