2019-07-06 - Garden Planning

It's a pleasant day for a change, neither too hot nor pouring rain; the kind of day that sees a decent number of people passing through the shop. Thomasina is manning the register, and August is out in the open area, handling a rotation of the plants. Only the largest bucket truck, Big Betty, is currently on sight, the others out on appoinments.

The only real indication August works for/runs the place is how he's got garden gloves on and is working his way through a collection of bloodgood maples, pulling a little bone meal from a pail to fertilize them and pruning here and there. Occasionally someone asks him a question, but otherwise August is left to his own devices, tending the shop's wares. It's warm enough to require a t-shirt, so today he's in one, a heather gray tee sporting a Keith Haring shirt. His usual denim jeans and workboots abide.

Now that she has some time off, it's time to start building up her herb and vegetable garden. What's the point in buying a house if one doesn't have access to all sorts of fresh herbs and veggies afterall. With a packet of seeds in her hands, it's now that she peruses over the various bags of fertilizer. With one hand, she runs her fingers through her dark locks as she hrmms for a few moments, walking up and down the aisle, she peruses through the various choices. It's so overwhelming!

IT's then that she looks around and spies August. Taking a quick guess and an assumption that he works here, she heads on over. "Um, hi." For a few moments, she pauses at his sparklyness, shrugging it off. "I'm setting up an herb garden indoors and a vegetable garden outside. Which ones of these would you recommend is good for one and the other?"

August looks askance at Aly initially, goes back to what he's doing, double-takes. He gives her an over-long look, the kind which telegraphs he's noticed something. Then he glances down at what all she has, considers it for a few seconds. "Do you want the indoor one to be for visual appeal, or just to get the job done? I ask because, the setups you can do," he nods at a stacked array of pots labeled COMPACT INDOOR HERB GARDEN, "are optimized for different things. Space, growing the herbs, display..." He shrugs, not making a judgment on any one of those choices in particular. "Got a preference?"

"Looks aren't that important. I just want the herbs to be robust so I can make a decent frittata in the morning and a fantastic margherita pizza at night." Cause that's how she rolls. Looking in the direction of the pots, she ooohs, hrmming for a few moments. "Optimizing for growth would be the best." Does Aly try to ignore the sparkles for now? Probably. It's rude to ask afterall.

"For cooking," August says, nodding in approval. "Okay. So, some of the herbs you can do outside here. The ones that like it cooler--parsley, chervil, mint, and even some that don't, like oregano and rosemary, because we get long, sunny days," he gestures overhead, "around here in the summer. So, the second question is, how much work do you want to do outside? Because," he taps the oregano seeds, "I know everyone likes to say oregano won't do well in a yard around here, but it's a damned lie. You put that in a bed, raised or not, with access to the ground and you'll be pulling it out of every nook and cranny in under a year. Indoors in a container is the way to go on that one. South facing window. Same for your basil. And honestly," he sighs, tilts his head, "the thyme too, though I like it outdoors. Smells good, makes for a real nice ground cover. It doesn't like our winters, though, so it needs to be in a south-facing area with decent sun exposure but some cover from the weather. You could plant it in both places, come to that. Same for," he indicates the rosemary, "that one. For the rest of these, they like it cooler so outdoors or indoors is fine." He pauses there before launching into a discussion of the vegetables.

Holy crap. This man knows his stuff! She blinks for a few moments, and she pulls out her iPhone as she quickly starts to take as many notes as she can, her thumbs flying furiously over the screen, trying to keep up with the tidbits of wisdom. "I'm willing to put in the work. I do like the outdoors." she admits ruefully before she extends a hand out towards him. "I'm Alyssa by the way, but most people just call me Aly."

"Well in that case, you can get really adventurous, try maintaining a blackberry bush," August suggests, wrly amused. He sets his shears aside and tugs off his glove, returns the handshake. "August. If you like outdoors, you're in the right place. Plenty of it around here." His grip is firm and friendly; his hands a bit rough from a lot of manual labor. For his part, he seems too taken in by Aly's question to comment on the shine he's noticed in her. But noticed he has; there can be no doubt about it. He sees it lurking in the periphary of his vision any time he glances away.

"So for your vegetables, fall stuff does the best out here. Again," he shrugs, points at the sky, "you're at the mercy of that. Cruciferous, root and stalk vegetables, alliums. All great choices for outside. Now, you can do the summer plants too--tomatoes, peppers--just, you might not get near as good of a yield. You can start things indoors and then move them out, in pots, if you want a better harvest. Also helps if you put them against west and south facing walls."

He makes himself stop rambling on. "So. We've got all the stuff you need for raised beds, but if you're okay with a hammer you could just as easily nail some planks together and call it good. We do have rabbits out here, and deer, so you'll need to protect things. We've got netting and chicken wire." Another pause. It's easy for him to ramble on this topic.

"If I didn't like the outdoors, I wouldn't be a park ranger. I get /paid/ to be outdoors." At the mention of the various wildlife, she nods and hrmms for a few moments. "I don't mind sharing what grows, as long as it doesn't get ridiculous. But I think I want to go at least for some summer plants first, while everything's still in season."

Her mind is reeling with all the extra information as she looks out in the direction for raised beds, chicken wire, and other things. Hrmming for a few moments, she looks disappointed. "Looks like I'll need to make more than a few trips." a hopeful beat. "Unless you all deliver?"

August huffs a laugh. "Eh, the problem with the sharing with deer and rabbits is they don't think you're sharing, they think you're growing it for them. So then you get more of them. And maybe then you get foxes, or fishers." Another lift of his eyebrows, asking if she wants her house to play host to Lorne Greene's New Wilderness.

