Everything in the Garden

To many romance writers, the month of July brings to mind the annual Romance Writers of America national convention, which ended yesterday in Dallas. I usually attend, but this year family commitments ate up too much of my writing time.

Not a bad thing, right?

My younger son graduated from high school last month and starts college in August at the University of Arizona. Older son (a senior at Vanderbilt) is spending a rare summer near home on a computer internship at Harvey Mudd College. My mom – ceramic sculptor Sylvia Hyman – is celebrating her 90th birthday this year. She has a major exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts and is the subject of a DVD, “Sylvia Hyman: Eternal Wonder,” by filmmaker Curt Hahn (available at http://www.filmhouse.com/sylvia.php).

So here I am, between celebrations and at home in California, writing away. In addition to getting more pages done, there’s another advantage to staying home: enjoying my garden.

Every year, I experiment. That means growing a never-before-tried vegetable or variety, moving the zucchini to a different location, and so on. Unlike conventional square gardens, mine is scattered among a variety of planting beds with a variety of light patterns and drainage.

Whatever I did this year seems to be working. Plenty of zucchini – I love it! – and enough tomatoes without overwhelming me like last year. Delicious eggplant, tons of basil (even my younger son has learned to love pesto), lots of cucumbers, parsley and lettuce, which amazingly hasn’t bolted (gone to seed) in the 90-degree heat.

The only disappointment is the green beans. Whatever variety I planted turned out to be bush beans instead of pole, and only provided two meals before pooping out. I’ve replanted with my longtime favorite, Kentucky Blue, which hasn’t yet germinated. If you have favorite varieties of vegetables, please post them so I can try them next year! (I’m willing to consider all suggestions).

My cat’s enjoying the garden too, digging around the edges and chasing grasshoppers. Since he has cancer, this will probably be his last summer, but fortunately he’s unaware of that. Like all cats, he lives in the present, greeting me with meows when I work outside and hurrying over for a cuddle.

Lots of things grow in my garden. Including love.