It rained all day yesterday. Actually, it poured! However, today's weather is beautiful again--sunny and in the 70's.

Ken and I planted the tomatoes on Wednesday. There are 13 tomato plants in all (two Jubilees, two Lemon Boys, two Celebrities, one Yellow Tangerine, and an unknown number of 4th of Julys and Sungolds). I'm not sure exactly how many 4th of July and Sungold tomatoes were planted because some of the tags came off of the pots. This seems to happen every year. Oh well! We still need to lay the newspaper and mulch around the plants though. I hope to get this done either tonight or tomorrow. We also want to buy bamboo stakes and build triangular trellises to support them. We haven't been able to find bamboo stakes that are tall enough in a local store (at least seven feet tall) but Ken did find a website that has them. He's going to check to see if they still have them in stock.

Many of the perennials are either in bloom or getting ready to do so. The other night, I cut off the spent flowers from the iris plants so that the new flowers on them would look more attractive. The coral bells are covered with flowers and the violas as well as the columbines are still blooming. I have only had two flowers on the daylillies (both of them were Happy Returns) but the plants are loaded with buds. I also noticed that the white salvias are beginning to bud. The Jackmanii clematis has grown over the trellis and is now growing up the side of the house. It has buds but no flowers. The Asao clematis is starting to grow but has no buds yet. The Salmon Flambe petunias that are in the pots are starting to fill out and look greener than before. In addition, they now have a few flowers. The flowers have a very unique coloration--light pink in the center with light yellow edges. I think that these plants are going to be spectacular. The ones that I stuck in the ground are still struggling but I'm not surprised. I never transferred the peat pellets to larger pots and I just let them sit in a container of water for weeks.

I picked the last of the Cherry Belle radishes. The lettuce has filled the pots. In addition, the Yukon Gold potatoes are growing like crazy. The other day, Ken filled their containers to the top with a mixture of manure and soil.