Garden Girl

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Two years ago Mr. Garden Girl & I were the kind of people who impatiently complained about the next SideKick from T-Mo not coming out ALREADY because the browsers on our handheld communications devices were just SOOO SLOOOW *grump*.
Now?
Now we have one cheapie cell for emergencies with a paid minutes card between us, but we have a somewhat expensive German engineered bike trailer capable of hauling big bags of soil for our hanging tomato plants.

Oh &… 3 drops of rain in far N.E. Austin so far– whoot!

Pam, over at Red, White and Grew has started a fun meme to encourage us to share our victory garden inspirations and information.
Anyone who would like to participate can contact her or, if you want to pass the meme along,  just link to the meme page from your blog.

Here’s the page:

www.redwhiteandgrew.com/replicate

and my answers:

* What are your favorite local garden resources (ex. nurseries, blogs, reliable regional “celebrity” gardeners,county/parish extension office)?

When I lived in South Austin, I loved the Natural Gardener:
http://www.naturalgardeneraustin.com/

The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful and the nursery and store beat any other gardening supply place I’ve ever been to. Even just spending a few hours wandering around the nursery is a sure fired way to make your day.

My favorite local gardening celebrity is Howard Garrett (The Dirt Doctor) and his site , forums & newsletter have really helped me trouble shoot some garden problems.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/

I also love the *You Grow Girl* Forums.

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/forums/

* What are your favorite books and magazines?

Organic Gardening Magazine

http://www.organicgardening.com/

& a book I keep coming back to is *Gaia’s Garden*

http://www.amazon.com/Gaias-Garden-Guide-Home-Scale-Permaculture/dp/1890132527

The best introductory book on gardening I know is *You Grow Girl*

http://www.amazon.com/You-Grow-Girl-Groundbreaking-Gardening/dp/0743270142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218560134&sr=1-1

* What is your favorite gardening tip?

Water less often, but deeply & always first thing in the morning.
Feed your garden: compost tea & compost are your garden’s friends.
Focus on amending til you have good soil & the rest will come.

* Why do you call your garden a _________ (Victory Garden, Peace Garden, Freedom Garden, vegetable garden…etc.)?

I like the way “victory garden” is catching on but mostly I just call it a kitchen garden

As we wait indoors for Edouard (hoping that he won’t come in looking for a fight) , here’s a little online shopping to feel good about:

Hand made *Worm Inns* make vermicomposting fun for the fashion conscious gardener.

I’m seriously digging on my worms & I recommend them , even for folks who aren’t gardeners. Why fill the landfill when you can feed some green growing things, even if it’s only your houseplants?
They are nuisance free, quiet and the only odor so far is a faint smell of good rich soil.

continues. One extra tall, metal plant hanger for baskets of tomatoes & peppers successfully pedaled home by Mr. Garden Girl

There are challenges to urban gardening on the cheap.
That’s an understatement.
The amazing Gayla Trail of http://www.yougrowgirl.com/ has written about those challenges in depth and I find her to be an inspiration. Like her, I too garden on land not my own & that can come with certain stresses.
Take this morning for example.
I’m happily tippy tapping away at my keyboard when I hear the park’s ground crew outside my window.
& I peek out just in time to see them “edging” my blackberry plants, which granted, have gotten leggy, as blackberries are wont to do & have strayed outside of their raised bed.
You’d think dingoes took my baby-the cry I let out.
So, Mr. Garden Girl (who was more presentable than I) went out & showed them where the boundary between the empty lot next door & our yard was.
It was an honest mistake. Fences aren’t allowed so it can be hard to tell where one plot ends & another begins. They promised it wouldn’t happen again & apologized, but it got me thinking.
About how feelings of possessiveness come so naturally when we’ve put time and energy into nurturing lives (be they people, animals or even plants).
Again & again, I remind myself that it’s not about ownership, it’s about stewardship.
It’s about creating bounty for all, where we can.
And I remind myself that part of what the Fig Tree Cottage experiment is about (through both design & necessity) is learning to find and foster beauty and sustenance in less than picture perfect urban neighborhoods (places like, say– a trailer park ), because– that’s where a lot of us will live, maybe especially in economically unsure times.
More than anything, I want to show than virtually *anyone* in *any situation* can grow some food.
It sounds simple, but to me it’s a profound idea.
An idea that plants a seed in peoples’ hearts to take more initiative and control of their lives, for themselves, for their families and for their neighbors.
Because, as Mr. Jalopy pointed out this morning, we increasingly don’t own what we think we own anyway.

Now, granted, my garden is more of a plan for a garden right now (still crossing my fingers than I can get some herbs & greens in the raised beds for Fall), but I’m in this for the long haul and I hope that by journaling here I can share what I learn about how a tight budget in less than ideal surroundings can still afford a more sustainable and fulfilling life.

The Texas sage in the empty lot next door is alive with bees– honey bees and even a bumble or two. My own crepe myrtle bush behind the cottage is home to a dozen or more lady bugs. Even in the midst of a dry scorching summer here there is life. My peach tree has made a remarkable recovery. The willow stump out front has foliage taller than me now.
And on the ride yesterday to the tea house, we came upon a hawk with a fresh rabbit feast (there were kids & parents on the bike path too & I wonder how many kids got a lesson about the circle of life, rather close up & gory- heh).
Pictures of all this except for the hawk at his/ her repast:

Can you spot the bee?:

Tags: gardengirl, victory garden

Homegrown Evolution: Gardening in an Apartment Windowsill

Something to make your weekend

Honestly, I don’t know if the raised beds here will be ready by Fall. I haven’t started to build compost yet, the summer looks like it’ll be a dry, nasty, over a 100* often- as- not affair, & I’d like to save money for a jujube & a (probably white) mulberry tree next Spring.

I know mulberries are messy, but I love ‘em.
I’m trying to follow permaculture logic– start with trees & create micro climates, & when you have established zones of shade, sun, & protection, *then* put in your ground crops.
The mulberry tree will complete a semi circle of fruit trees we’ve planted close around the house (sides & back) that will provide weather protection for Fig Tree Cottage & bring in some birds.
The jujube will go out front to give us a head start on having a tree to replace the Bradford pear, which I expect to start dropping branches & being a problem child in just a few more years.

Ready to eat!
Nom, nom, nom.

The weather was breezy & perfect & the lake was crowded with families.
We had our own independence celebration before we even left home tho. We took a small step toward food independence, by eating our first food grown in our yard- a truly luscious, ripe, sweet fig from our own tree.

It was truly a wonderful moment for us that made us feel like this really was our home. It’s nice that the first fig was sweet & nummy

May your holiday weekend be a fun and safe one!

http://thatotherpaper.com/austin/inspiration_san_franciscos_victory_garden