Our garden isn't very large or productive. We don't have much yard to dig in so we make do and plant in pots on the back deck. I have big dreams of raised beds, fruit trees, garlic patches and blueberry bushes but for now this is what we have to work with. This year our adventures into gardening taught us some lovely lessons.
Lesson 1: Morning Glory seeds are poisonous and produce an LSD like effect when eaten. Lenora ate some (we really think she only ate 1) but poison control sent us straight to the emergency room for a preventative drink of liquid charcoal. Poor kid did a bang up job of drinking it down, then promptly throwing it all back up over me. Thankfully she didn't start seeing things and we were on our way home a few hours later.
Lesson 2: It's almost impossible to purchase or make potting soil for container gardening with no plastic trash. After reading this book I have been trying to reduce the amount of waste we generate. I thought I hit the jackpot when I found a garden center that would let me purchase dirt and leaf grow compost in my own buckets. I ended up paying more because they couldn't figure out an easy way to charge me since they normally sell by the yard. Also, when I got home to mix up my own potting soil I found it was still too heavy and ended up having to purchase peat moss and vermiculite that I could only find in plastic bags. Can't say I didn't try.
Our plants have already started to take off and look so much different from these beginning shots. I cannot wait to share with you how they grow this summer.
I am a shameless dumpster diver. They just call my name to take a peek inside and see what kinds of treasures lurk within.
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| Future Dumpster Diver |
Because you know, it really chaps my ass when people throw things away they could easily recycle back into their community. Especially when there are so many great resources like Freecycle, Craigslist, and online Facebook community yard sale pages. Or you could just leave the goods on your porch with a free sign.
So when my community HOA put out the yearly dumpster for bulk pickup I did a couple of hooray fist pumps. This year I pulled out 3 perfect terra cotta pots and a set of plain pine Ikea bed slats.
Robert and Lenora got to work building me a new planter for my back porch container garden with the bed slats. Just look at that team work. Arent they lovely. I can't wait to fill that planter with some good eats next summer.
My neighbor has a huge tree with a couple of nice knotholes perfect for a secret garden. We decided this summer to plant a little fairy garden in the holes for kids. It started out as a girls project but was quickly hijacked by a couple of grown men with tools and shovels, intent on making the best damn fairy garden this side of the mason dixon.
You best not mess with boys and their fairy gardens.
It turned out great and the plants have really taken off. All the neighborhood kids love checking in on the fairies and Lenora likes to pay them a visit on her way to school in the morning.
Im in love with them too and one day we will finally have those 40 acres I have been dreaming of, complete with a couple of little fairy villages...and a pond...and a house...and a fire pit. Man those fairy gardens are addicting.
Have you seen any fairies in your neck of the woods lately?
You are looking at the great basil harvest of 2012. Pathetic I tell you. Last year I had so much basil I was making pesto every week to freeze and had enough to last me until now.
This year I had enough for one measly batch. Gardening like life is full of lessons. I have learned never to plant your basil next to mint, for the mint will choke the life out of anything it is near. Next year the mint gets its own pot, and the basil too for that matter.
I guess I will save this one jar for something really good in the dead of winter, when I need just a taste summer. Goat cheese and crackers and pesto. Yummm. Or pesto pizza with mozzarella and grapes. Double Yummm. Or I could eat it straight out of the jar in my jammies, hiding in the bathroom so I don't have to share.
