After a long winter and spring which just dragged on cold, summer 2017 has finally arrived. Here are some glimpses from our garden.

Summer squash plant

This year too we have planted a lot of squash and pumpkin. The plants are still small, but looking good nonetheless.

Overview of the main garden

Our garden is starting to show some green. All cabbage and carrots are still under coverings, but the peas and beans are on their own and seem to doo well. All that is missing now is mulch, some warm rains and more of that beautiful sun!

Tiny pears in June in Finland

Looks like there'll be some pears this fall! The tree bloomed much earlier than the apple trees and has a good head start into the season.

Ants on a lily plant

Ants are our best friends (well, most of the time) as they do quite a lot of the pollination of the bushes and even trees. Here they are on a lily. Not sure what they are getting from the closed bud, but from dusk till dawn (currently that is about 19, 5 hours) they climb on there and do their thing.

First blooms in June

Some of the first flowers, all perennials, are starting to bloom. The sowed flowering plants are still very small, but the Finnish summer, once it gets going, is so rapid in growth that I see no need to worry about that either.

So all in all most of the garden looks really good. Many of the plants we pregrew in the house didn't make it, so we had to replant from seed and now are hoping for the best. Depending on the summer they might make it, or not. There's been a first harvest of radishes, and the first salad is not far behind. Trees are all in full leaf and looks like the roses are about to bloom. The summer is really late this year, but let's hope it will be a long one so everything has a chance to grow!