Many people who know me know that, though I may have a slight addiction to programming, I also love to garden. I picked up a small side job helping a friend in their garden and… it took a while to get mine fully ready for the summer.
This year, I ended up with cherry tomatoes (3), Early Girls (2), and a Roma (1) — all caged up. Tucked in around them are 6 Genovese basil and 3 Thai basil, which… let’s just say there’s a lot of basil this year. There are a few small seedlings still trying to stand on their own, along with the baby sunflower in the lower right. And of course, the rosemary is doing its job, keeping the pests away.
In the lower area, two zucchini plants finally made it into the ground — which I’m genuinely more excited about — along with 11 Mexican Cinnamon basil plants. Along the fence: more rosemary, mint, oregano, and a camellia.
Under the Japanese Maple, I’ve got the shade-lovers: Thai pepper, Lemon Basil, Stevia, Lemon Balm, Peppermint, Serrano Pepper — and a bunch of very young Genovese, Lemon, and Thai basil still finding their footing. I started about 120 basil seedlings from seed back in April. Let’s just say that’s… a lot of tiny cups to babysit. Most of the survivors went to a friend’s place a couple of weeks ago; I kept the strongest ones. Hoping to overwinter the top performers and have something actually sturdy to work with next season.
The most exciting part of the yard: the pomegranates! They come with their own story. When I first moved in, the neighbors had a 12-foot-tall, sickly tree that I could barely identify. On my side of the fence was mostly rock and a few scraggly, unloved bushes. That crap had to go! So, I pulled out rock, and more rock… (took me 2 seasons to get it all out), and in its place a bunch of periwinkle (vinca minor).
The vinca was happy… for a while, till the neighbor’s yard above us left their water on. It flooded my entire backyard for weeks. Then the grasses moved in. Also, because I was watering and feeding the vinca, something unusual occurred: the neighbor’s tree got happy. Turned out: it was a pomegranate. That year, the tree had 3 pomegranates on the neighbor’s side… and about 3 dozen on my side!
The following year, the tree fell some, and they removed it. Well, the tree had been so happy with my side of the fence, it grew a HUGE root (2-inch diameter) straight through this bed. The next year, two volunteers came up from that root. Since then, another 8 to 10 have also come up — I’ve been taking care of them like I wanted them there in the first place.
A few years ago, they started bearing good fruit, and I started shaping them. This year is the first year I can use them as shade trees (morning sun, afternoon shade). Plus, the one pomegranate I actually planted years ago has finally filled out — thick, lush pomegranate from the patio all the way to the lime tree.
The remaining vinca minor I was able to save from the invasive water and weeds is finally starting to recover. The young-ish bay laurel is settling into its morning sun, afternoon shade microclimate, and starting to look healthy.
Next up: mint tea, tomato salads, Thai food, and plenty of grilled zucchini. It’s shaping up to be a good summer.