Updatey Goodness, Probably.
I am torn between posting an update to briefly cover the last two years, or getting the thoughts out that inspired me to get back onto LJ in the first place. Ah, well, the inspiration will be there when I'm ready to write it out. So here's the update.
We moved from the Bridgeport basement condo - we loved it, but it was just too expensive. Now we're in Stratford, living on the first floor apartment of a 2-family converted Vic, with Rachel and another housemate named Michelle.
When we moved into the Stratford house, the yard was so neglected that the house looked abandoned. It was awful. So, since I was fired up about having gardening space anyway, I tore up all the weeds (including the vines that were growing underneath the vinyl siding and serving as ant highways). Then I dug out a space in front of the house for a garden and have been filling it with plants every spring since.
In one of my last posts, I mentioned that the columbine seeds I planted weren't growing well at all. Well, it turns out that columbines take 2 years to mature before they start blooming. So now I have two lovely columbine plants growing in the front, and I started a few flats of seeds this spring which should bloom next year. Hopefully we''ll still be here so I can see them bloom.
A lot of my plants are from "heists." I would never take plants out of someone else's garden - that's too fucked up for words - but sometimes I see plants in front of abandoned homes, or restaurants that are about to be demolished, and it hurts me to think that they're just going to be killed. So I dig them up and give them new life in my yard.
My first (and so far, only) heist was a huge bundle of daffodils that were in front of an abandoned restaurant that was about to be knocked down to make room for a parking lot. I went out there at about 10:30 p.m. and dug them all up, and now they live on in my garden.
My next planned heists are as follows: there is a row of gorgeous two-toned full sized irises that are in front of an abandoned house. There's a For Sale sign in the yard that looks like it's been there forever, and the yard is so overgrown I'm surprised we can still see the house. So before the irises get mowed down, I'm going to take them.
Also, there is a house around the corner that has miniature pansies all over the yard. They're beautiful and obviously well cared for. However, some of the seeds have jumped to the cracks in the sidewalk, and as such, are fair game. I'm going for those as soon as this damn rain stops.
And finally, we have a strip of land between the driveway and the next door neighbor's fence. I've been digging out the weed trees that have filled the space, and we want to plant bamboo in there. There is a ton of bamboo growing wild all over Westport, and it's pretty easy to propogate, so ... bamboo, here we come!
In related news, the last time I posted about plants I had a handful of houseplants that were barely holding on because of the woefully little natural light in the Bridgeport condo. That had changed a LOT. I now have over 100 houseplants on tables in the living room - which Phranque calls The Jungle - and I have gotten way better at caring for them. I still find and buy dying plants, and have gotten pretty good at bringing them back to life as well.
My current favorite kind of houseplant are succulents - they're related to cactuses, but are very different in looks. One of the two tables in the living room is dedicated to my succulents. I love them so much. My prize specimen is called a living stone - you'd have to see it to believe it's actually a plant, 'cause it really does look like a rock. Or a vagina, depending on your perspective. :)
I have done a few houseplant heists as well, but those were mostly taking cuttings off plants at Home Depot with the employees' blessings, or taking cuttings off plants at the doctor's office with similar blessings of the nursing staff.
So that's it for my plant updates. I am planning a container garden for veggies this year, if it EVER warms up out there. My back yard just doesn't have enough sun to plant veggies in the ground.
OH! I almost forgot. After two years of unemployment, I just got a long-term temp job that might - just might - go perm. Yay me!!
Okay, more updates later ... if I can think of anything else to update. :)
We moved from the Bridgeport basement condo - we loved it, but it was just too expensive. Now we're in Stratford, living on the first floor apartment of a 2-family converted Vic, with Rachel and another housemate named Michelle.
When we moved into the Stratford house, the yard was so neglected that the house looked abandoned. It was awful. So, since I was fired up about having gardening space anyway, I tore up all the weeds (including the vines that were growing underneath the vinyl siding and serving as ant highways). Then I dug out a space in front of the house for a garden and have been filling it with plants every spring since.
In one of my last posts, I mentioned that the columbine seeds I planted weren't growing well at all. Well, it turns out that columbines take 2 years to mature before they start blooming. So now I have two lovely columbine plants growing in the front, and I started a few flats of seeds this spring which should bloom next year. Hopefully we''ll still be here so I can see them bloom.
A lot of my plants are from "heists." I would never take plants out of someone else's garden - that's too fucked up for words - but sometimes I see plants in front of abandoned homes, or restaurants that are about to be demolished, and it hurts me to think that they're just going to be killed. So I dig them up and give them new life in my yard.
My first (and so far, only) heist was a huge bundle of daffodils that were in front of an abandoned restaurant that was about to be knocked down to make room for a parking lot. I went out there at about 10:30 p.m. and dug them all up, and now they live on in my garden.
My next planned heists are as follows: there is a row of gorgeous two-toned full sized irises that are in front of an abandoned house. There's a For Sale sign in the yard that looks like it's been there forever, and the yard is so overgrown I'm surprised we can still see the house. So before the irises get mowed down, I'm going to take them.
Also, there is a house around the corner that has miniature pansies all over the yard. They're beautiful and obviously well cared for. However, some of the seeds have jumped to the cracks in the sidewalk, and as such, are fair game. I'm going for those as soon as this damn rain stops.
And finally, we have a strip of land between the driveway and the next door neighbor's fence. I've been digging out the weed trees that have filled the space, and we want to plant bamboo in there. There is a ton of bamboo growing wild all over Westport, and it's pretty easy to propogate, so ... bamboo, here we come!
In related news, the last time I posted about plants I had a handful of houseplants that were barely holding on because of the woefully little natural light in the Bridgeport condo. That had changed a LOT. I now have over 100 houseplants on tables in the living room - which Phranque calls The Jungle - and I have gotten way better at caring for them. I still find and buy dying plants, and have gotten pretty good at bringing them back to life as well.
My current favorite kind of houseplant are succulents - they're related to cactuses, but are very different in looks. One of the two tables in the living room is dedicated to my succulents. I love them so much. My prize specimen is called a living stone - you'd have to see it to believe it's actually a plant, 'cause it really does look like a rock. Or a vagina, depending on your perspective. :)
I have done a few houseplant heists as well, but those were mostly taking cuttings off plants at Home Depot with the employees' blessings, or taking cuttings off plants at the doctor's office with similar blessings of the nursing staff.
So that's it for my plant updates. I am planning a container garden for veggies this year, if it EVER warms up out there. My back yard just doesn't have enough sun to plant veggies in the ground.
OH! I almost forgot. After two years of unemployment, I just got a long-term temp job that might - just might - go perm. Yay me!!
Okay, more updates later ... if I can think of anything else to update. :)