Wild Weather

We have had quite the spread of temperatures this week! It doesn't feel as hot as it says though. We haven't put in the AC units because with the fan on it feels pretty nice in the apartment, so it can't actually be getting into the 90's I don't think. I put my seedlings out May 22nd and they seem to be doing okay. I am going to have to throw away all that seed I think though. It's several years old and is lacking "vigor". The seeds germinated well, but after that it has been slow going. They have been real yellow and slow growing, with a bout of edema on the tomatoes. I'm still waiting for them to take off and really start growing. Seems like last year they put out several pairs of leaves faster than they have this year. I am thinking about buying some back up tomatoes just in case these ones don't do anything, since last year I didn't get any tomatoes either and was so disappointed. Anyhow, I have work to do in both the courtyard garden and porch garden. I am trying to really embrace shade plants this year on the porch, and go more for lush than bright. Think hastas, ferns, grasses... etc. Will post pictures soon :)

Cleaning up the NYPG

Hello Hello,

What better way to kick off May than to clean out the garden beds? I have decided to dump the old dirt from my hanging planters and to fill them with a mix of fancy dirt and normal stuff. There seems to be some debating going on about whether or not this mix is worth buying. But how I see it, is that the hanging baskets I use are subjected to so much wind that they dry out in literally like 1 or 2 days. I can't keep up on the watering, and then they wilt. So if this stuff holds water (evidently too well) then I will mix it with some standard potting soil and hopefully that will give me the best of both worlds. Also, the soil in my planting boxes is like 3 years old and needs to be refreshed anyways.

In other news, it looks like this year we should be coming up to our frost free date on time this year, which is great. Not only that, but it seems like we'll hit the magic zone for transplanting from indoors to outdoors: 70/50 for the high/low. Tomatoes and peppers do not like to be out before the nights are consistently above 50 degrees.

However, it has been very cloudy which worries me. I don't want my plants to get leggy or have mold problems, but I have also heard that too much direct sunshine can shock the plants when they are young... so we'll see how it goes. I will be sure to update this blog so that I know for next year.

My seedlings seem to be coming along okay so far. They aren't picture perfect, which is mildly distressing, but I'm trying to go easy on myself. My basil has some brown spots, which may have been caused by water getting on their leaves. I have been trying to be more careful and make sure the leaves aren't left wet for too long. My tomatoes were developing edema again, just like last year. This isn't all that surprising because its the same exact seeds and growing conditions. I have been really trying to restrain myself and not over water them to try to stop further damage, which, cross your fingers, seems to be working so far. For the last 12 days or so my seeds haven't seemed to really be growing much. Most of them popped out their first set of true leaves within about 7 days of sprouting, but since then they haven't been visibly changing much. I am pretty sure that they are going through a period of root growth and that once that is complete they will start to shoot up and grow more leaves. Once again, I will try to record what happens so that I know for next year.

Spring!

So this week the temperature has dropped to a more normal level, which is good in a way. I was starting to feel anxious that I was late starting my seeds, but I think they will be right on time. I'm going to do a "back up planting" this year just in case too. Last year my tomatoes flowered during a 90+ heat snap and ALL their flowers fell off and I ended up getting NO tomatoes at all. It was pretty disappointing. So this year I am starting a second batch of tomatoes about 2 weeks from now, so that if we have weird weather some should still survive. 

My Seeds!

Current Weather

In other news, I have been snapping pictures all over the neighborhood of beautiful spring scenes... Enjoy :)

 Check out this ferns! Don't they look weird when they first come up?

 

I loved this red flower by the white tree, with the little purple flowers all around...

 Don't know what sort of bush this is, but I thought it was really pretty.

These reminded me of Easter Eggs :)

 

 

There are a bunch of these blooming at my school. Aren't they nice? Wish I knew what they were!!

 So dreamy...

 

I love this yard, so quintessentially "Spring"

  

I always think the lime green new growth on bushes is interesting and beautiful. Bushes don't get many kudos for being "beautiful", but in spring they are if you look closely!

 

 Who doesn't love lilacs??

And of course, it just wouldn't be spring in Chicago if they didn't dye the river green on St. Patty's!!

Summer Plans 2012

It is so warm and beautiful out that I am going to get my seeds started next week! Can't believe it, last year it was snowy and cold until early May. I probably could have started seeds 1-2 weeks ago honestly, but it just seemed too good to be true. I got my NYPG (No yard/Porch Garden) cleaned up yesterday, which was exciting. I noticed while I was out there that my clematis has buds all over it, and judging by where they are growing I am pretty sure that I pruned it wrong last year. The tag said that it should be pruned back to about 12" from the dirt in early spring, but that didn't seem to benefit the plant. It was small and only had like 3 flowers on it all summer. Part of that is probably because it's not getting enough sunlight, but the pruning didn't help I don't think. So anyhow, I am not going to prune it at all right now, and hopefully it will grow better. It will be an experiment if nothing else. But anyways, without further ado here are my goals for this summer

1. Create seed bombs aka green grenades. I am going to ever-so-sneakily deposit these around my neighborhood and see if they grow. I am launching some along the rocky edge of the train track and in this one planter that was lonely and empty all summer last year.
2. Start my seeds in 2 weeks when I get back from Austin.
3. Get some patio furniture that matches... hopefully.
4. Reassess how my window boxes are mounted to the rail. Maybe I will buy some rail rockits... I am hoping to make better use of my little space and somehow fit more plants in while making the boxes less obtrusive. This might include moving my boxes to the top of the rail somehow...
5. Redesign the far corner of my NYPG with my beautiful blue planter that was previously going to be made into a fountain.
6. Grow as many veggies as I can fit in my courtyard garden. I was thinking I would maybe line the edge in marigolds this year, or somehow sneak some flowers in there...
7. Get my worm box back together... maybe. This is going to take more thought before I decide. I'm torn because I was the box, but don't have room for it in my kitchen, but last year they all died because it got too hot outside... ohhh the choices!

Here's too the warm weather & early spring!! Woo hoo!

Whoa-- Where did summer go??

Wow did summer fly by me! There is something about all that sunshine that deters me from going to the gym and updating my blog- woopsy. But as the season is winding down I wanted to give an update on how things are going here in my urban oasis.

I received permission from our apartment management to put a few pots in our courtyard. After all those seeds I started I just couldn't pass up on this one really sun shiny corner of the yard that was just begging for me to "PLEASE! grow veggies here!!". Unfortunately, our spring was really odd this year. We had nights dipping into the 40's all through May, which means I couldn't put my peppers and tomatoes out until almost the first of June, which is too late to be ideal. Because my plants were a little behind they ended up flowering right in the middle of the worst heat wave we have had since I moved here. I only have ONE pepper flower that lived through it and grew to normal size. I'm talking about like at least 10 days in a row of 90+ temperatures and nights hovering in the high 80's. For my plants it was just too hot and they ended up dropping a lot of their flowers, which means the flowers never get a chance to turn into fruit. I think if they had been out a few weeks earlier, and had already developed their fruit, that they wouldn't have been so badly impacted by the lasting heat, but Mother Nature does and Mother Nature pleases... Anyhow, about 2 weeks ago my pepper plants started a new round of flowering, and because the temperatures have cooled off, the flowers have successfully budded into fruit! Now it's a race against the clock to see if they will have enough warm days left to grow to maturity. I really hope so!

My one successful pepper so far this year.
Tell me this thing doesn't make you want to sing
"Chilies! Baaaby back ribs!"

I am out there everyday inspecting my plants to see if they are growing, and it looks like they are really taking off. It also seems like some sort of bug is biting me while i'm poking around over there... Not very fun, but totally worth it lol. Do black ants with wings bite or sting? Speaking of weird bugs-- Has anybody seen the "Cicada killing wasps" that are flying around this year??? Holy Giant Man Eating Bugs Batman!! These babies are like 2 inches long and fly RIGHT AT MY HEAD every time i'm out there. Word from my mom is that they don't sting and are actually very docile, but they still really freak me out. And, I really don't appreciate them killing all of our Cicada bugs, because now my courtyard at night is quiet and not filled with the romantic late summer sounds of the Cicada bugs. What is worse than the silence is that some new bug (maybe the wasps??) is making this really eerie clicking/rattling sound that grosses me out and makes me feel like there are bugs in the house. This wouldn't matter so much if not for the fact that I live on the 3rd floor of my apartment building, directly in line with the branches of the tree in our courtyard. The branches are only like 2 feet from my windows, so whatever is going on in there feels like its IN the living room with me. For some interesting information about these wasps check out these links---

Chicago Tribune -- if you are looking for a good overview for whether or not these are dangerous and what to do about them. Maybe these bugs are old news to other people, but it's the first time I've seen them here in Oak Park.

And thank you to Cicada Hunt for posting this picture of the Cicada Killer Wasp.




And this is just to get the picture of those wasps out of your head...
you can thank my neighbors for growing this beauty!

Urban Forest

One of the many reasons I love my neighborhood is because of all the trees & greenery. Oak Park considers itself an "Urban Forest" and lives up to that title as you can see from the photos below. The trees are planted so thickly on every block that you can't see most of the houses, or in the photo below, the train tracks at the end of the road. I feel like it really creates a peaceful and beautiful respite from the noise and chaos of downtown Chicago. Working downtown every day makes me especially thankful for having such a beautiful place to come home.

Around the Neighborhood

I was inspired while walking the dog to take some pictures of all the beautiful plants that are really starting to take off now that we are having consistently warmer temperatures. The big summer flowers are starting to fill in and the early spring colors are dying out.

Oh the lowly shrub... How under appreciated you are!
Check out that snazzy lime green new growth coming off this thing!
This time of year these actually look pretty cool.

Pretty flowering tree in my courtyard.

I wasn't sure if this purple flower was a part of
the white plant, but it sure makes for pretty contrast.

This persons yard is all English Cottage...

The leaf on this hasta is like 18" across! I could wear it as a shirt or
maybe under wear ala the garden of eden.... lol

So Pretty!

And check out this guy! Very Fancy!

And Pace, looking very angelic. Don't be fooled!