the arugula files

Pesto, Plus Growing a Garden with My Three Year Old

My daughter, Josie, loves playing in the dirt.  On the way to the park, she will get distracted, lose sight of the promise of the swings to stop and play in a big puddle.  Mud soup, she calls it, as she stirs it around with a long stick.  This year we planted our little container garden together.

You Little Beast (The Squirrel Who Ate All My Tomatoes)

This little beast ate all the tomatoes off my lone tomato plant.  All seven of them.  Worst of all?  He ate them sitting right in front of my kitchen window.  I'm surprised he didn't flip me the bird after licking his lips.

Uncle Sonny's Garden (Plus What Happened to the Groundhog that Ate My Aunt's Beans)

July was a busy month.  I traveled to Seattle, Portland, Boston, Hartford, New York City, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  That didn't leave me much time in the kitchen.  My Boston trip was one of the highlights because I visited my parents, brother, niece, and my Aunt Franny and Uncle Sonny.  Here's a quick tour of Uncle Sonny's AWESOME garden.  Wait, have you not met my Uncle Sonny?  Please shake hands with him here or here.

Downgraded: My Container Garden

My seedlings, the kale, swiss chard, Japanese eggplant, and Asian peppers, stopped growing.  One day they said, we're not really into this: we're going to give up.  Then they did.  I think it was lack of light rather than a lack of motivation.

For now, mostly because I just moved into a new house, and because we are planning a wedding that's in two weeks (gasps for air!), I decided to down grade my gardening ambitions to a container garden.  For now.