It’s such an exciting time in my own garden right now. Not only is everything ripening and in bloom, but we’ve also finally started construction on our backyard project.
I don’t blog about my backyard much, and there’s a reason for it: it looks like hell. While I love my front patio, where we spend most of our outdoor time – and my third-floor deck, which has recently pulled its act together – my backyard has been sadly neglected. Since we moved in last year, it has been a holding ground for plants I moved from our last home, a rather large barbecue, more sloppy container plantings than is acceptable, and, well, things we didn’t know what else to do with.
In short, my backyard is unfit for human consumption, and thus no photos exist on on this site. Until now…
This photo, taken from the third-floor deck, is my backyard’s before photo: the one with no makeup, bad posture and unflattering clothing. I am sharing this because the makeover is finally in progress. There is no glamourous after photo to share… yet. But there will be!
The backyard makeover plan starts with the fence.
Before:
The existing one wasn’t a completely unsightly fence. Certainly it wasn’t the worst thing about our roughly 13′ x 15′ space. But it was the first thing to change.
After:
Ta-da! Isn’t it gorgeous? (Sorry, but I’m so over the moon with it, I don’t care if I’m bragging.)
A few evenings and one full day’s work (cutting, staining, assembling) and a few hundred dollars in red cedar — and it was so worth it. I am so completely in love with my new fence – and yes, I would totally marry it.
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Maybe this is what we outdoor-only gardeners need — although I wonder if unsatisfactory watering methods are the sole cause of my houseplants’ untimely deaths. I guess it couldn’t be helping.
Botanicalls, a system still in the testing stage, is designed to help keep plants alive. Developed by four students at New York University’s interactive telecommunications program, Botanicalls “opens a new channel of communication between plants and humans, in an effort to promote successful inter-species understanding.” Whoa.
Or in other words, sensors in the soil “allows plants to place phone calls” when the soil is too dry, too wet, or to thank you for watering it.
According to this article, the phone messages are customized by species of plant. For example, “the scotch moss message is recorded with a Scottish accent. ‘Someone just watered me. It wasn’t enough. I don’t know what you were thinking.’”
Just what I need – guilt from my plants!
Photo of the prototype from Botanicalls.
Regular Heavy Petal readers know that I’m really into seedballs, those muddy little balls of floral love.
The first sowing I did this year was disturbed by construction, so I recently launched a second attack. The teeny results are beginning to show themselves in these photos.
For a more advanced idea of what seedballs can do, I point you toward one of the Vancouver GGG’s (that’s Guerilla Gardening Group’s) seedbomb projects, a median in a busy on-ramp:
There was barely 2″ (5cm) in which to “plant” the seedballs, and yet, what lovely results!
The last two photos are borrowed from Al. You can see more of his GGG photos here.
I want to tell you about a really inspiring guerilla art project and accompanying blog.
Though I have lived in Vancouver almost all of my life, I’d never heard of Hogan’s Alley until a member of the Vancouver Guerilla Gardening Group put out a call for help with an installation for the Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project.
Hogan’s Alley was the first and last neighbourhood in Vancouver with a substantial concentrated black population, and prior to 1935, was a happening red-light district. It was demolished in the 70s by the construction of the Georgia Viaduct.
The Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project is a grassroots cultural organization dedicated to keeping this history alive; one of their members, artist Lauren Marsden, spearheaded this floral tribute to the neighbourhood. She writes, of the project:
The civic powers write — sometimes in floral text — messages welcoming you into the municipality. But what about the unofficial spaces? Those that were not named by the city, but named themselves? The municipalities within municipalities? The lost ‘hoods? The ghost ways?
Red impatiens welcome you to the old commuity. If you’re in the vicinity of the green space near the Dunsmuir Viaduct, at 200-block Union Street — the old site of Hogan’s Alley — check it out. Hopefully they last through the summer.
The Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project’s blog is a fascinating look at this forgotten neighbourhood.
Images from Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project.
Heavy Petal has a guest blogger today: Jessica Schessler, a college student interning for the summer with Sustainable Harvest International, a very cool non-profit organization that helps Central American farmers create sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn farming. Jessica is helping to spread the word.
By Jessica Schessler
Becoming green and saving the environment has become quite the hot topic. Plenty of well-intentioned people and organizations try to remedy these issues at home and abroad as well, but where some fall short is making sure that the programs they place are not just good for the Earth, but for the people in the area as well. Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) has worked with nearly 1,000 families and 900 students in Honduras, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua implementing alternatives to slash-and-burn farming, the leading cause of rainforest destruction in the region since 1997.
As a result of these programs, SHI, along with the farmers have:
* Planted more than 2,000,000 trees.
* Converted 6,000 acres to sustainable uses, thereby saving 30,000 acres from slash-and-burn destruction.
* Improved nutrition through the establishment of more than 200 organic vegetable gardens.
* Increased farm income up to 800%.
* Built 165 wood-conserving stoves (saving 1,650 trees per year).
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With a backyard the size of a king-sized mattress, everything that goes into it must work extra hard. Plants are the easy part: just look fabulous and interesting for at least three seasons and I’ll let you live. Hard-working (and *attractive*) furniture, on the other hand, is tough to find. Benches that double as storage units, tables that easily transition from coffee table to dining table-height… if I can imagine it, why can’t they build it? (Actually, they do – it’s just that it’s either ugly or I can’t afford it.)
Now, the Piccolo Grande Table and Piccolo Grande Bench by Nobody and Co isn’t for sale until September, so I don’t know yet that I can’t afford it. Still, I can dream.
This is exactly what I need. At first sight it looks just like classic outdoor furniture in teak wood, but by sliding the structure, the staves separate and double in length, transforming a small table into a big one and a small bench into a big bench. Simple. Attractive. Genius.
Via Treehugger.
It could just be because I covet everything turquoise, but I am seriously loving the Petal Pillow by Chiasso. It’s like a pompom dahlia, but square. And made of felt. Mmmm…. felt. Nummy.
Ta da! After months of coveting others’ creations and searching for the right vessel, I finally made my own terrarium. The photos are kind of bad due to the reflection, unfortunately, but you get the idea.
I started with a layer of charcoal, which prevents mold from growing, added soil-less potting mix, then followed with the plants: a plumosa (asparagus fern), lipstick plant and Irish moss. I added the “lawn fawn”, a perfectly-kitschy little deer, just for fun, but you could easily skip it for a more sophisticated look.
Did I mention that I can’t fit my hand in the top, so this was all done with my husband’s barbecue tongs?
You like? I think it’s fab. (As an aside, there was a lot of grumbling last year about houseplant hatred; could terrariums turn it around for the piteous old houseplant?)
Wanna try it? Here’s a good article on the how-to of building a terrarium.
I’ve got questions for you this Monday morning, lovely readers.
First up: the fluffy white cocoon I found on my zucchini plant.
What is it? Will it emerge a moth or butterfly or…?
Second: the spots on my heucheras.
What’s the deal here? Is it rot from water sitting on the leaves? Sunburn? None of the above?
Hanna over at This Garden Is Illegal just posted the meanings behind all the flowers in her now-famous What Flower are You? quiz. It’s amazing how widely the seeds of this quiz have been dispersed. If you haven’t taken it for yourself, do so now. It only takes a couple minutes and it’s fun. This was my result:
Daffodil – You have a sunny disposition and are normally one of the first to show up for the party. You don’t need too much attention from the host once you get there as you are more than capable of making yourself seen and heard.
Suits me fine – I just wish I was something a little more exotic!
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