Flowers, Seeds, and General Optimism

As I write this, Wimbledon is on, my new ac is on full blast, and I'm examining the upside down Y's marked with dirt on my sunburned feet.  There was an early morning brainstorm session on the next stage of the hand-built compost bins with the Sustainability Committee, then I skipped over to my tiny plot to water the parched darlings.  I'm guessing it was a total of 10 minutes my un-sunblocked feet was exposed to sun.  I wish I didn't burn so easily.  I'm not looking forward to the bumpy rash.  My poor toes.

But I discovered a few gems to share with you here!  I'd noticed teeny purple buds on my eggplants last week but here they are in full bloom:

Here's another one:

Pretty, aren't they?  I'm not sure if the variety my mom got me are the bulbous Italian kind or the long skinny Japanese kind.  I just hope they produce edible eggplants of some sort.

Before I go on, an apology for the high contrast photos.  It was very sunny out (aforementioned poor toes), and I took these with my iPhone.

Also exciting is that my cilantro have gone to seed.  I didn't know this until I googled to find out why my cilantro started to flower and didn't look like all the other gardeners' cilantro.  Apparently, I'd not harvested it properly.  Since I had no recipes I wanted to cook just yet that needed any, I decided to leave the flowers alone.  Many have now turned into coriander seeds:

I picked one to taste and it was deliciously pungent!  This might be a better shot of my thumbnail than the seed, but here it is split open:

This is what the cilantro looked like a few weeks ago, haphazardly growing with little white flowers on top:

The basil also flowered:

What were once cute little perilla seedlings now have strong thick stalks:

The lettuces look like they need some chopstick and twist-tie therapy.  I had no idea they'd get so weirdly tall.  Here they are flopped over, bowing to the mint:

And speaking of mint, they've gone crazy, as I'd expected:

Here's the whole thing as of this morning:

From the other side:

It looks like a crazy jumble of green now.  Remember when it looked like this?

Wine Box Experiment

Last week I discovered some db had put rocks in my plot.  Well, I had planned on putting a border between my neighbor's plot and mine anyway, since there's supposed to be a small pathway between us.  Still, no need to do it for me, thanks very much.

It meant I'd have to move my strawberries and a few other things, which was very well, since I was going to do some wine box experimenting.  A friend and former colleague of mine from my last job at a wine company told me he was using wooden wine cases to grow herbs in his Brooklyn backyard.  I had a few, so I thought this would be a good way to do mini raised beds (my ambition next year is to turn my whole plot into a raised bed).

These are the boxes I had to work with.  Two single magnum boxes, perfect for herbs.

And this one, a 6-bottle case, I decided to use for the strawberries.

It was not easy.  First of all, to make room for the path, I had to remove the lettuces, both strawberries, and three perilla.  Then it took me a while to decide where to place them all.  Should I rearrange everything?  Strategically place those I would access more than others closer - but how would I know when they'd get big enough?  Plant based on size?  This was hurting my brain.  I think I must have stood there for about two hours staring, shuffling, bending down, until I decided fuck it, I'll only move whatever I have to, replant the strawberries and herbs in boxes and call it a day.  By the time I was finished, I'd worked up a good sweat.

Here's what it looks like now:

I kept some of the rocks the offender left, except I placed the tops of my magnum cases, essentially flat wooden boards, below the rocks to provide more of a straight guideline.  I moved the cukes to the corner next to the criss-cross border (bottom left) so they could climb it as they grew.  The strawberries are now in the 6-pack Sassicaia box, and the herbs, rosemary, cilantro, and basil are now in the Monfortino case, leaving a little bit of room for some mint I'm getting from my friend Jennie who in turn will receive some of my perilla.  My lettuces are now next to the chives I planted in the Finca Dofi box, although I fear, a little too close to each other.  The squirrels have already gone at the newly moved eggplants, digging little holes where they shouldn't.

Only problem now is there's a huge gap in the middle.  I was going to scatter the perilla there, but I just didn't have the lower back strength.  If I can give away enough perilla, maybe I can do find something else to plant.  I've been thinking of getting more herbs: sage, chervil, marjoram, thyme, tarragon.  I do have one more 6-pack box, and I ordered some organic gardening soil on Amazon I'm still waiting for (see link above).  Maybe I'm getting more into this than I expected, but I'm (foolishly?) optimistic about my little plot.  Here are some more pictures.


I did a bad job replanting the chives but they are so hard to hold down!  Either the roots are sticking up, or I'd have covered all the green parts.  It was hard to line them up straight.  I think the lettuce is too close.

Strawberries in their new home.  I left room on one side in case I get more.

A close up.  It might be easier to have them in a box when I wrap wire mesh around them to protect them from the squirrels.

Herb box:

Cukes repositioned:

Evil squirrel holes near my repositioned perilla.  It's hard to see here because of the shadows but trust me, they're evil I tell ya!

The rest of the perilla are doing just fine: