We neglected the garden last weekend because of false rain predictions and unexpected schedule changes. I thought by the time I visited Plot #6 on Tuesday that everything would be dead. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Some of the tomatoes were a bit droopy, but nothing a little shot of water couldn’t fix. And our peas and flowers looked great. But who cares about all that… 
WE HAVE LOOFAH!!! I wasn’t expecting to find anything on the loofah mound and I yelped with delight when I saw these. Then I yelled “LOOOOOFAHHHHH!” in the middle of the empty community garden. We’ve never gotten to the plant portion of loofah growth before! It seems that allllll of the loofah seeds I soaked and planted came up…which means I might have to thin them a bit. But I’m really excited. And worried. We didn’t think anything would happen, so I’m not really sure we left enough room for an actual vining plant. Details, details…I’m just going to bask in the loofah celebration for a little longer and worry about building a loofah trellis when Naoto gets home. (Oh and any loofah advice you may have is completely welcome!) 
Our crazy pea patch is growing nicely. I planned to build our pea teepee on Monday, but I forgot the twine at home. Instead of building, I found some leftover lima bean seeds in the bottom of my gardening bag and planted them next to the peas. I might regret that decision later. Maybe I’ll just name this gardening season Planting on a Whim.
kimberly ah
kimberly at home
Tag Archives: gardening
Plot #6 Progress
Our garden is growing! On Sunday we went down to the garden to plant our last two tomato plants. (My dad gave us four Juliet plants and we couldn’t find anyone to take the extra two, so now we have four Juliets. If they all live and all produce as many tomatoes as our last single Juliet plant did, I will be opening a road side stand this summer.) I need to go buy some more bamboo stakes. Our peas (shown above) are growing nicely, and soon I will need to build my little pea teepee so they don’t grow into a big jungle like they did last year. I also soaked some extra loofah seeds overnight and planted them on National Donut Day…still nothing. I’m sure that the cool days and nights we’ve had recently didn’t contribute to the poor loofah’s growth either since they tend to like hot weather. I’m still holding out hope that we will see a little sprout soon. 
On Sunday, we met our friends Laura and Scott at the garden for the first time this season. Laura planted some delicious radishes last month and we tried her harvest…it made us regret not planting any radishes. So, maybe I’m going today to buy a seed packet or two…
There’s just something about gardening that turns me into an optimist!
P.S. Happy Loving Day! In case you missed it, here’s a post I wrote about our experiences with interracial marriage last year.
Our Blooming Balcony
Our balcony is open for relaxing! And honestly, that’s all I’ve been doing lately because the weather has been gorgeous! I bought some throw pillows at Target for the couch and the chairs. They make it cozier than ever to read a book or take a nap outside.
I finally finished all of my planting and re-potting. Once the seeds grow, hopefully there will be more flowers and vines. 
I have a tiny herb garden growing behind the couch. We have two kinds of mint, basil, thyme and lavender growing along with the only two annuals that made it through the polar vortex last winter. And, in a rebellious move that is probably breaking some sort of condo ordinance, I have several pots of seedlings situated outside of the railing for maximum sun and rain exposure. I’ve planted parsley, zinnias, lettuce and four types of vining flowers. (I may be in over my head with the amount of vining flowers I’ve planted…if the building falls down under the weight of morning glories, I take full responsibility.) 
While I’ve planted a lot of seeds this year, I took a big shortcut with my hanging pots. I usually put together my own pots, but this year I put together two and bought four: the portulaca above, two ivy geraniums, and another fuchsia. I repotted my old geraniums with some new in one pot…I’m hoping it fills out a bit. Last year, I stuck with geraniums because I knew I could make them work. This year, I’m branching out so the pressure is on to keep everything alive! 
The fuchsia is bright pink with purple centers…I know I said I hate purple, but I really love this plant! 
This is my original fuchsia. I filled out the pot with a vinca vine that is really taking off. Fuchsias are sun/shade plants so I’m really hoping the north side of the balcony is just right for them. So far they seem to be doing well, growing tons of buds and blooms. 
