Goodbye

On March 27, 2018, the garden lease for 1314 10th Street Pedestrian Walkway was voided by the city of St. Louis. The lot has been acquired for a private yard.

Herbs in the square.

One of our original gardeners built a square 4'x4' bed. When they moved on, they left us with a great soil mix, a well tended bed, and a rosemary bush. Inspired, we turned it into a community herb garden.

Sadly, the rosemary perished in the face of the long bitter cold of early 2014. It just didn't stop. It got my rosemary, too. But the chives and oregano made it through. The sage weathered it well. If it was left untended, those three herbs would take over the whole space! During the summer of 2014, I cut back the sage and oregano three times. Gardeners could also find basil, dill, cilantro, and lavender peeking through the abundant perennials. We'd all like to see the lavender take hold. Dill self seeds, but after a season or two mutates into something less delectable. Basil is so very wonderful but needs special care.

With strange weather, the herb bed marched through 2015 with huge sections of sage, oregano, and chives. At least two tomatoes helped themselves in the corner. Spring will mean another major cut back of the established plants. 2014's lavender didn't take hold, sadly, and the dill didn't make a comeback. Basil was evident again, even a beautiful purple variety.

This year, I look forward to another community herb selection. There's just something wonderful about freshly snipped herbs for the kitchen.

Cold, cold January

Another growing season has passed us by, Winter sneaking up on us after a warm, wet Fall. Spring will come, though, so I'm thinking about another planting season.

We've been together for a few years now, and we've learned a lot together. I'm looking forward to what 2016 brings to our green space.

See you in the garden.

We're old but not out of date.

Just a quick note to make things clear: I know these posts are all old but everything is still accurate information.

For garden information, please read through our "Welcome" and "Application" labels. Or email me for more information.

Here's to Spring (as I gaze over the snow covered streets).

Books I'm Reading Lately, Companion Planting

There's something about Winter that slows my brain down. I can stare at seed catalogs, make a gardening calendar, and attend to basic preparations. But no matter how hard I try to read about gardening techniques, I can't seem to retain the information. Good news, though. It's springtime again and the library has fielded some really great gardening reads. I'll be sharing some of them here, though with much shorter commentary than I had used in the past. I'm just too busy running around to get hung up in the details. 

Companion Planting Reads:

“Complete Guide to Companion Planting” by Dale Mayer ISBN 9781601383457

Thorough and concise paperback resource. Part of the “Back to Basics” series. Discusses plant companions but also “critters” helpful and harmful. Assumes a very basic knowledge of gardening so occasionally tedious in explanations for the more experienced gardener. Very holistic approach to gardening.

“Mix and Match Guide to Companion Planting” by Josie Jeffery ISBN 9781607746331

Flip book style guide featuring aboveground, central, and belowground crops. Includes comments on 75 plants with full color photos. Great for visually mixing plantings. Not as useful for finding companions for established garden plan.

Books I've Been Reading, Herbs

“Herbal Antivirals” by Stephen Harrod Buhner ISBN 9781612121604

The book focuses on the use of a handful of herbs for the purposes of antiviral use. The book starts with a “justification” titled “why this book exists.” The book is written from an alarmist point of view. The book is a blend of formal and informal writing, using the latin names for various subspecies mixed in with conversational style. The conversational style is so casual it’s difficult to feel the author speaks with authority. This book isn’t suited to the beginner herbalist.

“Your Backyard Herb Garden” by Miranda Smith ISBN 0875969941

Like most herb gardening books, this book starts with gardening basics (soil, choosing locations, care, etc.). A full ⅔ of the  book, however, focuses on herbs. 52 herbs are listed and discussed with pictures and full explanations. The list includes the commonly used herbs (basil, cilantro, lavender, oregano, etc) but includes some lesser known but still available/useful herbs (valerian, wormwood, pennyroyal). Each herb listing has a concise and informative page including everything from a description to harvest to usage. A great resource for the 52 herbs included in the book. A good reference book for the general herb gardener.

Books I've Been Reading, Small Spaces

“Sugar Snaps and Strawberries” by Andrea Bellamy ISBN 9781604691245

Majority of the book functions as an introduction to gardening in a general sense. Some space devoted to “Finding Space” and overall the book shows a respect for space. The book has a lot of empty page space. Pages with large blank areas and large photos showing repetitive information. Overall not a great complement for an experienced gardener’s library.

“Vertical Vegetables and Fruit” by Rhonda Massingham Hart ISBN 9781603429986

A book truly dedicated to vertical gardening techniques. Lots of great tips for vertical growing. It doesn't always translate well into small spaces but the ideas can be adapted. The book assumes  the reader has a reasonable experience with gardening and skips the usual very basic how to instructions.