Enjoying the Splendors of Summer

Summer is officially here in Oakland and as its been said, "the livin's easy" (I guess it has been summer here for a while now, but we haven't really been home enough to enjoy it). And now that we've finally arrived at the point in the season when all the hard work and preparations we made throughout the spring have come into fruition, I don't mind giving myself a pat on the back for going through all the trouble. The real reward of course is what is gathered on an almost daily basis - as shown in the picture above, and if you happen to have your own garden (no matter what size), I'm sure you know exactly what I am talking about.


And since this is the time of year in which we all delight in the affirmation of our work, understanding more than ever why it is we planted a garden in the first place, I suggest that we all seize the moment by spreading the gospel a bit. After all, can anyone think of a better advertisement for home gardening than a vine-ripened, heirloom tomato in August? (Let's face it, that ad writes itself). So please bring a friend over in order to show off a bit, or even better, give some of your freshly picked green beans to a neighbor. I promise that next summer they will be more than happy to return the favor.

A Bit of Nostalgia

To anyone out there who actually follows this blog, I'm sorry for the absence of postings in the last month or so, but things have been pretty busy for me lately. So busy in fact, that I have hardly been able to spend much time in my backyard at all. Of course, this is quite unfortunate seeing as we have recently arrived at the sweet spot of summer when there are new things to be discovered every day. So with that said, I expect to have a lot more to write about in the near future when I am actually back in Oakland for more than a few days at a time.

However, in the meantime I figured I would use the opportunity of my extended visit back home to Chicago to get a little nostalgic on everyone, and show off my favorite part of my parents' backyard. I created the small veggie garden shown in the picture below all the way back in high school, and looking back on it now I realize that it represented one of my very first dabbles into landscape architecture.

The design and construction is pretty simple, with the main vegetable bed being somewhat "protected" by the raised wood (I use the word protected very loosely since my mother is on the verge of an all out war against the rabbits this summer), and an herb garden bordering it on one side. The general list of crops tends to be the same from year to year, making me question the generally agreed upon notion that tomatoes (or any other crop in the nightshade family) should not be planted in the same place from one year to the next. And while some of the herbs are a recent addition, the pineapple mint, lemon grass, and chives seen in the foreground are the same specimens that I originally planted over a decade ago. In fact, the mint is now growing so vigorously that it is beginning to spread through the rest of the garden - something I didn't think could be possible with the horrific winters they get here in Chicago. The mint and lemon grass is doing so well in fact, that last summer I actually brought a rather large cutting of each back with me to plant in our garden in Oakland when I was unable to find either at any of the local nurseries.
And while I always try to do so, I'm not exactly sure what lessons can be learned from this event other than the remarkable tenacity of plants when wrapped in a moist paper towel, and perhaps that you would be surprised at what can make it through the security check at the airport without requiring a closer examination - I could have sworn I was in for an odd conversation.....

"sir, would you like to explain what you have in your bag.."
"uhhhh.... some bomb-ass pineapple mint"
"?"
"its from my parents' garden"
"?"
"do you have any idea how hard it is to find pineapple mint in Oakland right now?!"