Garden of Eatin'

Pollen season stinks and needs to stop. Or else I need to move back to Puerto Rico.

I understand the need for the existance of pollen, I really do. I know it's not necessary for it to make life so miserable, though. After all, as I mentioned before, there's Puerto Rico--"La tierra de Borinquen ... es un jardín florido de mágico primor." I was never sick there with the horrid allergies. No, that only happens when I'm stateside.

And with my entire household suffering, a move almost seems like a good idea (until I think of logical things like how we'd have no jobs and how I'm the only one who speaks Spanish).

But then, the climate here does have so much to offer. After all, on that beautiful island, the food I could grow in my yard is primarily food my son cannot eat (pineapples, mangoes, guava, etc.) or that he won't eat even with major processing (cacao) and with the exception of very few the Husband won't even taste. Not very assistive.

Here? Here we can grow so much so easily.

I am a gardener of the Ronco variety (you know, "Set it and forget it.")



Our plants could all benefit from a little thinning and pruning and care to make our yard more asthetically pleasing. However they are healthy and lush and if someone knew how to do the prettying up part, I bet we could have what was a lovely English-style garden in the front with all the peony, hydrangea, lilac, allium, etc. I have going on. That's just not me. Spring is lovely, however, without all that work because the ginormous blooms hide the flaws. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Our backyard is where I've decided we'll grow food and this sort of 'function over form' gardening seems to be where I'm better suited. Yes, it's terribly overgrown and it looks like we have a weed problem (we don't. Thats my chicory, garlic, pumpkin...) but there's a method in my madness.

We have been pulling a pint of strawberries a day from our patch (that I planted in gravel; never water, fertilize, or treat for pests; and that the husband ran over with the lawnmower last year) for two weeks. I am giving away paper lunchsacks full, making strawberry icecream, freezing, and preparing to make jams and breads, making sure we make the most of this abundance. They are huge, beautiful, and have the most wonderfully powerful flavor.

I had to plant my herb garden twice (Kerrygirl got ill and self-medicated by eating the first into oblivion till I talked to her doctor), but the second one has taken off. Apparently our yard LOVES cilantro, Thai basil, peppermint, and oregano.

We shall have raspberries in a few weeks, despite my having only put in the very young plants last month. They bloomed within weeks and now I see the immature fruit ripening. The blackberries are also in bloom so I expect to see a few in the coming months from there as well. I didn't expect any product the first season, so I can only imagine what the future will bring.


The cherries and pears we're told have a few years before giving fruit. I'm wondering if we can expect our first cherries next summer.