@creekshanty

in that they take over your life? 😅 what are they like?

oh — 6oz _after_ dehydrating btw. i was unclear

some i freeze, but most i dehydrate. i keep a few in a jar, and grind the rest down into a chile sprinkle. all that was only 6 oz so it grinds really well.

it did. the flood in that picture was the worst in memory for the folks on my street, and between regrading and the lift, i’ve not had to worry

it is! _asclepius tuberosa_. it’s spread a little but only in the areas where i want it anyhow. the meadow near the street is all butterfly and pollinator support, mostly native.

black krim tomatoes from the second planting—suckers from the first planting shoved unceremoniously in a free bed with a chopstick—still green but showing off their characteristic rings around the top. #fall #gardening

we should have tomatoes for another month, then i’ll need to clean up the beds.

three robust jalapeño peppers hanging from their parent plant. tall, blurry trees against a clear morning sky in the background

that thing i said about thai chilis? the same is true of jalapeños. this is the ‘megatron’ variety, and we’ve harvested hundreds from three plants. the red and yellow peppers were planted at the same time. while slow to start, they’ve really picked up pepper production lately #gardening #peppers

bushy radish greens in the fore, spindly carrots in background, a white metal grid supporting red-flowering climbing beans on the right

climbing beans (scarlet emperor), some radish greens (french breakfast), and a few very stubborn and tiny carrots trying to outrun the coming frost. #fall #gardening

a small planter bed with deep red salvia and several other red and orange flowers.

magenta zinnias in the midst of a sea of other small flowers and foliage

orange and yellow marigolds, some white zinnias. other foliage, with the granite screenings of the ground peeling through

one of the tiny stars of my windflower meadow: a purple-white flowering nicotiana plant, slightly askew, it’s broad flat leaves obscuring some black-eyed susans.

my #wildflower areas still seem to be going strong. soon i’ll need to thin the lenceolate coreopsis and overseed. mostly natives but i had some zinnias, cosmos, and giant marigolds in a wheelbarrow and moved them during the drought. i’m eapecially happy with the nicotiana.

time to get some winter broccoli (or at lease broccolini) in the ground. direct sown as an experiment. historically i haven’t had much luck with broccoli—the yield per square meter seems low. this will go under cover as soon as it peeks above ground. cross your paws.

a blue bath towel covered with skinny red chili peppers that stretch away into the horizon

be careful if you grow thai chiles for personal use. they can take over your life. ask me how i know.

sunday’s veggies

bumbles doing bumble things.

everybody’s got a mind of their own

a 4’x4’ raised bed for flowers. contains ageratum, dahlias, coleus. it is almost overrun, but everything is in flower.

this got a little out of hand

that entire process was complication #1

i’ll spare you the rest of the construction photos, but over two years, i built the house shown in the blueprints, and set to work on the garden

front elevation of a blueprint for the new house. split shed roofs, wide pergola, plenty of windows. it looks nothing like the previous home. this kind of renovation should probably begin from a complete demolition, but i like doing things the hard way.

a new, much taller foundation with vertical fluted concrete blocks, white. only the floor and the skeletons of three walls remain of the original structure. a skip, pipes, lumber are scattered around as the new framing is about to begin

a plan for the back garden, sketched out on graph paper. a series of circles and paths. big ideas, if i can make them work

a late 50’s brick bungalow that some misguided person painted an unfortunate gray. the lawn is a wreck. a sun porch, white, is in bad shape.

rear view of same house, in the process of demolition. back annex is a pile of rubble. doors piled neatly along the intact wall.

a house suspended in the air, shadowed railroad ties seem perlious. the brick has been stripped, the sun porch vanished. black tar paper wraps the walls.

a picture from under the house, railroad toes stacked cabin-fashion supporting two giant beams on which the house sits

i bought a house in a floodplain. i had criteria, mostly that i was in my old neighborhood and there were the right conditions to grow a garden. so i lifted it up and made a plan.

what follows will be the briefest of stories about how i got here.

neighbors standing in a road at sunset after a long rain. to the left, a flooded park. to the right, flooded yards.

complication #2: floodplain.

this skyway mainly holds photos and video of my garden, and ramblings about the same. the challenges: small urban environment, and i have very little idea what i’m doing.