I wasn’t going to plant petunias this year because I tend to kill them by August, but I fell in love with these two varieties and decided to plop them together in one pot. The deep purple ones are Queen Bees and they are supposed to have yellow centers, though I haven’t seen any yellow yet. And the tiny peach ones are Mochaccinos. I love the tiny peach flowers. 
I also bought a little wicker cube to contain all of my gardening supplies. It’s nice to have them out of sight and the top of the cube can act as a little side table during dinners outside. 
On the black table in between the “living” and “dining” areas, I have a hibiscus and my clover (the clover lives in the kitchen during the winter). Some of my seedlings will move over here eventually.
So that’s the balcony. It’s not perfect but it really does feel like an extension of the living room these days. I’m just hoping I can squeeze in every moment possible outside before the heat and humidity takes over!
Summer Manifesto 2014
Naoto and I wrote up our summer manifesto during our anniversary dinner. It looks a lot like last year’s manifesto. What can I say? We are creatures of habit around here.
This summer we will:
* tend to our garden and balcony garden
* create three new cocktails using herbs from our garden
* invite special guests to Hasegawa Happy Hour
* hang out on the balcony whenever possible
* rediscover Chicago
* try three new tomato recipes
* take more walks
* visit some new Farmers Markets
* wear sunscreen & sun hats
* enjoy live music…somewhere
And that’s our summer in a nutshell. What’s on your list this summer?
Garden Beginnings
We’ve been slowly planting our garden plot over the past couple of weeks. So far we’ve planted two Brandywine tomatoes, two Juliet tomatoes, one yellow pear tomato, peas, flowers and a loofah. Our loofah didn’t make it last year but we thought we’d try it again anyway. So far, the seeds have done nothing. Again.
We decided to skip the root vegetables since ours failed last year. (The beets didn’t do anything and the daikon were so skinny they were almost nonexistent.) Tomatoes and peas and flowers…and maybe a cucumber or some lettuce. We’ll see. We still have about a third of our plot left to work with.
Today I’m working on planting some climbers on the balcony and trying to come up with some sort of notebook to hold my seed packets for reference during the season. Last year I thought I’d be better about keeping a garden journal and I failed miserably. This year…it’s going to be different. (Hopefully.)
Happy gardening!!
Twinkle Lights
A few weeks ago, my dad put in an outlet for our balcony. We’ve been here four years exactly this weekend and I can only say whyyyy didn’t we do this sooner? The outlet gave us the option to add twinkle lights outside. I plugged them in last night and they seriously transformed the humble balcony into an extra summer room for relaxing, for Hasegawa Happy Hours, for parties…endless possibilities.
The balcony is alllllmost done. I still have a few things I want to do, like plant a climbing flower, either a morning glory, black-eyed Susan vine (thanks for the suggestion, Mr. Brownthumb!) or a cardinal climber. And I have a couple of other flowers on my wish list (as always).
I’m meeting my parents today to do a little bit of plant shopping. I’m really hoping to have the balcony all set by the weekend. The weather has been so weird here–either blazing hot or unseasonably chilly or raining. None of those situations are making it easy to finish things up out there. Spring in Chicago…I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Behind on the Balcony
I’m behind on getting our balcony all summer ready.
I looked back into the blog archives to find that in 2012, I was all planted by May 9th. And last summer, I was potting flowers on May 15th. This year…well it’s May 23rd and I’m still not quite started.
Yesterday I went to look for flowers but came home pretty empty handed. I bought one big hanging pot of geraniums since most of mine didn’t make it through the winter. (They may have been a little bit neglected in the water department.) And last weekend I bought the fuchsia above. Its flowers are so interesting and fun. The two fuchsia plants don’t quite fill out the pot as much as I’d like so I bought an accent plant to tuck into one side. We have a few perennials leftover from last year and two mint plants potted, but it’s looking rather bare out my window at the moment.
Oh and in other devastating news, my hen & chicks, which I’ve had since we moved here in 2010, died this year. I’ve left them out over the winter every year, but this year proved too cold for them. Poor things. I feel like I’ve lost some old friends.
