The irises are nearly finished blooming, the peonies are in full show-off mode and I picked the first few roses last night. On the food side of things, we’re already harvesting salad greens, onions and pea pods, though the rhubarb and strawberries are coming on a bit slowly. We had a hot spell in April and that threw my garden schedule completely off. The weeds had to wait while I rushed to get plants into the ground, only to have a cold spell hit in early May killing some of the seedlings I’d been nurturing since February. And then there was the creature that trampled through one of our raised beds a couple of weeks ago, leaving gaping holes and scattering my just-sprouted radishes and Tom Thumb lettuce. A deer? A racoon? An aggressive squirrel?  I never did figure it out.  Instead, I reseeded and soldiered on, as gardeners do.  And, at the end of the day, when I crawl into bed weary and satisfied, there’s always a book waiting. Here’s what I’m reading this month.

The Never Witch by J.P. McLean

The House of New Beginnings by Lucy Diamond

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

Books read to date in 2026: 23