urbantomato

mid June fleming place destruction begins

the beautiful forest that once surrounded my home is being torn down limb by limb around me. its horrible & horrifying & all i can do is document. You couldn't even see that my house was here last week with all the trees.

my house. i feel so exposed.

this tree has hugged my house for close to 100 years. over the last seven it has protected me from sun & winter winds. kept me shady & breezy. surrounded me with bird calls. acted as blinds. and brought me beauty that i cannot even express. it is slated to be cut down imminently along with the large majority of the other amazing century old and others that make up the last urban forest in downtown peterborough. heartbroken

my perennial garden. aka my love

this is my neighbours garden: (all shots below) she was forced to dig it up & move it with only a few weeks notice in late June. it has been heartbreaking to watch. i am sure that any gardener or lover of beauty can empathize.

I fear my garden (above) faces the same fate at some point. unfathomable denial is where i live on that one.

Mid June gardens

I am a little behind in my garden & in my posting of photos so I will do a whole bunch now. Here's some shots of my lift lock community garden plot

some cherry tomato seedlings finally put in the ground

& emerging beans

my secret backyard garden finally starting to look that way.

lots of plants in the ground

awesome pic

found this pic on-line and for obvious reasons, love it. i think i have many of these varieties but obviously have way more to go!

my mom's garden

visiting family always involves helping out & enjoying my mom's garden. her painting at the entrance to her garden pretty much sums it up!

enjoying a sunset with my mom

Garden coming along

I have the best bosses and friends a lady could ask for. In these pictures, you can see my bosses working to help me get my garden planted before I had to leave town suddenly for personal reasons. Starting to look like a garden & not just a phlox patch!

Nice feedback

I love hearing from my customers & getting emails like this:

"I love the variety and selection you offer! It is fantastic to see tomatoes and peppers that you wouldn't see in grocery stores. I have a big Yellow Pear Tomato and Black Sea Man tomato in the back yard starting to flower and your red and chocolate peppers are doing well too!"

This Weekend!

I am super excited to be a part of this artisan & craft show this weekend. Find me and lots of great local chefs, crafters, smokers, bakers, photographers and artists at Parkhill on hunter (restaurant on Hunter St. W) on Sunday June 3rd (11-6) & Monday June 4th (4-9) FOr more information check out the facebook event posting

super exciting great news!

In an incredible and amazing stroke of luck, I just got offered the use of this wonderful space to grow in this season. i have always been blessed by offerings of great land to grow on, but they are always outside of the city. And for this full-time working, non-driving girl, that prospect was really starting to stress me out for this upcoming season (I had a great place at a farm last year that I was planning on returning to, but had a hard time getting out there to even start) ..... Then, someone offered my an urban location just blocks from my home with a very accessible water source (a tap!), a cold frame, and a huge amount of space to grow ... couldn't be more grateful or excited!!

super beautiful flowers lining the entrance!

when i first arrived to start weeding! .... and just a few hours later! weeding happened much easier and faster than I could have imagined. just another great sign that it is going to be a great season at this new spot!

while weeding, I discovered already made beds & pathways ... just keeps getting better!

home greenhouse

this year for the first time I used my own home as my greenhouse. some experimenting was done, but it worked out pretty well. my front sunroom worked perfectly as a greenhouse!

also used my front porch as a transplanting station once it got warmer out.

luckily i have lots of space & i don't mind sharing it with hundreds of ever-growing plant babies! here they are getting ready to head off to market as little guys!