The Possibilities of June

I love the June garden. All is possible. The moths carrying the squash vine borer have not arrived yet. The cucumber beetles are still at bay. And with the exception of the garlic which is starting to brown out, all is lush and green and moving upward.

As the tomatoes move upward they will need support. A friend was cutting out bamboo, so I gathered generously from her pile and used them to build this ungainly structure to hold up merely 5 tomato plants. I will add cross pieces as the plants grow taller.
The successfully overwintered artichokes numbered three. This one is sending up its first thistle. A June artichoke would be a record around here.

Here is the Tomato Count.

Better Boy - 8 ; Italian Sweet - 7; Brandywine - 4; Soldaki - 5; Viva Italia - 1; Big Zac - 4; Sungold -2; Delicious - 3; Long Keeper - 3. A total of 37 plants.

From the Garden Gate

The garden is in the starting gate. I stitched this together with Autostitch. Click to enlarge.

Starting to take shape

I thought this little morning view of tomato plants through the iris kind of sums up the planting progress right now. Soon the supports will go in and the tomato growth will take on a life of its own. But for right now, they still look like discreet plants. At present count there are 31 tomato plants in the garden with some Long Keepers still in waiting.
Scapes have appeared in my garlic bed. Pskem is the first to show followed shortly by Montana Giant. It has been dry, so I want to get the watering in now before the bulbs begin to form. Last year, because of travel I harvested the garlic before July 1. I can say that the early harvest resulted in much less crop loss over the winter. I am still eating last year's garlic even though I have to take the sprouts out. The earlier the harvest, the better the storage. And here are six new Green Globe Improved artichokes grown from seed this year. I have put them in a bed along the east side of the garden.
And here, by the garden gate is the hardiest of three overwintered artichokes. This is lush foliage for late May ... only in my dreams ... so I am feeding it weekly with a compost tea made from Harmony 5-4-3. I have a good feeling about this year's artichoke yield.