On The Come Up

Since I rarely drive I may have missed the fact that the 63rd and the Dan Ryan had both inbound and outbound exit ramps.

Nonetheless the south bound exit coming from the city seems new to me.

Now I'm hoping the construction is sound and nothing falls apart, but can you believe this landscaping?



Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is 63rd and Wentworth.

But I'm sure you could tell that by the grattiesque auto parts sign in the background of this picture. Prettying up the urban landscape won't happen overnight.

Normally the ramp medians would be choked with weeds and trash.

This looks like something you'd see on the north side.

We're on the come up.

Clearly It's Not The Rabbits We Need To Worry About

Per my Tweet from yesterday, some jackasses are going into the garden and stealing produce.

That's just plain out and out bullshit.

The only leeway I'd give would be if someone's hungry but even then I'd rather you ask me for my tomatoes than find them used in an impromptu food fight.

Just a gut feeling after seeing the remains of ripened tomatoes all over the garden.

If you remember part three of my Yo Chicago interview on You Tube, you'll see a glimpse of my tomato plant which only had about five tomatoes on it vs. fifteen from the week before.

So much for tomato, mozzarella and basil salad.

Heavy Sigh

Frank (or one of his relatives)has decimated the flowers on the back porch.

My refrigerator just died yesterday.

This is on top of the huge vet bill AND the unemployment countdown.

Do not be surprised when the Paypal tip jar appears in the sidebar---it's coming.

Turn About

I really love where I live.

That feeling only heightens in the summer time.

Now you’ve heard me piss and moan about trash, my neighbors---both in and out of the association and crime.

And make no mistake all are important factors in the livability of a neighborhood.

But despite all of that, I thank my lucky stars that I actually live within a stone’s throw from the site of the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

The impact of the fair cannot only be read on the pages of The Devil In White City, but also in Jackson Park and it’s lagoons parked off of Lake Michigan.

And as one can expect, that park is teeming with wildlife.

At any given moment I can witness a hustler in the middle of Stony Island selling laundry bags and socks while traffic completely stops to let a family of geese cross.

The urban/suburban juxtaposition boggles the mind.

The fact that you can have an occasional drive by shooting and see a raccoon larger than a dog going through your trash can make for an interesting neighborhood balancing act.

Frankly I think the animals that live by our side are so used to us that they consider us the attraction.

They very well may think that they are living in an open air human habitat in a very large zoo.

Now that I’m the farmer in the ‘hood I get to see just how our wild four legged friends interact with urban gardens and golf balls.

Garden Progress

Tuscany? No, just the entrance to the Urban Garden off the first tee of the Jackson Park Golf Course.


Side shot of the garden.


Garden overview. Those small plants on the outer rim are marigolds. They're supposed to keep the pests away.


Only two of my four collard green plants have really taken off. Check out my huge tomato plant on the far right.


Collard greens close up.


The peppers are starting to take off. They need the warm weather to really start growing.


Mr. Tomato plant.

Just Planted

Despite the fact that I live two blocks away from the urban garden, I'm still getting the hang of turning on the water supply from the golf course, ducking flying balls and not watering the veg so late that it's dark by the time you put the hose away and lock up.

I love our little patch of heaven but I ain't trying to get caught in a secluded grove of trees off a non-fenced golf course that's in a Chicago public park.

That's a recipe for a really bad time.

In fact, when I was watering last Tuesday about a 1/2 hour before the sun went down I noticed that random men were popping up on the golf course---without golf clubs and on the path surrounding the garden.

Creepy.

Unfortunately my time to water is limited as early in the morning isn't an option while I still have a job.

And no, there's nothing new to report on that front. Once I have news, I'll let you know.

Why do you think I'm trying to grow my own tomatoes, bell peppers and collard greens?

Anyhoo...

The potential for something very bad to happen back there is a real possibility so I always carry my cell phone and look for other people either jogging or on the golf course. So I try to very much stay aware of my surroundings while indulging my urban gardening steez.

Keep good gardening vibes coming my way. Keep your fingers crossed that a bounty is only a few months away.

Enjoy the pictures below.

Jackson Park Urban Garden, 2

Clean and green volunteers making signs.





Garden view of the golf course.

Jackson Park Urban Garden

Yes, we're just that close to the Jackson Park golf course.


The start of a new fence.


A young helper digging post holes.


My little "half acre."


The compost pile.

