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Here's the very first harvest from our courtyard garden:



Two grape tomatoes and a miniature red bell pepper. Yum.

We have a substantial crop of small green peppers waiting to ripen, and a smaller but still lovely collection of green tomatoes. And one exciting green pendulum hanging from the midget muskmelon vine. It's about the size of my fist right now; I understand that they grow to approximately softball size. I am excited.

What a crazy difference two weeks of warm weather makes to a garden!

I think it was jonquil who told me to plant something in the center medallion of our courtyard that would make me happy every time I saw it. I picked a flower mix sort of at random - Home Depot was selling these circular trays of mixed seedlings that were meant to go in a container, and I thought maybe they'd work okay in the medallion instead. And wow, have they ever grown into a gorgeous, lush, vibrant display.

Petunias were never my favorite flower, but you know what? I am happy every time I open my gate and see this:



( the progress of everything else )

Incidentally, the sage that was blossoming two weeks ago is now looking yellowed and sad. Is that because we let it flower and go to seed? My impulse is to cut it way back and let it re-grow. Is that the right impulse?

The lavender is blossoming now, and it is beautiful. We have enormous tons of lavender. I always pictured it as a small delicate plant, but we have big woody lavender bushes.

The whole garden has an amazing herbal smell. I can't believe how happy it makes me to be growing things.

This morning I woke up to a cheerful three-year-old climbing on top of me and saying, "Let's have a pillow fight!!"

I got up. I made pancakes.

We walked to church for "Union Sunday," a special annual service in which UUs from all over the greater Baltimore-Washington area come to our church to hear a rabble-rousing sermon by a notable guest preacher. (It commemorates William Ellery Channing preaching the foundational sermon of Unitarianism from our pulpit in 1819.) The Union Sunday service is always a huge deal and very long. Afterward we went to the reception and listened to the guest preacher, who is running for president of the UUA, explain her platform. (Alex spent most of this time leaning out the window of the parish hall and waving at people.)

Walked home from church. Made a late lunch for myself and Alex while Michael did yardwork. How can a 15-foot-square courtyard require so much work? Started to transplant seedlings I bought yesterday at the Mount Vernon Flower Mart (a festival, not a convenience store), realized that I needed more soil. Decided that as long as we needed to buy more stuff, I should go ahead and buy the rest of the plants I wanted to put in.

Drove to Home Depot with the family. Did some rapid-fire plant selection while Michael and Alex restocked our supply of river pebbles (for the front border) and topsoil.

Drove home. Waved goodbye to Michael as he went off gaming. Planted stuff in the two beds we'd prepared and the containers we bought for vegetables. (Experts at the flower mart confirmed that lead might be an issue. Testing will take a few weeks, so we decided that we'd do our vegetables in pots this season.) Pulled the thicket of weeds from the circular medallion in the center of the courtyard - OMG that was pillbug heaven - and planted stuff there too. Fended off Alex's enthusiastic help.

In the shady bed I planted streptocarpella, a shade-loving form of fuchsia, and some white and lavender impatiens. In the center medallion: white and lavender miniature petunias and some deep magenta verbena. In the sunny strip along the house: some nice tall plants with little flowers, in blue and white, I forget what they're called. Wait, the white ones are this and the blue ones look similar. In pots: a grape tomato, a miniature bell pepper, some parsley to wrap up our herb collection, and a teensy tiny melon called a "Minnesota midget," which the lady at the Flower Mart swore was perfect for container gardens and made weensy little five-inch melons. I was totally charmed.

I think I messed up transplanting a couple of the fruit/veg seedlings, though. I bought them yesterday and didn't plant them until today, and I haven't planted anything since childhood, so I had sort of forgotten about how wet they need to be to come out of their pots cleanly. So the roots got disturbed, and maybe they won't take. Oh well. This is our experimental season.

After all that: I decided that there was no way in hell I was cooking dinner, and besides there isn't much food in the house. So I sponged the garden dirt off Alex and myself and popped her into the stroller, and we walked to a sushi restaurant for dinner.

Walked home. Sponged Alex off again, put pajamas on her, read stories, and put her to bed. Put away two loads of clean laundry and ran another load through the washer and dryer. Caught up on LJ. Willed myself to get up right now and start cleaning up the downstairs. Failed to assemble the necessary will.

The house is a shambles. There are toys and books and clothes and papers everywhere. I will be sorry in the morning if I don't pick up at least a little bit before bed. So instead of writing long LJ posts, you know what I should do? Pick up the downstairs.

Uh huh. Goodnight.