Dirty Fingernails

Aline writes: Well, with our big beautiful communal garden, you wouldn’t think I would still have a hankering to garden, but there is something about digging your fingers into the soil that nothing else can replace. Or maybe it was pumpkin envy, watching the pumpkins grow out in our communal garden. But I was unwilling to offend some unwritten rules of British behavior by digging in our communal garden ☺

But perhaps the real impetus was an ad on the tube from beddingplants.com – 70 plants for 9.99. How could I go wrong?

But getting started was a little like the banana muffin saga – I had to gather all the ingredients. By combing through all the cupboards, I unearthed several pots. On the roof, I found a little trowel and fork. I then mail ordered my little perennials – pansies that are supposed to bloom in the winter even here. They came in this cute little container – little plugs of pansies.


But the dirt – how to get the dirt? Remember, no car! By chance a few months ago, I found a local nursery only 5 blocks away in the middle of a residential neighborhood. For those of you who garden in the south bay, it reminded me of Yamagami’s in Cupertino. So I tricked Bill into going over there with me to “look” at the dirt – of course, we ended up buying 3 big bags, and he carried 2 home at once. Then up the 4 flights of stairs. Whew. What a sweetie!

I enjoyed planting the little pansy plugs last weekend. Don’t they look sweet?


I checked them yesterday and they are doing well, except that some enterprising bird had pulled out several of the plugs, but they were easily replaced. I will post a pic later when I get some blooms! One good thing – it rains regularly, so I don’t need to water them!