The lemon cucumbers are finally up! They took their sweet time about it this year, taking more than the package's alleged five to 10 days to sprout, while in some other years they've taken me out of suspense after just three days. I began to think I'd planted them at the wrong height, or they'd been washed away by downpours, but there they finally are -- just in time to get hailed on this morning.

The garden this year is an odd mix of laggards and plants that grow by leaps and bounds. The seedlings are slow starters, but even some transplanted perennials are growing fast enough I feel like every time I turn around a time lapse camera has been at work. The peonies are as tall as they've ever been and covered with buds, but they seem pretty intent on staying closed for a long time.

What's going on in your garden this Memorial Day? Are your veggies slow starting this year or is it just me? So far my volunteer tomatoes are outperforming everything else, produce-wise. Well, except the chives, but there's no holding those back.