Hello!
Happy June!
As you can see, I'll soon be picking and shelling out peas. My grumbles about cool temps and "will it ever warm up" go on top of the compost heap when I see how well the peas are doing. They like it a bit on the cool side. Sometimes gardeners forget that and sow peas too late and then they have another grumble... about their peas not producing like they should because it is too hot for them. Anyway, I'm happy the peas are happy. Now, the rest of the garden...
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Explaining
I made up a new word. Violatum. I wrote about it a few days ago on my blog. I justified doing so because I could find no other word to describe a collection of plants in the genus Viola, which is what I'm still obsessed with these days.
Now that I've made up a word to describe this collection, I freely give my method for creating names for plant collections to the world. It's easy. Take a botanical name and add 'tum' or 'um' to the end of it. For example, let's say you have a collection of plants in the genus Geum. You can call your collection a geumtum. Or maybe you are obsessed with Zinnia. Name your collection a zinniatum.
Or perhaps you like ferns, and lots of them, and they are from different genuses. In that case, by all means, call it a fernum. After all, we are making up names, not rules.
Reply and tell me what your latest plant obsession, oops, collection is called.
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Reading
This month, how about two books that take place in and around gardens, starting with The Kew Gardens Girls by Posy Lovell. This story takes place during World War I. Women are finally hired to work in the Kew Gardens in London to replace the men who've gone off to fight in the war. There are several story threads but the one that stuck out to me is how when you are nice to others, good things happen.
The other book is The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, which takes place in Japan in the late 1930s. A retired librarian recommended this book as a good one to read when you want to be sure what you are reading is good writing. It is that and more. I highly recommend it.
I'm ready now for another great book to fall into my lap for summer reading. What shall it be?
(Check out my Goodreads profile for more on my reading history.)
(That is correct... I don't include affiliate links to buy the books. If you want to buy these books, please go to an independent bookstore near you to buy them or buy them online from Bookshop. On Bookshop, you can choose your favorite independent bookstore and all proceeds go to them. Don't have a favorite bookstore? Pick mine, Wild Geese Bookshop in Franklin, Indiana.)
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Doing
It's still technically spring, so doing is mostly gardening. For some people that might seem really boring. "Is that all you do, Carol? Garden?" Pretty much, unless I'm reading, writing, or doing nothing.
Though, I do have a crick in my neck from staring up in the trees looking for a Baltimore Oriole. I saw one in late May while I was outside talking to someone on the phone. Very exciting. A few days later, I caught a glimpse of it again, up in the honeylocust tree. Since then, I've spent more time than I will ever admit staring up at the trees looking for it to show up again. So far, I haven't seen it but that crick in my neck... maybe birding is my next big hobby?
"We'll see," she says as she reaches for binoculars and a guide book on birds.
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Writing
Slowly, but surely, I'm making progress on publishing my sixth book. Here's the cover!
For this book, I'm doing most of the work to actually publish it myself. See above about gardening, and reading, and staring at trees looking for particular birds.
Now that the big rush of spring planting is over, I anticipate spending more time getting this book off my computer and into a real, physical, actual book. I appreciate the patience of those who are waiting for this to land in their mailbox.
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Gardening
It's great to be on this side of spring, bumping up against summer. One would think that means less gardening, but as every gardener knows, that's not generally the case.
Now that everything is growing, I'm turning my attention to pruning, weeding, deadheading, and fertilizing. And mowing. Later on, I'll add watering to the list but that's not much of a priority at the moment because we are getting rain when we need it. May that continue for the rest of the season.
Oh, and harvesting. I wrote a blog post about methods of harvesting. Based on those methods, I've picked a lot of strawberries this past few weeks, plus snow peas. And I've plucked a few leaves of lettuce. And pulled the last of the radishes. Yum. Good eats when they are from your own garden!
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Wrapping Up
I wrote a few blog posts last month about what I've lost in the garden over the years and what I've found in the garden. No matter where we garden, it seems these lost and found items are much the same. Sometimes the losses are heart-breaking but often they are humorous. I hope you lose what you don't need and find what you do need, wherever you garden!
With a shared love of gardening,
Carol
P.S. Don't forget, every week Dee Nash and I record and publish a new episode of our podcast, The Gardenangelists. We enjoy talking about all things gardening and think you'll enjoy listening to it!
P.S.S. My books are always for sale on my website or can be ordered wherever books are sold, including independent bookstores.
P.S.S.S. Interested in having me speak to your group? Check out info about my talks on my website. Tell me you want me to talk about Violets, Pansies, and Violas, and I might do it for free. (At least the first time I do that talk.)
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