From indominable garden correspondent Mary G:
Two years ago, my driveway had only a few things in it – on the very sunny side there was a 15’ brick flower bed with a foot or so wide growing area, and three trash cans. On the very shady side, there was the gas meter and the water heater in its little shed, and what used to be another brick flower bed. Someone who owned the house before my mom apparently got frustrated with low-light gardening and filled it up with concrete, so my mom slapped some flagstone over the top to make a ledge. Smokers were exiled there occasionally, but otherwise it got no use. Now the driveway is my main garden, where I mostly grow succulents due to the drought here in California.
Courtesy of HBM, the sunny side has this two-decker table with all succulents.
Also this raised bed. Almost everything in there is a volunteer plant that stayed over from last year. I broke my ankle very badly last October and was still trying to regain confidence and energy this spring, as well as worrying about water, so I did not plant seeds this year at all. The only exception is one cinnamon basil plant I bought because the bees love it so much.
The plant hanging over the left front corner is oregano I planted last year from seed; it has spread across the whole planter twice now, once over the winter and then over the mulch I put in this spring. The sage in the right front is also last year’s from seed I planted. The tomatoes are also last year’s, except one vine of a Roma type that was either a rogue seed in my packets last year, or kindly planted by a passing bird or insect. The vines never looked like much this year, but starting in February (thanks, global warming!) produced a ton of tomatoes through about the middle of July, when it started getting hotter, the city restricted watering to two days a week and they kind of gave up the ghost. This bed does have drip irrigation and you will notice the tub and tray underneath where I catch any water that comes through for re-use on the succulents.
Another table, split between succulents and strawberries. Last years’ strawberries were awesome, so I wanted more and bought those black felt bags to try. I wanted to try some more varieties, and put bare root plants of Sequoia, Camarosa, and Chandler in there. All the strawberries suffered this spring because the old drip timer kept cutting itself off at random and I could not reach them to supplement by hand because debris from my bathroom remodel was piled up in front of them for about six weeks. Now that I have been able to feed them some nice fish fertilizer they are perking up a bit.
You can see by the residue on the bottom of the black bag what the quality of the water we get here is. My town declined to join the California Aqueduct project when it was developed because of SOCIALISM! and has relied on a few brackish wells that were insufficient even then (when we had a tenth of the population we do now), some water brought over from the Colorado River (which has been being phased out for years due to Mexico’s objections), and buying from “farmers” who made quite a good bit of money by purchasing water from the state at low, low agricultural rates and reselling it to cities and towns at the much higher city use rates. /rant
The brick bed is being transformed from flowers to strawberries, but the flowers are not giving up easily, as you can see by the photo at the top. The mortar in the bricks isn’t that great, as you can see. A snapdragon seed fell in, germinated and grew out a nice little plant sideways out of the planter wall two bricks down which produced one spectacular yellow bloom in the spring and two small-but-nice blooms in the summer. I never got a unblurry picture, though, sorry.
On the shady side, there is my potting bench area. Yes, having to hang out in the hospital and rehab for a month resulted in a lot of online unnecessary supply shopping. I was bored, OK? And Medicare was paying for my food, utilities, and caregiving, so I had extra money, OK? OK?
Seriously, though, I can reach almost everything from my wheelchair and it works great for me. HBM made me three little tables with caster wheels and rope and wood block handles that I can haul stuff around the driveway on and push out of the way when the car needs to leave the garage that make me so happy. They are one bucket, two bucket, and a bucket-and-a-half sizes. You can see two of them in the photo.
