To avoid writing about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, because I really can’t do anything about it besides repeating what has been already written in the news, I’ve been focusing on the garden. I appropriated the front yard of the house this spring and went wild. By appropriated, I mean I took control of the yard that isn’t mine because compromise between a lot of people just wasn’t working. It is kind of wild actually, both figuratively and plainly speaking. There wasn’t a plan. I sort of started taking it over on the sly and I have been throwing random seeds out there for over a year now. It wasn’t until I built the bamboo supports for the tomatoes that it was really obvious what I was doing.
I’m really good at growing all kinds of plants in pots and containers, but it has been a long time since I’ve had actual dirt to dig in. Everything is just sort of starting to push up out of the ground. The weather in Berkeley has been all kind of wild this spring too, with a lot of unseasonal rain, so the California poppies and wildflowers are lasting a lot longer than usual. That’s ok with me – such a wash of color they bring to the yard.
The foreground patch is full of tiny Lettuce, Spinach, and Arugula. There’s a baby Lavender there too. The bamboo tepees are support for the Tomato plants. There is a small Lemon tree, some Peppers, Basil, Carrots, and Heliotrope in this part of the yard.
This half of the yard gets shade most of the day from the Japanese Maple tree so there are a mix of flowers that can live in partial shade if they have to. About a month or two ago it was filled with Daffodils, Ranunculus, and the dreaded Oxalis. The Lavender has taken off nicely. You can see over on the fence I’ve got some Haricot Vertes starting. There is also some Heirloom Rainbow Chard and some Garlic in that patch.
The purple flower came with the compost. I have no idea what it is. It has been suggested it might be Larkspur. It grew up out of the poppies, then fell over, and now it’s blooming.
In the middle of the yard there is at least one squash, an artichoke and an old wine barrel of strawberries. The squirrels have been beating us to those, so I’m going to build a cage of some sort to put over the plants.
The bees have been loving it.
I love the idea of front yards being used to grow useful things.
2 Comments
Stunning! What a wonderful channeling of energy. A great job of photographing and inspired sharing too. And yum! You have a mouthwatering menu of fresh greens, tomatoes, herbs and veggies to enjoy this summer. What a delight for those who stroll through your neighborhood to encounter such love, loveliness and life-force as opposed to just another lawn.
I love the bamboo tomato cages, way more cool then the wire ones.
TY for sharing.
It made my day…
A couple of the nice things that have happened since the plants started growing have been the neighbor stopping by to tell me she sometimes comes and stands in front of the yard to meditate, another is that we are half a block away from Alta Bates hospital, so people enjoy it when they are coming and going from there.
The guy downstairs has said that people have made positive comments to him too. People in Berkeley are really into gardens and gardening, but not so much the veggie/flower/ornamental mixing thing.
I don’t know what I’ll do when the California Poppies stop producing – they are really colorful and cheery!