Stage II of our back patio garden

Sunday morning we were very productive as soon as it warmed up above 55 degrees.

Pictured above are our wall planters with:

A) Basilico (a gifted basil plant from a very sweet, authentic South Philly Italian woman)

B)  A Comlumbine surrounded by Bacopa
C) Cilantro!  For the salsa, of course
D) Spearmint, pineapple sage, and creeping jenny

I was so busy at work I forgot to get pictures of Ben drilling holes in the pots and moving heavy bags of soil around.  But, he really did most of the work.

A very young garden.  From the top of the picture:
A) Sweet Texas Onions
B) Assorted hot peppers
C) Okra, unsprouted seeds.  Maybe I won't kill this batch. . . .
D) Two Lima Bean plants.  Nope, not for salsa.
E) A strawberry plant.  I suppose you could put these in salsa?  But really, I'm just excited that I'm not actually allergic to this fruit.

If you use your imagination, you can see a tomato plant in each of the terra cotta planters.  We are awaiting the arrival of 2 varietals from our across-the-street neighbor's fundraiser.

And some pretty, dark purple calla lilies on the left.

Now we just need to put some chairs out there and remember to water!

Building a Planter in our Back Yard

Okay, so "yard," might be a bit of a stretch. 

Let's go with "the outdoor concrete patio area attached to the rear of our house."

But, "planter" is completely accurate.

We are going to plant a salsa garden this year!  Hooray!

Here is Ben mixing mortar.  By hand, well technically by trowel.

With no protective gear!  The package recommends a N95 mask and rubber boots.

Brave Ben.

Step one: Lay the mortar.

Step two: Add a brick

Step 3: Butter the short side of the brick with mortar.

Repeat.

I helped too!  Sans protective gear.

The first layer is complete!

I should mention, by the way, that this project would not have been possible without the borrowed tools from Sarah and Michelle.  

Thanks for letting us borrow the brick splitter and the sledge hammer!

Between the completion of the first layer and this picture, I may have excused myself to shower and possibly nap.  I don't remember clearly.

I did run to the store to purchase an additional 10 pound bag of mortar dust,

so I was marginally helpful!

This is what it looked like when we first moved in.

It will look even better when overflowing with vegetables!

The masonry is complete.  

Now, to plant the tomatoes, onions, spicy chilis, 

and cilantro to complete the salsa garden.

Whenever it stops raining. . . 

Outdoor Christmas Cheer on Iseminger

It's not much, but it brings cheer to our block.

We got real, live garland and LED lights to frame our front window and stoop.

I heart our stoop.

It even looks pretty in the daytime.  

Good job, Ben.

One last shot, with a sneak preview of our tree.

Inside decorations are almost ready for documentation. . .

A Garden on Iseminger

A typical street in South Philly

Ben and I moved to a fantastic row home this summer.  It has a stoop, a back patio, and many other wonderful things, including location.  We've been wanting a garden of some sort and our neighbors have complained about how badly the tree infront of our front window needs to be trimmed since we moved in.

Ben trimming the tree

Ben IN the tree to get tall banches

We did our best and didn't cut any electric lines or cable!  (by "we," I mean Ben.)

Maybe we even fixed the picture on one of our neighbor's televisions and made another neighbor feel safe walking to her front door in the dark.

Mostly, I'm excited about the flowers!  And I hope no one parks on them.

the set-up (and all the branches we cut down)

There were so many rocks in the dirt.  And wires.  And pieces of brick.  And  broken glass.  And a rusty pipe (what? not a very big area for so many interesting treasures.)

pansies and junipers
(see my collection of rocks?  I hope they help keep the soil in place when it rains. . . )

potted mums and pansies

I hope your autumn is full of beautiful flowers and trees too!