Barter System

The paint job in my condo looks like a bag of ass.

Then of course it started looking like a bag of ass about the first anniversary of my move in date.

As I'm sure you can imagaine, a lot of high quality finishes went into our conversion. The paint job was no exception.

(Tounge placed firmly in cheek)

And while I like the colors I choose, I long for something new and exciting.

Becuase if you have a smudge on your wall it might be nice to wash it off without taking a large portion of the paint with it in the process.

So I want to paint my place but there are two glaring issues.

1. I'm not the best painter. I tried to paint my kitchen years ago and the efforts didn't exactly turn out House Beautiful worthy.

2. Money ain't exactly flowing around here so paying someone isn't in the game plan.

So I have a proposition---let's barter.

If you need a containter garden put down and can paint---high quality, I might add---then I think we might be able to help each other.

You'll advise me on materials, I'll advise you on materials.

You'll shop with me, I'll shop with you.

You'll paint and help me learn the skill, I'll plant and you'll get the hang of it in no time.

And when I say "help me learn the skill" and "you'll get the hang of it in no time" what I really mean is I'll plant and you'll paint and neither of will really want to learn the opposite skill.

'Cause if you really wanted to plant and I really wanted to paint, we would of learned how to do it by now, right?

But it's nice to aspire.

So if you're game, I'm game.

I'm not a master gardener but I have had some luck putting down well received container gardens for myself and others.

Because in today's economic reality, knowledge and know how may very well be better than money.

The Farmer In The 'Hood

Guess who applied for a vegetable garden plot in the Jackson Park Urban Farm?

It's like a modern day Green Acres---I don't have to say goodbye to city life in order to scratch my country mouse itch.

If I get it, be prepared for rants against all forms of small animals---squirrels, possums, raccoons, rats---you name an animal and I'm sure I will have sworn a blood vengeance against it by the end of the summer.

Now to find a floppy straw hat.

I Spoke Too Soon

Just when I thought the 'hood was taking on an air of respectability, the restless youth have slowly but surely returned to the corner.

Great.

Not only have a hand full of the original horde started hanging out on the northwest corner, but when people cast lingering glances their way they go across Stony Island and hang out in the bus shelter.

I noticed yesterday the bus shelter got tagged with graffiti.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

I wonder if the owners of the building on the corner will enforce the no loitering order or if it will take another shooting (and a fatality) before people get it?

At least it was nice quiet month. I was just hoping it would last.

(Sigh)

On a different note I found out that I'm a finalist in the Mayor Daley's Landscape Awards Contest.

While I'm excited, I figured that when you enter gardening contests and don't hear back from anyone in a reasonable amount of time that some Versailles inspired garden has kicked your garden's ass.

So imagine my surprise when I got a phone call last week stating that I was a finalist and that someone needed to swing by the flat to take a look at the flowers.

Who knew?

I'll keep you posted on both fronts.

The Last Gasp of Summer

With the weather changing, I wanted to give you a last taste of summer. These are the flowers I planted for my friend's back porch.


Unfortunately all the prettiness will be gone as soon as the frost hits.

The Hanging Gardens

Versailles?

Are you effing kidding me?

Lushly planted Ponds? Colonial Williamsburg? A floral patchwork quilt? Prairie grasses?

Fuggetaboutit!

No wonder my container garden doesn’t even raise an eyebrow at the Trib.

As usual I sent in my glorious gardens entry hoping that the love would come my way. Disappointment reared its ugly head before but I solider on hoping one day that I’d get that fateful call.

Yet year after year the call never comes.

I look at it as another learning opportunity---a chance to refine my gardening skills and to widen my knowledge base.

No matter how much I think I’ve grown or improved, a sister can only do so much with containers.

Perhaps my thinking is too limited

Unless the overall winner is a hellafied container garden (we’ll find out next week), how can an urban gardener such as myself ever hope to complete against a Versailles inspired garden?

That's like putting a soap box derby winner in the Indianapolis 500. Can the Trib throw us small space container gardeners a bone?

Short of recreating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon I guess I’ll toil away in gardening anonymity

A Sign of the Apocalypse

“They” say the south side is a ghetto and dangerous? There may be a sliver of truth to that but at least our flowers are real.

Jesus take the wheel.

2008 Version, Part 2

Now, the front.

