My friend's yard

So I have a friend, who not to long ago bought a historic building and the 3 acres of Chester Co. it sits on. Its a lovely strip of land with a creek running though it. He asked us if we would work on two gardens for him. A shady, wet-tolerant, flower garden and a rain garden. This weekend I put some thought into the flower garden.

Royal Hellebores

Indian Pink

Toad lilies

and Spiderwort

Any one have any other suggestions?

neighbors

So, I initially decided that ornamental hot peppers would be a good fit for my sidewalk planters because I figured if any of the numerous kids in the neighborhood decided to swipe one, the first bite should keep them from doing it again. So far, so good in that respect. I haven't seen any signs of half eaten peppers dropped on the street- even the squirrels leave them alone!
I figured I would get a few hot peppers off of each plant, and that those peppers would then get put to use in making salsa. This also has been the case, and I have enjoyed numerous batches of salsa and fajitas flavored by the little spicy treats, as well as enough to dry to last me well through until my next batch matures.
What I didn't expect, was that putting plants, especially edible ones, would produce so many conversations and compliments from the neighbors. Let's face it, concrete sidewalks faced by brick rowhouses can get a little monotonous and really HOT in the summer. Sure we have a few trees on the street, and in recent years my other gardening minded neighbor has upped her sidewalk presences in the form of a new sidewalk planting bed (she is on the corner, so having flowers on the curb line doesn't block people from opening car doors since they can't park there anyway) But even my 3 little planters have drawn compliments on how much it improves the look of the block! I have enjoyed hearing peoples comments and have encouraged others to put something out front, even one flower pot can do wonders- every little bit helps. In the midst of those conversations I have offered to let neighbors pick a few of the peppers, since the plants produce well more than I will ever have use for. And here's where the fun part comes in... the neighbors are starting to offer me things from their gardens in exchange! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some of my neighbors have veggies and herbs growing in their yards, but after receiving several nice cucumbers and an offer of basil, cilantro and more tomatoes (just harvested 4 lbs from my own plants) it hit me, just how much produce is being grown on our block- and all of us still have room for patio sets!
At this point I have to thank William Penn for his brilliant concept of a "greene country towne"- and making it a point that even urban lots have a little plot for vegetation; especially after visiting Annapolis last weekend and noticing how close together the houses are and how little outside space each lot has. I know every bit helps and that it is possible to produce a good deal from planters and window boxes, but I think I'll stick to urban gardening in the Penn's "country towne."

I take that back...

So earlier this season I was extolling the virtues of home grown lettuce, and I still stand behind the joys of going outside and picking a salad. I may have over-emphasized the ease of growing it... and I am going to have to have have a little conversation with the squirrels who were digging in my alley pots before fall rolls around. So while I work on my lettuce growing skills (and bb gun aim...) I will add a new recommendation for easy gardening. Green beans. Every few weeks from early summer, through to 2-3 weeks before frost, soak a few beans in a bowl of water few a few hours, scratch a hole in the ground, drop a bean in, and work your way down the row, filling in any bare spots or space left on the trellis. This will guarantee a family's worth of green beans for the summer. I only have half of the trellis growing, and I'm already thinking of all the new ways we get to try green beans through the summer. Guess I better get a few more seeds in the ground tomorrow so I have plenty to practice with!

yard

I will have to go back and look at my notes from last year, but I feel like besides the impatiens under the apple tree, the flowers are taking their sweet time in blooming this year. Either that, or I need to find more edible flowers to fill in amongst all the green!
With a new table (fountain/pond, tiered beds, and a touched up patio-it's off to the right), I think I should submit the yard to a magazine and show people the oasis that a small yard can be!

Stoop

The summer heat is taking its toll on the pansies. My planning has paid off though. The peppers, zinnias and sunflowers have filled the containers at the front of the house with green. (with a little red, white and blue thrown in) Despite the greenery, I think I will start the plants in containers in the back next year. Since I wasn't sure of the age of some of the seeds, the fact that some of them never took means that there are a few extra peppers in one container and an extra sunflower in the other, so they look a little lopsided.The sunflowers are enjoying the heat radiating from the sidewalk and the brick front! I can't wait until more open. From the looks of it there will be 4 more flowers on this plant, 3 or 4 in the other planter, and hopefully a few more on the runt of the bunch.The mum has had its final hair cut of the summer (remember- 3 trims before the 4th of July for nice, full plants! I wish I remember where I read that). Hopefully the trims will pay off in a few months and the sunflowers will be replaced with sprays of colorful mums. And a few volunteer tomatoes....

Roof

It's been a little warm and humid in the city....I can't say that my tomato plants look beautiful, but they apparently feel beautiful because, but despite how ugly the plants look, they have been kicking out the fruit!

I have been keeping track of the weights of the tomatoes as they come through. This week alone I had a pound! Also collected 3 banana peppers, basil and onions from the roof. We will be having fresh tomato salad AND BLTs for dinner this week!

July garden update

Seeing Mich's amazing harvest motivated me to post an update. We have gotten a ton of kale, so much so that I don't have to buy it right now. The cabbage is almost ready. What do you do with 7 heads of cabbage, anyone?

My tomatoes aren't ripe yet but they are making me very hopeful. The verity that is likely to be ready first is the orange plum tomato

from Baker creek, followed by either Mich's Gold Nugget or Stupice form Seed Savers.

First pepper, Chocolate bell

Tiny optimistic watermelon, golden midget watermelon

Ridiculous space-invading pumpkin of unknown providence. Likely a kabocha of some sort. The black sling is there to support its weight and is made from the sleeve of an old t-shirt.