The garden is doing great.

With the fence completed and the raised beds installed for this year, it’s time to watch and enjoy! Things are popping up everywhere and it seems to change its look daily--the tomatoes have at least tripled in size, asparagus is popping up, the cutting bed growing by the minute, gourds and pumpkins sprouting, and already the first signs of cauliflower heads forming. Also, Brett planted over 125 sunflower seeds along the back fence--hopefully, we’ll end up with a beautiful display by summer’s end. The perennial bed is looking amazing as well with roses and lavender beginning to bloom and more surprises coming soon. Some interesting thoughts about things growing in our garden:
*During Victorian times, sunflowers were often used to symbolize a bright hope for the future.
*The Three Sisters, squash, corn, and beans, were important food crops for Native Americans. Beans added nitrogen to the soil for the corn. Corn provided support for the growing beans. Squash protected the others with a mass of rambling, spiny vines. 
*Archaeologists have discovered that pumpkins are among the oldest garden vegetables grown and have been dietary mainstays on this continent as far back as pre-Columbian times.
*The showy zinnia is a native of Mexico. By the eighteenth century, the flower had made its debut in Europe, and by the 1850s, the first double-flowered zinnia had been bred.
*Orange is a relatively new color for carrots. The original carrots from Afghanistan were purple, red, or white, which is still the color of the wild carrot found all over America. Yellow carrots were grown in Turkey by the tenth century, orange ones were developed later by the Dutch, and the French continue breeding new varieties.
*The leaves of cilantro, also known as Chinese parsley, and its dried brown fruits, known as coriander, have been cultivated widely for more than 3000 years. Native to the eastern Mediterranean, cilantro was written about in ancient Indian literature, and coriander has been found in the tombs of pharaohs.
*Probably the most famous cup of chamomile tea in history is the one Mother Rabbit gives Peter after he overeats in Mr. McGregor's garden in Beatrix Potter's classic, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
*The Romans added lavender to their bath water for its aromatic and therapeutic values. Its name, from the Latin, lavare, to wash, comes from this practice. It has proven antiseptic and disinfectant qualities and was at one time frequently scattered on stored clothes to deter moths.