the not unsurprising tale of the demise of my entire garden
At some point, I’m just going to give the hell up on the patio garden, because I’m not really that much of a martyr to the gardening cause.
Foolishly, I had figured that since the year before last my patio was out of order while the building people patched all of the concrete, and then last year it was closed due to painting, that this year I could finally go ahead and plant stuff in peace. But no. I thought this side of the building looked pretty good with the new paint, but apparently it was an aesthetic catastrophe until they took down all the balcony rails for a good blasting and repainting and then installed them again. This took about a month during the hottest, driest part of the summer. Needless to say, my plants died off in a most gruesome manner.
The balconies look pretty good though.
I don’t think I’d mind the building management’s desire to spruce up the outside of the building quite as much if they took any time at all to repair my apartment. I’ve got tile chipping away on my stairs (it’s unsightly and a hazard!) that I was told six months ago they’d come and fix ‘right away’. If they don’t behave themselves I’m going to move out of here and become a homeowner. Or something. Though it would be nice to have a place with dirt, I’m leery of putting down literal roots. I like my carefree lifestyle! Never mind that I’ve lived here longer than the time it’s taken one acquaintance to buy and sell two houses, I’m a renter! A free spirit! (More to the point, I’m financially constrained to this location.)
Obviously, my enthusiasm for writing about my garden was somewhat dampened by the fact that it was killed off. Then my small, perfect boy dropped my expensive new camera from a height and there ended my vague idea of sharing photos of local fauna with you.
But lo, my camera has returned! And lo, this just happens to coincide with the return of my only productive season! And lo, I also just happen to have a lot of homework I don’t feel like doing right now! So like a lazy, procrastinating, electronic-gadget-dependent Phoenix from the ashes, this plant journaler returns to wax pathetic.
I did go out yesterday and take a few photographs of some local plants and trees going to seed in various ways. These are all plants that I pass on my way to and from school. As you can see from these photographs, Autumn is the hands-down winner of the best season contest.
It may or may not amuse you all to know that I watched three perfectly good avocado pits rot into stinky globs this summer. I moved the experiment up to my desk. Originally I thought that I would be better able to track their progress and maybe through more careful attention I’d have success, but now I just think these little memento mori are good for the health of my soul.
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