I’m being seduced by summer. In spite of my complaints of sweaty walks to the metro station and the muggy haze over the city, I find warm nights on the balcony irresistible. The Monkey bought a wonderful bistro table and chairs, so we can eat dinner there, and drink wine in the dusk that lingers till 10pm. We read, drink and talk till I’m nearly asleep in my chair.
Not my photo, but - it's lovely, isn't it?
The tomatoes and basil are soaking in the heat and transforming it into fruit and fragrance. There was enough basil to make pesto last week – Zach made it. Sublime. Our first sweet pepper is black – which is the color it turns between green and red. Another week and we’ll eat it. The cayenne plant is virtually dripping with long, slender green peppers, and those tomato plants not already pregnant with round green fruit are covered in yellow blossoms. All of them, soaking in the sun and heat, sucking up the water and soil nutrients, and in the astonishing alchemy of gardening, making food for me. Working away when I’m not looking.
The Monkey bought a long coil hose – it looks like a giant version of the old telephone cords that coiled from the phone to the handset. It lives coiled over the mop handle in the front closet, and it hooks to the bathroom sink faucet and stretches to the balcony, thus preventing multiple trips with a watering can. He added lime (calcium) to the plants last week. He provides water and soil, the universe provides sun, wind, heat. It’s marvelous.
So, I forgive the heat for my sweaty back. Today, at least. Here’s a song for us to share:
Okay, now I regret that I hadn’t planted basil earlier this month. Oh well, there is the farmer’s market. Totally am enjoying the song. Thanks.
Oh yeah – get some basil. That stuff loves the heat. I’m glad you like the song. Some blog I read put me on to Morcheeba. When I went to find a version of “Summertime” for this post, I saw she had a cover, and LOVED it. Glad you are enjoying it too!
You can still plant basil. A trick I learned this year is to plant the basil, and then trim it at its “trunk” until there are only two leaves left, the first time you cut it. This makes the plant bush out like crazy. After that, just keep cutting it at its’ growing tips. I hacked about half the plant down for Pesto on Tuesday, and it’s already grown back to a larger size.