I was in the garden Saturday morning for the first time in a week and glanced over to the raspberries. Work and other commitments kept me away from the garden. I was surprised to see a lot of red from the distance.

Taking a few days away from the garden can give you a new perspective. I was away fishing over the weekend – two smallish rainbows, caught and released, from the upper Androscoggin – and the soggy Monday and Tuesday morning meant I was out of the garden for almost five days.

In my last posting, I talked about the smokebush – but looking at the end result the smokebush was pretty well hidden. Here Nancy has taken a picture that better shows off the small tree.

The flower garden has entered the summer stage, with not so many flowers as the spring but still a decent amount of bloom.

I today officially declare that the garden crops are running late. They are healthy and strong, but just a little slow.

I was away for the weekend and it has been too soggy to get to the garden since I have been back, so I have not had much to report. But I did get out this morning.

We had the first major success of the gardening season. I picked a half a 5-gallon pail of peas that produced 2 quarts of shelled peas for cooking.

They all disappeared with nine people at the table.

Busy weekend.

Fought the woodchucks and they are in hiding or have gone to their cottage at the lake for the Fourth of July weekend. But not before they ate all our lettuce and our neighbor's beans.