Summer arrived yesterday, a day of warmth and sunshine that a month ago seemed a hopeless, fanciful dream, something never to be. But here it was. From the first light, a sky without a cloud. Lilacs in bloom. The sweet smell of wisteria in the breeze. The soil warm enough to plant corn and beans. Some mornings, the nudge we feel waking us up is heaven.

One of the corn varieties I planted today was described as “well bred and soulful”. Someone who is assigned the task of writing seed descriptions is a hopeless romantic.

The overwintering kale has gone to bloom. I was about to cut it down to make way for another vegetable bed when the buzzing of a hundred bees stopped me. I’ll work around the kale until the flowers have dropped and some of the plants have gone to seed. In this garden, the bees rule.