As the days become warm the winter garden goes to the compost pile (adjacent to a new gray fence!) and summer veggies and flowers fill the beds.  'Purple Queen' string beans are blossoming and a handful have been harvested, the purple beans are so much easier to find when picking and turn traditional green when cooked.  Yard long beans have sprouted under rebar "teepees" and will provide a tasty harvest when the purple beans are finished.  Armenian cucumbers and Butternut Squash are beginning to vine.  'Patio' tomatoes and 'Sweet 100' tomatoes have green fruit.  Also planted are  Ann Marie's old favorites  'Golden Pear' and  'Bloody Butcher' plus a new one 'Tie Die'.   'Silver Fir', a tomato with attractive, ferny leaves, have been planted in the front flower beds.  In the past they have not produced well in Texas heat but are attractive background plants.  Other beds and containers house peppers, much too pretty to be relegated to a vegetable garden.  There are sweet 'Gypsy' and 'Orchid', hot 'Aji Limon', jalapenos, habaneros, a new mild one with the appearance of habanero, a mystery red one with mild heat given to Ann Marie as 'Costa Rican' Pepper and another given to her as 'Esplette'.  Tomatillos are planted in large containers and basils of many types decorate flower beds.

After experiencing a lovely spring in Austin, a trip to Iowa at the end of April gave the joy of a second spring, this time featuring lilacs, tulips and gnomes, Oh My!   Reiman Gardens is always a favorite stopping place.  GO CYCLONES!