It Must Be Summer!

The wall of hydrangeas

The mercury is rising into the 90s. The humidity make it feel positively steamy outside. The Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs are shedding and blowing their coats. The gardens are growing and the harvesting is beginning. Meals are being served alfresco. The BBQ is being fired up almost nightly. Although summer does not officially begin until June 21st, it's summer time in Maryland.

A sure sign of summer: A pile of Sobo fur. Note: For those of you wondering if Siberians shed? Proof Positive. They shed. Like crazy. And with five Siberians and Siberian mixes, they pretty much blow their coats from late March through September. From October to February they shed "lightly".....for Siberians.

Summer is tiring: Maybe I'll just sit here and rest a spell say Chloe (left) and T-Bone (right)

So far this season, the garden has produced six heads of red leaf, green leaf and Romaine lettuce, along with strawberries and raspberries from our new raspberry plants. The tomatoes are still green but are developing nicely (especially the Early Girl and Husky Cherry red) and we even have peppers on two of the pepper plants including the Cayenne and the Giant Marconi (sweet pepper). The shallots are growing tall. The Ichiban eggplant is flourishing despite it's earlier wild ride through the garden courtesy of Acadia. We've been harvesting fresh herbs including rosemary, golden and purple sage, lemon and English thyme, parsley, cilantro, mint, and oregano for the past month or so. Recently, our chives have really sprouted and have been added to omelettes, won tons, and mashed potatoes. The crab apples are still developing but we're hoping to make some nice crab apple butter, crab apple sauce, and crab apple jelly as we have in past seasons.

The Ichiban Eggplant has gorgeous purple flowers

The shallots are growing tall

I know it's early but I hope this Giant Marconi pepper gets a bit more "giant."

Early Girl Tomatoes are getting bigger

The crab apples are developing nicely

On the flower side, the "wall of hydrangeas" is in full bloom. The hostas and day lilies have buds (except for the day lilies in front by the mail box which the deer have, for the sixth straight year in a row, eaten before they could bloom). The window boxes are getting lush with petunias, impatiens, vinca, and others.

Yesterday, Eric and I managed to capture a few summer time photos.

Oak Leaf Hydrangea

The Truth About Cats and Dogs: Chloe (left) and Zoe (right) share a nap