My dad put in an outdoor outlet for us, so we can hang lights and make it a party-like atmosphere out there and I bought some fun new pillows for the love seat. Yesterday I spent some time sweeping up and moving furniture around. Hopefully we’ll make some progress out there this weekend (and in our community garden plot too!) and I’ll have more to share next week!
Have a good weekend!
Let’s Go To The Garden!
Yesterday, Naoto had a day off so we headed to the garden for the first time this year to prepare ol’ plot #6 for another year of planting. We were afraid of what we would find, but thankfully, as you can see above, it wasn’t too bad. Actually, compared to the state the plot was in when we inherited it, this was a dream! Naoto and I tackled the weeds (and radishes?) together and we picked up the dried out tomatoes that were left behind last summer. 
Just like last year, the community garden had a bunch of mulch delivered for the garden plots. Naoto shoveled two wheelbarrows-full for me to spread over our plot. 
As I spread the mulch onto our plot, Naoto worked with a claw contraption and broke up the soil and incorporated the mulch into the old dirt. 
I used the claw while he was refilling the barrel–that thing provides a nice workout. 
Less than an hour later, our plot is ready for planting. Now we just need to decide what we are planting…
I’ve linked this post up with Mary’s monthly link-up celebrating nature. Thanks, Mary!
Beginning a Quiet November…
This weekend, Naoto and I attended a Forest Park Community Garden fundraiser–the 2nd Annual Apple Pie Bake-Off. We did not bake a pie but we did eat the delicious pies in the competition. We had another fun night mingling with our fellow gardeners, having caricatures drawn (isn’t Naoto’s adorable?), goofing around in the photo booth and bidding on silent auction items. Naoto proudly walked away the winner of an hour lecture by a PhD. Our topic? Whiskey. I’m very excited to invite some friends over for a little whiskey tasting and lecture next month.
The Honor Flight Chicago season also ended last week, with our final flight of 2013 on Wednesday and our volunteer appreciation party on Friday night. As much as I’m going to miss my fellow volunteers this winter, I am looking forward to settling into the fall, finally, and preparing for a (hopefully) quiet holiday season. This week is light on responsibilities so I’m determined to get my Thanksgiving invitations made and get a jump start on holiday preparations around here. That means cleaning the spare room (the chore that never ends) and finding some art to hang on that pesky dining room wall… There’s nothing like a holiday to get you in the mood to work on your neglected home making skills!
Community Garden Pizza Night
I haven’t blogged about the garden lately…Naoto and I have become gardening slackers–I already regret not taking advantage of our mild, summer-like autumn, but once we came home from Japan, it was like we lost our garden mojo. Don’t get me wrong, we are still totally on board for gardening next year, we just lost the drive to continue poking around the garden for one last tomato and lima bean this year. But that hasn’t stopped us from hanging out with our fellow community gardeners at the garden events. We went to a barbecue at the garden at the end of September. It was fun relax in the garden and eat grilled foods and the garden-y dishes we all contributed. (Naoto and I brought this…it was a hit!) 
Last weekend, we went to a grilled pizza event. We all loved the grilled pizzas from the progressive dinner so the garden held another event to teach everyone how to make them. Michelle and Andrew basically held a cooking show in (the other) Michelle’s dining room. They demonstrated how to make the crust and how to cook the pizza on the grill so it crisps while the cheese and other toppings cook evenly. (It is harder than it looks.) Naoto and I don’t have a grill–it’s against the rules to grill on our balcony–but we are hoping that some kind friends invite us over to try our hands at pizza grilling. In the meantime, we plan to perfect our crust and use our oven. 
The best part of the night (well, second to the pizza, I suppose) was when Michelle lit a fire and we turned up the music and had a sing-along to awesome old songs like Total Eclipse of the Heart and Faithfully and Oh Sherrie…there is nothing like a chilly night, a fire and classic rock ballads…I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night. 
And with that, I’ve written 300 posts. Thanks, everyone, for reading and for commenting and for encouraging. It means a lot.
kimberly ah 