Oregon Giant peas
The peas are finally emerging! I planted these peas back in March and then they did a whole lot of nothing for a while and I thought I might have to start over. Germination was not great, so I recently added some new seeds to the bed. Still, I’m finally start to get real, edible peas for the first batch of seeds. Yay!
Greenhouse tomatoes
In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are growing so fast I can hardly believe it. I’m not exaggerating when I say the plants are adding noticeable inches of growth each day. The Sun Gold tomatoes in particular are getting tall. They are almost up to the rafters in the greenhouse. Last year, I tied the Sun Gold to the rafters because it grew so tall. Looks like I’ll need to do the same this year. I’ve also started doing some light pruning of the tomatoes to keep the plants open and airy.
Old-fashioned rose
The roses have finally started blooming. This pink one smells lovely.
Simple water timer
I’ll end with my new favorite garden tool, a basic water timer. For my trees and shrubs, I water with a Ross root feeder. The whole point of the root feeder is to water just the roots to save water. It works great unless you forget to turn it off and waste a whole lot of water and end up with a huge water bill. This is why I purchased a simple mechanical water timer. It works great. When I go to water a tree or shrub I just set how long I want the water to run and it automatically turns off. Now I won’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to go out and turn off a hose I left on (yes, I’ve had to do that before). I should have bought one of these years ago.
Happy gardening!
Sandy
The 10 Year Challenge 
Wow, Sandy, those tomatoes are amazing! I though mine were doing well, but the difference in starting them early is pretty obvious in that photo! My peas are in full bloom, but I haven’t seen any pods hiding in the tangle yet. So sad when I remember that we had been eating peas for almost a month by now last year! 😦 So nice to finally see and smell the roses again, too. And I don’t know how we would survive without our fancy irrigation system, which my electronically handy husband sets up to come on before we’re up in the mornings. Because, yes, I too have sat bolt upright in bed in the middle of the night when I realized why I could hear water running… 🙂
Hi Toni,
Part of the reason the tomatoes are so huge is that I’ve used heating cables in the soil. The heat helped them grow super fast. I’m just about ready to turn the cables off.
I wish I had a fancy fully timed irrigation system. The manual timer is my most sophisticated watering device. Maybe someday we’ll install something better. I’ll add it to my huge list of projects. 🙂
Sandy
The combination of the heated soil and the day length and sun strength getting close to it’s peak (june 21st!) obviously is doing good things for your tomatoes. Mine are doing well too but the past two days of misty rain and a cold night last night stopped any current surge of growth they had going on. I am hoping the warmer weather forecasted in the next week or so will perk them back up and they will keep racing along. Your rose is beautiful and I am envious of your peas – as our peas (both sugar snap and regular) are several weeks away yet.