The Manda Starts a Garden

So this is me mowing the grass in my backyard for the very first time. I've gotten some flack for the hat. Apparently once a Southern woman reaches a certain age she's supposed to wear funny hats and grow vegetables in the dirt. At least that's what The Suz tells me, no doubt inispired by multiple viewings of Steel Magnolias. As I tend to prefer movies where gangsters are seeking revenge for one thing or another to films about lovely young women who die tragically shortly after marrying the man of their dreams, I have no evidence to indicate that I should be living my life according to the tenets of a "chick flick."

This should come as a surprise to nobody, but it may offer some explanation as to why I have to mow my own damn grass.

In truth, though, I do seem to be getting more Southern the longer I live up North. Tonight I made dinner for NayNay (I enjoy this nickname because it's also the word my pseudo-godson uses to describe nudity) and that included fried squash, black eyed peas, turnip greens and pork chops. I stopped short of cornbread on account of extreme laziness. This exotic selection went over well with my friend who responded with the obligatory, "I don't know why..." But, again, I think we've narrowed down at least one reason above.

Turnip greens from a can suck, though, and I'm now preparing the ground for my first vegetable garden in 32 years. I don't think the first one counted so much, though, since my dad was doing all the heavy lifting, and I was just wandering around in the rows eating cherry tomatoes-- or tommy toes in the local parlance.

It's addictive, though. I've got eggplants and peppers sprouting in the living room as we speak. The UPS dude delivered my blueberry bushes this afternoon, and it's all I can do not to go out and dig a hole for them right now. I won't though, because it's dark. Gotta be some bad juju in planting a garden at night. At the very least, it seems unwholesome.

I have a selection of herbs in the front window. Cilantro for salsa once the tomatoes come in. Chives if they'll ever actually grow. Basil for pretty much anything I can think of. Mint for mojitos of course. Although the way things are going, I might end up learning what the crap a julep actually is.

So far, I've managed not to kill anything. Can't get the lavender to sprout, though. Yesterday I discovered why: