Gathering, Sowing, and Waiting

It's that time of year again and My Librarian and I commenced our spring time gardening by starting with our two large containers in the front of our building a couple of weeks ago. We tilled and enriched the soil with some mulched organic plant material that we have been adding to before checking on our gladiola bulbs from last season. No worries there as they have more than doubled in size with multiple baby bulbs, which is really exciting. Since we had such an overwhelming number of gladiolas in one container, we decided to move one of the bulbs - as carefully and delicately as a surgeon mind you - into the second to reduce crowding once they come up. In picture on the left you can see the rhinoculous flowers we found at a local market for a steal AND a very happy, thriving aloe plant. There are three in each container for now, though since they don't last through very warm weather, they'll be short lived but very easy on the eye until then. The aloe is flourishing indoors under our skylight.

The seed packets of veggies and herbs on the right are to be started tomorrow; fortunately we did not put them out for when we had aimed, which was about a week ago when the night time temperatures dipped into what could have a been a dangerous frost for the tender seedlings. As with last year, our herbs and veggies and any other smaller starter plants will take up on the small roof of our downstairs neighbor's bay window, which is about a 5'x4' space. It worked pretty well for strawberries, tomatoes, and assorted herbs and this year we are broadening our selection with carrots, lavender, cucumber, california peppers, green onions, arugula, radishes, and chives. We will most likely get more rosemary and mint, as the former died before I remembered to bring it inside and the latter, as most of you know, will come back as oregano.

After the seeds are on their way we have a few other plants in mind that we wish to add to both the roof and the street level. We're excited and there will be more to come as our garden grows.