Garden Update: Heatwave Edition

As many of you living in the US may have noticed, we have been going through a heat wave which is sticking around in DC. The temperature has been hovering around the one hundreds for weeks, and I have been avoiding spending extended periods of time outside since then. Unfortunately, the plants don't get to enjoy the air conditioning, so they have gone from looking like this to this:

We've been giving them plenty of water, but it is just so hot that the leaves are withering. Even though the plants appear to be dead from afar, they are actually growing lots of delicious cherry tomatoes.

The basil and mint have been holding up well, and don't seem to mind the heat as much as us constantly picking the leaves to use.

The eggplant is still totally green, and doesn't seem to care about the baking soil it is sitting in. There haven't been any eggplants yet, but it is flowering.

There are also little green leaves starting to grow again, replacing the almost-fully brown stems that are there now, so it's recovering!

We considered bringing the plants inside for a few days to cool down, but since they are actually growing tomatoes it seemed better to leave them. The big tomato plant still hasn't produced a single flower or tomato, so I think we are going to call that one a failure and focus on the delicious cherry tomatoes.

Urban Gardening

I've read a lot of articles about how "anyone can grow plants in their apartment," or "even a small balcony can be used to grow a garden." Let me tell you, this is not true. I have tried to grow so many vegetables and herbs in my apartment, and they have all withered and died, so I stick to house plants. And not all apartments have a convenient plant-growing balcony: some have rules that you can't put anything on the outside of the building. So, this left us unable to grow the cute little herb gardens people always have in their kitchens in magazines. We were wishing we had some outdoor space to grow things, when we realized there is a one foot piece of cement in front of the car in our parking spot: perfect for an urban garden. In the last month, it has gone from this:

Photo Courtesy of Natalie Shaw

To this!

There are three cherry tomato plants, one big tomato, one eggplant, basil and mint.

So far, the basil and mint are doing really well, and there have been a few delicious cherry tomatoes. Tiny eggplants and tomatoes are just starting to appear on the other two. So far, a success! I will make sure to share some pictures in a month or so when they hopefully start producing delicious vegetables.

Homegrown Mushrooms

Since our apartment is too dark to grow leafy plants, and many rounds of cilantro and basil have withered and died, we are growing something a little more dark-friendly this time around: fungi.

All they need is a daily watering, and you will have enough mushrooms to use in every meal for weeks.

Scenes from this Weekend

After the non-stop fun and exhaustion of last weekend, this weekend was a much needed rest. On Saturday, we drove out to the arboretum, or "DC's Best Kept Secret" as it is otherwise known. Nestled between a car-repair shop and several carry-out restaurants are hundreds of acres of trails, themed gardens and picnic spots. We had planned to go for a bike ride, but Saturday was incredibly windy, so the bike ride was downgraded to a picnic. We found a spot overlooking the Anacostia River from the Asian Garden, which led to many jokes about me feeling at home.

On Sunday, Joe and I got up early and headed over to set up at Eastern Market. When we got there, the line of vendors waiting to get in was huge. Because of the nice weather, they had an unexpected number of people show up and no space for everyone they had accepted. After waiting for an hour, we were told that the market was full but we were first in line for next week. So next Sunday I will definitely be at Eastern Market!

That left us with a full day with no plans, which hasn't happened in approximately a year. So we walked over to the hardware store, bought a gallon of paint and painted the bedroom "Jade Isle."

When we were in New York a few weeks ago, Karen gave us several half cans of paint that were left over from years of different projects. Now that the bedroom is done, we will be tackling the living room with ten cans of different colors. Hopefully we will have time for that before another year has passed.

Red Sunflowers

These sunflowers remind me of a craft project in one of those old-school craft books I had when I was younger, where you put white flowers in glasses of dye, and a day later you have a rainbow of color. I looked up red sunflowers and they are bred to be this color, but I still like to think the florist had them sitting in a bucket of red dye.

An Inspiration Day

It's pouring in DC today and it feels like monsoon season in Hong Kong here. It reminds me of the huge vines that would grow in our driveway, the five foot webs that spiders would weave between the guardrails and the tree branches, and the sound of the drains that turned into rushing rivers in minutes. I am holed up in the apartment with a cup of jasmine tea, a stack of papers to be organized, and a pile of art supplies begging to be used.

Thinking about the strange monsoon season plants in Hong Kong reminds me of the succulents I saw at the Oregon Gardens in Salem this summer: planted on roofs, in teacups, and an entire room used as a planter.

So today is a day for inspiration. A time to work on all those fun projects I wouldn't have time for if I were to brave the elements and go outside. A time to look through old photos, pull supplies out of dusty boxes, and make something beautiful that wouldn't fit into a normal schedule.