The weather in the Pacific Northwest is perfect - for growing peas, calendula, and spinach. Just downright cold! Overcast, and a predicted high of 63 degrees in Tacoma on the weekend. Just no great warmth. I've got two types of peas coming up, Oregon Snow Peas on one trellis and flowering sweet peas on another one. This year I'm experimenting with a plastic mesh trellis inbetween both string trellises, to see if it will keep the two types separate. 
Spinach, lettuce, kale and broccoli sprouts are doing very well. I've been thinning them out, and chopping up the sprouts for salads. I've also planted several rows of golden beets here, and some zucchini which will grow out as I pick the nearby greens.
Lettuce and nasturtium are protected by straw piled along the growing berm. I throw lawn debris and weeds into the trenches between my growing berms which provide a mulch for later in the summer. I've also added sphagnum moss . When the lettuce is picked I'll transplant nearby bachelor button seedlings and the front border will contain only flowers.
These tomatoes are 'Roma', great for sauces. They all ripen at the same time. This berm is raised and the sides are packed with straw. Grass clippings and decayed straw are tilled into the soil on a weekly basis to keep the soil light and fluffy. When hot summer days arrive (will they?) the soil will hold moisture better. 
The tall poles here are for the 'Canary Vine', which has a small yellow flower that looks like a tiny bird. Cauliflower, celery, fava beans, carrots, basil and cilantro are also on this berm. I've made a point of mixing a variety of plants together, packed intensely, to confuse pests and to cut down on any open areas later on which could dry out. I've learned some of these practices through the Community Garden Program. Small plots, 20 by 30 feet, with limited watering time, 15 minutes. By August I hope to water only twice a week if I have enough organic material in my trenches to hold in the moisture.I've planted Dahlias along the eastern edge of my plot, and they are up about 8 inches. The Metropolitan Park District encourages us to plant 'tall stuff' along the edges to hide the contents of the gardens. If what we grow cannot be seen from the parkway, it is more likely not to be stolen. But, my feeling is that since the gates are not locked with a padlock anyone can come inside at any time, look around and take things.
Every day I spend about a half hour in the community garden, watering and tending. When I come and go I have a chance to visit with other gardeners. They all have interesting projects with different approaches to problems and I always learn something.
Sunshine and warm temperatures are necessary now, for all the plants to grow, and I'm desperate for a little too! I'm heading over to eastern Washington today for a few days at Quincy Lakes. My sons want to camp and hike while the weather is still mild. (Once it warms up over there we do not return to eastern Washington until the fall, when things cool down.) The guys want to hike, and I want the sunshine. 74 degrees and clear at Quincy Lakes. Tomorrow will be 77 and partly cloudy. Can't beat that!
