Urban Gardener

I’m known for my blackthumb. My mom once helped me plant a tub of flowers to put on my balcony and I watered it every few days like I was supposed to, I swear. It still died. Then, she brought me a big bunch of mint — it’s practically a weed. No one can kill mint. But mine got some weird black things on it — I couldn’t tell you if they were bugs or just ick-ified. Mind you this was all in Southern California. Since moving to the Bay Area, I’ve managed to keep our yard alive. What do you mean, “What about the lawn?” I don’t know anything about it – ask Wolf. With that success on my record, I decided to take a shot at actually growing a flower box. As a wise man named Harry Callaghan once said, “A [wo]man’s gotta know [her] limitations.”

Yes, these are Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes grown by my own hand. Earlier this week, I harvested my first 3 little tomatoes. Their skins were just the slightest bit toothsome and as advertised, they were indeed, very sweet. Encouraged, I’m gonna take a pass at growing chard for this fall — from seeds, no less! I’ll be chronicling that closely — if I can get those to grow, my blackthumb may be history for good.