As anyone who has read my blog for a while knows, I moved into an apartment with no real garden in the spring of 2010. And I just wanted to post a quick update about my gardening endeavors and my old garden.
This post was inspired by my working near my old place today. I decided to go to the bakery nearby and check out the garden to see how things looked, at least in the front yard. And I was very pleasantly suprised. (Sorry no pics, since i thought it would be weird to post pics if I don't live there anymore. For previous posts on my old front yard check here.) The person who moved in has been keeping the front yard up and almost everything has survived and even flourished. The Ribes malvaceum is in full bloom right now, as is the Arctostaphylos pajaroensis 'Paradise'. Beautiful pinks. The other manzanitas are just starting. 3 of the 5 columbine survived, look great and are blooming right now. At least 2 of the 3 iris survived, as have all of the salvias. That last one is a surprise. The blue-eyed grass have spread, and the new inhabitant has kept the licorice plant and California fuchsia in check. The only things that seemed to have disappeared are the paprika yarrow (I'm guessing they got pulled for looking weedy), 2 of the columbine and one of the iris. Not bad at all. The hellstrip is looking raggedy, but that's how they generally look.
As for my own gardening, a friend of mine moved into a place about 5 blocks from where I now live. Back in the late fall she called to see if I would help her start and share a veggie garden and so I did. We currently have kale, lettuce, chard and arugula that we've been harvesting. Just starting to produce are some snap peas and some broccoli (Decicco, an Italian heirloom variety brought by immigrants to SF a long time ago, and one of my favorites.) And on their way are a bed of fava beans.
Here at my apartment there is a trumpet vine choking the life out of several trees. I've neglected the small shared yard here, but today a neighbor and I started freeing a couple of the trees from the smothering biomass that is this vine. It will be a multi-day job, but already there is some more light pouring into the yard.
Monday, January 24, 2011
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Hooray! I'm so glad to hear that you're still getting dirt under your fingernails! And what a testament to your design sensibilities that the garden is thriving without your care. Congrats! I'm cheering on your trumpet vine eradication efforts and exciting to see what comes of it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that your previous garden is still thriving! Can't believe the Ribes is in full bloom already. Mine barely have unfurling buds. I love the idea of sharing a veggie garden too. A little labor in exchange for home-grown produce sounds perfect to me!
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear that the seeds you started have taken root.
ReplyDeleteFeeling sentimental? What's a hellstrip? Thank you for sharing your experience, Brad. I'm looking forward to seeing pics of your new, shared veggie garden.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad to read this. Yours is at least the second blog post I've read recently about someone going back to their garden and finding it tended and appreciated by the current residents. I love happy endings like this, and I think it shows that giving people successful examples of what different things they can do with their garden spaces can turn them into enthusiastic converts.
ReplyDelete@Katie: A hellstrip is what some of us call that narrow band of soil/grass, or more likely weeds, between the sidewalk and street. It's hard to grow stuff there, and usually looks awful.
ReplyDeleteI've left gardens behind at so many homes... I always planted tough, unfussy plants, assuming that nobody would care for them. Many of these gardens still thrive, which is thrilling. I love haring about how the trees I planted are doing.
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