Seed, water, light

The arugula sown in the last week of August is producing enough for several salads a week. The leaves are picture-perfect. This is a dream come true (my dreams are small and green). Arugula is as much a staple in my life as my morning cup of espresso.

The arugula - and the red mustard - held its own against the weeds while we were in South Africa and survived even as we lost several of our potted plants to drought while we were away - in-ground soil moisture lasts.

I have subsequently sown a couple more rows, as well as some wild arugula, kale, mesclun and mâche. The first, late August sowing of mâche did nothing, and it may germinate better in cool soil. And I saved some more of its seed to sow next week, in case cool means cold.

It will be interesting to see how these leafy greens handle the: 1. chilly temperatures 2. increasing shade. Currently they do not receive more than three hours of direct sun. Which is very little. I remember the blazing heat when I first saw this space, in late July - but essentially it is a garden where shade sets the pace.

But that is fine. I am learning new things. And we are happy here, for many reasons - not least of which is our very decent landlord. We have post traumatic renter's stress, and are gradually learning that there is another way of doing things.

An experiment, above - I planted some fenugreek seeds - store-bought, as a spice, from Sahadi's. They were the first to come up. Fenugreek smells like curry powder and I hope the leaves, eaten fresh in India, have time to grow before there is frost. It was Madhur Jaffrey's memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees that gave me a longing for fresh fenugreek. It is a wonderful book.

I planted the fava beans and peas on the 23rd of September and picked the first shoots yesterday. I left enough green to continue making food for the plants. They get morning sun, as soon as it clears the ivy hedge on the eastern side (about eight feet tall) - also about three hours right now.

So that is the edible news. I am waiting for  a bulb order to arrive - Alliums from Brent and Becky's, and more lilies from The Lily Garden, whose bulbs are the best.

And now we are off to see the leaves in the Catskills, with a flask of coffee,  a flask of maitake soup, and crispy bacon and arugula sandwiches, schmeared with Hellman's.

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