Since March I have been working on bringing life into the yard that came with our cottage. I could see the potential in the mature fruit trees, the trouble was getting to them. The grass was waste high in some areas! It was best to follow the trail the dog had made to his circle of poop. If that wasn't enough ivy had pretty much taken over anything it could climb on. It didn't take me long before I was in the yard everyday working on something else.
My first purchase was a weed whacker. I cut down all the weeds so it would be easier to attack the ivy. Instead of carrying all the yard waste up to the bin I just piled in in a sloping part of the yard and covered it in mulch to decompose. If I piled all of the weeds, ivy clippings and grass scraps, the pile would be as tall as me.
There were a lot of things I liked and a lot I didn't like- that changed, I've planted seeds and flowers of all kinds. 90% of them I couldn't name- I just liked the way they looked and I am so happy because as they're filling in I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.
This area was full of nasty snail plants and broken pieces of slate so I cleaned it out and planted flower seeds. I was really surprised when I found the stump of a bougainvillea. Since then I have been nursing back to health.
I sectioned out a small plot for veggies- tomato, basil, peas and pumpkin. I fenced it in chicken wire and used the frame of an old window for the gate. I finally have my first - almost ripe Early Girl tomato.
I also have green beans but the plants only grow 2 or 3 at a time so I never have enough to eat at once. On the other hand the pumpkin vines got so big I had to cut openings for them.
I just planted corn seeds about a week ago so you can imagine my surprise when I saw seedlings today. I don't know if the corn will make it by in time- I have a feeling I planted it too late.
When we moved in, one of the first things I did in the yard was hack at this ancient wisteria because it was dormant and I didn't know what it was.- duh. Anyway, I followed the technique of my grandmother and by breaking a branch off and sticking it upright in the ground this is what I got...
It had a baby!! Those leaves coming off that dead stick is the start of a new wisteria that is going to grow up the drain pipe and cover the cottage (at some point).
One of the fruit trees had me stumped. It had cherry blossom flowers and when they left it gave birth to tiny yellow cherries... I was afraid to eat them because who ever heard of a yellow cherry? Eventually they started to get a little bigger and I was eager to eat them so I googled yellow cherries and there is such a thing. It's called a yellow blush cherry. Having seen redness on the skin of my "cherries" I tried one and it was so sweet.
I didn't fall over in pain so I picked a bunch and brought them in to wash and share. I must have had about 20. So the next day I brought some to work and after some understandable skepticism they began to disappear. Everyone loved them!
Except they convinced me they taste more like a small plum than a cherry. So I don't know what these crazy fruits are but I'm bagging them up to give out to people.
To have this oasis in Oakland is so incredible. Yeah, it's been hard work but it's also been a labor of love. The best part is having people over and sharing all of it.
see ya!
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