Gardening Department 2013: Coming Down the Homestretch of Summer

Finally, a day that's cool and breezy

enough to plant and transplant.

Meanwhile in the front,
this burst of orange is helping me pretend it's Autumn...

Gardening Department 2013: Backyard Planted

And ready to grow!

Back: Hemerocallis (Little Valentine)
Front: Hemerocallis (Happy Returns)

Rudbeckia (Little Henry) next to Echinacea

Gardening Department 2013: The Backyard (In Progress)

Yes, I broke down and 

had gardening beds cut for me!

Because of the horrid drainage, the dirt was heavy near-immovable clay. 

I had the dubious pleasure of watching two grown men hack away and haul out weighty clumps of dirt-n-grass.

So grateful that I didn't have to do it!

Shout-out to Natural Concerns.

Keeping the honking huge hosta!

Gardening Department 2013: Moving to the Backyard (Before)

A lamentable mess, 

plus brutal afternoon sun 

and swamp conditions.

An echinacea plant and a lilac bush confined to pots and left on the deck by the previous owners. 

My plan? Liberating them!

Gardening Department 2013: Filling In & Getting Ready to Bloom

At the front of our condo.

Ajuga starting to fill in.

Hostas getting ready to bloom.

Bummed the clematis are white, but certainly not ripping them out to replace with much preferred purple.

Gardening Department 2013: Side Developments

Meanwhile, here's what's happening

 on the other side of the other side.

From this...

To this!

Gardening Department 2013: Howz About Them Tomatoes?

Small but presumably yummy.

Back in the 1980s, I grew the basic ratatouille garden -- rows of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. Clearly I've scaled waaaaay down. Growing basil in pots on the other side of the deck.

Gardening Department 2013: On the Deck

Not exactly acreage but 

big enough to have some fun.

Power-washed and stained...not by me, 
thanks be to God and the housing allowance!





In progress...

Jasmine, lavender, rosemary, dianthus 

Butterfly bush, lavender, basil, phlox

Gardening Department 2013: Working on the (Other) Side (Yard)

Making my way across our driveway.*

Transplanted the yarrow and artemisia.

Fun continues with transplanting a
hosta from yet another section.

Closeup!

* Next door neighbor has conceded neither he nor his wife care about gardening and I'm welcome to work my over to their side of the driveway!

Gardening Department 2013: Beginning Continued

Blessings planted so far...
Working the other side 
of the mini-land this weekend.

Not exactly "before" but not "after." 

Coming along nicely.

Gardening Department 2013: Beginning Again

Blessed work in progress...

There was even more stuff stuffed in here.

Cleaned almost everything out the moment I could.

Thank me for not showing you the before this before.

Apartment Living: Blooming Paradise

Back to blooming. 

Starting to pot perennials for future transport.

Apartment Living: Paradise in Progress

Pruning produces new growth -- remember that!

Trying to be here now while getting to There

Apartment Living: Paradise in Progress

Apartment Living: My Little Patch of Paradise

Spearmint gone wild

Turns out the 3' x 5' garden plots in the courtyard are free for the asking. Building management loves residents to grow stuff. Who knew?

Truth to tell, I wasn't up to gardening before now. For one thing, it's so wicked hot and humid here in Baltimore, I spent my first two summers avoiding going outside.

For another, I was still mourning the loss of my gardens in Princeton. That's right, gardens because I eventually claimed all the arable land around my end unit condo. By the time I moved, I'd spent nearly a decade creating perennial gardens that bloomed during Spring, Summer, and Fall. I kept one favorite garden trowel, gave everything else away, and resigned myself to not killing house plants.

Out-of-Control Knock Out rose

Done with gardening? Apparently not.

Two days I ago I claimed two dinky adorable plots and have my eye on a third that no one has claimed.

I've already spent six hours cleaning them out; collected thank yous from neighbors tired of looking at a rosebush that could land the role of Audrey II in a production of The Little Shop of Horrors; gardening muscles and Epsom salts baths rediscovered and celebrated.

What shall I do with my little patch of Paradise? I'm waiting for more to be revealed once I find a good garden store.

One view of the garden I left behind