Before and Afternoons

The garden is finally at a place where it compels me to visit about once a day. It's amazing what a bit of foundation work can do. Winter crops are thriving. Weeding is not a chore in the least; it is an excuse to be near to the earth and feel a quiet connectedness. A place to wind down afternoon afterwork.

Congrats to City Slicker Farms!

Just across the Bay Bridge from my small-scale Tilthy Rich backyard lies an inspirational urban farm/movement in West Oakland. Though I have not yet visited the City Slicker Farm there, I have read and followed it online for years now, looking to it as a source of motivation and leadership. (http://www.cityslickerfarms.org/)   A few hours ago today was the groundbreaking ceremony of the "West Oakland Urban Farm and Park, a new kind of community park space that hosts space for healthy food cultivation, all developed in partnership with the West Oakland community." Please read the article by clicking on the photo or the link below. Feel good, Tilthy Rich stuff! 

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/city-slicker-farms-breaks-ground-on-new-urban-park-and-farm/Content?oid=3448988

A fertile beauty.

I had that feeling of falling in love again today. I did fall in love today. Again. The object of my affection is sitting in my backyard in the rain right now. She's a fertile beauty, she is! Here are a few bare photos of her....

I can't stop stealing a peak at her curves...

...from any angle...

...being next to her, admiring all she has to offer never gets old. 

And a fire burns inside of her. 

Tilthy Christmas, Joyous Holidays!

A fresh made beet/carrot/kale juice, a new garden book, a warm quiet house makes for a very special day. May yours be as swell!

"Mr. Gorbachev,...

This afternoon we have furthered the new & improved Tilthy Rich garden! Mathews did a fantastic job delivering the pathway bricks and my roommate Jeanette is hard at work offering up her design input! AAAAND...the fence between mine and my neighbors yard is coming down. Coming down in the spirit of coming together. Community is a strong force, especially in this day and age.

...tear down this wall."

Monday Magic

A garden make-over is in progress! My friend and mentor Mathews from Malawi and I took the afternoon to gut the garden to make way for new life! Mathews is the finest of human beings and deserving of his own separate post..coming soon.
The garden will be re-written with a focus on the utilitarian: edibles and medicinals, vegetables and herbs, community and social value.

Taming Time!

It's fall clean-up time this Saturday morning. As you can see, I've let it get quite out of control. Mine is the one NOT with the impeccable brick paths and new fall starts all in their perfect rows. In fact, the tables have turned completely. My garden was in that state in the past, where his was runneth over in chaos. I'm out to get a hold on this situation!

 

State of the Garden Address

The garden today :) Lots of florality today this May! Nasturtiums, russian sage, yellows from both calendula and kangaroo paw, and of course some bold rose blossoms. And in the bare soil area, we have beans, corn, beets, and swiss chard germinating.  Gardening: forever a process, forever a source. 

Nastourishment :)

Arugula and nasturtium flowers from the garden make for a spicy salad for a spring day:)

Detroit Grows

I have quite an obsession with my birth city. While perusing garden blogs at random, I came across this one about the Georgia Street Garden in Detroit. http://georgiastreetgarden.blogspot.com/ On it was a wonderfully artistic video interview on the history and goals of the garden. My heart swells when something like this inspires in me: revitalization. art. community. gardening. education. rebirth. Enjoy.

Soaked Bloomers

I nearly soaked my bloomers reading this! pshehehe.

*BLAM* Bloomsday!!!

More Cymbidiums blooming outside my window...

Cymbidium Orchids: A New Hardy Favorite for SF

Cymbidium orchids grow very well outdoors in San Francisco. They are quite hardy. On my deck outside, where I have 4 large pots of them, it is difficult to grow most annuals & many perennials due to wind and sunny dry periods. Three of four of them are in flawless bloom right now...even with my more-than-occasional forgetful neglect.

Horticultural Therapy

I've always found gardening to be therapeutic. Click on the photo or the link below to read a great an article that discusses just that.

