​     I never thought I’d get tired of artichokes, but that time has come. Remaining unharvested blossoms are overmature and showing their exquisite black-light blue-purple brushes.  Beautiful, but a waste of food.  I just couldn’t help myself not harvesting them, even as they developed more slowly because of those couple of weeks of coolish “May Gray” weather.
     Perhaps I’ll blame it on mayonnaise overload, or the fact that we were doing so much traveling that they got ahead of my harvesting them. 
     Even so, our neighbors and other friends graciously received bagfuls of almost-choke-free globes in several shapes and sizes – some with stickers, others with stickerless tips; some squat and light green; others more pointed and darker grey-green; and still others purplish and with rounded leaflets.  In all, I had 6 different varieties. 
     One must have been a relatively early variation since every part of it was viciously stickery all over – tops and bottoms of leaves, stems, branches, and immature blossoms. Just to get to the globes, I had to wear long sleeves and thick leather gauntlet gloves.  Luckily, its flavor wasn’t particularly noteworthy so I have no qualms about digging it up and composting it. 
     Of the other five varieties, some had more flavor than others or were softer in texture as we pulled the flesh through our teeth, but they all were worth keeping. Only one had pointed but not sticker leaf tips.
     The only two that actually had identifiable names were “Opera” and “Carciofo Romanesco” or “Roman Artichoke” that I’d purchased from Annie’s Annuals and Perennials, www.anniesannuals.com .  At $7.95 for each 4” pot, they were more expensive than I usually purchase, but my curiosity and the resulting batch of globes from each plant definitely made the purchases worthwhile.
 
Annie’s Annuals and Perennials
     Initially concerned about the adaptability of plants from Annie’s (located in Richmond in the San Francisco Bay Area) to our Southern California locale, I’ve been extremely pleased with my many purchases over the years.  Their superior-quality of plants, special shipping packaging and containers foster excellent growth. 
     I’ve sometimes held the plants for several weeks before planting, and had them stay perky through the wait and final transplanting period.
     The website has a wishlist function that’s wonderfully convenient so you can tag specific offerings and then be notified by email when they become available. 
     And, of course, whenever you plan to travel to the SF Bay Area, absolutely include at least a 3-hour visit to the nursery grounds.  Plants are informatively labeled and described, so you’ll find many that you want to experiment with. 
     If you’ll still be several days away from home after you purchase your treasures, take plastic bins to enable watering. 
 
Annual or Perennial Artichokes?
     The information tag that usually comes with transplants many times will identify your artichoke as an annual or a perennial.  But, because most of mine had no information tag when I’d purchased them in late fall and early winter – or the tag had merely generic cultural information – I have to wait until that time again to see whether they send up new foliage (perennial) or not (annual). 
     Consequently, since all the plants are dying back after reabsorbing their energy from the above-ground growth, I make a point of continuing to water their areas just enough to keep the soil barely moist - just enough to keep their possibly perennial roots alive while they’re dormant through the hot summer.
     But, be sure to insert a stick or other marker by each dying-back artichoke so you’ll not disturb the rootzone area until those new shoots either do or don’t appear in late winter!
 
Bountiful Boysenberries
     The first few delicious frontrunners ripened on Mother’s Day, and now they’re ripening in double handfuls.  The trick to harvesting them when they’re fully ripe is three-fold. 
1.      The first cue/clue is the dried calyx (those “petals” on top of the berry). 
2.      Next, the glossy berry turns dull. 
3.      The final OK-to-Harvest moment is when the berry literally falls off into your hand as you tickle it from below.  If you have to tug on the berry, it’s not ready.
     To assure a plentiful crop next year, make a note to fertilize and water the berry plants this August.  That’s when the plants will be setting the fruit buds way down inside the plant.  

     With that bit of rain – even a thunderstorm -- daytime temperatures in the low to mid 70s, and nighttime temperatures in the low to mid 50s, our gardens again enjoy Spring-like conditions, so we can do more transplanting and seeding with a great measure of success.  But, take care of these tasks within the next week or so, knowing that our real Summer temperatures will reassert themselves and consequently plants will have to work harder to settle in nicely, and seeds won’t germinate as readily.
 
Sowing Summer Veggies
     I just pulled the rest of the bolting (going to seed) lettuce and spinach and bok choy.  After incorporating coffee grounds and compost and slow-release organic fertilizer, I seeded my favorite crookneck squash, several varieties of beans (both pole and bush), and several varieties of cucumbers, and placed their trellises. 
     I’ve found in the past that my sowing these earlier into cooler soil resulted in only about half germinating, and the seeds that I sowed again to fill the empty spaces caught up within another two weeks and were ultimately more vigorous.  So, no need to rush to get these in early!
     Tomatoes and peppers are the only plants I make a point of getting in as early as they’re available at local nurseries, or having started my own seeds in January.
 
Cutting Spent Pea Vines
     I also removed spent pea vines, cutting off the stems at ground level instead of pulling out the whole bushes.  This allows the roots – which have developed nodules that contain excess nitrogen from their fixation process – to rot in place, releasing the nitrogen into the soil and leaving tendrils of space from the rotted-out roots extending deeply into the soil for water and air to now penetrate.
    
Planting to Attract Bees and Butterflies
      To encourage bees to visit your garden for better pollination, provide some of their favorite plants – basil, borage, calendulas, catnip, hyssop, lemon balm, mint, summer savory, thyme, and other plants with blue flowers.
      To attract butterflies to your garden, plant asters, buddleias ("butterfly bush"!), lantanas, marigolds, sweet Williams, tithonias (Mexican sunflower), zinnias, and other daisy-like flowers.
 
Thinning Fruit Trees & Vines
      For bigger fruit, unstressed and undamaged trees and vines, thin fruit now.  You want to leave sufficient space between fruits so they don’t touch their neighbors when they’re mature. 
     In general, this means five to eight inches apart for apples, pears, peaches, and nectarines; and four inches apart for plums and apricots. Thin tree fruits on alternate sides of branches for balance.
     For grapes, remove about half of the number of grape clusters, or half of each cluster.  Each grape will be considerably smaller than what you buy at the market, since commercially produced grapes generally utilize hormones to increase their size.
     Leave on the tree or vine only what you will realistically use. When the fruits are tiny, you’ll fear that you may be removing too many.  But, as the fruits enlarge, you’ll find yourself thinning even more.
     Thin too much rather than not enough so trees and vines aren't strained. If you leave too much fruit on branches, they may break from the weight – especially if the fruit has formed toward the tips of long branches.  This is another reason to prune branches back after fruit has been consumed.