A modest first crop from the window box “garden” I have been cultivating. Chinese cabbage, spinach beet, and a very small amount of young parsley (I don’t do well with parsley). After some early bad experiences with digging squirrels, I am amazed each day to see the green leaves still waving happily at my window, but I wanted to get some of them in and on our plates before my luck turns again.
After some internet research and consultations with other home gardeners, I found out that squirrels hate cayenne pepper, and cats hate citrus peel. Between this and discovering the handiness of cloches made from economy soda water bottles, my planters look like Woolworths WorthIt! Zen sculpture gardens. But nothing digs in them.
Today I said a sad goodbye to the Growing Communities volunteer team, as work starts on Monday. There’ll be Sundays once a month, and holidays, and I won’t miss shovelling gravel and compost much, but it’s been nice being in a ‘proper’ garden and bouncing thoughts off more knowledgeable folk once or twice a week. And I have learned how to not kill plants, as evidenced above. It’s tempting to bore on about how we should all live a healthy, outdoor lifestyle, growing our own, etc etc – but then I wonder: whilst growing, cooking and eating are some of my greatest pleasures, are they my greatest skills? The parsley says no. We developed division of labour for a reason, and part of it was that pasty bookworms would not starve to death. In fact, that was probably a major factor in the stoppage of natural selection in the human race, along with glasses, antibiotics and the various other wonders that have stopped us squinty indoor types from deservedly carking it so far.
Later on I am going to attempt some polenta and whiskey salmon. I’m only brave enough to do this to mine beloved on a work night because (a) my karma is in the black thanks to a large batch of chocolate cupcakes, and (b) if a person doesn’t object when you cook fish in amaretto, then frankly they can handle anything. Oh, and (c) this week’s the last time I will view food as fun, rather than fuel, until the half term holidays. Whether this blog will be updated with tales of canteen pizza, who knows.
