Good morning! Welcome, please come in and enjoy a cup of hot or cold beverage.

I cannot believe I’m saying this but I’m freezing despite the end of May. The temperature has been a roller coaster this year, more than usual (I think). It went up to nearly 80 degrees Fahrenheit last weekend before plummeting to the 50s on Monday and it went back up to near 70 on Wednesday before going back down again to the low 50s on Thursday. The temperature is forecast to rise on Sunday, for who knows how many days. I did some research and discovered the heads on my broccoli are loose because of the temperature fluctuations, so much for hoping for a perfect head of broccoli.

If it wasn’t forecast to rain today, I would’ve walked you around the garden. I feel I’m doing more “walking around checking” than doing actual work in the garden. I told my manager that I’ve made the garden so efficient that there’s nothing for me to do except the occasional fertilizing and transplanting. He’d laugh.

The back garden is completely hooked up with drip irrigation while the watering situation in the front garden is a little different since I don’t have drip irrigation in the front garden and have no way to set it up. I use these things called “ollas” – unglazed terracotta jugs – where I fill them with water and bury them in the soil to allow the water to seep out of them over time. I was skeptical at first because how is that possible? There are no holes but it does work.

Meanwhile, my potato plants seem to be loving the temperature swings. It’s completely taken over the 8-foot-by-2-foot bed. I planted 8 potatoes in this bed in mid-March – 4 Yukon Gold and 4 All-blue – and never did I expect they would take over.

Last year, I grew potatoes primarily in containers – in my Greenstalk and grow bags. I’ve seen people grow their potatoes in their raised beds just so they can have volunteer potatoes in the future, though it is not recommended to grow potatoes in the bed for 3 consecutive years.

My strawberry harvest doubled this week. If you recall from last week’s post, I only had 7 berries. This week, I have 14. The strawberries in the back garden are starting to produce, which means strawberry season is finally here. Yay! The berries from the back garden raised bed is bigger than the ones in the front garden. I think it’s because the plants in the back gardens have the benefit of a little bit of shade during the afternoon and that it has 15-inches of good soil to stretch its roots.

Finally, I had my annual review at work this week. I can hardly believe I’ve been with this company for 6 years. Even a year felt like an eternity when I began working at this company let alone 6 years. I got a 3.5% raise. It’s less than the typical 6% I’ve gotten for the last 6 years but it’s better than nothing and there’s always next year.

#weekendcoffeeshare is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer. I appreciate you stopping by. Until next we chat. 🙂