Monday, May 05, 2008

Putting down roots

Crafted two more rows of vegetables in our garden today, planting several kinds of tomatoes, basil and some lettuce. I did the first two yesterday, planting seeds of radishes, another kind of lettuce, and Japanese eggplant and cucumber, and there's space for two more. (The picture's by housemate T, just returned from a month abroad and stunned at how Brooklyn's greened while he was away.) It's fun to be gardening, at least at this early hopeful stage - who knows which (if any) seeds will sprout? Some seeds I planted a few weeks ago - nasturtiums and bachelor's buttons - have come up, so there's hope. Some aojiso and hadaikon, brought probably illicitly from Japan by H, should be sprouting soon, too.

Summer planting is new for me, and not just because I haven't had a garden before. In years past, the last weeks of the academic year - final class meetings and graduation are next week - have been busy with packing. But this summer, for the first time, I'm staying, at least much of the summer. (Mid-July to mid-August I'll head out west.) Feels strange, somehow, though I'm not quite sure why - most of my friends stay. I mean, they live here! I guess I do too...!