Monday, May 18, 2009

the garden recuperation project.

The remodel destroyed a huge chunk of the yard, and it's been an effort to get it back to some semblance of its former self. (A lot of which involved waiting very impatiently through January, February and March for the ground to warm up enough to plant things.) Here's a very sad before photo:

This one was early on in the process, but you get a general sense of the dirt and the mess. But five months later, we're back to this (and see the solar panels on the house!):

The lemon verbena on the left is turning into a beautiful little tree, and the persimmon on the right has the prettiest chartreuse leaves. The big tree in the center back is the apple, a gift many (many) years ago from my realtor, but only really thriving in the last couple of years.

And the chamomile in the stone path is finally recovering - not quite filled in but getting there. The raised beds are shaping up, too:

In alphabetical order: Artichokes, arugula, asparagus, basil, cilantro, collards, favas, fennel, french beans, potatoes, pumpkins, sugar peas, sweet peas, tomatoes, watermelon, and zucchini. (It's amazing what a little water and care can do.)

The banks of french lavender are blooming and happy (although if you want to see some SERIOUS lavender, check this), and my favorite rose (is that like having a favorite child?) is FINALLY starting to climb.

I'ts called The Impressionist - super high on the fragrance scale, and a really vibrant orange that stands out against the (sort of boring) sage house/olive trees.

So that's the garden. Hopefully the pretty plant photos make up for the awful sunburn photo. Now we're trying to figure out how to work some chickens into the mix...