Community

For many of us in Stearns County summer means tomatoes---producing the first, growing the biggest, seeking the tastiest, mmmm. Unfortunately, summer can sometimes get in the way of the Perfect Tomato: last year’s quirky weather seemed to foster a host of problems.

They are easily recycled!

Do you have enough yet? Well, we’ve had enough WATER so I can’t mean that, I actually mean Great Plants for this season in the garden. I am primarily an ornamental gardener, meaning nothing useful is grown at my house aside from a few containerized tomatoes, peppers, and the odd herb. Unless you consider beauty useful, which I emphatically do! So I search out the new and unusual in the plant world to add to my displays each year.

Have you found that some visitors have been enjoying your garden as well as finding it a convenient spot for a tasty meal?

It’s great fun to step out into the yard these days to see what’s new. It seems to me that June is the Minnesotan’s reward enduring a difficult climate. The sun is bright, the sky is blue, the greens are lush, the flowers are plentiful.  Think of your favorites, peonies, iris, foxglove, poppies, roses, they all bloom in June. This year is no exception, despite the poor spring weather. And I do want you to remember, I told you so last week! Here is a glimpse of some of the stars of my yard right now:

Are you suffering from garden anxiety? Can’t get it done, just didn’t happen, too few nice days for gardening, soil too wet to till, whatever, and now the big Minnesota deadline, Memorial Day, has come and gone and you don’t have your garden in? Don’t worry, you have time!