Ghetto Gardening 2015
"The home gardener is part scientist, part artist, part philosopher, part plowman. He modifies the climate around his home." - John R. Whiting
09/05/15:
One of the best rewards of gardening is the convenience of fresh ingredients growing just outside the kitchen door. As our region gets deeper into harvest season, I've enjoyed cayenne peppers, herbs, lemons from my potted tree, and a handful of blackberries and wild leeks. I'm looking forward to tomatoes soon, and more leeks throughout fall and winter. Once tomato and pepper plants are done producing for the year (maybe in October?) I can use those pots for lettuce greens or cold-tolerant herbs.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a full-size version.
Tomatoes are finally ripening!
Sun tea with lemon and mint.
Morning glories, wild leeks and
possibly lilies have sprouted here.
Our landlady might come to visit this month, so I've been concentrating more on cleaning up the yard in general than tending to my container garden. I've re-seeded our little patch of lawn, dug weeds out of the cracks in the paved walkway, cut back ivy from the mailbox, trimmed the oleander, rosemary and jasmine hedges, and removed old aphid-chewed leaves from blackberry and rose bushes. My boyfriend Steve got out a ladder and electric clippers, and chopped the tall hedges into the squarish shapes that the landlady prefers. He also removed a boxwood shrub that had died. I bought a new one and planted it in the space.
I continue to water and spray insect repellent on my potted plants, hoping that they won't suffer from lack of more attention while we work on the larger plants and trees that are planted around the perimeter of the house.
Some of our gardening essentials.
Trying to cut back oleander
without losing all the blooms.
The cats are overseeing
our outdoor projects.
We've added to our collection of garden tools, which helps the work go efficiently. The small saw was purchased recently for campfire use, and I just bought a rake at the Grocery Outlet for only $5.00!
I requested gardening things for Christmas in 2012, and received a sturdy pair of gloves and several well-made hand tools. The gloves come in handy as I cut back thorny bushes, and the weeder forks are great for getting dandelions out of the lawn or the cracks in the pavement. I seem to buy a new pair of small clippers often; either I lose them, or they rust and the blades become dulled. I lost a nice Fiskars stainless steel pair a few weeks ago, but maybe I'll find them during this intensive garden maintenance endeavor.
