• Here's a picture of the garden taken from the east, looking west.

• I'm going to try to post a new picture weekly - should be fun to see the tomatoes grow up the trellis.

• I documented the planting plan yesterday, so look for a little graphic in the next week or two.

• To your health!

Here's a picture I took yesterday - 3 peony bushes by my front walk (on the neighbor's property). What a nice burst of color the peonies are adding to the cityscape!

• What a great Memorial Day this has been!

• Started with a decent breakfast, and headed over to Boys Town between 8 and 8:30. The race started at 9. Ran about 40 minutes for 5 miles. Dr. Hans and his son Chris paced me the whole way. Katrina from the office finished a little after me - but of course, she looked fabulous, even at the end of the race.

• Got home, and realized Don Cross was around his house today (with pick-up). Told him about an old display rack that was leaning up against the OTCYP scene shop at 21st and St. Mary's. I drove downtown to confirm - yep! still there. Don came, and we caravaned back to Wirt Street. Don had to scoot away to continue working on his father's house.

• Dennis had called to see what was up. Told him I was about to start weeding, and we arranged to garden and bbq. Pulled all of the weeds from the phase 1 plot, put the display rack up in the middle of the tomatoes, put Preen down everywhere, and set the soaker hose on (about time to turn it off - I'm soaking for 4 hours). After the effort I went up to take a shower. Dennis doesn't sweat so much, so he decided to hang out outside and bask in our efforts (and have a cigarette, of course). I arrived outside 10 minutes later just as he had the display rack secured to a hook on my house - yep - the whole thing had collapsed onto the pepper plants in front, but it looks like the peppers and tomatoes all came out of the experience unscathed. Here's a picture of Dennis and I (post Preen / pre- display rack collapse).

• To your health!

• What a great rain we had - yesterday afternoon, all night long, and on into mid-morning. Don't know how much rain we got, but it was sure a good one.
• So, now that I've talked about the wet, back to the dry: more garden expenses: We were at $42.15. Since then, here's what else was purchased:
• the 6 packs of plants from Wal-mart were actually 10: 2 marigold 6-packs and 8 pansy 6-packs. total cost: $19.80
• The 120 pounds of manure I put on the garden cost $4.80. Expensive shit, eh? This was purchased at the Westlake on Saddle Creek.
• Packets of mammoth basil, mammoth dill, and cilantro from Menard's: $3.43. The bean seeds were leftover from 2 years ago.
• $27.93 + $42.15 = $70.08. So the garden, including some lovely flowers on my front and back steps, has cost me $70 so far this year.
• My next "project" is going to be some kind of wonder-trellis made out of 2" metal studs and wood 1x2s (all stuff I've had sitting in the garage) - I'll definitely be posting a picture of that whenever it's constructed. For reals.

Okay. Now I see why Wordpress is so superior to Google, blog-wise. Just not much to pick from here - and I don't know a thing about HTML interface. So you'll see the template here change a couple more times throughout the summer, I'm sure. Today we had great spring rain. Coolish weather, in the 60s. The tomatoes and peppers are really starting to take off - am anxiously awaiting the emergence of the herbs and beans. All for now - greetings from north O! Here's hoping there's a new councilman for my district when I rise-and-shine tomorrow.

I put phase 2 of the garden in today. Had intended it would only be herbs, but then I found a partial packet of green bean seeds from 2 years ago. Here's what went into the ground today: Herbs: back (4th) row: dill. 3rd row: basil. 1st (front) row: cilantro. The bean seeds all went in the 2nd row...with a smattering in the dill-row. While I like dill, I realize that it's basically a weed, so figure just a few plants will make it through "cuts" --- the little exercise with the tomato and pepper seedlings taught me a big thing this year - always over-sow the seeds. Like 2-to-4 times as many as you want, and then yank out the weakest seedlings, if there's multiple to choose from. Here's some pics showing the seeds in the ground, and the relationship to phase 1. The sideways picture in the middle is looking from the east, down the rows, back to my cellar door. Turn your i-phones for a better view. Hope I didn't jinx myself by putting the plants in without Dennis. The phase 1 plants he put in are all doing well (note the 2 milk jugs with the tops cut off). More financial stuff and a little plan soon to follow. Cheers!