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Weekly Round Up from ‘Abandon All Hope’ Farm:

This morning Beau took our three best ‘swimmers’ to a Water Race. They hold them in the spring to start getting the dogs in shape for hunting season - raccoon and black bear. Shasta, Fremont, Paiute and Bella Coola made the cut. All are Plott Hounds. Of course, it’s RAINING, but it’s still going to be in the 70’s, so tolerable.

Tomatoes are in, and I’ve been adding flowers here and there. Started some Dill yesterday as I want to can Dilly Beans later this season. We have been cool and wet, and I KNOW it’s the first of June, but my beans aren’t in, yet. Peppers, either. But, it’s just a few hours’ work to get that done, so we’ll be fine. :)

Puppies are growing fast and are starting to explore their little world - with Mama Taylor at their side most of the time. We give her a break from them every day. They are confined to the Puppy Pen, so they can’t get out and no other dogs can get in. Looks like the Baby Daddy owner may be taking one or two, so that’ll be less work for me this summer. Yay! :)

We have been enjoying really good salad greens from the garden, but not much else, yet. The floodgates will open come July. ;)

Peonies have been spectacular this season - gonna brave the rain and cut a big bouquet for the Kitchen this morning. ‘Festiva Maxima’ and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ (White and Shell Pink in color).

Not much else to report - other than Beau bought me some gravel screenings so I can do some fixing up in the pathways around my greenhouse that have become trip hazards. Gravel settles; you add more. :)

Although my 4 parsnip seeds that germinated have now gone into some bizarre type of “suspended animation”, everything else seems to be going “great guns”. Even some tomato seeds that I had just tossed into the herb/vegetable bed to see what they’d do, are growing fast. The whole experimental row of Sugar Baby watermelons is thriving too. If things keep up at this rate, my family will soon no longer have any reason to make fun of me for having “black thumbs”.

The blueberry bushes are getting some nice foliage, but the 3 berries on them (one on each bush) haven’t increased in size and are still as hard as BBs. That’s OK though; I’ve heard that the very first berries can do that, so I’m OK with waiting until next spring for a real harvest.

Back to the parsnkps, I’m thinking of putting a few seeds on the north side of the house. True, OK is in Zone 7 but my north side is protected from direct sun, and the difference in temperature there, vs. the other 3 sides of the house, is remarkable.

I got most of the remaining flowers potted or planted this week. There’s a little more to do, but each season I change what I purchase depending on what looks healthy and where I have bare spots. I like it to feel like you’re at a botanical garden when you walk up to my house, either the front or the back. Our house is a Victorian style home so I try to keep it a little bit on the “English” side.

My bachelor buttons are so large that I need to divide them again next year. I didn’t get to it in time this year. So I will be deadheading them soon so they rebloom. Usually I dead head two or three times, and they bloom from April to November.

A neighbor gave me several milkweed plants to transplant, which I did right away last week. I think about half of them (10) made it through the transplant process. They lost many of their leaves except at the very top. I doubt there will be any blossoms this year, but maybe I will get lucky with one or two.

I got the old antique garden cart near our firepit planted a few days ago. I added Irish Spring “slices” around the perimeter and red pepper flakes all over in hopes of deterring the deer and bunnies from nibbling, and from squirrels to keep out from burying nuts in there. Fingers crossed.

We are supposed to get rain today, and I hope that will happen. We’re on the road for the day, but will be back this evening or tomorrow at the latest.

Melon Sorbet /4-6 servings
French culinary school technique.

ING ¼ cup water, ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tbl plus 2 teaspoons corn syrup, 1½ pounds peeled diced ripe cantaloupe, honeydew or similar melons (1 medium melon), tbl lime juice, pinch salt.

Steps--- BTB water/sugar; simmer to dissolve sugar. Cool offheat. Blender purée melon, sugar/water, rest ing. Chill 2-24 hrs.

Blend chilled mixture 30 sec w/ immersion blender, then freeze in an ice cream maker as per mfg. Transfer to chilled container; freezer 2 hours. Soften in fridge 15-30 min; serve.

TIP--will keep couple of weeks in freezer, but best when freshly made.