The kitty’s name is Chenielle – she turned up in the parking lot of the local foam and fabric store and they tried to take her in. The combination of hundreds of upright bolts of expensive upholstery fabric and a cat proved unworkable, so they brought her to the shelter, where I got her. I know she shouldn’t be outside, but you try to get out a door in a wheelchair alone when a cat who knows there is plenty of room under the seat of the wheelchair for a cat to run through wants to go with you. The neighbor has a psychotic unneutered tomcat who will attack if she is alone, so she comes in when I do, fortunately…
***********
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
raven
Ah so nice Mary! After record rains we are now very very dry here in Georgia!
satby
Mary, you’re amazing! I wouldn’t have done a damn thing if I had been laid up as bad as you, or at least I don’t think I would have. It all looks so healthy in spite of the water situation in So. CA.
It’s dry here too after what was weeks of rain lasting into early July, but because a great deal of MI is sandy the over abundance is just a memory. Except for the bumper crop of blight and mosquitoes. I have a lot of green tomatoes that I hope will ripen before blight finally takes out most of the vines, and when they look more sickly than well I’m just going to rip them out and call it a season. Looks like it’s going to be a good fruit season for the farmers though, after the last few bad ones they can use a break.
OzarkHillbilly
Looking good Mary.
Highs have been in the mid to upper 90s these past few weeks and I just have a hard time with that kind of heat anymore, not that I ever liked it. That limits me to mornings for outside work, which the garden is only one of the current projects.
Tomatoes look all but dead from the blight, but are still producing out the yinyang. All the beans continue to produce tho at a lesser amount. Eggplant are producing well as are the hot peppers. Found a volunteer banana pepper in an old compost pile that has more peppers on it than all my TMV infected plants put together. I have surrendered to the squash bugs. I will take what winter squash I have and hope they store well. I am going to plant a couple more Romanesco zucchini so I can get a few more before frost.
Put in some gourds this year. Just one or 2 of each with the idea of seeing what would grow and then I would see what I could do with them over the winter. Well, I’ll be busy.
Got my first eggs from the chickens yesterday. 2 very small white eggs from one of the Minorcas. Soon I’ll be eggs out the yinyang too.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
Don’t pull them too soon. Every July/August I think they are all but done but come October I am still eating fresh maters. This year is the worst ever but I still won’t be surprised they hold on till mid September.
JPL
Mary it’s nice. If it doesn’t rain soon, I might have to think about succulents. Today is yard work and then quality time spent with the dog. Good times.
Another Holocene Human
It remains to be seen if anything I left outside survives the deluge we’ve been having.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I need to hit them with the Serenade again, but it’s just a holding action. August and so far only got one small, not very good tomato from 6 plants, though I have another 12 or so green ones growing. Just hasn’t looked very promising this year. Next week we get a cool down from the high 80s with humidity we’ve had. I’m looking forward to that, as well as the first frost to kill the mosquitoes. Any summer that I can barely step outside for a second without dousing myself in Deet is a summer I won’t miss.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
Heh. Up here on the ridge top mosquitoes aren’t much of a problem. What I get are these little gnats that like to fly into my eyes. A real pain. Sunglasses keep them out but I have never liked having anything in front of my eyes. Even after having various things ricochet around my safety glasses and into my eyes.
It is funny, my wife has brown eyes and is very sensitive to sunlight (she sees ‘glare’ on cloudy days), gives her migraines. I have blue eyes and am not sensitive to sunlight at all. Supposed to be the other way around.
Josie
Looking good, Mary G. It’s hot and dry here in Central Texas since our temporary deluge is over. I garden in pots, like you do, and they need water at least every other day. I don’t know how you keep things looking so healthy in the drought. That takes planning and care.
debit
Beautiful garden, Mary, and what a lovely cat.
ThresherK Schmockenlocker
We are a couple who can’t keep anything alive, but I know good gardening whn I see it.
And that is a pretty cat.
JPL
It’s Sunday morning republican news shows. Face the Nation had Huckabee, and Gillispee. Meet the Press has Ben Carson on and ABC This Week has Trump, Santorum and Reince.
Joel
So.. Michael Showalter got fat.
debbie
@JPL:
Television really has become a wasteland.
ThresherK
@JPL: My not-all-awake eyes thought I read something different than “Carson”, to wit:
I stand by that.