 Can gardening help troubled minds heal?



http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/17/147050691/can-gardening-help-troubled-minds-heal

Spring in Winter

Sweet spring smell from these hyacinthes in the middle of winter. :) I love forcing bulbs. It's quite simple: I put a handful of marbles at the bottom of this glass bowl, plopped on a few bulbs and added water just above the base of the bulb. Within days you will see them taking off, and in a few weeks you'll have sweet scents and bold color in the middle of winter!

Guerilla Grafters

The guerilla gardening movement has turned a new leaf. And that leaf just may be growing on a grafted branch! The Guerilla Grafters is a group whose mission is to graft branches of fruit-bearing tree varieties onto their already established ornamental cousins in the neighborhoods of San Francisco. It's yet another creative method of agriculturalizing the urban landscape. Check out this article below:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012/01/renegade-arborists-hope-sow-fruit-trees-san-francisco#.TwYlIVk2HJk.facebook

 Will it provide another source of local food or more street clean-up? Munchies or Mess?? I'm on team munchies, but what do YOU think?

Natural Ornaments

Nature has revealed her California Christmas Tree. Pomegranates ripen and harden into beautiful bright bulbs!

Oak trees may have lost their leaves, but only to show off bold minty green lichen and tree moss...much more stunning in person than this photo shows.  

Googly Eyes Gardener

I have so many houseplants; perhaps I should take some security measures as suggested!  :P

One man's trash bin...

...is another man's garden. Fun mobile garden downtown on the alley of the SFMoMa parking garage.

Marijuana Medicale!

These babies are a couple of medicinal marijuana plants in my backyard. California law allows a person possessing a medical marijuana card to grow plants for personal use only. Counties/cities have individual rules on how many plants one can grow. The rule in San Francisco: patients allowed up to 24 plants or 25 square feet of canopy; dispensary gardens capped at 99 plants in 100 square feet. Possession limit 8 oz. dried cannabis per patient.

 I have never grown it before, but it is looking exquisitely healthy and definitely has that pungent scent to it. Buds are forming already. I can already imagine what the harvest party will be like! I just hope my garden can provide other veggies for those in attendance. I'm sure folks will hungry.  :P

Harvested Today!

Grilling zucchini this afternoon...adding some spicy arugula to zap it up! I'm not a man of fortune or fame, but nothing makes me feel more valuable than a simple harvest. :)  Who's with me??

I'll be attempting to sautee' dandelion greens as well... experimenting keeps things interesting!

Industrial Greening

On the corner of Bryant St. and 10th St....nine blocks from my house in San Francisco, is a fantastic example of a very artistic green-wall installation. Comprised of mostly succulents, and with a wide array of shapes and flowering specimens. The cascading vines seen in the photo are actually wild strawberry plant trailers. 

With its myriad warehouses, this part of town is quite industrial and lacking much greenery, so what a treat to see this creative planting blocks from my house. 

Carrot Teen

First carrot I've ever harvested from the Tilthy Rich garden. Might get a couple more this season...starting small. :)

House of Salad

Put ur hands up if u know the feeling of eating straight from ur garden! Tri-color string beans, spicy arugula, & Thai basil...all harvested today.

Surprise Guest

This showed up in my garden this year. I don't know how it got there but she's a keeper!

PurpleYellowPurpleYellow!

Purple & Yellow string bean harvest started yesterday!

Keep Your Laws Off My Garden

Because I am a huge proponent of the "food not lawns" movement, I had to share this story outof Detroit demonstrating the struggle to change peoples', and governments', view of what is the "right way" to garden.  Let Julie Garden! Let Julie Garden!!!

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/julie-bass-of-oak-park-faces-misdemeanor-charge-for-vegetable-garden-20110630-wpms

Chocolate-scented Orchid

A sweet chocolate scent greeted me when I walked in the door today. :)

Fingerling Food

Small harvest of fingerling potatoes gathered while making room for a few new additions. Perfect when steamed until a fork goes through with the slightest give. Pepper and a dollop of sour cream. Yum!

The Black (foliage) Dahlia

The Black (foliage) Dahlia