Holiday Monday Gardening

I got the extended pea trellises up today.  They're just poles at the end of each row, with jute twine zigzagged back and forth.  The 8-foot poles were perhaps just a bit excessive, but they were only 50 cents more than the 6-foot poles. I was hoping that I'd be able to push them a bit further into the ground, for stability, but they seem OK as is.



And I got the trellising done just in time.  The first pea flower opened today!



The pea vines are growing incredibly fast.  I put the trellises up around 10:00 this morning, and when I did another garden tour around 4:30, there were already tendrils firmly curled around the twine and stakes.

I also cobbled together a better cover for the strawberry bed today.  The darn birds were landing on the net, to push it down and access the berries.  I sat on my deck this morning and WATCHED A ROBIN EAT A STRAWBERRY!  I swear he was laughing at me.



So now I have a scrap of fencing, a scrap of black plastic water pipe, and a stick forming a makeshift hoop house under the bird netting.  The stick isn't long enough, and the whole thing is wobbly, but hopefully it will last until I can get a better framework constructed.  The birds have gotten the first three ripe strawberries, and this cannot continue. Waaah!

In happier news, the purple and lavender irises in the back yard are in full bloom.



And the grapes are getting ready to bloom!



I also finished planting the Tomato Annex this afternoon.  This patch of garden/compost pile has the most enormous worms I've ever seen.



And I also cleared out another of the raised beds next to the Basil Annex, and planted two cucumbers and a stevia plant.



Garden garden garden.