My garden

I love to play in the dirt, plant things and watch how they grow. I love the different properties and meanings that plants have. The way each one grows differently, the shapes they create, the various shades of green and the textures and scents that they have. I can watch the cycle of the seasons in some; dying in the winter and being re-born again in the spring and those that weather all weather and stay green year round. I've just started this years garden with two from my recent move from Dallas to Austin and some new seasonal additions. I hope to continue to add to it as finances allow.
 


 One of the pants that made the move with me is mint. This guy has been with me for going on two years now. I wasn't at all sure if he was going to take to container living, as I know mint loves to travel around and taking over a lot of space. So far he is doing quite well. He had died back over the winter but seems to be making a full recovery. He is holding down the north side of my balcony for luck and prosperity for my home.

This is my bowl of culinary herbs for this year. I haven't had basil for a couple of years, and I missed having fresh on hand for tomato salads. This year I got a globe basil as I like the spicy bite that it has. Parsley always comes in handy and I love the texture that curly leaf parsley has both to look at and to eat. I am working on adding more fish to my diet so I am trying dill this year. (I found I like how well it hides "fishy" taste) I'm not sure if there will be enough room for him in a pot, so we'll see how he does. Lemon balm is great smelling and I love a simple syrup that is made from sun tea of this guy mixed with lemon aid and/or rum/vodka. I know he is a bit of a bully and will take over space if given the chance, so I am keeping him well trimmed in hopes that he won't go too crazy.

Holding down the south end of my balcony for clarity and peace in my home is culinary sage. It's been ages since I've tried growing this type of sage and I expect to have better luck with it since I am up three stories and it will be much more difficult for the bugs to get to him and eat him up before I have the chance to.






Rosemary is one of my favorite plants and this is the old man of my garden. I think he's about three years old. He protects my home and offers an abundance of different culinary uses.  He has so many wonderful properties that go beyond just culinary and is so forgiving. (I love that Austin has rosemary shrubs and hedges all over the city)





The pots with the ladies on them were a birthday gift many years ago, hand painted by Melia at Bemused Art. I think they add wonder and creativity to my garden and underline the purpose of the plants I put in them, so I choose very carefully what goes into each one. I have two more of those pots to fill and two long planters that I usually plant annual decorative flowers in.  I find myself really missing lambs ear so I think that might be my next purchase. I have a friend who loves predatory plants and I have fallen in love with the phallic shapes of the pitcher plants, so I am going to look in to perhaps getting one of those down the line for my "fire" pot. I'm not sure if my east facing balcony will have enough light for them or if Austin gets too hot- so there will be a little bit of research to be done.

I would love to see photos of your garden and what has worked and not worked for you. Do you plant for magic? For food? Decoration? All of the above?

June 17 12

there is a baby oak tree just in front of my balcony and he has that wild new growth that they get that is just silly and all over the place. I've name him Einstein. :) there is just enough breeze to tickle the tops of his branches and just enough slow moving clouds to give the occasional relief from the sun. It's a thick lazy morning this morning. Even the hookah smoke falls slowly down wreathing my hands before meandering away

June 15th 12

 I came out to the porch to see hot neon pink light, Pele herself I think, dancing on the cloud mountain tops, then a lazily moving river of cloud closed the view and has left the birds and I in a grey morning.

June 14th 12

I walked out to get to class and the clouds were magnificent towers from a Parrish painting that caught the early morning light and turned it to silver. The crescent moon danced among the towers, flirting coyly though the windows and turrets.

June13 12

Stepped out to a cool moist grey morning. The grey began to slowly break up and through some of the patches of quickly moving clouds I could peek in to the pinks and golds of a sunrise that was happening for somewhere else. A voyeur of sorts...

June 8th 12 Sunrise Report

Thick surly grey clouds blanketed the morning. The dawn, unwelcomed by the day, took her colors else where leaving behind just enough light for the possum, finding it's way back under the rosemary hedge, to glow softy as it waddled along.

June7th 12 Sunrise

a tattered an' worn thin in some places and thick and lumpy in others, blanket of clouds lay across the sky this morning, the sun breaking through some of the ragged fissures in short yet lovely rays. The birds were oddly very quiet this morning. (I think word got out that more than 1 glass of chocolate wine makes for a rough morning for that 3rd story resident)

June 5th 12 Sunrise Report

Sunrise this morning was at Jazzercise. I had an odd moment when we got down to do sit ups and I looked up at the ceiling- and it wasn't the ceiling I've been starring at for the last 5 years... the squares were much smaller (an' not at all square) and they are outlined in black tape. All the "faces" and shapes that I had gotten to know, were gone. It was a startling moment for me. Briefly, I felt very alone in a strange place. 

Sunrise June 4th 12

the skies were thick with rushing grey clouds, not so much as tipping a hat as they hurried past me. A little sparrow was playing in the wind on the ridge of the roof of the building across from me, he'd jump, spread his wings and hover for just a brief moment before landing back on the ridge again. Over and over again.

Monday, monday June 4th 12

Dah, dah, de dah dah dah...

Yeay! I have internet access again! I hope you all had a great weekend, mine was good. The move down to Austin was a bit rough. MMJ and I underbid on the size of the moving van and we had to leave behind our boxsprings for the bed, however all our stuff made it safe and sound and nearly ding free. I stopped and got a Sonic burger on my way out of Dallas- as last hurah of crap food for I'm leaving for the town of great food and will never have to eat a fast food chain again- right? (you'd think I'd know by now not to snort in the face of the consumer gods, they don't have a sense of humor but they do have a well developed sense of vengeance) as I bit in to my microwaved bit of burger, a squirt of *very* hot grease shot out and  burned the left side of the roof of my mouth. Yea, it's blistered *twice* and has made eating anything a very slow painful process. sigh....

Aside from food being painful, the oven in the apartment not working- still- it's very exciting to wake up every morning and be in Austin (even more importantly- being with MMJ)
The week was full of little joys, with a few frustrations, and MMJ and I getting used to living together again. (it's wonderful to have JOT- Jim On Tap, again. I kept touching him at random - just because I could) MMJ and I went to the top of the highest peak in Austin (city limits) Mount Bonnell and got to enjoy not only a beautiful view but also a fun, twisty, turny, uphill road that went though some mighty nice areas. I can tell I will be there a lot. 
It's been a whole lotta fun getting to spend so much time with our friend Jeff.  With Jeff (myman#2) and Jim tag teaming "Guide" I've been to a Geeks Who Drink, a movie at the Alamo (MIBIII) and we walked the shops at Congress Saturday ("thrift" stores- my eye! but fun to browse) and yesterday we went to the park and I few my kite (more or less) and we played frisbee. I feel like I almost have my feet underneath me again and can start expanding the social circle and meeting up with other friends that we have here too.

Our apartment is north, north Austin (Scofield and Mopac for those who know where that is) and I get to see the sunrise as I drink my morning coffee on the 3rd story balcony. (it'll take a bit to get used to being up so high. I kinda side step out to my chair and sit down with the back of the chair up against the wall, as far from the edge as I can get. Not a big fan of heights.)




Please, let me know the how-abouts-of your fines selves and that of your charges!
Here's to a great week!

Jess