Friday, June 29, 2007

The Week

My intention had been to rest this week, but that hasn't really been possible. It seems I have been in constant motion and been trying to catch up from weeks of special event prep. Now I have a few weeks before my next event.

I am so exhausted I think the most exciting thing I'm going to do tonight is soak in a hot bubble bath. And I think I'll get started on that very shortly.


67 degrees

It's 67 degrees at noon in central Kansas on June 29, 2007. This is not normal. But, as we all know, our weather patterns are perfectly normal. The administration told us so. Is my sarcasm obvious?


Herb Garden and More



We have had a few wet days here. This morning about 7 I went outside to peek at the herb garden in the back. I say "herb" but I also have a few tomatoes, a cucumber and a couple of eggplants out there. I'm tickled to say I have some little green tomatoes.

I set up the watering system a day or two ago, so the timer had set it off and I was watering the bed as the air was so moist everything was already dripping. But, generally, it's very warm here this time of year so you need to water. In fact, we set a record today of the lowest high ever - it was 72 for the high today. I'm not complaining - at all - but it's weird.

Things have really started to grow in the last couple of weeks. I think it has to get warm and stay warm for awhile for a lot of plants. Apparently we've reached that time of year - today notwithstanding.



I'm tickled with my little herb garden. Everything is doing well. You can see here on the left the chives, sage, lemon balm and cilantro. The cinnamon basil is just slightly out of view on the left. On the right the sweet basil is out of view, too. I planted four plants, which I think is going to be a lot. I have two last year and was going for three this year but after the hail beat one of them to pieces I got an additional one. But that one recovered a bit so I've now got four. I should be able to keep everyone I know in basil.

I also have some lavendar, rosemary, oregano, thyme, tarragon, dill and two kinds of parsley growing. I am looking forward to homemade tomato basil soup this summer. I've also decided that next year I'm putting cilantro in the front flower bed. I've been picking it as a cut flower rather than anything else. In fact, I've been creating bouquets out of all kinds of herbs the last few weeks.

At the moment, my dining room table is graced with a bouquet of cilantro.



I love, love, love having fresh plants inside. I need to grow more blooming plants suitable for cutting. Although, something I learned at the artist's retreat last year is that different kinds of greenery can be really wonderful - even without blooms. And some herbs - like sage - hold up really well for a long time. I also need to plant more pinks, as they seem to be in continual bloom and last a long time after cut. This is the bouquet on the table across from my door.