"Delivery's doable, depending on where, since we've got the trucks. We can swing by with things when it's convenient if you give us a date and time." The topic of getting up to speed on summer has him thinking. And doing...something. Except he's just standing there, and flicks a sideways glance in her direction, nothing more. Except she knows that's not all.

"Well, if you plant right now, you can probably have a few tomatos, peppers, maybe even some berries going in a few weeks." There's a subtle emphasis on 'you' that would be easy to miss, except Aly's perceptive, and August is making a vague attempt at subtlety.

But now, she's mentioned being a Park Ranger. He narrows his eyes slightly. "Really. Where you posted?"

There's a faint shiver up and own her spine as she feels something. Her brows quirk a little, as she now notices the faint shimmer about the man. Swallowing hard for a few moments, she offers a flashy grin. "I'll definitely give you my address. I'll take a few things that I can fit in my car and start setting up the garden. I've already grown a few things since arriving here. Just wanted a better and more lush garden." she explains, as if slightly catching that he's starting to be aware of her own innate abilities.

"I've always had a bit of a green thumb. Plants do well under me." she explains. "It's probably how I got the job." she adds. "And I'm at the Chehalis River Surge Plain Natural Area Preserve. It's about twenty minutes from town."

"Mmmmhmmmm," August says when Aly speaks of having a green thumb and already getting things started despite a recent move. Another of those not-quite-a-smiles, and he looks out over the outdoor collection, due East in the direction of the preserve. "Now that is a lovely spot." He looks back at her, seems to think twice about saying something and instead opts for, "I was in the Forest Service for a while. Mostly in Olympic and Oregon." He dips his head at her, manages an actual smile this time. "Nice to meet a peer once in a while."

"That explains how you're so knowledgeable then." Aly replies with a wry smile on her features as she looks out in that same direction. Sighing softly, she runs her fingers through her dark locks. "It is absolutely gorgeous out there. Wander around too far though and you could get lost." A slight frown can be seen on her features at that. "But I guess that's my job. To make sure I can find people."

"Well, thank you, but after fifteen years, I guess some of it had to get through even my thick skull." August tips his head at the notion of getting lost. "Eh, you'll get the idea of where everything is soon enough. Keep the usuals and your phone with you, walk it every day and you'll know it like the back of your hand. Not," he raises a hand, "that I'm saying you can't get lost. Just that it'll be less likely, once you know it better." There's another of those 'particularly for you' type glances that hovers between them, the words unsaid. Then he's looking East again. "You'll see some rock formation or an island in the river or a stand of aspen and know where you are. Just takes practice."

If he's trying to be sneaky and subtle, it may or may not be working. There's the certain emphasis of the words afterall, and she simply nods, giving him a knowing grin. "So, why'd you stop being a ranger?" Aly asks curiously before she puts up a finger and rushes off to grab a cart so she can start gathering the various things she wants for her garden. Oh yes she's going to spend quite a bit of money here.

August clears his throat as he's asked the inevitable question. Well, at least this means he doesn't look old enough to be assumed a retiree? He'll count it as a win. Once she's back, he says, "I went straight into work from school, so it was close to twenty years of non-stop nose to the grindstone. Then I drove through here on my way to Olympic, and I just...couldn't stop thinking about it." He pauses, looks around, not really seeing the shop and its offerings. "Something about this town. So I figured, I had enough money from the books, why not just, do what I'd been thinking about. Open a store, settle in for a spell. No more being sent to wherever." He shrugs. He wants to say 'it's been nice' except there was that demon thing in the house and the lantern that tried to kill him. He decides on, "Plenty of good people here."

"I can't say I have a real opinion about the place yet. Lots of weird things tend to happen around here though." Aly admits ruefully, stretching her arms in the air for a few moments as she gives him a thorough look over once more. "But there /is/ something about this town that makes you want to stay and perhaps peek around a bit more, huh." she muses, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

August can't deny the weird stuff, arguably is part of the weird stuff, as is Aly (even if she might not know that just yet). "Yeah, it can be like that in these old, small places." A weak, if maybe true, non-defence of Gray Harbor. He shrugs. "Give it enough time, it'll grow on you." He gives her a sidelong glance. "Kinda surprised you're living in town instead of closer to the Preserve. Didn't want to make a drive in any time you wanted to catch a movie or go to the store?"

"The commute to the preserve is pretty relaxing, so I don't mind it. It's not like I'm dealing with traffic in New York City. I did enough of that when I'd visit friends down from Ithaca." Aly explains as she shrugs. "And if I don't live in the city, how am I going to get my Whole Foods or Trader Joes or make sure people deliver my Freshly on time." Clearly she's joking considering none of that happens to have a GH location.

August waves a hand. "Now, I'd consider living closer in for a Trader Joes, if it'd been an option where they had me." He flashes his teeth in a brief smile, sobers somewhat. He blinks at the mention of New York City. "Another New Yorker. Got a few of you around here now, though I guess that's not a surprise given how big the city is. One of them works here, Ignacio. And if you need work done on your car, guy running Steelhead Service is from New York City too."

"I grew up in upstate, but went to school in Ithaca." Cause Cornell has an amazing forestry school. "I mean, there's /NOTHING/ to do in upstate, so it makes sense to move here since it's where there's jobs. And I'm not from the city. Just went there to visit my friends at Columbia who didn't want to deal with the hills at Cornell. I swear my bathroom in the dorm was uphill from my bed." she quips with a high pitched giggle.

"Ah, got it," August says. "Well, either way. People from your home state. Though I imagine that's about like being from California--everyone's from California." A brief bob of his eyebrows at his own presumption. "Cornell sounds like the UW in Seattle. The whole campus is on a hill, so if you've got something at one end right after something at the other?" He shakes his head. "Easier to take the damned bus." He glances at his watch, sighs. "I should get back to finishing up here. Anything else I can help you with?"