Cervantes
Great garden, Mary.
Work pays off!
Glidwrith
@JPL: I guess there will plenty of manure for the gardens….
Cervantes
Ours are doing well and I enjoy them, and all the more for my not having to do any of the necessary labor!
Also: “indominable” has interesting possibilities but I expect you meant “indomitable.”
the Conster
Here in the Boston area we’ve had a pretty quiescent, pleasant summer. We could use more rain, but I’m not complaining. When I sold my house last September I gave up a lot of garden beds, but here outside my little duplex I dug up a strip of dirt off my deck and planted cutting flowers, which are now going great guns. Between those and a couple of big pots of other flowers, I can keep vases full everyday. There’s nothing like fresh flowers.
Roger Moore
@Glidwrith:
Unfortunately, it won’t help much if you’re trying to grow anything productive. The only thing that Republican manure feeds are wars, lobbyists, grifters, and the 1%.
mtiffany
FYI — Lone plant among the bricks in top picture is Catharanthus roseus, aka Madagascar Periwinkle, aka vinca (but if you’re looking for it in a garden store, don’t ask for vinca, a gazillion different species are called vinca, ask for Catharanthus). It loves full sun, it will fill out as it grows, lots of blooms, and best of all, it is drought and heat tolerant and is very low maintenance. I used to plant the stuff in flower beds alongside the walkway to my front door. Planted in late May/early June (in Philadelphia area) and only needed to water it once a week. Amazing stuff. Comes in white, red, purple, pink, and variegated mixes of same.
Schlemazel
Saw this today & it warmed my evil little heart. People who listen to what Glen Beck is selling really do deserve to get screwed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/25/gold-is-doomed/
It is also nice to see the Post admit in print Krugman has been right again and again.
Elmo
We tried a new garden plot this year in addition to last year’s raised bed, and put in a dozen tomatoes, three peppers, an eggplant, a basil, and a couple other things I forget. Apparently we didn’t amend the soil sufficiently. Everything has been spindly, weak, subject to bugs that wouldn’t have otherwise been deadly, and putting out stunted and misshapen produce.
Except the hot “ornamental” peppers. Those went gangbusters. But they are the kind you have to wear gloves and when I rinse out the seeds, I immediately start to cough from the fumes. So you really only use one at a time. I love them, but can’t use them all!
Elizabelle
Beautiful garden, Mary. Love the herbs and succulents.
Now all you need is a non-psycho wonderful little dog to complete the pic. Must get along with Chenielle.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel:
People who listen to Glen Beck may not be too smart, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to lose their life savings. As the article says:
I feel about Glen Beck and his ilk about the same as I feel about ca$ino$ and lotteries: It’s just legalized theft.
lamh36
She is finally here. Say hello to my new neice Zöe Tamara! Damn allergies…making my eyes so watery :-D
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/627841698056396800
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: Meant to say- “It’s just legalized theft from those who can least afford it.”
And yes, it is nice to see Krugman get a plug.
mtiffany
@lamh36:
She’s beautiful. Congratulations to you and the lucky parents.
scav
@lamh36: Congrats to all and enjoy. I do rather want to reassure her it’ll mostly be ok, she looks just a wee bit needing to be convinced about this whole exterior lifestyle.
Iowa Old Lady
@lamh36: Congratulations! Much happiness to her and everyone around her.
PurpleGirl
@Schlemazel: The ad that features Ron Paul talking about a coming crisis… if you follow it through to the video he’s engaging a “financial expert” who is trying to sell his newsletter and ultimately gold. (Yes, I had to take the click bait one day. Such a grifter.)
schrodinger's cat
Pretty kitty!
Mary G
@lamh36: She is so alert and precious! Congratulations to your family.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
They serve as great examples for what not to do. Since explaining reality to them does not break through the fog maybe personal reality can explain to them what should have been obvious. None of these scams is new, I lived through the gold rush of the 70s & the same crooks were running the same scams then with the same results.
schrodinger's cat
@lamh36: Congratulations!
satby
@lamh36: Congrats! Gorgeous!
