Life is Returning to Us
The familiar light of longer days is here and trees and perennials are greening up. The air is soft, and the winds are like peace now. We're deep into spring, and quickly approaching summer. Life is returning to us.
This weekend, we’re sowing the
veggie seeds, and this is the food we’ve decided to grow this year: lettuces,
kale, arugula, Italian parsley, three varieties of heirloom tomatoes, pole
beans, summer squash, cucumbers, and Japanese watermelon. This is a pared down version
of our usual schema, but my husband made a point and it’s a good one: we want
to grow what we need for summer and autumn food and give the rest of our time
and energy to the boat and the beautiful ocean. We’ll still have plenty to give
away and lots of ourselves.
Already potted are dill, rosemary, lavender, purple sage, German thyme, parsley (which we’re already
using in food) and even a tomato plant in a large pot – an experiment I’m doing
on getting mature tomatoes as early in the season as possible. Basil seedlings
are coming in strong. Soon they’ll be placed in the food gardens.
We’ve already placed three new rose bushes in a sunny spot
at the front of our home. I added two large new Icelandic white poppy plants to
the front flower bed, tied up emerging clematis vines, pruned back beach roses,
and placed potted white impatiens at the front doorstep.
Our urns of stonecrop, now years old, are burgeoning with
healthy fat foliage. Stonecrop is an absolutely zero-maintenance cold-hardy succulent
that’s gorgeous and seriously strong. Pull the urns out into the sun in spring and
place them back in an outdoor nook for winter, protected from wind, and they
just come back bigger and better year after year.
Orange, yellow, and purple pansies planted a month ago are
big and colorful now. They’ll be good until about June, when hot weather will
signal them to go to seed.
The peach trees, which we pruned heavily last autumn, are
sending out leaves and there are tiny beginnings of flowers, which will become
peaches later in summer. The apple trees are getting alarmingly big and will
need a pruning in late autumn. Raspberry bushes are in their third year here
and getting immense. We had lots of raspberries last year.
In flower and herb beds around the house, lilies,
columbine, lemon balm, mint, hydrangea, Hosta, Provence lavender, and peonies
are all up.
Again this year, we’re planting a field of tall yellow,
orange, and red Italian sunflowers at the side of the house. This year,
however, we’re adding two varieties of colorful zinnia alongside them. You can’t
have too many cutting flowers in the house in summer. And friends love getting
surprise jars of fresh-cut garden blooms.
I’m feeling the gardening vibe strong right now. It was a
long winter, and I missed the buzz of bees, the song of birds, the scent of
loam, the taste of garden food still warm from the sun, and the feel of Mama
Earth under my bare feet. I’m ready, body and soul.
This weekend will be the start of the food gardens. After
that, it’s all maintenance and luck and love. Let’s all be grateful for the
joy that’s coming.
Barbie xo
