Images from the garden

Our Plot 17E

A Midsummer Night's Visit

I just returned from an incredibly pleasant trip to the garden. This is unusual in that I generally arrive at high noon, with sweat running down every pore of my body, trying to water as fast as possible so I can retreat to my airconditioned car. To make matters worse, the girls are usually with me complaining about the heat and begging to go home. So tonight it was delightful to enjoy the solitude of the garden at dusk.

It's been more than two months since my last post. Blame it on summertime -- the hectic end of the school year, five-day fever viruses, sweltering heat, and but most of all --sheer laziness. Now that the garden is actually producing something edible, it's time to start posting again.

In my last post, things in plot 17 E looked bleak. Tomatoes shriveled up in the cold, basil turned black and that was pretty much the extent of the garden. Well, it's amazing how things can turn around in a matter of weeks. The weather improved, new tomatoes and basil replaced the casualties. Romaine lettuce bloomed, then quickly bolted. The first bunches were for the most part edible, but sadly the rest of our lettuce crop was too bitter for human consumption. The girls experimented with scattering green bean seeds in the center of the plot. In a matter of what seemed like a day, small green shoots poked up through the dirt and soon after lo and behold we had some actual green beans. The beans when cooked were quite tasty. Eating them raw, on the other hand, required excessive chewing resulting in a sore jaw. The act was discouraged. We also had miniature red peppers so cute the girls and I didn't have the heart to eat them. Jack, however, swooped into our salad and popped one right into this mouth without a moment's hesitation. All in all the garden has defied my expectations (which were admittedly low). It's hard to top eating a ripe cherry tomato fresh off the vine knowing that you planted it yourself.