Gardening with wee ones

The sunflowers, which I've been planting two and three at a time as baby boy's capricious moods allow, are loving this heat. We planted a row behind the hoop and single flowers here and there throughout the main garden, and being out of the way, we tend to forget about them. But since they're so darn drought tolerant, they forgive us, and grow anyway. The heat has also made us brave enough to plant the summer squash, cantaloupe, and tomatoes (all in the crescent moon bed) and cucumbers (in the path bed behind the chard). In the shady spots on the east side of the garden, the parsley, onions, lettuce, kale, beets, and leeks are still growing, too, and we're hoping to get a few more weeks out of them.

The herbs are filling in fabulously -- sage takes up the whole wall bed and then into the paths some, same with the mint marigold. Bee balm, planted between the two, was just planted and is only about two inches tall, but she'll get there. Rosemary is growing well, and not too fast to interfere with the carrots growing in front of her. And wormwood and rue and comfrey couldn't be better.

And, thanks to Jan and her two baby girls, the fairies in the garden feel loved. That always helps things to grow beautifully!