It's taking a while this year for the garden to really 'take off'. Daytime temperatures have been mild, around 50-55 degrees F, but at night it's quite chilly, with temperatures around 40-45 degrees. A lot of the plants don't know what to make of it; there has been too much temperature swinging. In late April we had temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees F and a lot of sunny days, and here we are, nearly in June, and we're still struggling with chilly temperatures and mostly cloudy days. That can confuse a garden, especially the vegetables and some of the more sensitive flowers. Some few vegetable plants have died, whereas others (like my green bean plants) have not sprouted yet (I put the seeds right into the soil). Conclusion: seedlings do not like chilly temperatures and therefore do not sprout. So it doesn't help to start plants in the greenhouse if the temperatures drop considerably after the seedlings are transplanted outdoors. Yesterday, I seeded out green bean seeds in the greenhouse again, in the hope that the warmth inside will allow for quick sprouting. We'll see. Otherwise, the perennial flowers have come back, albeit slowly. I planted dahlia tubers for the first time this year, and they are coming up nicely. But as I said, it's slow-going and slow-growing for the garden this season.
I took some photos of the garden this past Sunday; this is my garden in late May.
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| Allium blooming--the bees love it |
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| Potato plants--Folva type |
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| Strawberry patch starting to flower--one of two patches |
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| view of garden facing Telthusbakken (street) |
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| north view of garden including greenhouse |
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| Heuchera (aka coral bells or alumroot) perennials interspersed with pansies |
