Very Vegetable

An explosion of edibles from the garden installed earlier this year.  I had forgotten how incredibly easy and satisfying veggie gardening can be (and I'm saying this even before the tomatoes have ripened!)  The peas trail along a plum twig trellis, generously made especially for me from my Dad.  I love the three pods in the photo above- I just think of a xylophone dinging "dink, dink dink!"

This Flying Saucer or Patty Pan Squash looks like it's wearing a cashmere bodysuit with all its fuzzy whiskers.  These taste delicious with prosciutto and fresh basil.

The French Pickling Cucumbers continue to trickle in and the first batch of quick pickles won rave reviews at our weekend BBQ.  Tiny foods...  so irresistible, hidden among the leaves!

And a sun-bleached long view of the Titan Sunflowers (still growing and not even flowering yet!) with the Sunsweet (an improved Sungold) tomato growing everywhere except the middle of its tomato cage.  Cosmos, Zinnias and a sprinkling of Bachelor's Buttons lure pollinators and give me an excuse for a non-native cutting garden.  Scarlet Runner Beans have twined up the Sunflower stalks, shooting bits of red-orange firecracker sparks in the background.  A rampant mess and I couldn't be more delighted!

SF Garden Show: the Victory Garden

Updated to give credit also to Garden Fare, who co-designed the Victory garden.  Thanks, Leslie!

I have to admit that the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show was pretty cool, but I think that the best part was meeting Clare and her husband of Curbstone Valley Farm fame.  It's so satisfying to meet a virtual friend in person!

We walked around the show and ended up chatting for quite some time with the nice folks at Star Apple Edible Gardens and Garden Fare about their Victory garden.  Super nice folks!

The chicken house in particular really caught my eye (shown above).  Chicken houses have historically fallen into the utilitarian column, but Star Apple decided to use it as an element of the design with exotic yet relatively easy to execute decoration.  It's almost ark-like!  Unfortunately, it's little hinged wooden roof piqued my curiosity and I just had to lift it up (you can't take me anywhere...), thereby putting me nose to beak with a little hen trying to get some rest in the hay.  Sorry!  I'm not sure who was more embarrassed- me or the chicken! 

Photo lifted from San Jose Garden Examiner and taken by S. Smith

The planted area was a real treat, reminding us that edible and beautiful are not mutually exclusive.  Ribbons of marigolds and violas danced in undulating rows while herbs, lettuces and cabbages filled in the spaces.  Fruit trees and trellises of exuberant vines observed it all from the center of the beds.  I like their concept of using edibles as landscaping instead of hiding them in that thrown together box in the corner of the yard.  It celebrates the beauty of the plant, and you can eat it! 

Little touches, like wooden spoons as plant labels really made the garden memorable.  It oozed in cuteness, but also practicality.  It's so exciting to see that growing your own food has almost become a standard in backyard gardening.

Have I mentioned their business card?  Most gorgeous card, like ever!  Overall, this garden landed in my favorites list- it didn't have to be gimmicky to get my attention and its pragmatic beauty has inspired me to get a move-on with my seed starting adventures. The heart and passion involved in creating this really showed- and its infectiousness really spread throughout the show-goers gawking their way through.

A Garden For the Senses

As promised, here's a few more photos of the garden I just completed.  My client and her darling canine companion were looking for something that could allow for proper romping and fetching, but also a place to provide cut flowers and veggies with floral scents wafting through every once in while.  In other words, a peaceful spot to entertain or just slowly wander and enjoy the surroundings.

 Before

First, let me give you perspective on what we were dealing with.    An ivy-infested fence bordered one side and actually encroached on 4' of backyard!  A small sidewalk path also encroached needlessly into the space.  A dead lemon tree still stood to attention and seemed to be memorialized with borders of red bricks sunken into the ground.  The side of the house was ringed with older shrubs, but didn't offer any privacy to the windows above their canopies. 

So here's the fun part.  The area in the foreground above became a large grassy area, punctuated by redwood steps.  Lemon verbenas, roses and a new lemon tree watch from the sidelines.

The bricks were re-used as mini-retaining walls for the beds of Ribes and Douglas Iris and as a primitive path to the new compost bin.  A row of Pacific Wax Myrtles, Abutilons and Philadelphus will over time help create a new privacy buffer where the ivy once was.  The patch of dirt in the photo is now sprouting lettuces and will over time be surrounded by Chamomile and Strawberry.  The redwood steps draw a line through this L-shaped garden and join these disparate pieces together. 

Airy trellises surround the blank expanse of the house will create green walls of Cecil Brunner roses and Kiwis. 

Now the only thing to do is wait for everything to grow in, although it looks like the garden is already being enjoyed, since I received this photo the other day.

I'm so happy it's in and can't wait to see the progress!  A special thanks to Christian from Misty Morning Gardens, who took my design and carried it out to a "T" and my client, Hannah who guided the design process in wonderful ways I could not have imagined (not to mention baked us cookies while we worked!  Am I lucky or what?!).

Edible Gardens as Urban Renewal in Flint, MI

There's no coffee in the house and I'm moping about this morning.  So it was a great little perk-up to read this article in the New York Times to give me a little energy.  Flint, Michigan seems to have seen the worst of what the economy can do to a town, so it's inspirational to see people adapting to the changes and doing what they can to make their town and neighborhoods better.  Hooray for edible gardens!