The bush beans are beginning to flower. Some tomato fruits are beginning to grow. When I thin carrots now I have some big enough to eat. I have to trim the oregano back and dry some, it's spreading out. I'm still working on the drainage arrangement with the soaker hoses, but it's getting better.

I'm out of the amendments I use (lava sand, green sand, etc.) so I'll pick some up today. I have a couple of vitex branches growing into the path that I have to prune--I know there are preferred season for pruning, but this thing grows so fast and it gets in the way in a couple of areas, so I'll prune it back. I'll bring in a few blooms for a vase in the house--it smells wonderful.

Yesterday I read an article about potting soil. The material used in the pot isn't what my Dirt Doctor guru recommends, but the discussion of how to use a wick to get the water to stay put better or drain better was interesting. I always seem to have to struggle, it's always too dry or too wet. I'll report back if I manage to conduct any research.

I had a love/hate relationship with cannas that were along my front porch when I moved in here. They shaded the porch, which was kind of good, but I couldn't put pots out there, not enough light. And they got clobbered every time it rained. I finally dug them all out, dug a new bed beside the house where the soaker hose runs and where I do a couple of loops through that bed. I put the cannas out there, used amendments and fertilizer, and they are as happy as I've ever seen them. This year they're even bigger, up to 6 feet. It's just a garden variety red flower, but with enough of them going and the plants healthy, it is a really lovely stand of green stuff out there in what was once a rather unattractive portion of the yard.

The cosmos are starting to sprout.

SRS