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I have moved. I have a yard now. I live in the Central Valley now. I am
a student now. Big changes are afoot.
This week I have spent over two hours raking leaves. You can see from the
picture of the yard that it is pretty much a dirt patch. This picture was
taken after the raking. I actually thought that the yard was overgrown
with ivy, but, in fact, it was merely dead ivy leaves spread out all over
the yard. My landlord tells me that one year ago, the yard was full of 20'
diameter oleander bushes. Some of them are starting to resprout
from the stumps. The blue tarp covers my leaf pile. I am hoping it will
self-compost through benign neglect.
I learned some things about the previous tenants during my raking
adventure. They had small feet, they drank Jarritos, they used Q-tips.
Apparently oleander does not add a lot of organic matter to the
soil. It appears to have very little in it other than clay. I broke
ground on a little 5'x6' plot near the tree (4 hours). I hope to plant
vegetables. I went to the local nursery to get some seeds and some top
soil to add. At that point, I had broken up the soil in my plot and was
thinking "Hey, it's a good thing I started this garden in the fall. I
won't get too ambitious because there's not that much I can plant." My
plan was to plant some bunch onions, kale and lettuces. At the nursery,
they broke all the promises I made to myself. They gave me this huge list
of all the stuff that's appropriate to plant in October/November.
Arugula, Bok Choi, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery,
Collards, Daikon, Fava Beans, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Peas,
Radicchio, Radishes, Spinach, Swiss chard, and Turnips. Maybe I'll
try Fava beans. I really like them and I like pea/bean flowers. And then,
wow, Broccoli? It's the only vegetable my spouse will cook on his own...
hmm... The ambition grows like a cancer.
Now all I have are plans, though. It took me a week to figure out why all
the water from the outdoor spigot goes around my hose instead of through
it. Maybe it'll take me another week to buy the part I need. No hurry,
though. It's still 90 degrees every day here.
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