The birds are humming, the air is hot and stuffy (typical for the Washington D.C., area) and our little garden is a jungle. I must admit that we haven’t spent as much time in our garden as we should have. Perhaps we did not anticipate how much effort and time even the smallest of gardens requires. Either way, much to our surprise, we spotted this in our garden:
… and we spotted this 10 feet from our kitchen sliding door:
… the loss of our beloved tomato fruits from the top of our tomato plants. The only thing that can help console our sadness is the knowledge that they must have been great eats for the herd of deer that roam our neighborhood and the adjoining state park. I hope that the deer made their feast complete by nibbling a little on the nasturtium and chives. I mean, if they are to go to all that trouble to push our garden fence in, they should at least make their meal memorable. Alas, next year, we’ll make our garden and fence larger. Lesson learned!
We’ve embraced gardening as we live in the suburbs and have a yard now. Well, perhaps embraced is a little strong, but we’re certainly looking to grow our own veggies and enjoy the fruits of our labor. My husband and I both have great memories from planting and puttering with our Bubbie and Zadie in their vegetable and herb gardens. Just like we did, we would like for Sophia to learn where food comes from and witness something grow from a little seed to a seedling to a plant, a flowering plant, a fruit bearing plant and finally, delicious fruits. This weekend we purchased and planted some seedlings in our newly partitioned vegetable and herb garden. Daily dances to the rain and sunshine gods ensue to make sure ample amount of both helps our little seedlings grow tall and strong and shower us with lots of good eats. 
So we planted snap peas, tomatos, cucumbers (japanese), zucchini and pettypans, poblano peppers, mesclun lettuce, mustard greens, arugula and the following herbs: thyme, savory, marjoram, cilantro, parsely, chives, dill, rosemary, perilla, oregano, dill, sage and basil of course. Sophia is far too young to help now, but she was on her best behavior in her little stroller draped with a moscquito net which she found fascinating!
At last, we have consistently warm temperatures around here. We even had to mow the lawn the other day and got most of our landscaping done. The yard still needs a lot of work, but at least we got rid of some 40 year old shrubs that were most definitely showing their age. And now… the big reveal of all the fauna we are enjoying thanks to living in the woods. We will pay back for these glorious bursts of color when mosquito season sets in.