Schlemazel
@PurpleGirl:
being a goldbug is a primary tell for a grifter. The second people say you MUST own gold you should say, “try selling crazy somewhere else, we’re all full up!” and shut the door. If they suggest collectible coins you should call the cops immediately. That advice has been valid since forever just like if you “find” a wallet with a stranger and he offers to split the contents with you but wants to cash the check while you hold the cash and your wallet wrapped in a bundle. RUN!
rikyrah
@lamh36:
Simply gorgeous.
Welcome Zoe.
Elizabelle
@lamh36:
It’s Zöe time.
Congratulations. Now to begin some multi-niece aunting.
Amir Khalid
@lamh36:
She’s just beautiful. Congratulations to the parents and all the family.
Cervantes
@lamh36:
What a beautiful baby!
Congratulations to her, and to the rest of the family, and on this day most especially to her mother.
L’chaim!
Gimlet
Should make that Minnesota dentist wear Cecil’s skin and entertain visiting tourists at the animal preserve.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Schlemazel: I remember the silver rush of the 70s. The Hunts tried to corner the market in silver, IIRC. Hope folks didn’t melt down too many of the beautiful coins this country used to mint.
By comparison that bit of manipulation, a throwback to the first age of robbed baronry, has almost (almost) a refreshing honesty about it. That’s what the goldbuggers have accomplished.
Josie
@lamh36: Congratulations. She looks lovely – healthy and alert.
Cervantes
@Gimlet:
Almost without exception in human affairs it is easier to: (1) punish one obvious wrong-doer for one obvious bad act than to look at the systemic problems we face and deal with them promptly; and (not unrelated) (2) ignore our own culpability in uncounted wrongs that persist day after day after day.
Yes, tarring and feathering the dentist may feel good to the mob — but it will achieve nothing else whatsoever, not even for the lions that remain.
Gimlet
@Cervantes:
Guess I won’t need to go to church today.
scav
@Cervantes: But that’s not exactly it either, because by those standards we should never call anyone out for being a homophobe or mysogynist or racist because it’s not really going to ever do any good, or benefit any homosexual, woman or POC.
Germy Shoemangler
Zimbabwean authorities restrict hunting after lion killing
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe has suspended the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants in an area where a lion popular with tourists was killed, and is investigating the killing of another lion in April that may have been illegal, the country’s wildlife authority said Saturday.
In addition, bow and arrow hunts have been suspended unless they are approved by the head of the director of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the organization said. The authority said it only received information this week about the possibly illegal killing of a lion in April. An arrest has been made in that case, officials said.
The announcement follows an international outcry stemming from an American hunter’s killing of a lion named Cecil that was allegedly was lured out of a national park. Zimbabwean authorities say the hunt was illegal and are seeking the extradition of Minnesota dentist Walter James Palmer.
JPL
@lamh36: How cute. Hugs!
JPL
I just finished mowing and the hedging will have to wait… It’s already 86.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
Even better, his show has started pimping solar powered devices to keep the Doomsday food supply safe.
debbie
@lamh36:
So sweet! Newborns almost make a person want the human species to endure.
the Conster
@Germy Shoemangler:
I guess internet vigilantism does do some good. I for one have no problem with everyone ganging up on that shitstain dentist because he’s a psychopath and now, just now might be getting a glimmer of how execrable his behavior appears to others. Entitled psychopaths who are used to just taking what they want need to be punished, and short of being hunted and decapitated, his punishment will never fit his crime. He may not feel guilt or shame, but he should feel punished.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
Very nice garden, Mary. I don’t understand what the people decreeing water restrictions think you’ll have left alive with watering restricted to two days a week.
The fact that home water usage in California is less than 10% of water usage in the state means that the actual water savings are negligible.
