Garden of Words

End of May Gardening

Last year's garden was a shambles because we had a newborn in the house. This year's garden is only slightly more organized now that Thea is a full-fledged toddler -- but still too young to sit in the dirt while I plant and weed. That said, I got into the garden this morning to pull a few weeds, and to pick the first crop of peas and massive handfuls of Swiss Chard (which probably should have been picked weeks ago).

For some reason, I also decided to try cucumbers and a tomato plant in hanging baskets. The ones in the garden itself are going gangbusters; the potted versions are healthy, but much less robust.

Earlier in the week, I finally got a million zinnia, daisy, sunflower and hollyhock seeds into our back beds. Last year, I put them in too early. This year, I hope I'm not too late!

The Garden, She Is Done

We finished the spring vegetable planting this weekend. The garden now boasts broccoli, brussels sprouts, peas, scarlet runner beans, bush beans, carrots, radishes, beets, chard, spinach, lettuce, melons, cucumbers and eight different heirloom tomatoes.

All we have to do now is wait for the heat, the squirrels, the rabbits and the dog to ravage our beautiful garden. Then we're off to the farmer's markets!

Spring Flowers

You wouldn't know it from the heat, but it is still April and our beds of flowers are just starting to pull themselves out of the dirt with the color and vigor we love to see.

Keeping on Springing

The early garden is going strong with carrots, radishes, beets, lettuces, peas, broccoli, brussels sprouts, chard and spinach out of the ground. The rest of the yard could use some major weeding and edging and other basic maintenance, but fortunately most of our perennials don't really seem to care what we do -- they're just doing what they do.

Thanks for the Tulips, Whole Foods

I happened to be at a meeting in the Short Pump area, so I swung by Whole Foods on Thursday to pick up some produce for dinner and to check out their organic baby edibles. I couldn't resist a bunch of deep purple tulips -- locally grown and priced at a bargain $6.99 a dozen. (For the record, I've bought several dozen equally gorgeous, locally grown tulips at Ellwood-Thompson's for only $5.99 a dozen.)

The Birth of Spring (in Our Yard)

It sprung. Really. In a day.

Yesterday, I checked out the garden in the mist and nothing was sprouting. There was a half-budded tulip gazing wanly across the yard. Everything was halfway there, paused in that wretched in-between space called March.

And then the sun smacked Mother Nature on the bottom today and everything blossomed.

I don't know where I bought this amazingly orange tulip, but I wish I'd bought 400 of them.


Introducing, the world's most adorable daffodils.


Our friends Tom and Judy gave us this red bud three years ago, and it is budding for the first time ever. It looks less creepy from a distance.


Fortunately, Rilo refuses to use her purple dog house. Thus, the lone flower survives.


The lettuce erupted from the soil with such violence this morning that it shook the house.


We cheated on the chard front, planting a half-dozen sets along with seeds.


The last time we planted Brussels sprouts, Rilo ate them to the ground. They are fenced in now, which means the rabbits will eat them instead.


The lilac.

Car Found. Sadly Repairable.

This is not a photo of our recently stolen -- and recovered -- car. We just wish it were.

Actually, I think Nikole and I both are relieved that the Jeep was recovered undriveable but apparently repairable. While her jewelry design business is gearing back up and I have had a few successful gigs with my new firm, we're really not in the position to buy a new car, or organic peanut butter.

We're still waiting on the skinny from the police about where the car was discovered, and how long the shoot-out between the officers and the gang of criminals lasted. The insurance company will swing by the impound lot tomorrow and issue their judgment on the damage -- broken window, ruined steering column, generally trashed inside.

And we're trading the too-small for my lanky frame rental car in for something with more heft.

Goodbye, Jeep!

The last time I saw Nikole's Jeep, I was pulling into the driveway after a long day at work. If I had known that our parting would be so abrupt, I would have paused to say goodbye.

Saturday morning started with an early riser -- Thea decided that 5:00 a.m. is the perfect time to be wide awake in America. Since Nikole was up with her overnight (fussy baby), I pulled the early morning shift. We played, we ate our apples and peaches, we drank a gallon of coffee. Around 9:00, she went down for her morning nap.

Nikole and I had talked about taking a post-nap morning walk, but decided that it was still a bit chilly. We thought the Chinese New Year festival at Godwin High School would be a good way to spend the rest of the morning, followed by a walk later in the afternoon.

We got dressed. We got Thea dressed. We grabbed our assorted baby bags, purses and cameras. We walked into the late morning sunshine.

And we stopped in our tracks.

"Where's your Jeep?" I asked, scanning the street.

Gone, obviously.

We called the police. We called the insurance company. Nikole checked in with the neighbors. I drove around the neighborhood, scanning the alleys.

It was all very undramatic. That's probably a good thing.

Nikole's mom came over with a new car seat for Thea, and watched her while Nikole and I went to pick up a rental car. Nikole drove the rental car and car seat to the fire station to have it installed.

And then we went for a long walk with Thea and Rilo, stopping by for a visit with our friends Elaine and Richard.

I immediately looked out the window when I woke up this morning with Thea at 5:30 a.m. My car and the rental car were both still there. The Jeep was not.

Planning to Plant

Having a 10-month-old in the house really puts a clampdown on our normal lawn-and-garden antics, but Nikole and I are beginning the seed buying frenzy that accompanies the traditional burst of false spring known as February in Richmond.

It started with a stroll through Target. I walked out with packets of zinnia and sunflower seeds, because come hell or high water there will be sunflowers blooming in our yard this year! (Four years of sunflower failure creates a bit of an emotional flutter, obviously.)

We do have some added motivation to pay attention to our vegetable patch this year -- and to figure out a way to keep the dog and the local rabbits from eating everything to the ground. Thea's baby food is primarily homemade, and this summer it can be homegrown.

Tonight, we order seeds. Next, I clean the turnips out of the garden bed, and weed. Then, we'll bring in some compost. Come April, we'll start planting.

Merry Christmas, the Finale

If we had sent out holiday cards this year, they might have looked something like this: