stereoman's Blog

Sarawila is everybody's favorite little girl. She's cute, bright, glib, fearless, imaginative, energetic, and kind to all living things. Her mom, Adrianne, is one of my favorite people. Wila -- she prefers Wila nowadays -- delights in growing things, so her mom brings her over to my house to "help" me. How delightful for me!

Last week I got my irrigation system laid out in the back garden. Drip hoses all around. There's valves to control the flow in each bed, and one valve to turn the hose on and off as well. So far I'm just using the hose, since there is still so much unplanted space. But crowds of plants are pounding at my door!

Yes, it's time to start taking risks, as the soil is fairly warm but we are still two weeks from Last Frost. Two weeks! Hah! Four of the past five years, our last frost has been prior to April 15th. last year (we Easterners all remember don't we?) there was a deep, deep freeze in mid-April, but guess what? it didn't frost after that, either.

So now is the time to begin taking risks, planting beans and squash and putting out tomatoes and peppers, even though Last Frost is "officially" two weeks away. So what if it does frost? Some plants will die, and I will replace them. It's part of the Nature of Things. I don't try to fight it. I do have some 6 mil black plastic on hand though.

Last week I went to Greenlife for the express purpose of buying seeds and plants. They carry High Mowing seeds. First quality organic and heirloom varieties. Out in front of the store, there's always two or three tables overflowing with plants from some of our top local growers. Wildwood Farms. Full Moon Farms. Sandymush Herb Nursery. Strange name, eh?

And I needed toothpaste.

I hadn't decided what varieties of tomato I would grow this year. I only have room for two plants, and my Beloved has already requested that I grow three. One standard tomato, one Roma, one cherry. Browsing through the table laden with herbs and flowers and veggie seedlings, a word on a tiny signpost caught my eye: SWEET. Hmm. It could have said SEX and it wouldn't have caught my attention any more firmly. The rest of the sign said "This is a really _____ tomato. If you think you're old variety of cherry tomato is _____, let us convince you this one is _____er." Sun Gold Hybrid Cherry Tomato.

Would that every decision in life was so easy to make.

I bought the Sun Gold, along with a pot of cilantro and a six-pack yarrow. I had already prepared a space for my first tomato, in the upper bed in the back garden. I hadn't quite gotten around to planting it though, before I got a call from Adrianne. "Can Wila come over this afternoon and garden with you?" Oh yes! Wila can come over anytime! There's always something Wila can do in the garden. What could be more exciting than planting the season's first tomato?

What a joy to watch her carefully scooping out the hole! How happy she was to get her fingers dirty! How tenderly she placed the tomato in the ground and pushed the soil around it with the palm of her hand! "Is it planted too deep?" she asked. I told her it was impossible to plant a tomato too deep. If you cover its branches, each branch will sprout its own roots, and many new branches will burst out of the ground. She looked at me like I was kidding her, but then she saw that I was serious, and she laughed. Then we piled mulch all around. Don't let it touch the stem, I warned her. Might get too hot for baby.

I met Adrianne four years ago, but didn't begin to know her until that first summer, I heard her sing "Summertime" (the George Gershwin tune) in a talent show. I've been infatuated with her ever since. No, not quite infatuated. Almost though. Almost.

Wila is eight now.