hold up with that next episode.

I was talking to Amanda last night about the future of the Urban Carrot. The space has been as fantastic as the name but I ain't so sure the co-operative movement of a few should sputter into the amusing dregs of time. Planning is not my strength but I can scheme and make something out of nothing with the best of them.
Maybe it was harvesting beets the other day or maybe it's the accumulated experience of the garden that has made me feel this way but I do know we had the best of times gardening with good people and someone will have to convince me why I should let it skulk away.

Long Live the Urban Carrot

We always knew we were running on borrowed time.  Garden plots on rented property just have shorter lifespans.  And our time finally has run out.  

While we still have the space free and clear for another month or so, likely a new tenant will be moving into the duplex associated with the garden, and this incarnation of the Urban Carrot will pass into someone else's hands, to nurture or neglect as s/he will.  

It's been a marvelous two seasons of planning and trying new things, making mistakes, learning, and caring for the space.   Based on the silly gardening schlock purveyed by Lillian Russell catalogues and the like,  as a young girl I always thought the cheesy sentiment that gardening and growing food allows you space, time, and knowledge to grow and nurture your soul as well was just that-- a cheesy sentiment shared by middle-aged ladies in gloves and gardening clogs, with mass-produced "God Loves a Garden" signs in their yards.   Well, count me in your ranks, ladies!   This garden has been soul-food for me-- more than just a place to grow stuff to eat-- it's made me feel more connected to the ground, to my roots.  It's given me a place to come read, reflect, weed, recreate with friends, reconnect.

So, the Urban Carrot grows, and having growed, grows on.  Despite cross-town, cross-country moves, brand new old houses, changes and dramas, I think all of us will continue to spread the Urban Carrot love wherever we are.

Oh, and hey BIRDS!  Stay the heck away from my tomatoes!  I'm tired of finding pecked-out holes in the lovely red ones.

Super Big Hugs

Big, big thank yous to RJ and Joe for their mad grass-hacking skills!  RJ actually rolled her mower all the way to the Urban Carrot to cut our picnic area grass, and Joe borrowed a weedeater from his folks in order to clear the pathways that had become choked with weeds.  

The shaggy garden is now the well-trimmed garden thanks to these two.

Supa big hugs!

Few and Far Between

My garden posts have been woefully few and far between since I've spent the last several months computer-less. I am currently mooching from a friend to post this.

I have many photos to share of the progress this year as soon as I can get a computer long enough to upload them.

Today, I simply wanted to share that the garden looks shaggily beautiful. We could definitely use some sort of grass-controlling device to help maintain the area around the beds. I weeded two beds, turned dirt in one, and Joe helped me put up a lattice around the tomatoes. I have another lattice, but I'm not sure how the lattice will work, so I figured I wouldn't put it up till I consulted with the other girls. I actually thought I was buying plain old twine.

The girls and I may decide to take it down-- it looked like someone already caged the tomatoes pretty well.

I bought two seed packets for cukes; hope to plant them tomorrow. I got a Tendersweet burpless variety and a "Pickle Bush" which is supposed to be good for small spaces.

I guess after that, the last thing I'll put in for awhile will be my Jubilee tomatoes.

I took a couple of Anaheim pepper plants and a tomato plant home to try in containers.

love.

save dough, eat green

Since I don't live in the lowlands, I'll remain pleased with the glorious amount of rain we have been getting. The salad greens couldn't feed a mouse on Saturday, now y'all best come and get some roughage UC style.


Behold the glorious tomato patch in its wee stages. We have some peppers interspersed for pest control.

between now and soon

We should make another journey to the North for pint-sized produce to plant in our plot. I'm not sure if it is supposed to freeze this week but it will be close so we should perhaps postpone our planting but expedite our planning.

Oh yeah, Amanda was unawares that I have another and far more useless blog. I might as well pimp my shit to those I know so they can say "back in the day" stories about me when I blow up like a wet bottle rocket.

Rainwater Collection

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rainwater-Collection-System

check it out :)