Garden Begun

And we're off! Behind and with several crop options out of the question as the days get warmer, CK and I cast aside all thoughts of laying around, farmer's markets, street fairs, or anything else and took full advantage of the past three days of glorious sunshine here in P-Town.

In the past three days CK and I have:

• Cleared out the two beds that were completed last year (one had acquired a lush, verdant carpet of.... dandelions. Just the succulent, invasive, tender leaves which we pulled with great diligence)
  
• Filled the third bed with a layer of cardboard (easy-peasy when there are boxes from moving everywhere)
• Cleared bark off, then turned & added topsoil to the small bed on the south side of the deck (me, mostly, reacquainting myself with the inferior, but adequate garden fork)
• Cut down towering blackberries (CK took on this monstrous task, wading in with the trimmer. She also did the work of bagging the dangerous clippings while I was plied with coconut rice & mango at the SMART appreciation get together at Tin Shed. *Thanks, Christie)

In all this space we planted:

• a whole pile of heirloom tomatoes
• an assortment of mostly sweet peppers (are Anaheim peppers really that hot, or is just me)
• 3 small-fruited eggplant
• 4 rows of bush beans
• numerous cucumbers
• 3 summer squash
• 5 pole beans

Yet to be planted:

• 4-5 winter squash & melons
• greens (rainbow chard & Lacinito kale)
• mache
• lettuces
• Flowers!

The yard already is looking better. We still have a lot of boxes inside, but it was so beautiful & warm this weekend that we both really wanted to get vegetables going. It was good spending the weekend feeling like my health was returning and working hard. Weeding out the beds reminded me a lot of work duty during April's sesshin and I was smiling remembering the little interactions with my work partner. Entire conversations based upon a slight smile, small bows, tired sighs, and occasional bursts of quick laughter.... oh, and one very small victory dance.

Well, I did one small victory dance, my weeding partner just laughed merrily. Given that I was very present and mindful, I think a quick booty-shake of pepper cress eradication celebration was very Zen. It was one of these spots of absolute joy that would pop up during what was an emotionally challenging sesshin for me. (I wrote a little about work practice during the Loving-Kindness sesshin earlier)

We got a bit carried away at Portland Nursery picking out vegetable starts. This explains the numerous cucumbers - we both started just picking them out instead of agreeing upon how many we were getting. There's going to be a whole lot of cherry tomatoes in our future too.

I'm thinking gazpacho. CK's never had it. I've never made it. I think it would rock with all of our veggies. Maybe another victory dance will be necessary?

We are a tad nervous that all these tomatoes are going to show up the week we're gone for my birthday. Perhaps we'll have to have designated veggie pickers from the sangha come over and help themselves to some?

Oh, and are we ever aching! As the man sang, "I ache in the places where I used to play."