Got to get ourselves back to the garden

Big NEWS! The weeks and months of patience, in watching the homogeneous mass of green in my fenced in little oasis has finally come to an end! As of about a week ago, after the tomato plants spiritedly flowered into life, little tiny tomatoes appeared through the blossoms. It is completely fascinating to watch them progress, day by day, into something that increasingly resembles a tomato fruit. Once small, hard and green, I've now got one that is well, still small hard a green, but has the shape of a tomato. Four others are on their way. Very thrilling.




I also recently had a flower from the nasturtium plant, a beautiful deep red one which looked totally suave against the dark green leaves and spindly brownish stalks, and one of my eggplant has leaves of jungle proportions, furry and with one lovely purple flower which I full expect to bear the beginnings of a baby eggplant before the week is out.


All this anticipation was first broken by my first basil harvest, which took place last week. We prepared a beautiful summer pasta dish, complete with local & organic summer squash/zucchini, and crammed as much fresh basil as possible into it. My hands smelled like basil for hours, which, if you've never experienced this, is pretty outstanding.

This past weekend I began the imminent move down south and brought along about eight of my plants. I brought the runtiest of the lot in hopes that the mid-atlantic heat might coax them into blossoming, and so that I wouldn't have to worry about my mom forgetting about them on her back porch. Auspiciously, when I placed them in their new homes, it almost immediately began to downpour, after weeks without rain in their former home.

Now, I've got about 14 plants to tend to, and am wondering if having a dinner party is really going to be possible. We may, as I feared, only eat basil for dinner. However, I can happily say this won't be as a result of failed plants, but only delayed growth. I know that all these plants are bearing already, as they're appearing at the farmer's market and in my boss's backyard (I am currently watering and harvesting produce while she's away on vacation-- tough job) but I know that with a little more time and patience, I WILL eat the fruits of my labor.

I've been thinking how much of a big step this is, going through the process from seed to fruit, and how accomplished I'm going to feel when I eat my first tomato. But I also know that this is the babiest of baby steps in the world of agriculture, and my knowledge is minuscule compared to what's out there. That is a daunting reality, but exciting too-- a lifetime of learning awaits!

p.s. REM Pop Song 89