Calm before the storm

Took these after working out back Saturday...before a thunderstorm came by and decided to get violent. Blood was spilled, plants were saved, clothes were hung out to dry. Enjoy.

Halfway done.

First addition to the "sunny half".

Cage, part deux.

Predator free tomatos. Mmm.

Critical Mass

This weekend was a flurry of activity, continuing the modus operanti of the past two weekends. Intermittent rains lead to choppy periods of work. Winnie's west coast venture next weekend meant much work would need to be completed before her departure, lest the garden be left to fend off my meddling solo. Let us be counter intuitive for a moment, and work from the inside out:

Via courier, we receieved a slew of seedlings that needed a home in a cooler climate safe from predators. Thus, the Moyguda BotanniVestibule was born. Complete with plant specific indoor flood light! I swear, just flowers. There are no poppies here, stop asking.

The vegetable cage made room for some new friends from Chicago (sent by Winnie's parents). I forget the names. Swiss chard? Onion? Hopefully this bounty will be able to feed us once Obama raises taxes and converts us all to Islam.

Flower = grow, sweet sweet vegefruit.

More seeds. Sunflower seeds. I used the excess chicken wire just as a precaution until the seeds sprout and we can all get on with our lives. I have a Wii now, I don't need this "out side" shit.

The "complete" shady side planting. I pulled the tarp back to the compost burm, and bricked in the remaining edge. Found a tail pipe while tiling the new open space, and considered quitting for a brief minute. Another row of sunflowers should hopefully grow along the fence in the back and mask the chain link. We ended up planting three new guys and an old friend (the survivor) to call this side of the garden "full". Let's meet the competitors for root space:

Hosta #4: By far my favorite. It's like, I saw him, and, I had to have him. Bonus friends beneath the main plant = 3 for 1 steal.

Japanese maple: Green leaves with new growth emerging as red. Does well in All Star balloting.

I forget the name of this thing. It gets 6' wide, is slate/green in the summer and red/orange in the fall. So that's nice.

Next step: I'll hold down the fort in Winnie's absense and devise a way to get pavers. The path is planned, just getting the stupid things over here is the problem. Winnie and I thought last night that we could just buy quick cement and a sonotube and make our own. Any thoughts?

Phase 3: photos photos photos

Oh no!

All these precious vegetables are exposed to the backyard predators of Brooklyn!
What will we do?

Take that, rodents.
No more seeds for you, bird colony.
Poop elsewhere, mystery beast. Is that you Quetzalcoatl?
(Cage constructed of 1"x2" framing wood, enclosed with 1/2" 19ga. "chicken" wire. Measures 3'Wx4'Lx3'H. Yea, its a little too high for what it needed to be, but once the plants fill out i think it won't look as awkward.)

It's safe to come out now, precious sprouts.
('B' is for basil.)

We planted three hosta plants behind the six ground cover plants from the week prior, which seem to be growing. The potted "survivor" from the first week marks where the frist paver of our path will go. That gap between cover and hosta will be filled next week with a tall, object plant to be determined. You might be able to make out on the left, by the fence, the stem line I marked where...

...what I believe to be the sunflower seeds we planted are growing.
Only one week?
Mutant soil!

Or maybe just soil littered with buried garbage. These two and a half tall kitchen garbage bags represent the shit we had to dig out of the ground just to plant those three hosta plants. Plywood? Sure. Glass bottles? Why not. Lets throw in a wool sweater for good measure. After the sandal was unearthed, Winnie questioned whether we should continue to find the rest of the body. In any event, we demand LEED points for this garden venture. Platinum ones.

Chaulk art. Eh? Matches the flower color scheme?
Verdict: Pending

Next up: Sunny side tilling and way too many varieties of sunflowers to plant.

a little bit of doodling

while unfortunately beginning to get hooked on "Lost."

Progress?

Phase 2 saw the removal of the blue tarps, with minor growth returning under some areas. This much to the dismay of Winnie, required some reassurances on my part. Faith in the tarps, bring on change, yes we can. Dried plant materials were gathered and buried in the beginnings of the composting burm against the CMU wall...I think the slope turned out nice, and right now the burm is about 2 feet higher that the average elevation, since its probably hard to tell in the pictures. We reorganized the tarps and tilled the shit outta a patch roughly 9'X10' on the shady side of the yard. Within this we planted 6 "ground cover" plants, 2 types working within the adopted color scheme for the area. A small row of torch sunflowers (bought here: http://www.seedsavers.org/) lines the fence, fingers crossed. With bricks from the neighboring yard, I edged by the fences to avoid unwanted vine growth from returning, and to give things a taste of formaility. Winnie started the vegatable/herb seed planting in ceramic/plastic containers that we have found or bought cheaply at my new home, National Liquidator Warehouse (smells like degrading plastic and feet). After cleaning and attending to blisters, alcoholic beverages were enjoyed.

up next: Phase 3: plant more, till more, pavers?, profit?

to anyone for comment: I want to "do something" to the back wall, spice it up, but maybe not anything as crazy as something permanent. We aren't going to be able to cover it with plantings (tall grasses and sunflowers take time to grow) for a while, so suggestions? My only idea at the moment is to just buy sidewalk chaulk and have people draw on it (tastefully of course)...rain, repeat.