2008 Version

A lot of things got sacrificed this year due to unemployment but the garden wasn't one of them. Don't worry kids, I caught the end of the stock sales in mid June and put both the back and front gardens down for a steal.

Seriously.

We all have little things that keep us sane and grounded; gardening just happens to me mine. I shudder to think of the bundle of joy I'd be without watering and deadheading flowers.

Despite the fact it went down pretty late in the season, I think everything has grown in nicely.

For your viewing pleasure---the back porch.

Pretty

A few pictures of a lovely Dorchester garden to start your weekend off right.

Happy Friday!

Frank---The Back Story

Yes, that is a picture of a squirrel with a chicken wing in his mouth.

And no it wasn’t photo shopped.

But I’m getting ahead of myself----let me introduce you all to Frank.

Frank is mainly seen in the Washington Park neighborhood but no one knows exactly where he (or she?) resides.

My friend who lives across the street from Washington Park encountered Frank about four years ago when he started digging up the container garden that I worked so hard to plant.

At the time I didn’t know that those cute furry woodland creatures commonly known as squirrels were garden destroying rats with a fluffy tail and good PR.

Both my friend and I were extremely pissed.

Frank tore out my hard work to bury one of his many prizes----a corn cob, half a snickers bar or perhaps some other delicacy he found amidst the urban landscape.

Motherfucker.

So over the years during the warmer months, a battle would ensue between us and him.

At first my friend would leave his three dogs on the back porch where the flower boxes were located.

Frank merely kept out of their reach while he proceeded to rip apart another flower box.

Then at the start of last planting season we heard that blood meal would keep squirrels away from your flower boxes. So naturally we grabbed a few bags.

It seemed to work, yet Frank still came around to tease the dogs.

It seemed that Frank had upped the ante. It wasn’t about the flowerboxes anymore.

If my friend didn’t keep up with his blood meal application Frank would merely come back and we’d find plants on the floor of the back porch the next day.

That flipping squirrel was (and is) a sadist.

So it was no surprise when I got an excited phone call one day about his outrageous behavior.

“Woody, you won’t believe what I just saw!”

“Good God, what happened now?”

“The dogs were going crazy on the back porch barking at Frank.”

“Alert the media.”

“He was carrying a hot chicken wing in his mouth.”

“Shut up you liar. I should hang up this phone right now. Since when do squirrels start eating chicken wings?”

“I don’t know but he has a chicken wing in his mouth right now----I have a picture to prove it.”

“Bullshit.”

“No really, I have a picture.”

“So let’s see it, homeboy. Send it to me.”

And so he did.

At this point, all I can do is shake my head.

Dorchester Is Killin' It

Seriously, what's with the emergence of the hardcore gardeners on Dorchester between 63rd and 65th?

I know it's only two blocks but the explosion of color, the variance of plants, the mix of perennials and annuals create such as beautiful tapestry it's litteraly jaw dropping.

The now mature parkway garden in the 6400 block of Dorchester looks amazing with the addition of new perennials. Hopefully I'll be able to download my Blackberry pictures so you can enjoy the full beauty of this garden.

A few doors to the north, the newly built condos have some stunning lawn borders.

A lilly may just be a lilly but when you live in a neighborhood that has many vacant, trash strewn lots; that lilly represents progress.

Hope, even.

But the ones who are absoulutely killin' it on the gardening tip is the Apostolic Church of God.

Yeah, the one that the Obamas are probably attending as I write this post.

Note: Do not go near the corner of 63rd and Dorchester. The traffic will be nightmarish.

I schlepped past Apostolic yesterday and was stopped in my tracks by the vibrancy of their parking meridians.

Personally, I love the use of common household annuals----petunias, impatients. begonias, geramniums----in uncommon (and large bold) pairings.

Once again, if I ever figure out how to download these friggin pictures from my Blackberry I'll show you the visual feast.

Small steps make a big impact for a stronger neighborhood.

In Case You Were Wondering

A few updates:

The cat's ass dandruff is clearing up nicely. Apparently I can't feed him cheap cat food, he has to get the good stuff. God, he's such a high maintenance divo.

The basil is flourishing since I took it inside. Now I think the birds are attacking the impatients in my flower boxes.

Yowsa.

I know I've been promising to learn how to download pictures from my Blackberry Curve but it still hasen't happened. But now that Mt. Carmel is stepping up to the plate, I have to record this photographically for all to see.

Sidewalks, cats and basil oh my!