Fence, soil, and the first dahlias in.

The garden is bigger now. We sank fence posts on the south side this week and ran the fence yesterday, nearly tripling the growing space.

Once it was fenced, the first batch of dahlias went in. Twenty tubers across five varieties.

A note on each.

• Clearview Tammy. Soft pink petals on a tight ball form. Long stems for cutting, holds well in arrangements. A dependable workhorse in the mid-pink range.
• Dave's Glacier. Pure white, large decorative blooms. The cleanest, brightest white we grow. The first dahlia we reach for in wedding work.
• Bride-to-Be. The namesake. Cream blush with a warm centre on a ball form. The most-asked-for variety in cream weddings.
• Clearview Orca. A smaller white ball with a denser petal count than Glacier. A supporting bloom that fills out cream and ivory bouquets without competing.
• Hi Mom. A bright sport, warm pinks and yellow on a ball form. The colour that breaks the cream palette where we want a spark of warm.

The snapdragons go in tomorrow. The field was tilled last week in preparation, and we trucked in soil. Garden top soil and a mushroom manure blend, both, so the ground is full of nutrients before anything goes deep.

The Red Russian garlic, planted last October, is standing tall. Healthy plants, deep green, no signs of stress. We're getting the next round ready to grow under the hazel trees. Intercropping the orchard floor.

The hazel grove out back is doing extremely well. Irrigation went in last week. Nearly two thousand metres of piping snake through the rows so the young trees can make it through peak summer heat. Once they're established, we won't water them again. The land here is naturally moist enough.