Domestic Terraforming, My Patookus.
The Library subscribes to a number of magazines that aren't circulated among the rabble patrons: Bottom Line, The Harvard Health Letter (I read a brilliant report about hiccups in there once), Library Journal, and Wired among them. The June 2010 issue of Wired had me at Hello because Woody and Buzz from Toy Story 3 are on the cover, but the article I go back to the most is "Don't Call It Gardening: the Wired Guide to Domestic Terraforming."
Guys, you'd agree it's just gardening if you saw my patio.
Whenever I see a bandwagon I ought to jump on, it isn't until I see it's well traveled before I actually get with the program. I visit teach a friend from church who plants spinach, squash, corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables in every free inch of soil around her apartment. "I ought to do that," I said, but I didn't do squat. (Or squash.) Then I saw the article in Wired and got a little more interested, especially since it suggests layouts for optimal use of space. Then I visited Cousin Dare and his family, and his wife Diane has a kitchen garden that's bigger than my flat toward the back of their three-acre property. I'm seeing the benefits now and am planning on tackling the patio soon. (It looks like Ma and Pa Kettle's place right now, I'm ashamed to say.)
I'm wondering what I can manage in my little patio that has a six-foot fence to the south, an overhanging balcony, and a two-story building a few yards beyond the fence. (Mostly shade-happy plants, probably.) My kitchen windowsill faces north, so it gets only a tiny bit of sun on June and July mornings, but it seems like that'd be the best place to plant some kind of mushrooms. No room for chickens or a beehive (the neighbors would go mad), but I can find out what pretties I ought to plant so I can attract helpful bugs and birds. I'll ask the upstairs neighbor if I can attach some unobtrusive wires or ropes to his balcony railing so I can do hanging plants as well as plants on the ground or in raised beds/containers.
Possible plants:
mushrooms
tomatoes
carrots
spinach
corn
peas
potatoes
onions
green onions
thyme
oregano
rosemary
sweet basil
And while I'm dreaming, I'll finally ask Aunt Diane (different Diane) for a cutting from her plumeria tree. Or I could just take over Max's backyard; it's large enough that I could have some serious fun there.
All this is brainstorming right now. First up is cleaning out the patio, which is a job in itself.
Helpful links, in case my readers (what readers?) are inclined to try domestic terraforming themselves:
The Article from Wired in its entirety, including the links to garden layouts under Where Will Your Garden Grow?
Long Beach Organic, which is mostly about community gardens (which is an option), but the Planting Guides link on the left has a chart for which months are good to plant different vegetables.
Guys, you'd agree it's just gardening if you saw my patio.
Whenever I see a bandwagon I ought to jump on, it isn't until I see it's well traveled before I actually get with the program. I visit teach a friend from church who plants spinach, squash, corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables in every free inch of soil around her apartment. "I ought to do that," I said, but I didn't do squat. (Or squash.) Then I saw the article in Wired and got a little more interested, especially since it suggests layouts for optimal use of space. Then I visited Cousin Dare and his family, and his wife Diane has a kitchen garden that's bigger than my flat toward the back of their three-acre property. I'm seeing the benefits now and am planning on tackling the patio soon. (It looks like Ma and Pa Kettle's place right now, I'm ashamed to say.)
I'm wondering what I can manage in my little patio that has a six-foot fence to the south, an overhanging balcony, and a two-story building a few yards beyond the fence. (Mostly shade-happy plants, probably.) My kitchen windowsill faces north, so it gets only a tiny bit of sun on June and July mornings, but it seems like that'd be the best place to plant some kind of mushrooms. No room for chickens or a beehive (the neighbors would go mad), but I can find out what pretties I ought to plant so I can attract helpful bugs and birds. I'll ask the upstairs neighbor if I can attach some unobtrusive wires or ropes to his balcony railing so I can do hanging plants as well as plants on the ground or in raised beds/containers.
Possible plants:
mushrooms
tomatoes
carrots
spinach
corn
peas
potatoes
onions
green onions
thyme
oregano
rosemary
sweet basil
And while I'm dreaming, I'll finally ask Aunt Diane (different Diane) for a cutting from her plumeria tree. Or I could just take over Max's backyard; it's large enough that I could have some serious fun there.
All this is brainstorming right now. First up is cleaning out the patio, which is a job in itself.
Helpful links, in case my readers (what readers?) are inclined to try domestic terraforming themselves:
The Article from Wired in its entirety, including the links to garden layouts under Where Will Your Garden Grow?
Long Beach Organic, which is mostly about community gardens (which is an option), but the Planting Guides link on the left has a chart for which months are good to plant different vegetables.
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