June 3: Better photos!

There's a higher-resolution setting on my digital camera! And I finally stumbled on it! So here's some better photos of the garden, starting with, above: an overview of the veggie-bed. Our first crop of mesclun is now bolting enthusiastically. We're going to have a BIG salad this next Wednesday: I'm pulling up the bolting plants and we'll eat them flowers and all!

Next is a shot of the "lavender patch." We have three kinds of lavender now. The tallest is "Goodwin Creek" grey lavender; the middle-sized one is Grosso; the two smallest (picked on by birds before the netting went up) are Provence. That's going to be a lovely-scented corner of Pioneer Square! Little bits of sacred basil are coming up all over, too.

And here's the glossiest cucumber in the garden. Nasturtium, borage, and marigold are supposed to be good companion plants, and this cucumber has all three as companions. Maybe there's something to this.

Playing in the ketchup...

Lots of things happening, except blogging. Quick catch-up on the high points, then on to some photos:

• While out in the garden on the 12th, I spotted our culprits, the ones eating so many of our plants: birds! Two big, sleek black birds with iridescent wings and yellow beaks flew down not five feet in front of me; one plucked off a branch of that big new sage, while another snatched a whole sprig of rosemary from almost ground level. Jean said they are most likely starlings. We got bird netting May 23rd; put it up on the 24th.
  
• I had just bought and spread some Sluggo, which is iron sulfate; nutritious for humans and other animals (at least in small quantities!) but poisonous to slugs and snails. When I saw the birds I thought, "Darn! I just wasted ten bucks!" When I came out the next morning, though, I saw a little tiny dead slug on one of the wooden raised-bed railings. So we did have slugs, too.
• I identified the five varieties of "mesclun" we got from the nursery as: mizuna ("potherb mustard"), tatsoi ("spoon mustard"), Red Giant mustard, Red Russian kale, and arugula. We had garden greens in our salad (along with marigold petals) for the Wednesday community meal on May 23 and May 30. The mizuna, tatsoi, and arugula is already starting to bolt. I have been sowing more mesclun mix, and have also put in some more nursery-pots of arugula, to keep the salads coming.
• I made my first attempt at worming. That will be a saga all by itself. My husband Wes has already posted his take on it.

Next: photographs!