My Whiskey Barrel is not quite full

Welcome to Adventures in Container Gardening! Narrated by your host Kristin.

OK, So I happen to live in a concrete jungle, contributing to the urban heat effect that manages to make this desert of ours even more unbearable come summer time. I live in a little apartment renovated from the back of a house. If you don't mind a little concrete, the courtyard is lovely. It is quiet and private (with the exception of my crazy neighbors- some of whom I think are a bit unhinged) and has little islands of garden with cacti, orange and grapefruit trees and other native plants decoratively bordering the easy upkeep concrete paving that dominates the space.

During the last couple of years, watching my friends ever more exciting back yard gardens and becoming increasingly impassioned about plants... my determination for a garden of my own has grown and grown (about the only thing that has).

I have had some spectacular failures, including attempted herbs and other plants both inside and out that just didn't make it. I do not have a green thumb. Some I have killed, I suspect, by over watering, some by under watering... some don't get enough sun and others I have fried by leaving them in the summer sun on my coffee table. So needless to say it has been a slow and frustrating process and all of it container bound.

Newly inspired by a gift of many pots and some flowers to plant by a dear friend who is moving, my concrete garden experiment has recently taken off. Now, instead of one or two dying plants I have about twenty in different stages of life or death--

With that brief background I introduce to you my newest challenge: Whiskey Barrel grown Bottle Gourd.

I bought this lovely little Bottle Gourd at the Tucson Organic Gardeners' sale last Sunday. It was an impulse buy, I had no previous desire for a bottle gourd plant. It was, you know, near the register. And of course I had no idea how to grow one.

So now, a few days later- I find my self with a large whiskey barrel (not false advertising- the sweet aroma of whiskey filled the air when I was drilling holes in the bottom) that I have been on repeated trips to find more dirt for... still not quite full.

To companion my gourd experiment I have planted some native seeds of a couple herbs advertised as similar to dill and marigold. In some nice Google-obtained theory these might keep bugs away from my theoretical gourds.

Feel free to take bets on gourd production, I am sure you will all be at the edge of your seats, like we were when waiting for Matt's chickens to start laying blue eggs.

From the back alleys of chance...

Today is a special day. Not only are we blogging for the very first time, but the Tucson Organic Gardeners' plant sale coincided with Brush and Bulky day in the very same neighborhood! So we bought some plants (Bottle Gourd for Kristin's container garden -very "in" and urban friendly- and a Patty Pan Squash for Debbie's backyard garden). It felt simply delightful to be wandering in the 75 degree weather among beds of rainbow chard and red cabbage, children perched on chairs getting their faces painted, and a pollinators bean bag toss. There were local water harvesting experts in dorky hats behind their information tables, homemade posters describing desert composting techniques, and grass-fed beef sizzling in burger-form on the grill. Even Debbie, the vegetarian, was salivating.

We arrived at the plant sale slightly late. Most of the plants had been picked over by the early birds, and we were slightly disappointed by our luck. But, as Kristin pointed out, we still had Brush and Bulky to look forward to...

And now, for non-Tucsonans, the importance of Brush and Bulky. This is the day for each neighborhood when you can leave large unwanted crap on your curbside or ally and the city will collect it. For scavengers it can be a great opportunity to find broken furniture, window frames, rotting couches....

Confession: Kristin and Debbie cannot pass up a Brush and Bulky filled ally without a good drive by.

We had a couple quick scores: a tomato cage, the side of an old red bench, a plastic chair for Debbie's backyard and some eroding furniture, which we sadly passed up for lack of storage space (someday...).

After driving past ranch-style house after ranch-style house and curbsides piled high with cactus guts, wooden pallets, broken chairs, buckets of nails, etc, the real score came as we drove down yet another unsuspecting suburban street. On the other side of a beat-up Suburban selling for $950, Debbie spotted something a wonderful shade of purple.

"Beautiful purple dresser! Beautiful purple dresser! Kristin pull over!"

And Kristin did.

Behold the purple dresser, interesting in color, yet more attractive from inside the car. We got out anyways to take a look. The back was kind of falling off. The general state of the dresser was "shaky"to say the least.. it was almost such a great find. We consoled each other. It wouldn't have fit inside Kristin's car anyways. But, like all good trash pickers and furniture scavengers, we gave it a good inspection none-the-less before leaving it for the Brush and Bulky people.

Kristin opened the middle drawer. Debbie took the one on the right. Empty you ask? If you call someone's entire ancient (but well-used) VHS tape collection "empty".

We took one quick glance at a few of the titles and proceeded to run back to the car in hysterics. Then we came back with the camera.

We think the pictures speak for themselves.

(the one underneath "My Dirty Little Thoughts" is entitled "Extreme Hardcore")

...until next Brush and Bulky day...

Love,

Kristin and Debbie

P.S. Welcome to our awesome blog.