My little gardens

I know it's been awhile since I posted, but since I'm not yet ready to put this blog on "semi-permanent hiatus," a gratuitous post about my garden.

There are two small planters in the front of my current residence, both of which are roughly four feet square. They used to contain trees, but the drought did them in so the landlord removed them a couple of years ago and told me I could plant whatever I desired in its place.

So in went milkweed (to help the monarch through its current crisis, and I did successfully raise some caterpillars this spring), basil (because it thrives in Houston's climate), dill (because in addition to cooking with it, I want to attract some of these guys), as well as cherry tomatoes, bell pepper and eggplant, because a guy's gotta eat.

Needless to say, that's a lot of plants to put into two 4'x4' planters, and things can get chaotic as the various plants compete for sunlight. I'm using a lot of stakes and ties to try to keep the peace between all these plants, but the planters still look rather unorganized:

It's not easy, though. Thanks at least in part to the deluge the city received last week, the tomato plants are growing spectacularly and are throwing off tomatoes faster than I can eat them:

But the fruits of my labor, literally speaking, are worth it:

Not pictured is the huge eggplant that's growing underneath all that greenery. I'll harvest it later this week.

Good things come from small gardens!