I told you about the seeds that I planted last week, right? On Wednesday, 1st of May, instead of going to the demonstrations in town or writing on my thesis. For a while, I thought I had killed them, watered too little or too much, used the wrong kind of soil, put them in the wrong kind of sun-affected spot in my living room. You know, all the worries a city girl with barely any gardening experience at all might have when planting her first little test herb garden.
Well, who could have guessed, I hadn’t killed them after all! Yesterday morning, a couple of small shy leaves looked up from three of the basil pots and two of the cilantro pots. And today, there were leaves in all the basil and cilantro pots. Nothing in the mint, melissa or parsley, but hey, they still have time to show up. And what if they’re dead? At least I’ll get to have MY OWN basil and cilantro in my food this summer. Those are my favorites anyway.
My dear little baby basils.
My brave, crazy cilantro toddlers.
So, of course, inspired by my sudden burst of gardening genius, I just had to fix the gazebo too. All apartments in my building have a balcony, except us and one of my first floor neighbors. We have big, white, wooden gazebos standing on tall wooden poles – that we have to cross the exterior corridors of my floor to get to, but still, they’re nice. And big. Perfect for some in-pot gardening. I’ve just never really had the time before.
But now, this spring, I feel like, aah, I have to do something about the gazebo. I found some great free, awesomely colorful furniture to put out there and now, gosh, you should see it. Today, I replanted the spider plant babies, hung up one of the old ones from a hook in the roof, took out the lavender that I bought last week and I think it’s going to be the perfect spot for every sunny breakfast, lunch and dinner I’m going to have this summer. I’m so excited!
Unfortunately, this meant that I didn’t get that much done with my thesis today either. I’m afraid it’s going to suck, big time, if I ever manage to finish it. It’s this anguish that it creates in me, I can’t concentrate and getting earth beneath my fingernails just makes me feel so childishly happy.
Was I really, REALLY, supposed to become an academic with student loans and a job in an office? Maybe I have missed my true calling: making baby plants grow and decorating gazebos with recycled furniture!
Katja Malmborg 