dr_kromm: (Default)
Sean Punch ([personal profile] dr_kromm) wrote2008-09-04 02:16 am
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Why I like summer

I'm heat-intolerant and have a sun allergy (really!), so summer could be just a so-so experience for me -- a few months of sunscreen and sweat. But in fact I love the summer, and this is entirely because of the garden. Yes, despite living in a small apartment with a little strip of asphalt for a back yard, we have a garden. Bonnie is the gardener, and she plants a dense container garden every year. By August, the back yard is very green. A razor-thin line of asphalt is visible down the middle, but otherwise the plants spilling over the edges of boxes, planters, pots, and raised beds obscure the ground from sight . . . and do a fair job of hiding fences, walls, neighbors, cats, and so on.

What's especially wonderful is getting tasty produce from the garden. It's truly amazing what one can grow in even a shred of space. It's hard to grasp why people with real yards grow boring grass when they could have tasty herbs and vegetables. (I could go on about how I loathe neighborhood associations that insist on grass lawns in a time of food and water shortages, but I won't.) Anyway, this year brought a respectable crop of basil (standard, bush, and sacred), hard-necked garlic, oregano, thyme, tomatoes, and quite a few other goodies. 

Here's what an inner-city tomato patch (1.5m × 1.5m) looks like:
 
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Here's what was ripe on one day (we have many days like this!):

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Note that zero harsh chemicals are at work here -- no fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, synthetic fertilizers, etc. Just compost and rainwater, plus the occasional blast from the hose during dry spells.
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[identity profile] dr-kromm.livejournal.com 2008-09-05 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
It was a tasty pizza! And there will be others . . .

[identity profile] ferrovipathes.livejournal.com 2008-09-07 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, you guys have a great garden!
I wish we could have such a nice one ... but I guess we'd need a backyard first!
Maybe one day ....

[identity profile] dr-kromm.livejournal.com 2008-09-07 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Well, our "back yard" is an asphalt strip. ;) But I know what you mean. I'm in the wrong line of work to be making down payments on places with real back yards!