June 24
The weather has been beautiful, It has really warmed up. Still I do battle with the slugs, but they seem to be mellowing out a bit. I guess my efforts have done some damage, and the heat has helped me too.
I've just noticed an aphid problem though. They seem to be well established on my angelica, and columbines, I've noticed a few out front in the garden too, on the nasturtium. The lady at the farmers market suggested washing them off with water, she said they don't seem able to find their way back to the plant once removed. How do they find their way there in the first place? She said lady bugs are good too, I've already noticed at least two lady bugs on the angelica at one time already. Maybe I'll go get some more, I can buy a bunch in town.
I harvested the spinach two days ago, made spinach lasagna, it came out great, I need to make a few adjustments to the recipe though for next time.
The clementis in the pot is just starting to open. Its a deep purple. So beautiful. The rest of the garden is doing great too. I installed a drip irrigation system in the front yard. Just about have all the kinks worked out of it. One more change to make.
The FoxGlove is doing awesome. Its second year. The beans are struggling. I got another handful of strawberries, a quarter of them had slug holes in them. grr.... I got a bunch of them in my beer traps though. HA!

I still have some seeds left. I'm going to try some more cucumbers, the first ones got devoured. Nothing left of either the starter plants or seeds I planted. The cucumbers did not do well last year either. I did get a crop of beans though. This year It seems like it might be iffy. Though some of the beans, the first batch I started are hiding beneath the broccoli and they seem to be doing ok. The others not quite so good. The broccoli is ready. The cabbage worms are back again. I found them on the lettuce and nasturtiums. I squish them with a stick when ever I see them. So far they arn't as bad as last year. But I am growing less cabbage, just the broccoli.

June 26
I followed advice I received at the farmers market for dealing with the aphids, so much for her being unable to find their way back. Not only do they find their way back but they find their way to other plants as well. I crushed a bunch of them still crawling on the ground and the bed walls, and some on the stem of the angelica. Needless to say I won't do that again. I bought a bunch of ladybugs and turned them loose, let them eat all the aphids up! Invite the spiders in to dine as well.

I harvested the brocolli today, really I should have harvested two days ago. It has started to elongate and beginning to flower. Oh well, two days ago I had more spinach lasagna than I knew what to do with.

I looked up leaf hoppers yesterday, I didn't say much of anything. I asked someone knowledgable about trees and bugs and they said the leaf hoppers wouldn't do any real damage to the tree. They don't appear to be eating the leaves, but I don't think the tree looks as healthy as it did last year. So I'll keep watching and observing. They recommended spraying the tree, the only problem with that is that it is poison. I really rather not use toxic stuff, not on that level. So watch and wait.