f r e s h s t a r t

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

 

I'm ignoring the fact that I do not have a yard and have taken on creating a garden as my new spring project. In place of a plot of soil I'm working with the balcony off of my living room which is about 20 feet long, 8 feet wide at the broadest point, and which is edged by a crappy aluminum railing with slats wide enough for my dog to squeeze through if he ever tried. A few months ago I put out a couple of birdfeeders that attracted cardinals, chickadees, and other nice birds until they were discovered by a pair of pigeons. Tonight I planted seeds in nine planters which I placed around the perimeter of the porch, that should contain sprouts in 7-9 days. Container gardening is nothing new, but the woman at Gethsemane Garden Center kind of laughed when I told her that so far I was only planting sugar snap peas. She wanted to know where I lived so she could walk by and check it out later this spring.

I am planning on planting some morning glories next month once the chance of frost has passed. My dad welded some pretty sweet tripod trellises for me, which are perfect for morning glories and other flowering vines but are unfortunately designed to be stuck in the ground. I'm testing out ways to anchor them to the porch and to the pot that the flowers will be growing in so that they don't fly away with a gust of strong Chicago wind.

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