That which is loved is always beautiful.
~ Norwegian proverb


I love my garden and have always had a major soft spot for any plants that I may possess. On that note, really, they possess me.

The obsession started as a small child picking weed bouquets for my mother, whom was tragically allergic to them. She had chronic asthma and bronchitis and was allergic to everything under the sun. I don’t think having me around helped, at all.


I have a very compact yard to work with at this house, to my frustration. But I have managed to find a small plot for organic vegetables by moving several trees and tons of ground ivy and I thinkg a million lilies of the valley. I needed to till the top 24" of soil to make it workable and add some new organic topsoil for my own peace of mind. I framed out the plot with stone work and of course threw out my back in the process. But it was all worth every ache and pain. I was so enthralled that I ended up making another small plot right next to the first one, for tomatoes and herbs! As soon as my back recovered that is.

I started everything from seed inside, my dining room looked more like a grow room. About 2 weeks ago I moved all the babies outside, and most of them took pretty well, the last heat snap we had (90 degrees) killed my sweet yellow pear tomatoes though. So at this point I have quite a variety for such a small space: Heirloom steak tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, chinese long beans, shallots, garlic, green onions, butter leaf lettuce, purple basil, sweet basil, thai basil, mint, oregano, cuban oregano, thyme, tri-color sage, liquorice sage, lemon balm, chocolate peppers, pablano peppers, and a row of calendula flowers right done the middle of it all... I used the laws of companion planting this time around, I am curious to see the results.

So far, all the plants are little, but very well loved.