June is full to bursting. Every plant that isn’t already blooming to beat the band is growing gangbusters (weeds included), and to say there’s a lot to do would be the understatement of the season.The long days leading up to the longest have been so busy that I have been feeling ready for a weekend as early as Tuesday. –Monday afternoon, even. Since my last post, we — with huge help from our volunteers — have moved almost everything out of the greenhouses and gotten another few hundred plants in the ground. We mulched the Rose and North Gardens with buckwheat hull mulch, and the Idea Gardens and *new pollinator bed (*down in the meadow) with shredded leaves. We replaced the herb garden lettuces (before they bolted so they could be shared with staff, volunteers, and the East Bay Food Pantry) with five different kinds of basil. We have kept up with the weeding (or tried to), and started deadheading and staking. Betsy and I went on tour to The Blue Garden, planted a container for competition in the Newport Flower Show, and we all celebrated the major milestone of Gail’s 25th year at Blithewold! And through the busy-ness we have tried to remember to breathe deeply, notice, and applaud the overwhelming sweetness of June. It has been — and for another few weeks will continue to be — a wonderful, if wearying, whirlwind.

Are the days long and full in your garden too? Are you taking advantage of the extra daylight to keep up with it all?