Posts tagged washington dc
the gardenr
Fixing up our garden with no money, time, or experience.
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Succulent resources!
First off, tumblr friend Fuzzy Trees recommended this book, Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates: 274 Outstanding Species for Challenging Conditions. 274 species is a big number! I may put that on my Christmas wish list.
Second, I found the National Capital Cactus and Succulent Society. Unbelievably, I just missed (last weekend!) their annual sale at Brookside Gardens, which is like 15 minutes from my house. Next year for sure.
And finally, I found this nifty little page which seems to list pretty much every agricultural and gardening resource in the state of Maryland (you can use CTRL+F to search for whatever you are looking for, i.e., “succulents” or “asparagus”) which is how I found Punctured Thumb, Inc. in Huntingtown, Maryland. They specialize in “Desert plants: cactus and succulents; carnivorous plants: fly traps, pitcher, sundew; and air plants.” Pretty cool, right? The only problem is Huntingtown is way south, over an hour from my house. I’d love to check it out though. Maybe we can make it a day trip in the next couple of weeks?
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Since I haven’t been able to talk much about my garden I thought I’d post some pictures of some of the cute semi-private and small public gardens in the DC area. First up is the Heurich House Museum garden near Dupont Circle. It’s a private garden but is open to the public for lunch hours on weekdays. I loved the ferns and the tiny ground cover in the last photo! This is a really quiet and lovely place to have lunch or read a book.
The house museum looks really cool too. I’ll have to go back and check out the inside some other time.
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On chickens
As a well-known friend to all animals I obviously want chickens in some abstract way, but I also know it’s a real slippery slope from getting chickens “for eggs” to then suddenly finding myself at the emergency vet with a $700 bill for chicken surgery.
Regardless, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for us to have chickens because Montgomery County law says the coop must be 100 feet away from the nearest residence and our yard is just not big enough for that. That being said, a woman down the street has chickens (I have seen them!) and they are very close to her house! I do not think these things are strictly enforced.
The Washington Post did a great little breakdown of all the local ordinances about chicken ownership, and the 100 feet restriction seems to be the norm. This probably keeps many people from having them, especially in the near-city suburbs where lots are smaller. However, I happen to know that as recently as April 26th the Takoma Park Egg Co-op had a space available. Here is their Yahoo Group page. The way this works is you pay a fee to join, sign up for shifts helping to care for the birds, and get free eggs in return.
You can investigate whether chickens are right for you with Backyard Poultry magazine. Backyard Poultry is a great name/idea for a magazine that I wish I had thought of.
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OMG, have you guys seen this Agrarian line by Williams Sonoma? Recently I am seeing ads for it everywhere. The chicken coop pictured above is $900. Just think about that. Even if you eat eggs every day and butcher your chickens and eat them too, you’d still have to eat a ton of both of those things to ever justify spending almost a thousand dollars on JUST THE COOP. That doesn’t even count the chickens and the chicken food and whatever other accessories they need.
Anyway, this stuff looks cute and all (this little cheese-making kit would be a nice gift!), but seriously, it is all a huge waste of money. There is literally no person in this world who needs a $60 copper trowel. Last weekend I bought a trowel and it even had a fancy ergonomic handle and I think it cost $10. Prior to this I did not own a trowel and I would sometimes use a spoon if I really needed to dig in the yard. This may partially explain why the garden has languished over the last year?
I mean, who is the market here, Martha Stewart? Even she is probably too practical. Though, I did once read that she has her staff (“groundsmen”) collect all the pine needles on her estate, clean them, and spread them along her garden paths (this is, hand to god, a real thing, and you can read about it in this Vanity Fair article).
In closing, don’t buy any of this stuff. You can get free wood for your raised beds at the architectural salvage store in Hyattsville. And they have plant sales there now, too!
