Secret garden

Baby tomatoes on our old porch
(Our straight-laced, retired neighbor asked Abe if we were growing pot. Just to be smart, Abe said we were, and asked if Ed wanted some. Ed said yes. Sorry, Ed.)

These days our baby tomatoes have a slightly better view than this one - still a parking lot, but a smaller parking lot, and with trees! They also get a little more sun, and they love it! Abe's balcony gardening is a smashing success -- maybe even literally smashing, once all the plants grow big and heavy enough that our third floor balcony collapses. So today we found a solution.

There's a tiny forest around the back side of our apartment complex with a trail that runs through the woods, along a creek, and eventually into a park. We found the trail today, and walked as far as the creek. We were so excited. We were going to have a secret garden! Out of curiousity, Abe asked at the leasing office if the complex owns that land, and the manager told us no, but did we know about the sweet walking trail? She walks there all the time.

So much for a secret. Still, yesterday Abe and his friend Josh went on the hunt (Abe: "We'll take our hammocks, water, and knives.") for a little clearing off the path where we can plant our garden - okra, tomatoes, carrots, squash, watermelon, and beans. I'm nervous about sending our baby beans out into the big world, where they'll be at the mercy of opossums, deer, rabbits, slugs, drunken high schoolers (who might mistake our slug traps for their liquid refreshment) and curious leasing managers. But I guess bush beans have to grow up just like anything else, and a good gardener has to know when it's time to let go.

(Why bother with DIY vegetables? Funny you should ask. Also, it is very gratifying to see a little seed make its way into the sunshine)