Ugh. It makes me nuts, and I don’t even live there any more.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@lamh36: Congratulations to you and yours. She is beautiful.
Germy Shoemangler
@the Conster: If there had been no outcry and outrage against the dentist, Zimbabwe would not have made these new rules. So systemic problems can be corrected when people raise their voices, at least in this case.
MattF
Rabbit hole warning!
Via MeFi, the border between India and Bangladesh has been littered with enclaves. That is, small, enclosed areas in India that are ‘part’ of Bangladesh and enclosed areas in Bangladesh that are part of India. But it doesn’t stop there… There are also ‘counter-enclaves’, i.e., enclaves-within-enclaves and counter-counter enclaves. There’s even one counter-counter-counter enclave.
All this is, apparently, at long last, getting ‘corrected’ so it’s not only a rabbit hole, it’s a soon-to-be-unoccupied rabbit hole.
Cervantes
@scav:
You may be missing the comment to which I responded. Here it is again:
See why I referred to tarring and feathering? It’s a far cry from simply criticizing.
Cervantes
@Gimlet:
Your attendance at church is entirely up to you!
I do like gimlets, by the way, in moderation — but I’m not sure yet how I feel about them talking to me!
Cervantes
@MattF:
Nice!
Cervantes
@Germy Shoemangler:
Not even close. Here’s your article again, emphasis added:
Germy Shoemangler
Tell that to the elephants, leopards and lions.
VFX Lurker
@Schlemazel:
That is a good approach, even when the folks mean well.
In 2011, an otherwise brilliant co-worker tried to convince me that only gold held true worth, and that stocks/bonds were too risky for one’s retirement. He wouldn’t even consider gold ETFs. His retirement plan is a safe deposit box full of gold coins, which he has regularly bought for decades.
I tried to convince him that everything I’d read suggested that gold was both difficult and unnecessary. Burton Malkiel equated gold with “insomnia” on his “Sleeping Scale of Major Investments” chart in A Random Walk Down Wall Street. An essay called “The Longest Discipline” suggested that few mortals have the stomach required to hold large amounts of gold for long periods of time. Even the investing books that considered gold recommended 3% or less of one’s total portfolio in gold or a gold ETF, and even then it was only for crisis “insurance” and not actual profit.
For his part, he tried to convince me to buy physical gold to secure my retirement.
He wasn’t trying to scam me. He just believed more in gold than in any other investment. He’s probably still a “true believer” now.
ruemara
Lovely garden, Mary G. My nearly dead herbs and flowers that are struggling out front of my door, wish they were living with you. The only thriving plant in my apartment is a pot of violets. I love the elevated garden box, is it mobile? Can you move it to take advantage of sun & shade/
Congrats Imah36! She’s adorable and correctly dubious about this whole “birth” thing. I guess you’ll be hanging out with her a lot, explaining the lay of the land?
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@MattF: Oh my gosh, the counter-counter enclaves! I’m not awake enough to think about this stuff yet.
Cervantes
@Germy Shoemangler:
I think you misunderstand my (and your) use of the word “systemic.”
scav
@Cervantes: There’s was also the larger conversation around it, about the dreaded “Internet vigilantes!” (oh so suddenly a new phenomena!) that your comment could be read in light of. You had rather expressed it as a general principle and not a what good does one dentist’s rhetorical hanging in a silly suit do. I doubt the lesson of “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” is “Shut up, this is as good as it gets, your opinions or actions won’t do any good anyway and besides, only the perfectly morally pure get to express judgement.”
Roger Moore
@VFX Lurker:
You could probably make a decent return by buying gold when the price crashes and then selling the next time there’s a bubble. It’s a long-term strategy- the bubbles only blow up every few decades- but the bubbles are big enough to give a decent return.
Germy Shoemangler
Zimbabwe has suspended the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants in an area where a lion popular with tourists was killed.
