Home Garden Gallery
Summer 2023
The garden continued! Against my better judgement, I planted MORE TOMATOES - planting year after year in the same soil increases the likelihood of blight, which I luckily only experienced a little bit of this summer.
In 2021, I planted some strawberry skin in a pot (the seeds are embedded in the skin). In 2022 they ventured outside of the pot. Now?? The strawberry patch is BUMPIN'. I've only ever tasted strawberries like this in California - they were so juicy and tart. It's amazing to me how strawberries overwinter so well - their leaves barely freeze.
I kept the garden low maintenance as music and activism work picked up. I maintained the habit of introducing beneficial insects and fungi (read about it in Summer 2022 for details) and got extremely excited when I saw a snake skin near my lemon balm patch - that means my garden attracts a smidge of biodiversity!
My intent was to abandon growing squash because of the boring beetles that keep pestering me, but a random squashling that popped up under the compost despite me. AND it lived long enough to give me a singular squash before the beetles got 'em. I thiiiiink it was a butternut squash? I cooked it up with another larger one I got at the farmers market and made it into a soup.
Toward the end of the season, I volunteered on my friend Tolu's farm! Some harvest highlights and flower faves are pictured to the left.
Summer 2022
This year was about improving upon the existing garden area by creating a more organized gardening zone and reconfiguring the structures using additional reclaimed lumber from the neighbors (shout out to David for saving back lumber and to Beck for helping me retrieve it)! Check out this year's progress in the gallery to the right!
I grew grand rapids lettuce, spinach, arugula, sugar snap peas, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme (wink!), cilantro, dill, and hot peppers (they overwintered indoors)! There are also plenty of varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers on their way up, though it won't be time to harvest them for a while.
In the garden, I do my utmost to avoid using synthetic chemicals for the soil. This year, I have 100% avoided the use of Miracle-Gro as I've read that it is harmful to the soil microbiome and is essentially like feeding your veggies McD's. Instead, I am regularly fertilizing with homemade solutions like soaked banana peel and coffee grounds, and regularly adding fresh compost. I also introduce mycorrhizae to the soil as I plant seeds and transplant seedlings, which improves the ability of the plants to soak up and share nutrients symbiotically.
I've also introduced green lacewing fly larvae into the garden both years to control aphids, and I will be trying out beneficial nematodes for the first time this year to try and tackle the squash boring beetle and cucumber beetle infestations I experienced last year.
Summer 2021
To the left are photos from my first year garden in 2021. My goal was to use primarily reclaimed materials to build garden beds so that the only investment needed would be in soil, tools, and organic pest control. My mom and I constructed a small greenhouse where I used egg cartons and empty yogurt containers among other repurposed containers to sprout lots of seedlings! Major shout out to my ex, Beck, and my parents for helping me haul a literal ton and a half of soil up the front hills into our backyard. I love you guys!
In November 2020, I began constructing an in-ground patch, which involved removing grass and other root systems, lining the area with stones found in the yard, and adding organic materials. In the spring of 2021, I reclaimed lumber from neighbors, including a box frame bed which I deconstructed, in order to build two additional garden beds.
In the gallery to the left are photos of the progress from seedlings to harvest! Last year I grew Brandywine + rainbow tomatoes, yellow + patapan squash, jalapeños, bell peppers, lettuce, spinach, kale, sugar snap peas, celery, bush beans, cantaloupe, cucumbers, lavender, rosemary, BASIL!!! (so much basil), marigolds!!!, black eyed susans, cosmos, sun flowers, catnip, lemon balm, parsley, radishes, cilantro, carrots, thyme, sage, and hot peppers.