I was accosted in the garden the past couple of days by little black fireflies as if they were trying to get my attention and say, “Hey, we’re back! Watch for us tonight!”

And sure enough, as it was getting dark and the garden lights came on, I was seeing random flashes here and there and finally enough of them to be certain I wasn’t hallucinating. They hung out until about 9:30, and then were gone while there was still some light in the western sky.

I picked some bok choi and a few green onions a few days ago. We had Caesar salad with a head of Romaine last night, and I sauteed almost half of my bolting spinach in sesame oil to serve with the salmon.

I shot some drone photos today, and I’ll shoot again at the end of June to show the contrast in growth. We’ll add another 3 or 4 inches of mulch before then also.

I replanted some of the pole beans yesterday because of poor germination. I have been watering every couple of days as there has been no rain in a week. There is none in the upcoming forecast either.

I am quite happy with where we are at the end of May. The only thing I didn’t get in this year was peas, as the beds were installed way too late to plant them.

Today is Memorial Day, and I met my goal of completing the vegetable garden. I finished up the herb garden last night, completing the planting of it, the main garden, and the container garden. So now it is just weeding, watering, pruning, and staking up plants. The new layer of mulch will be put down in the next week, and I will move on to other yard projects.

I’ll work on the rest of the yard projects as I have time and will no longer be in panic mode. All of the garden improvements of this year and last should make my spring gardening much easier.

After two days oof heavy labor, I removed the 15-year-old wood herb garden beds and replaced them with new steel beds. It required a lot more labor had I had planned, much of which was caused by the invasive garlic chives.

I am not sure I like the look of the new beds, but the cost was much less than rebuilding the previous structure in Cedar, and I would have had to haul the wood or pay for delivery. I’ll figure out something to make the beds look better. There is definitely more useful space. Tomorrow I’ll buy bags of compost or soil to finish filling up the beds and get the new herbs (and flowers) planted. I still hope to have the gardens done by Memorial Day, which is Monday. The only other major project is to clean out the blackberry patch, which is scheduled for Sunday. Monday, Memorial Day, we are going to Jared’s to celebrate Annabelle’s 7th birthday and to celebrate the beginning of summer and the completion of my gardens.

Yesterday, I had 4 yards of Garden Mix soil delivered from Down to Earth Landscaping.

I was outside at 6:30 this morning, and the temperature was 38°. I installed landscape fabric at the bottoms of the three new beds to help keep the Canadian Thistle under control. Noe and his helper showed up around 7:15, and I showed him where I wanted the soil, and they went to work. I planted the new, large Jalapeño peppers in the container garden, completing the planting there.

Noe and his helper had moved the soil into the new beds and cleaned the driveway by 9:10. I paid him, and they were on their way. I went to the back, installed the trellises, and then planted beans, Swiss Chard, Celery Root, Zucchini, and Okra. That finished up the planting of the garden a little before 10:00! I think that’s a record. I only planted beans by two of the four trellises and will plant the rest sometime in June.

I still need to redo the herb garden and clean up the blackberries and mint garden.

I drove up to Countryside in Crystal Lake and started shopping my list. They didn’t have any Mexican tarragon, and there were no large Jalapeños. The single plants were priced at $4.50, three times the $1.50 that I paid at Woldhuis. I spent about $145. I’ll do better with substituting varieties next year and do my shopping at Woldhuis.

So, the only thing is need is the Mexican Tarragon and the two large Jalapeños. I’ll get the Jalapenos at Goebberts. I need to get thyme and Rosemary when the herb garden is done. Also, I’ll get the geraniums from Jewel whenever they come in. My garden plant bill was about $1200 last year; I should be less than half that this year. Long live Woldhuis!

I went back into the garden when I got home and planted all the tomatoes and peppers, except for the container garden. I put cages on all of the tomatoes and watered the whole garden. I worked until almost 7:30 and made good progress. If I can get out early tomorrow, I can get the container garden done before the rain comes. I am happy with my progress and ahead of last year.

I uncovered all of the plants on Friday, there was a little minor damage, but basically everything survived. I tightened the screws on the 8x3x2 bed and then dug around it to lower it into the ground by 4 or 5 inches. That was a good bit of work, but it is done.

Today, on Saturday, I removed the chicken wire fence and posts from the old pea bed. and tightened the screws on the two 6x3x2 beds and then set them in place. Noe is supposed to come and move the soil into them on Tuesday, but rain is predicted, so that likely won’t happen.

The spring greens are doing well, and we should be picking around the beginning of June.

There was no frost on the grass when I woke up this morning. It was too cold to work outside, and there was intermittent light rain. I went out around 4:00 with the radar showing a storm over me and reporting a thunderstorm. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue. I moved some of the old wood from the planters to the curb. I was going to uncover the plants, but around 5:00, “patchy frost” was added to the forecast with a low of 38°. Tomorrow is sunny and warmer, and I’ll leave everything covered until then. The ten-day forecast shows the lows above 40°. Hopefully, frost is gone until October.