Rock on, Hyde Park (Get warmer, Chicago)
Every once in a while someone will find it necessary to ask me "Why don't you move out of Hyde Park?" People just don't seem to understand the charm of this neighborhood (when you ignore everything having to do with the University...) I never really had a good summation of why I feel so at home here. I pretend that it has to do with it being a more integrated neighborhood than most in the city (when you ignore everything having to do with the University). I pretend it has to do with Hyde Park Produce, and the lakefront and the trees. But that's not quite it. I think it also has to do with how our neighborhood paper also infringes on the BBC's intellectual property:
Yes, Hyde Park is dorky even when you ignore everything having to do with the University. I feel completely justified living here now.
Which is good, because I finally finished my "garden" today, and it'd be a shame if I'd put it someplace I was ashamed of. I'm... kind of very proud of it, because my back porch is really hard to work with. So much so that I skipped planting things almost entirely last year. Even this year I was hesitant, which is why I got such a late start on everything. But I hit the garden store yesterday and picked up some herbs and veggies, and spent most of this morning at the hardware store trying to solve the problem where the squirrels had easy-access to my strawberry plants and managed to eat almost all of them. And I don't mean just the strawberries... I mean the entire plant. But I think I've solved that problem, and the light problem and... actually the only problem I haven't solved is that my camera batteries aren't charged yet, but I didn't feel like waiting, so here is a crappy cameraphone picspam of my back porch.
I don't know what's up with the overexposure. I may never know what's up with the overexposure and wiggy contrast, because to be honest I'm more worried about the fact that my phone doesn't have a setting to turn off the fake shutter click and that's really annoying.
Most of what I have planted. The little upside-down tomato is kind of ticked at me, since it used to be hanging from the stairs next to my porch and wasn't getting nearly enough light. I'm hoping it perks up a bit in the next few days now that it should be getting light. You can see that one of the strawberries has also been mostly eaten. Stupid squirrels. There are also some beans and a pepper in that planter, though they're on the other side.
Also, you'll notice that the upside-down planters are hanging by bungee cords. That solution took me most of this morning, after searching every type of ropes and pulleys and all manner of hooks, trying to find a viable way to keep them up there. Inelegant, not very pretty, but cheap and effective, so I'm kind of proud of it. Also it was a $6 fix for a problem that was going to cost me $30 for most of the "plant hooks" I found, or all of my plants being eaten/dying of no light.
On the left is my omni-present "Potato that survived the winter." There's always one potato that ends up sprouting in my pantry, and if it gets far enough along I can never manage to eat it or throw it away, so it always gets planted. This one is actually from my parents' garden. I think they sent it to me before Christmas. Its neighbor is a "black cherry" heirloom tomato plant, which I'm really looking forward to.
These guys are my two adorable little hot pepper plants. In the foreground is my hot banana pepper, and behind it is my Caribbean habanero. I am going to have excellent salsa this year. Or I will die trying (of capsaicin).
This is a "me leaning over the railing" view of my herbs and the little lettuce basket. The squirrels already had their way with the lettuce, and destroyed about a third of it by digging it up, but the rest has bounced back and I'm hoping it'll be left alone now. The herbs are "boxwood" basil, marjoram, and parsley. I hope to eventually get the dill in the hanging planter to sprout, which ought to take care of most of my needs. In hindsight, I wish I'd also picked up some cilantro for my hypothetical salsa, but I don't suppose I'd use it for much else, so it's probably okay that I didn't.
And finally, hanging out at the back of my porch is my other cherry tomato and a little swiss chard. I need to find it a bigger pot so it can spread out a bit, but it should be okay there for now.
So, that is my garden. Until I get bored next weekend and decide that there's a few more of space that gets enough sunlight, and maybe I should get some cilantro and maybe some more beans... For now, though, I'm going to go admire my plants and read The Pale King until it gets dark out.
Yes, Hyde Park is dorky even when you ignore everything having to do with the University. I feel completely justified living here now.
Which is good, because I finally finished my "garden" today, and it'd be a shame if I'd put it someplace I was ashamed of. I'm... kind of very proud of it, because my back porch is really hard to work with. So much so that I skipped planting things almost entirely last year. Even this year I was hesitant, which is why I got such a late start on everything. But I hit the garden store yesterday and picked up some herbs and veggies, and spent most of this morning at the hardware store trying to solve the problem where the squirrels had easy-access to my strawberry plants and managed to eat almost all of them. And I don't mean just the strawberries... I mean the entire plant. But I think I've solved that problem, and the light problem and... actually the only problem I haven't solved is that my camera batteries aren't charged yet, but I didn't feel like waiting, so here is a crappy cameraphone picspam of my back porch.
I don't know what's up with the overexposure. I may never know what's up with the overexposure and wiggy contrast, because to be honest I'm more worried about the fact that my phone doesn't have a setting to turn off the fake shutter click and that's really annoying.
Most of what I have planted. The little upside-down tomato is kind of ticked at me, since it used to be hanging from the stairs next to my porch and wasn't getting nearly enough light. I'm hoping it perks up a bit in the next few days now that it should be getting light. You can see that one of the strawberries has also been mostly eaten. Stupid squirrels. There are also some beans and a pepper in that planter, though they're on the other side.
Also, you'll notice that the upside-down planters are hanging by bungee cords. That solution took me most of this morning, after searching every type of ropes and pulleys and all manner of hooks, trying to find a viable way to keep them up there. Inelegant, not very pretty, but cheap and effective, so I'm kind of proud of it. Also it was a $6 fix for a problem that was going to cost me $30 for most of the "plant hooks" I found, or all of my plants being eaten/dying of no light.
On the left is my omni-present "Potato that survived the winter." There's always one potato that ends up sprouting in my pantry, and if it gets far enough along I can never manage to eat it or throw it away, so it always gets planted. This one is actually from my parents' garden. I think they sent it to me before Christmas. Its neighbor is a "black cherry" heirloom tomato plant, which I'm really looking forward to.
These guys are my two adorable little hot pepper plants. In the foreground is my hot banana pepper, and behind it is my Caribbean habanero. I am going to have excellent salsa this year. Or I will die trying (of capsaicin).
This is a "me leaning over the railing" view of my herbs and the little lettuce basket. The squirrels already had their way with the lettuce, and destroyed about a third of it by digging it up, but the rest has bounced back and I'm hoping it'll be left alone now. The herbs are "boxwood" basil, marjoram, and parsley. I hope to eventually get the dill in the hanging planter to sprout, which ought to take care of most of my needs. In hindsight, I wish I'd also picked up some cilantro for my hypothetical salsa, but I don't suppose I'd use it for much else, so it's probably okay that I didn't.
And finally, hanging out at the back of my porch is my other cherry tomato and a little swiss chard. I need to find it a bigger pot so it can spread out a bit, but it should be okay there for now.
So, that is my garden. Until I get bored next weekend and decide that there's a few more of space that gets enough sunlight, and maybe I should get some cilantro and maybe some more beans... For now, though, I'm going to go admire my plants and read The Pale King until it gets dark out.