There may have been a wee bit of rain

Yup, another garden post. Today was one of those perfect weather days, and there was plenty to pick in the garden.

There was a massive amount of rain a few days ago, which of course was good in that gardens need rain, but made it difficult to pick the salad we intended to have for dinner. And rain just encourages weeds, too. Really, what doesn't encourage weeds? Sometimes evolution needs to back off.

One thing we like about all these storms is that they often do break the humidity. I remember that in D.C., storms just made it worse. Here, it'll be a torrential downpour and lightning everywhere and then... sunshine and a beautiful evening with low humidity. Granted, I'm still terrified of the whole tornado aspect. Everyone here takes it so casually, because it's what they grew up with. But it's still new to me. And SCARY.

But all the rain made the peas finally appear :) One day, no pods. Rain rain rain and voila - two days later, it's pods everywhere!

Everything is thriving, and now we even have beautiful purple beans. We're only waiting for the cucumbers at this point, but they were a late replacement, so it'll be a while. (And we've completely given up on the spinach.)

We're about to be overwhelmed by chili peppers. I welcome my chili pepper overlords :) We have some generic "garden salsa" plants, as well a poblano, a jalapeno, and an I-can't-remember-right-now red chili as well. And the bell peppers look soooo cute as babies!

We only got a single plot this year, so we're mostly growing things that either both of us eat, or that we eat a lot of. One of our neighbors has a double plot, however, and their broccoli patch is making me think that next year we should go for a double plot. The peas need more space, and I'd like to add in some onions and broccoli.

The basil is looking spectacular. We're planning to make some [manchego] pesto this week. And it's time to start experimenting with the Thai basil leaves as well. We have some coconut milk, so I suspect that the day after the pesto dinner will be a curry dinner.

It's been really good for Arthur to pick dinner each night. He spends most of the day working from home (or the library; but not in an office with colleagues) for his internship, and evening time in the garden helps provide a clear break between home-and-working and home-and-relaxing. He's enjoying the rhythm enough that he's even making fresh salad dressing every few days.

Oh! And we had a very Northwood experience the other day. Many of the families here are from overseas, and in the summer many relatives visit. And one evening I was weeding while Arthur was thinning the out-of-control lettuce, when one of the foreign parents came by (with her very adorable grandson) and was practicing her English (trying to identify each plant by the English word). And she saw what Arthur was doing, and offered to show him a better way. The next thing I know, there's a charming baby in my arms and Arthur has help in the lettuce patch. And this baby was very sweet. (Dear Neecy: he smiled. No crying. You need to up your game!)