Anne asked me to blog about my garden so here it is!

Outside my old apartment.  St. Francis was over by the mailbox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For ten years, I rented the same apartment - half of a house in South Pasadena, California.  There was a gardener to take care of the roses and all the plants I didn't pick out or maintain, but surely enjoyed.  I planted things in pots only - never in the ground, because my landlady was 89 years old when I moved in and I figured I might be asked to move out at some point with little notice, and how would I feel if I left my tomatoes behind?  
She lived to nearly 100, and just about the time she died last summer, I bought me a little house. 



And this spring?  I indulged my Midwest-born, farmer stock self, and planted a garden.

I started with a few pots, and one lavender plant in the ground.  Just some stuff outside the kitchen door - a small collection that accumulated when Trader Joe's had pots of 3 herbs together, sold at Thanksgiving - sage, rosemary, and thyme. Stuffing, get it?  Then a friend was trying to get rid of all the mint that was overtaking her yard, so I dug some up and potted it.  The daffodils are precious because they are from Connecticut, brought in a Ziploc on the train to to me in New York and then home to California in my carry-on suitcase in a yogurt container.  After I potted them, I backed over them in my car but only the saucer broke and the dirt only spilled a little.  Those babies are hanging on.  


I dug up a strip of grass that wasn't doing anyone any good, and expanded the planter bed someone else had started in the little corner of space next to the water heater.  That spot gets the best sun.

Not a big space, only about five or six feet by maybe 10? 

I had to dig up some other stuff that had been growing there.  Since I have visions of demolishing the front lawn and planting "drought tolerant" plants, and since plants are expensive, I made a halfhearted effort to salvage some dry-loving plants that I had to evict.  They are not looking good.  I suppose this is how it works - some sacrifice is necessary to move life forward. 

Scragglers.  

(Also, I have an unhealthy addiction to mint. Stay tuned as it jumps the pot and takes over my yard.)

I went to Armstrong and bought plants, based on impulse and a long-nurtured desire to grow pumpkins.  Watermelon seemed like a good idea, too, even in my small plot where it is probably ill-advised.  I am feeling experimental, and if it overtakes the driveway and I have to park on the street all summer, it's worth it to me.

Watermelon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I moved out of my apartment in South Pasadena, my landlady's daughter (who by then had become the landlady) gave me a potted Meyer lemon tree, kind of to say, "I'm sorry we started the renovations before you moved out, and we hope you're not so mad about the plywood over the patio door that you won't refer your friends as potential tenants!"  It's a pretty nice tree, and now it has these cuties on it!

 

They're about as big as Skittles now.

This cucumber was billed as a bush cuke, not a vine that was going to trail all over the ground.  Since I already had watermelon and pumpkins, I figured that was a good idea.  I planted this tiny plant and over it, placed this gargantuan cage.  I put an identical cage over the Napa tomatoes and they obligingly filled it right up.  The cucumber, though, tried to explain to me that it was just a little plant, and then it made these little flowers, which I think will be tiny nibbly cucumbers, if I am lucky.

 The pumpkins were my gamble - I was born in Illinois, where they really have Fall, like we don't have here, and I remember going to a pumpkin patch on a real farm, when I was a Brownie scout.  I remember the crisp air and smells and colors, and like many transplants here in California, I miss Fall.  I look forward to October, even though here it is almost always still disappointingly warm, and not chilly and happy and exciting like I remember.  So I planted pumpkins! 

I know someone in another state whose pumpkins were all eaten by gophers or something, and I don't really know whether mine will make it to an October harvest.  I don't know if they'll know when to ripen, given our weather, and I don't know what critters exist in my yard - so far the snails and I have had a little boxing match going.  I even Googled and found a comprehensive tutorial for growing pumpkins.

I bought a six-pack of pumpkins, and planted them two to a mound, as directed.  They don't have nearly enough space, probably.  But we'll see.

I fed them delicious vitamin granules, and watered them, and lo and behold, they began to grow.  I was surprised it worked, this experiment of mine.  Big leaves, and vines - who knew? 

And then this morning, this guy bloomed!

I'll keep you posted.