Garden Update

Yes, it has been 2 weeks and all you get is a garden update.  Too bad.  The rest of the family trip, a visit to Seoul, an epic journey to New Zealand, and a recent visit from two of my favorite people will have to wait because my garden is glorious.  Do you know how tomatoes smell?  They smell elemental, like earth and sunshine and childhood summers all rolled into one.  Seriously, go stick your face in one, and tell me it wasn't good.

And speaking of, my tomato plants are HUGE and, until recently, all that abundant virility was threatening to tip over their somewhat dainty window box.  That problem was solved by a ￥１００ contraption designed specifically for window box virility containment.  However, I imagine (note to self) that it would have been substantially easier to install before they exploded.  Oops.  Lesson learned.

By the time the tomatoes are pickable (there are 9 little green spheres and blossoms abound), the basil should be in fine form.  It is growing riotously.  I may plant another bucket.

If the tomatoes have all the juicy passion of a soap opera star, the peppers have the stoic perseverance of a former-Soviet Bloc drama. (Hey Beth, "Shit, my shirt is so ugly.")  They continue to do their thing, producing minimalist white blossoms and baby fruits while growing ever taller. 

The cilantro sprang (wait, now say "sprang" ten times... what a weird word) forth from the dirt like guests at a suprise party, going from invisible to an inch tall in one afternoon.  I had just about given up hope that the parsley would ever appear when the first seedling popped out.  The rest soon followed suit.

I recently went to Yoko and Tamotsu's house for dinner, and Yoko sent me home with two pots of fun things, pretty purple and black seeds, and three bundles of old, old fabrics (Mom and Linda, they are beautiful.  Just beautiful.  We sat around after dinner and went through every stack before she taught me how to tie a proper Japanese bundle and took me on a walk with Tamotsu to play with the fireflies.  I love them.)  One pot from Yoko has three of my very own soybean plants and some volunteer lettuces.  The other is a delightful mix of cosmos, chives (spring onions??), and something that resembles flat leaf parsley.

This morning, after springing out of bed at 6 am much like my cilantro (will wonders never cease? who am I?), I put on the coffee and planted a pot of thyme, another of sage, and a big pot of climbing pole beans and zinnias.  I am just now realizing that that may have been a bad combo... meh, it'll work out somehow.