Friday, June 25, 2010

Hello, Suburban Housewives!

I'm slowly working back into the swing of things around here, and I am sorry for the unexplained hiatus!! My family has recently moved cross-country, back "home" - the gorgeous, green Pacific Northwest. We are near (as in several-minutes-away NEAR) to family, and surrounded by trees. We've been unpacking and clearing away the dust...and general Housewife-ly duties have started to work their way back into the schedule.

There are two small planter beds on the north side of my home, that get no-to-moderate sunlight every afternoon. In the sunniest of the two I have planted tomatoes and basil, generously donated from my mother's prolific greenhouse. (Every spring, she goes to Costco and buys an enormous bag of 20-oz red plastic cups. And dirt. And then she finds SEEDS. And plants them ALL. Seedlings are then moved to the red plastic cups and transplanted to her garden. There are, of course, always dozens of seedlings left over after her garden is full. This is where her friends come in. Every spring, she showers them with various seedlings. Now that I live so close to home, I get to partake of the seed-y goodness. Huzzah!)

It's been a remarkably cold and WET spring, moving into what looks like a cool summer. I'm hoping there's enough zest in my tomatoes to get at least a few red goodies this summer! I think I counted 6 blooms, total, on 8 tomato plants.

We went into our farmers market last weekend and bought a few seedlings of our own, as well - two rosemary sproutlings, and some purple frilly basil, for the purple, frilly princess that lives here. We also found a half-used bag of cilantro seeds when we were unpacking, and spread those into a small pot. I'll harvest them, mesclun-style, as they sprout, so that they won't have a chance to "bolt." Here's hoping!

So, readers - what's in your gardens this spring?