The agony and the ecstasy

This is not your snack bar, my dudes

We seem to be winning the battle, if not the war, with the snails. I broke my "don't buy from Amazon" rule to get slug/snail bait delivered same day, last week, and have not been disappointed. It totally looks like we've put cake sprinkles everywhere, but there have been a lot of unhappy snails and a few miserable slugs laying around. I'm smart enough to not declare victory, but it's very satisfying. And the peas seemed to rebound pretty much immediately, too.

Summer is coming, the peas are getting fat...

Otherwise, things are just sort of trundling along. I made the executive decision, the other day, to rip out some of the ENORMOUS nasturtiums because they are truly overwhelming. What I'm finding weirdly disappointing, though, is that for all we've got leaves the size of lily pads on these things, so far only one has managed to provide a flower. Get it together Nastys! You have a job to do!

The big change is that I planted out the things from my Growbars. 

Lemon balm for the table to discourage bugs

Fennel because I like to roast the bulbs and put the fronds into stock

Either Clary Sage or Salad Burnet

Winter Savory, I think

Tansy, I think

More lemon balm

These were really cool, and I would 100% use them again. Maybe for less arcane things, though. We'll see.

I've ripped out the rocket, because it was starting to bolt, so hopefully the lettuces will enjoy having a bit more room. I also pulled up the last of the radishes (so tasty!) so now we have an empty crate that will probably get more radishes put in. We've also started eating the lettuces, and the chard is at a point where we can start hitting that, as well. Both of those are "cut and come again" varieties, so I'm hoping that actually works.

The tomatoes are getting huge! We're expecting a bit of a heat wave, this week, so I suspect they'll really enjoy that. In other news, other things are also doing well:

Borage! I hope it flowers in time for Pimm's

The Last Strawberry

Flowers of some sort - I don't remember, but they're butterfly attractors

Lady's Bedstraw, enjoying her new home

If you look closely, you'll see a turnip

And, since I know you've been waiting, an update on the Feel Good Story Of The Year:

Runty Mr. Bean is still going strong!

One of the nasturtiums I ripped out was in front of this little guy - he's working so hard and I wanted him to have a fighting chance. He's still leagues behind his beany friends, but hanging in there!

AND, because we want people to keep coming back for more, we have Feel Good Story 2: Electric Boogaloo:

Like a phoenix from the flames

One of the marigolds that had been brutally decaptitated by a snail is fighting through the trauma and growing new leaves! This is a very exciting development!

So, to wrap up this instalment, here's where we are, now, three months in:

The Courtyard at La Palmerosa - an idyllic oasis