Spring is near, and the thoughts of a young man such as myself turn to-- peas and broccoli. And romance, of course. I love Kim! She's sweeter than any snap pea, sharper than a rose thorn, and hotter than a tomato patch on a sunny August afternoon. Please imagine at this point that I have used some clever gardening terms with double meaning; I'll leave that to you.
Some of my Springtime fantasies don't involve double èntendres, and are sincerely centered on plowing furrows with furrowed brow. I think that March might be a planting month for some cool weather crops. I'll have to look into that. Some obsessions are giving way to other obsessions, and although trying to make time to paint, scrape together thirty or so bucks to order a small lot of uncleaned ancient Roman coins, and using a metal detector to clean all the gum wrappers from the neighborhood park will all maintain great currency within my cranium, the imminent arrival of warmer weather is again drawing forth from me a deep desire to plant vegetables. Ah, March. Peas and broccoli.
As it has each year for several years now, my garden fantasies far outstrip my means. My thinking goes along the lines of: "I want to plant a lot of pumpkins. That will be sooo great in the Autumn! They take up a huge amount of room, though, so I'll have to plan carefully. Also, we'll need watermelons because the girls love that; but we need to look for a seedless variety, because the seeds last year really offset some of the joy. I'll start early with beans, peas, maybe some broccoli. Jill loves that broccoli, and so do I. And I've wanted asparagus for years now; it's perennial, and the plants themselves are pretty, and even Kim will eat some. Of course, we must have tomatoes. Hot peppers would be fun, and they always make beautiful plants. I'll have to save room for them. And some herbs are essential--it's likely the dill volunteers will return, so I'll save a little room for them. Basil is a must. Cilantro is a must, and that will probably be back voluntarily, too. Potatoes would be so cool! I've wanted those for years, too."
And so on. I quickly go from hardly having room for my pumpkin desires, to a long and uncertain list that resembles a Paul's Fruit Market inventory. Oh, and I forgot to mention gourds. And lima beans. Maybe a little zucchini. And the blackberry bushes keep expanding.
My garden space is yet pretty small. I plan to enlarge it significantly. I'd like to double what I have right now.
The girls are bigger and more able to both care for and amuse themselves, which means I might be able to spend more time at it this year. Erin has her own garden spot (which needs a lot of work; by the end of last Summer, it looked like a small rectangular wildlife reserve) and Jill is due for one. So they'll both be helping, in their own ways.
On a distantly related note (potential obsessions, hobbies, and things that one must wait for patiently), David and I want to convince Aaron that he should allow us to set up a brewing operation in his nice basement.
I will email Ed right now to see if he has any of his old equipment. I can't recall if I have asked him that already.
Never miss a thing.
eidted for yucky grammar.
the location of Fort Hill
