boston springtime

it's almost springtime. you can feel it in the air. the cold still creeps in at night but now when you look on the weather forecast there's a good chance there will be a bright sun and temperatures above the 50s. yes, this means boston is getting over the winter.

last weekend i had the first barbeque of the year. it was really satisfying to fire up some coals and hear the burgers sizzle on the grill. i brought back the usual suspects - pineapple skewers, which keep the guests busy helping you make them - and baked butternut squash, which tastes like work but is the easiest thing to make. and of course, sangria, which i used to try as hard as i could to keep the mit kids from turning the barbeque into a psetting party.

another sure sign is that the soil is starting to show life again. i've bought about 10 different types of herb and plant seeds - thyme, rosemary, sage, cilantro, mint, basil, etc etc. and they're barely growing, but growing nonetheless, probably because my kitchen's too cold. then i went out and bought a bag of gladiolus and a bag of lilium - i love bulbs - and my kitchen has now been converted to a green house full of pots with small bulbs poking through. i ran out of space inside so i dug up a small plot outside - good thing i'm on the first floor - and planted two rows of gladiolus. when they die, that will be replaced by garden vegetables.

there was also awesome news from mit. they are building a community garden on the west garage roof and running a lottery for small patches of land. these are still parking spaces, but they will also be selling "Earth Boxes" which help store and regulate soil for planting. i've entered and i hope to get a small patch, even though it will be all the way on the west garage.

it brings back memories of childhood - when we lived at E.S. King Village, and were able to rent a patch of land in a nearby field where people grew all kinds of huge vegetables, and there were mulberry trees in the rows between plots. we grew cucumbers and squash and tomatoes. that's the time when i started obsessing about gardening, and would spend hours at the NC State library reading gardening books, discovering what combinations of plants (tomato and basil, corn and beans) grow well together, daydreaming about composting and growing legumes to replenish the soil.

when spring time comes (the mit season is set from memorial day, may 25, to labor day, september 7), i'll hopefully have a city garden again.