Monday, May 31, 2010

Lessons from the garden

Lesson #1:
From now on the VERY first thing I must do before letting the boys play outside is to clean up Tana's "spot".  She is trained to use one location on the side of our house which is usually not frequented by anyone else.  Today, much to my misfortune, my sons were lured out to the street by the sight of a motorized toy car.  Darned if they didn't find every single land mine.  This incident led to getting striped of their clothes, shoes, and toys at the back door and a shower before dinner.  Let's just say that I was not popular and they would have been happy to sit down to dinner as is.

Our garden gnome "Norman" and a trouble making gnome named Fritz.

Lesson #2:
Rabbits are cute, but very pesky.  The boys weren't the only ones causing trouble in the garden today, the family of darling rabbits living in the field next door were very busy as well.  They have decided that my herb garden would make a lovely home for their burrow.  They ate up a ton of oregano, dug a surprisingly deep hole, and chewed right through two sections of drip irrigation tubing.  I won't be surprised when I find Peter Rabbit's shoes and tiny coat out there tomorrow morning!  


Lesson #3:
The sun needs to shine more!  My garden is hanging in there, but we have had an inordinate amount of rain this spring.  I'm hoping June will be more gracious than May.  There is a lot I still need to learn (how much to thin the carrot seedlings?) but I am just considering it all a big experiment and excusing myself from perfectionism.  Tonight I ate the first harvest (tiny-good thing I was home alone) in a little salad with my mom's Walla Walla Sweet Onion Rice Casserole.  "Micro greens" as they call them in fancy restaurants!  Thinnings of heirloom carrots, arugula, beet greens, tom thumb lettuce, red iceberg, mascara lettuce, pea shoots, spinach, radish, and baby Walla Walla sweets.  





Lesson #4:
Not really a lesson, just an excited observation.  The grapes are coming!  The vines are chock full.  



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