A Look Ahead

I carried my sleepy son back upstairs early this morning, his weight heavy in my arms, his skin smooth and warm, his legs dangling and his arms thrown around my neck. It's too early, I told him. I'm not ready to start the day, I thought to myself. And, you're getting too heavy for this, I thought. Suddenly I could see the way forward for my boy as easily as I looked back at my baby. A schoolkid, a teenager, a young man, a father. My heart ached a little as I layed him in bed next to his dad, man and boy, made of the same stuff. A window opened and the clarity of the view was breath-taking and beautiful. I'm still not ready to start.

Bolted

Lovely isn't it? This lacy-leafed, delicate white flower is actually cilantro gone by. This beautiful image felt like failure to me. The cilantro is for the salsa we'll make later this summer, but the tomatoes are weeks away from ripening.

I did a little research, though, and found out that cilantro (also called coriander for the seeds it produces) grows quickly and will self-seed.

It quickly became one of my favorite plants, echoing the name of this blog and my love of wild and unplanned growth.

Notes on cilantro:

--- The newer leaves are preferable to the smaller, later ones which can be bitter.
--- Cilantro doesn't mind cool nights and will grow until hard frost.
--- Seeds can be eaten green or dried.
--- Dry seeds upside down, shake the seeds off the stems, and store in an airtight jar for use in spice rubs and baking. They're also an aphrodesiac. Whoa.

Bee Balm and Carry On

 

A week or two of 85 to 90 degree weather has brought the back flower gardens into full bloom. The rain has lessened and the garden is responding. We are at that point in the summer when I could sit out back for hours just looking at the riot of colors. It's not well-planned or manicured, and the weeds are close to taking over, but I love it just the same. 

The black raspberries had a good year, but have now gone by. Additional shade from Oliver's still-unfinished playhouse helped them out, I think. The red raspberries are ripe and we pick them by the handfuls, mostly to eat on the go. There's more than enough for a pie but they never make it inside. The blackberries are beginning to turn, and Kevin thinks this will be the best year yet. We'll see if we can keep up with the picking. 

This is the first year that our bee balm has hit its stride. We'll need to divide it and move it around to slow down its takeover, but that's a job for fall. For now ... we're just letting it all go. 

More Rain

We've had another week of daily rain showers and our backyard is a mud-pit. Thus, the weeding and garden work has fallen by the wayside and many of the flower beds look like this. I started pulling weeds at the edge of this bed weeks ago, and improvised a wheelbarrow out of this nearby truck. Well, the weeds in the dump bed have gotten naturally watered like everything else lately and are growing nicely, thank you. Now I'm considering leaving the truck as a garden ornament / art installation. Title: Truck It.