show and tell

Yahoo! Show and Tell! I forgot all about it last week, even though I really wanted to join in all the fun. Check out more fun rarities and B-sides by other fabulous bloggers here.


Given the recent spate of amazing garden photos (I'm looking jealously in your directions, Luna and Kate), I thought I'd post some of my own for S&T this week. If only so you'll have the before photos when, in a few months, you can no longer see the dirt and I am no longer buying vegetables. Also because signs abound in the garden. And I'm a little bit into signs at the moment. Signs, omens, portents - I'm all over that shit.


These radishes were planted about a week ago, and look how well they're doing! Some other seeds were planted about a week ago, but we're not sure how they're doing yet. Radishes also give me heartburn, which I hear is a common symptom during pregnancy. Coincidence?


Ok, I'll shut up now.



I plant my radishes with carrots, because the radishes mark the rows and mature within a few weeks, and then I can pick them and give them away to the old people in my life who really love radishes (why is that?) and then the carrots have room to grow. Plus it's fun to have some instant radish gratification.




These strawberries were given to me by our late, across-the-alley neighbour, Lou the Rototiller Man. Lou was a crusty old dude who had a soft spot for me and Manny, cause I talked gardens with him, and Manny bought a couple lawn mowers off him and admired his legendary junk collection. When Lou died a couple years ago, his landlord came and emptied out the house and shed, and for weeks, there were about 8 rototillers, 6 lawnmowers, 12 old cabinet-style TVs, and various other weird stuff Lou had picked up at garage sales. He had a huge garden on the empty lot next to his house, and a good half of it was taken up with strawberry plants. I hope Lou is in Heaven right now, free of the horrible throat cancer that killed him, watching the serious dump of rain we're getting this weekend, and feeling happy, watching the plants that he nurtured blossom again. We miss you, Lou.

Here are some of my anemones.
I love these plants because, oddly, they have thrived in my sun- and wind-blasted garden, although I think they are meant to be shade-loving forest-floor plants. I got them from a good friend a couple years ago, and have already divided them once and put little clumps elsewhere in the yard. Soon, the delicate white blossoms will open up, and then they will release little bits of fluff and spread their seeds all around. Any plant that produces fluff is alright with me.




Finally, here is my lavender that managed to survive the winter in spite of the fact that I moved it in the middle of the summer last year and then proceeded to not mulch it in the fall. Lavender isn't terribly hardy here, so when I saw new leaves at the bottom of the dead branches, I smiled for days. Right now, this lavender is my emblem of hope, growing and thriving in spite of some serious past neglect.



Thus concludes my first installment of Show and Tell. I'm glad I waited until today to post - I was going to do it last night, but all I could think of was pictures of my dog sleeping. Cute, but not much to tell about. Although the grade 2 authenticity factor would have been really, really high.

**Sorry about the stupid formatting of this post. Blogger is giving me grief and screwing everything up.**