A handful of blueberries, that's about all I get at a time. Luckily it's always me who is out looking for them. Finders Keepers. Finders Eaters.

I spent a good deal of time this afternoon after work rearranging things in the South Garden. Our chitalpa tree, always large, is especially bounteous this year, which means there is more shade than I bargained for.

Blooming gloriously. What you need for this picture is 'hear-o-vision' - so you can hear the constant loud buzzzzz coming from the blossoms.

I planned badly and put the collards in the sun, and the cucumbers in a more shady area. I had to do a switcheroo. Some of the seeds had already germinated, but that's ok - if I have collards in my cucumber bed, and cucumbers in my collard bed, no big deal. I'm happier with this arrangement now. When you're growing for the leaves, plants can stand a good deal more shade than plants you're growing for the root or fruit.

Everything has germinated and is starting to grow. I re-seeded the cantaloupe bed, having only three seeds germinate the first time. I also added a second seeding to the bean bed. I have sown loads of basil in anticipation of caprese salad and pesto. I made and froze so much pesto last summer, I was sure we'd never eat it all. But we just had the last jar two weeks ago. I need to do that again this summer.

Native flowers are blooming everywhere in the garden.

a California Carpenter bee on a salvia (see below for an interesting tidbit about this)

And a lot of non-natives, too.

I also spent some time watching lizards in my garden, another native. These are Western Fence Lizards. They are literally all over the yard. They eat so many insects, I am so glad to have them. I spent years trying to attract them, and now we have them by the dozen. There is a large family living under the train shed, and they like to come out and sit on the plant marker bricks that I store there when I'm not using them, as they soak up the sun and get quite hot. This little guy was very intent on watching flies in the mulch around him.

Tomatoes are popping out all over, and the peppers are blooming, too. It's time to thin the apples on the apple tree, and peaches should be ready in about a month (dreams of peach smoothies!). I picked a bunch of herbs for dinner tonight (herb-stuffed pork chops) and we're starting to feel the promise of the bounty of summer.

By the way, that bee on the salvia blossom? I learned from "A Sting in the Tale" by Dave Goulson that these flowers evolved so that only long-tongued bees, or hummingbirds, can get in to the nectar. But many bees (including my honeybees) cheat evolution by piercing a hole in the top of the flower and therefore creating a shortcut to the nectar. Pretty smart.