So I guess that’s not a systemic change. Anything short of banning trophy hunting everywhere on the African continent and the rest of the planet is not a systemic change.
Jane2
Lovely garden, Mary! And new kitty is fab.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I can only imagine the BS you would get if you got in touch with the sponsor.
@VFX Lurker:
Sadly you are probably correct. Because his stash has collapsed he now HAS to believe the end times are coming so that his strategy will turn out correct.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Great looking stuff Mary. I can’t imagine how you managed to keep up after your injury. Thanks for showing us.
MomSense
Well done, MaryG. The garden and the kitty are perfect.
Cckids
@lamh36: She’s just beautiful! Congrats to you & your family, enjoy the little munchkin.
mtiffany
@VFX Lurker:
Whenever I hear the idiocy that only gold (or silver) has “true worth,” the same question pops up in my head: if you’re dying of dehydration, how many gallons of potable water is one ounce of gold worth? If you’re in the middle of the desert and literally dying of thirst for lack of water, all the gold and silver in the world won’t save you — so what’s the “true worth” of either?
Tree With Water
My plum tree stopped dropping fruit a week ago, so the deer have started munching the small leafed ground cover that I had planted in April (along with everything else). It grows extremely fast, but the deer have now arrested its growth and dirt that was overgrown weeks ago can now be seen again. It’s OK with me, too. The plants weren’t expensive, and the drought has made it tough on all the neighborhood’s critters. I just won’t replant it, or anything else they’ve been chomping on. Hopefully, it’ll last them until we get get some good rains. It’s tantamount to being their salad bar, and am happy to oblige. I also saw a fox for the first time a few days ago, and guess that thirst drove it towards the river at an earlier time than usual. I don’t know if that’s true, but it immediately crossed my mind when I spotted it. Which reminds me: I need to top off my bird bath, so off I go.
VFX Lurker
@Roger Moore:
True. Since he’s a “true believer,” he might be able to hold to that strategy. I know I couldn’t.
@Schlemazel:
Well, he’s been collecting gold since the 90’s, so he’s probably still ahead of where he was when he started. Good point, though.
@mtiffany:
You are right. Potable water (and breathable air) is not something that anyone can take for granted, even though most take it for granted.
In 2011, though, my co-workers and I were trying to figure out what we could buy today that would maintain or increase its inflation-adjusted value for 30+ years. No one thought about investing in water, even though water ETFs exist. I guess you could have put us in the “folks who take potable water for granted” category.
For that specific co-worker, it was gold. He thought gold would keep its inflation-adjusted value, while ownership of IBM and AT&T would eventually lose its inflation-adjusted value. Another co-worker believed with all his heart in land, which was why he was paying down three mortgages and renting out two of the three properties.
A third co-worker had no retirement strategy, because most of his paycheck went to paying down a mortgage and raising four kids. He planned to leave his future “up to God.” In truth, I can picture him with a paid-off house, maybe some help from his children, Social Security, and (if necessary) working part-time or full-time past retirement age.
For me, low-cost, total-market index funds make the most sense. I keep most of my IRA savings in Vanguard’s LifeStrategy funds. I’m also counting on Social Security, and I’m not ruling out that I, too, may have to work past retirement age.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@lamh36:
Yep, she definitely looks a little skeptical about this big, bright world around her. I’m sure you guys are going to be able to change her mind pretty darn quick, though. Congratulations!
Anne Laurie
@lamh36: Congratulations to her lucky relatives! And apologies to little Zoe, who seems to be thinking “This exterior world is *not* up to my exacting standards”…
A guy
We can take potable water for granted in West Virginia. We get rain. Lots of it. And we don’t have an exploding population of legals and illegal immigrants sucking it away. So please everybody stay where you are and don’t come here. Not even to hunt
SWMBO
@lamh36: Congrats to all!
SWMBO
@lamh36: Are you allergic to the baby? I would think you’d be allergic to hospitals but not the baby.