I'm coming undone up here. The wind is killing me.
Gopher or wilt...I'm not sure what did in my tomatoes.
You'd think I would know, having studied summer vegetables.
Compare my squash...
To this other person's squash:
I was making fun of this squash back in June! Oi vey.
I brought this Salvia clevelandii up here from a cutting I took in my garden. I think I'm going to take it back. But not tonight.
The Ribes I brought up looks fine too, tho' also wind-battered.
My most successful plant seems to be this alyssum I inherited. Sigh. At least I'm doing my part to attract beneficials.
And the bench collapsed. Well, that's the perfect metaphor for my first summer in the community garden.
This can all be fixed...
But not tonight.
Meanwhile, this dude's gonna open a freakin' salad bar.
I said I didn't think these eggplants would do well.
Peppers aren't going to get much better than this up here either.
Okay, I can see that I'm going to have to spend a day up here, and dig up all my soil, lay down gopher netting, put the soil back, build some firm trellis structures and wind sheltering. And start over. And stop making fun of my co-gardeners.
The space around the community garden is weed-choked public land. I eat all the blackberries because I like blackberries.
I'm walking home through the tall grass and I trip on something.
I excavate a bit, and it's Aloe plicatilis!
I showed you some of the guerilla gardened Agave and echeveria up here. You see Agave everywhere; it's a throwaway plant in California, like Agapanthus and Zantedeschia. But I'm surprised to find this rather desirable species from the Cape Province left to its own devices and lost in the tall grass! That's just wrong. And it's been here for at least a year--I can tell by the dead foliage.
So I cleaned it out a bit more, watered, and I took a cutting. It would be great to have a few of these planted around the garden.
15 comments:
How often do you tend your plot at the community garden, Chuck? It looks like a long hike up there, although the walk looks pleasant.
If I don't dally, I can get up there in about 8 minutes on foot, and slightly faster driving. I try to go every Tuesday and Friday, but I've been off my game lately.
I've been enjoying your blog for several weeks now. To live in SF!!! It looks like paradise. Keep up the good work - the photos are great.
Thanks for coming by, Phillip. Your blog promises great things, and I was absolutely delighted to add you to my blogroll.
Just wait till that Aloe grows up!
Yes, Berkeley Bot has the best specimen of that aloe that I've ever seen. It rarely gets like that in real life! Something to aspire to.
You get a lot of cool scenery in one 8-minute walk, Chuck. What's the yellow orange fruit on that tree?
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Hi Annie, That's Arbutus unedo, Strawberry Tree, in the Ericaceae. Unedo means one day, supposedly the fruit is only palatable (to people) for one day. Once it's over-ripe it's no good. A teacher told me her friend uses the fruit to make a liqueur.
A. marina is a similar, tho' less hardy plant (like that's a problem--not), that we use a lot in sidewalk planting also. It flowers in the fall.
Thank you, Chuck!
Annie
I think that is one of the Acanthus with the six+ foot tall flower spikes just below the Arbutus unedo. I must have some of those.
I'll ask them if I can dig up a cutting.
That is so nice of you Chuck. Now that I am on the mainland it is actually possible to do.
That Acanthus looks like A. mollis which may not be hardy to my mountain zone 5. I need A. hungaricus aka A. balcanicus which is hardier.
I can also start doing some catalog ordering with a lot more ease now too.
You have no idea how much I love it when I get to your blog and see that we're going on a walk. If I could wag my entire back half like my dog does when I promise her the same, I would--they're that much fun for me.
Yea, I dig your walks, too. One good thing about the wind-it sure makes stems and trunks sturdier (if it doesn't kill the plant, of course).
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