INVENTORY: Between seasons on the River Slough

The last frosts should be gone, and there's some of that newfangled globalized weather coming through next week -- 27 C + during the day, maybe 15 at night. If soil temperatures are still a bit chill, they won't be after the mini-heat wave is done with us. Finally time to get beans and tender crops in the ground. Going into early June - this is a time trees have been in full summery leaf for about 2 weeks, and "people" crops should finally enter vigorous vegetative growth, joining the perennial weeds, which have been active for a month.

We escaped major wild boar damage in the fall and winter. Some friends of ours in Veriora were hit hard while they were away in the States last winter. Their whole lawn was deeply gouged -- Biblical damage that took a mini-Teeme Ära and a tractor or two to repair.

Still, there are many ruts and brushy areas, so this will probably be the year of groundskeeping. I wish I could say it was the year of building structures, but I don't know where to begin. I have to hope that the plans for the house or sauna-dwelling are bubbling away in my subconscious and will come up to the surface when the time is right. Right now, after last year's plague of ticks, the focus is on making the property a tick-free zone. No ticks have been spotted this year, even after tramping in high weeds off-property. Unheard of. Last year, there were many tiny nymphs. I would be lying in bed in the cabin and my eyes would see something crawling across the floor in the dim light -- tick. Mosquitoes are also slightly under their usual intensity, despite lots of standing water in the wetlands. The first mosquitoes appeared in open areas (during cloudy periods etc) only around May 19-20. I did not know this: Most of May is a wonderful time to be outdoors in Estonia if it's not too cold.

Spent Saturday taking out about 10 birch and alder -- because of overcrowding, to reduce brush. We will try to plant ash if we can get them -- a great firewood tree, underrepresented in Estonia, harvestable in 12-year cycles. Though the late leaf aspect is depressing -- I was complaining in early May about the fact that even early leaf trees were bare.

We still have the "Olympic swimming pool" hole out back from a failed pond construction attempt before our time, and the pile of displaced dirt next to it. It's going to stay there. Some neighbors dropped by and said the pile could definitely be shoved back in the hole, but I think we would be unpleasantly surprised; instead of a hole and a hill, I think we would have a hole with a small hill at the bottom of it. Piusa-type sand is sought-after, so I wouldn't be surprised if whoever made the hole carted the sand off.

What's growing in the garden this year on the River Slough:

Squash -- Mother-in-law started some seedlings for us while we were in Italy. Two or three varieties of gourd. I made the same mistake as last year and put them in the ground early. Even earlier than last year, so their shock is deeper. I'm not sure how much of the shock is from the cold ground (nights are still +3-+9 C) and how much damaged roots during the transplanting. Looking back at last year's posts, I see I wasn't sure whether they would even survive well into June, then I wasn't sure whether they would ever start producing female flowers. So despite the awful yellowish condition of the plants, there's still hope. If 3 or so survive, that might be all the squash we need. Last year, this section of the garden was called "Little Guatemala", so no problems with luxuriant growth.

Brassicas - Considering the amount that Estonians eat, cabbage sure is a devil to grow. I still can't say they're vigorous, but looking OK with no major infestations. This year, half of the (expanded) garden is given over to them, an even mix of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi. Painted some long planks with Bordeaux solution and surrounded the garden with them, sprinkled wood ash and lime around. The very first night the tiny seedlings were in the ground about 2 weeks ago, something munched on them, but It hasn't been back. I put clear disposable cups over the seedlings for some of the time.

Peas - soil is probably a bit clayey in this section, but they're coming up .About the same schedule as 2009.

Rucola, lettuce, chicory, radishes, spinach -these are in a long raised bed of Biolan Black Gold, the way my mother-in-law gardens. (Her squash plants are lush and amazing.) Unlikely anything will mess this up, probably the heat wave coming up mid-week will be the worst.

Beets and carrots - do birds eat beet seed? These haven't come up. Might have to re-sow.

Potatoes -- potatoes and sunchokes will go in the ground soon.

Tomatoes - None this year. Had a good "open-air" variety last year, and the early July weather was incredible, almost too hot for tomatoes.

Blackcurrants - and other berries, but blackcurrants (and raspberries) are the only ones I really care about. Major bird protection efforts with netting this year.