Garden Tour

From Top:

Speckled Roman Tomatoes 

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes 

German Pink Tomatoes 

(with Genovese Basil and 

Rosemary as companion plants 

and a horsie for good measure) 

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Herb Table: 

Lemon Balm, German Thyme,

Lemon Thyme, Silver Thyme

Basil, Oregano, Mystery Herb

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Various Found Containers:

Baby Salad Greens, Sage,

Purple, Thai, Sweet, and 

Genovese Basil, Lavender, 

Majoram, Chives, 

Mexican Oregano 

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Back Raised Bed:

Bordeaux Spinach 

Tuscan Kale 

Patty Pan Squash 

Strawberries 

So far so good! I also have some lemon cucumbers and more salad greens planted in the other raised bed. The plan is to plant the salad greens in succession for as long as I can. I tend to buy bags of baby greens and can't eat the whole bag by myself so some of it gets waisted. With the huge selection of baby greens we have growing I can pick enough to have my daily salad instead of buying a bag, saving some money and feeling less guilty for waisting food! 

Can you tell that I love love love basil? I have, I think, about seven varieties of basil growing and I know we will use it all!  My goal this year was to grow things that I know that I love and will use, and that may be a rare heirloom variety or more expensive in the markets that I frequent. Im probably most excited about the tomatoes, lemon cucumbers and bordeaux spinach. I've been having a hard time with aphids on the tomato plants, which my friend Ellen informed me was because of a lack of lady bugs, and good sun this season. I love her, she shepherds me so well through these things I'm still so new too. She said I could spray them down with a solution of any sort of castile soap (like dr bronners) and water to combat them, or plant herbs or marigolds with or around the tomato plants themselves since aphids don't like the smell. The tomato plant with the rosemary and basil seems to be having less of a problem with the aphids so I'll try to deal with that more this weekend. I'm still entertaining the idea of tracking down some tomato plants good for making tomato paste and canning, (San Marzanos to be exact.) and also some beautiful black krim tomatoes as well. I also just received a lovely sour dough starter from a friend visiting from Detroit, I foresee many a sourdough pizza with fresh basil and heirloom tomatoes, tomato tarts with caramelized shallots and feta, tomato jam with balsamic, the list could go on.

Funny story about the spinach. I meticulously put down the seeds in nice little rows while singing Bullet to Bianary (pt two) myself (lettuce grows, lettuce grows in neatly sectioned beds and rows!), only to turn my back for three seconds and discover that Julian had joyously tossed the packet of seeds all about the bed and then dumped the whole remaining contents in one spot. There is now a jungle of bordeaux spinach that he calls "Juju's spanich". Im not that upset about it. 

So there we have it so far. The weekend after next we will be having a little birthday get together with my friends, it will be fun to share my little garden with them. On a depressing side note. My landlord came to mow the lawn (the arch enemy of any wanna be urban homesteader, the lawn, what a waste!) and tend to her massive rosebush, in which I only mildly enjoy because it smells beautiful. She proceeded to uproot and THROW AWAY my three foot diameter chamomile bush, along with seven patty pan squash plants, three kale plants, and one swiss chard that she thought were "weeds". Lord have mercy on me for my thoughts towards her. Even Xavier, who with no shame admits his lack of affinity towards green things and identifying plants, was outraged at the idea of her thinking my chamomile was a weed. "It had a lovely floral, honey scent you could smell if you walked within ten feet of the thing!" he said! She also mowed over our upstairs neighbor's baby sunflowers, twice. Such are the perils of apartment living.

Do any of you deal with pesky land lords, or does maybe the fact that you are renting prevent you from looking into having a bit of a garden? Im curious!

Thanks for reading,

-K