Urban Gardening | My Garden of Controversy & It’s Occupants

Alternately titled: The longest post of all time where Becka goes on and on like a crazy cat woman about her plants. Well, it’s been about 2 weeks since I planted my transplants and they seem to be surviving so I must not have made any big rookie mistakes (other than starting my garden about a month late… oops.) My herbs and flowers seem to be surviving too. (Cue the hallelujah chorus.) I promised an update so here you go…

Why the melodramatic title? Because not even a week after I put the planter onto our porch area did the condo association jump all over me with threats and other ridiculousness. Of course, no one else in the complex with planters outside seems to be breaking any rules. I’m literally at the end of my rope with these people. I’m being forced (even though no one else with planters of plants is being forced) to move my plants (not really an easy task) this weekend to the main area of my porch and I’m really hoping that my little lovelies survive it. They won’t be on soil anymore which makes me nervous but I’m also happy that we decided to make the planter over a foot tall because at least they’ll still have some room. I cannot wait to own a house of my own and plant things wherever the eff I feel like it. Then I’ll take photos and mail them to the president of the condo association with a bottle of whiskey and say, “Look at my lovely garden!  I planted it wherever the eff I felt like. And I’ve got twinkly lights on my porch… in June. Oh, and here’s some whiskey since you can’t get drunk of the power of bullying me around anymore. I figured you’d miss the sensation.” See how thoughtful I am?

I digress. This morning I decided to take some photos for you. I’ve had a few people ask to see what our garden looks like since they know we live downtown, in a small condo, with no actual yard, and a condo association full of drunk on power (and maybe whiskey, who knows) men. So here it is. My little garden. I’ve done my best to keep track of the names of the plants I’ve planted. First, the flowers…

Snow Hill Salvia, Blue Butterfly Flowers, and a little yellow sparrow

These are in big ceramic pots that I got on sale at Target because the pots at the super fantastic garden store were not priced super fantastically. I really like these though because they came as a set of 3 and I’m a sucker for things that remind me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I’m also a fan of decorating in sets of threes, it’s very feng shui. The biggest one has all butterfly plants in it. The big one in the back didn’t have a name tag but it did have lovely blue flowers and the lady at the super fantastic garden store told me it’s her favorite. And who am I to rain on the garden lady’s plant parade? The shorter white one is called Snow Hill Salvia. (Isn’t that just adorable? The first part anyway. Salvia sounds kind of gross… and drool-ish.) It’s a perennial which means its a zombie plant. (That’s what I’ve taken to calling them anyway because they come back to life every year.)

Blue Dragonfly Delphinium and mystery blooms

In the middle pot are two more butterfly plants. Chosen because I specifically saw little yellow bees buzzing around them when I was at the store and I was all “I need bees for my plants! Come home with me now!” The big one (again) didn’t have a tag so I can’t remember the name and it has yet to bloom so the color of it’s flowers is still a mystery. (I’m going to guess yellow, but that’s not really based on any actual scientific evidence.) The lovely blue ones are Blue Dragonfly Delphinium. It’s another perennial that is supposed to attract hummingbirds. How amazing would that be?! I might just die of sheer excitement if I looked outside and say a little hummingbird. And then Nate would be like, “See? If we had the 100-400 I wanted you’d be able to take a picture right now.” And I’d be all, “Shut up! You’re ruining the magic… and you’re right. Damn it.”

Random flowers of lovely colors

The littlest pot has just a few pretty perennials in it. They didn’t even have name cards. They were just labeled “Perennial” which is a bit sad I think. I’m working on my own names for them. I’m also making little garden markers (blog post forthcoming) for all the planters. And here is my little Aloe plant. This was the first plant I planted and it lived. (Yes, I know it’s pretty much a cactus, let me have my moment okay?) I saw a bucket of them on the side of the road and picked one up. Two years later it has grown huge and even had three babies (Even my Aloe appreciates the principles of design.)

Aloe and herbs

Here is the herb garden. Everything is thriving so far except the mint. I’m not really sure why. Maybe one of you garden gurus can lend me some advice? I love to just run my hand over all the plants and smell the delicious scents that they give off. Why everyone on the face of the planet doesn’t have an herb garden is beyond me. The smell alone is worth the work. In it I’ve got a whole bunch of basil (I love pesto), creeping oregano, mint, lavender, and rosemary. I’m really excited to dry some of the lavender and rosemary and make infused salt and sugar with them, respectively.

And now, the moment you’ve been reading along so patiently for… THE VEGGIES! (Or well, the leaves and stems of the plants that will hopefully produce veggies… one day… fingers crossed.)

Urban raised vegetable garden view from the north

Nate built my planter. It was so easy! (Or at least, it looked easy.) All we needed were some big pieces of wood, wood screws, and wooden steaks. It has organic soil and organic plant food mixed in. In it I’ve got 2 eggplants, 2 red bell peppers, 2 tomatoes,  a jalepeno, a habenero, and cilantro (because I ran out of room in the herb garden planter, and because cilantro goes with my other salsa ingredients. This garden is going to be a one stop salsa shop!) You astute green thumbs may notice how tiny and chewed up the habenero is. And also, how chewed up everything is. Well, that’s because a big fat caterpillar decided to make my garden his all you can eat buffet for a few days. I finally found him (he was a tricky little jerk) and moved him to some plants on the other side of the condo complex. Let this be a warning to all other plant eating invaders… next time I won’t be so accommodating!

Veggie garden view from the west, big eggplant leaves

Lovely little tomato hairs and yellow tomato bloom

So that’s pretty much it. If you have any questions or advice, feel free to chime in. And if you got all the way through that, bravo!

Oh! I almost forgot! The critters… After spotting this little guy in our mulch (luckily, I’m much less afraid of little snakes now thanks to Eva. Big snakes… not so much.) I googled “black snake orange belly florida” and found out he’s a little Florida ringneck. His belly was so pretty that I was thrilled when he freaked out and curled up, showcasing it perfectly for me to capture. Luckily, these little guys stay little (less than a foot) and would rather curl up in a corkscrew than try to take a bite of you so I am more than happy to let him hang around. They eat earthworms and small frogs. We’ve got an abundance of small frogs around here so he can eat to his heart’s content. But… if I find out he’s attacking any earthworms that find my little garden, it’s war.

Black and orange ringneck, wild little frog that narrowly escaped death because of me…you’re welcome

This little guy was the reason I even found the snake to begin with. I think he was inches from death. I heard a rustle, saw him jump and then spotted the snake. I’m not a fan of the whole “Wild America” slow motion kill sequences so I instantly got my camera to take a photo, and hopefully divert the snake long enough to allow the froglette a smooth getaway. These little guys start popping up all over now that Florida’s rainy season is starting. If you live near woods or marshes you can hear their chorus at dusk. Ah nature. (Minus the death part.)

urban organic veggie garden view from the south

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Ps. I’m playing with the idea of doing an update to the blog where I have a whole section of food/gardening/running/life-ing posts separate from our main page of weddings. Is that something you guys would be down for? It would be a page listed at the top and in the sidebar and when you clicked on it, it would almost be like another blog with all the posts about food/gardening/running/life-ing kept separate from our photography work. What do you think? :)