Indian Spring

I know you are all familiar with the term Indian summer for that period in late October or early November back East when the temps rise and the sun comes out and everyone ditches their jeans for one last weekend of shorts. Well, we are currently experiencing the spring equivalent of that in Houston and it r-o-c-k-s!

A “cold front” came through on Monday which has dropped daytime temperatures to the low 80s (overnight it has been in the 60s), with low humidity, and bright sunny blue skies. This is truly cause for celebration. We actually turned our AC off and opened the windows.

In addition, I have had the opportunity to get lots of last-minute yard work, which should have been done 4-6 weeks ago around here, done. The grass is green, the flowers are blooming, and the birds — the cardinals, blue jays, and robins amongst others — are out in force.

I’m told that the humidity is due back by this afternoon but I almost don’t care.   Yeah, Indian spring!!!

p.s. In keeping with today’s theme of beautiful Houston weather, I started a post back on January 3, which I never put up, called “Yardwork in January.” It said, ”So one of the perks, I guess, of a 75 degree sunny day with a light breeze in January is that you can get work done in the yard.”

Please remind me of both of these sentiments in six weeks when I am kvetching about the disgustingness of Houston in July.  Sometimes, perspective is important!

My Well-Watered Garden

Because I can’t manage to pay attention to the weather forecast, I spent what passed for the nice day this weekend indoors and ended up planting my container garden in the pouring rain on Sunday afternoon. In my defense, Saturday was gray, cloudy, and cool, so mistaking it for a crappy day was pretty easy.

Provided that my poor plants didn’t drown in the 24 hours of rain that followed their move from their little garden-store pots into their big ones, I should have a pretty nice haul come August. Here’s what I planted:

Edible:

• grape tomatoes (two bushes)
• yellow bell peppers
• jalapeño peppers
• chili peppers
• basil (sweet, Genovese, and Thai varieties)
• rosemary (My old plant did not survive the winter, oddly enough, given that it was pretty mild and it had already lived through worse.)
• lemongrass
• Vietnamese coriander (This one is completely new to me, but its little stake said it could be used in place of cilantro, and since cilantro — which I love — grows badly in this climate, I thought I’d give it a try.)

Inedible, but pretty:

• red geranium (I initially thought I only wanted one, but it’s so lovely that I am going to do a window box of them too, I think.)
• superbelles (These look like miniature petunias, and are remarkably hardy — though they are annuals, a few survived the winter and were potted in with some newcomers in my hanging basket.)

Carryovers/Perennials:

• sage
• French tarragon
• thyme
• oregano
• mint

A New Garden

How busy have I been at work the last two days? So, so busy that I wrote this post on my way to work yesterday, but didn’t even have the chance to paste it into the blog software.

Sigh.

So, anyway, the “last night” referenced is actually Wednesday, not that it’s all that relevant to the story.

***

Last night I went to the kickoff ceremony for the creation of a neighborhood garden/park that’s being built practically in my backyard. It’s being built on a vacant lot owned by the city adjacent to the Kentucky Courts housing project.

The cool thing about it is that it’s entirely the result of local activism. Some folks in the ‘hood decided a community garden would be a better than an asphalt square with a dumpster (uh, yeah) and started petitioning the city. I have to admit, I was skeptical when I initially heard the plan; I’ve lived in DC long enough to doubt that the city would give away land when it is at such a premium. But I was proven wrong last night, when our council member, the mayor, and the heads of the agencies who will own and manage the land all showed up at the event and gave speeches enthusiastically endorsing the project. I was especially happy to hear from the head of the residents’ board at Kentucky Courts about how excited they are for the garden — I was a little worried it might come off a bit like a gentrification move.

I volunteered to join the neighborhood steering committee for the project while I was there. While I did it partially because it just seems like a good thing to be involved with, I also have the selfish motivation of really, really wanting a plot in the garden, come spring. And if I have to go to some meetings and plant some trees to get it, so be it.

(The photo, by the way, is of the garden site, taken from the stairs to my back porch. It’s that close!)