Anything's possible if you put your mind to it.

The day after we made settlement on Chateau Bidet - showcased, by the way, in the July '94 issue of Better Hovels & Outhouses - we applied to the City for ownership of the abandoned lot next door. Municipal gears grind slowly but fine. Seven years later we got the lot for $1 on condition we improve it. Up until this time we had absolutely no "outdoors" at all, except for a few window boxes on the second floor.

We began improvements by cutting a side door out to the new space. Next, we had a deck built over part of the lot. Then we began filling the lot with a hodgepodge of pots and planters. Unfortunately, houses on two sides of the garden blocked off all direct light from 9AM on. No serious gardening attempts made much sense, though we did grow very healthy moss and ferns.
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Cut to - May 2006
Renovations to the two houses adjacent this plot opened the future garden to sunlight for the first time in twelve years. In the picture below, the sites aren't cleaned up yet, nor are the cyclone fences in place yet either.
We started with a concrete slab - 13'-6" x 24' - and covered it over with bricks in a herringbone pattern. The planter in the center is an oil storage tank I salvaged from an empty building nearby, cut in half.

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Cut to - Oct. 2007
We live in a neighborhood here in Philly called New Kensington. The locals are sometimes referred to as Kenzos. I have a propensity for naming things. There's a name for people who name things, but the name escapes me at the moment. Oh well, maybe it's OCD. At any rate, the big planter became "Kenzo Heights." With all the new sunlight, things were beginning to grow like weeds. In fact, the weeds grew weeds. Anyone who's gotten into gardening knows that Morning Glories are God's revenge for would-be gardeners. They drop millions of seeds, and the seeds remain viable for four to five years. Eradicating Morning Glories has been a multi-year endeavor, but finally successful.

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Cut to - May 2008
The Morning Glory beds were simply soil laid on top of the concrete. Before planting season in '08, I began a new expansion of Les Jardins du Bidet. With a Skil saw and a concrete blade, I cut away the cement, dug out the rubble underneath, and stuffed the deep holes with a mixture of topsoil, compost, and peat moss. The resultant plots became "East of Eden" at the back of the garden, and "The South Forty", on the right because it's, like, 2' x 20'. Clever, huh.
Meanwhile, stuff grew in Kenzo Hts.; bush beans, garlic, strawberries, lettuce, herbs.

The new plots would produce cucumbers, tomatoes and pole beans. (Harvest season was rewarding.)

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Cut to - April 2009
With success heaping upon success, and a grand total of 324sq.ft. (including walkways), it became evident that Chateau Bidet Acres needed to once more expand to expand production. Kenzo Heights was cut up into little pieces and put out on the sidewalk for the itinerant salvagers. In a grand ceremony involving libations and Sacred Compost sprinkling, the Heights designation was transferred to the erstwhile unnamed hydrangea bed, and the new bed in the center was christened "The Motherland." It's 5'-6" x 11'-6" - a whopping 63sq.ft.

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Cut to - May 1 2009
Ten days later we have little green things poking their way out of the ground. French pole beans on the left. Lettuces and spinach up the center. Poblano peppers on the right edge of The Motherland. Hardneck garlic, a few Brussels Sprouts, and eventually a couple of types of tomato plants in the South Forty.

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Cut to - May 30 2009
Going like gangbusters.

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Cut to - June 11 2009
Left the gangbusters in the dust. Now we're cooking with gas.

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Cut to - June 28 2009
Now we're picking young string beans, and a few cherry tomatoes. From here on out, it's picking, freezing, oh... and eating fresh veggies.

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A Denizen of the Garden
In addition to bees, bumblebees, and various insects making merry on the plants, we had a small swarm of Preying Mantises. Mantises are amazing. They're the only insect that can turn their heads. If you pause and quietly look at them, they turn their heads and look back at you. It's bitchin' cool.

Here's something you don't see everyday
This baby Mantis is sitting on a Sage leaf. It's about 1/2" long.

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Hope you enjoyed the tour. Flowers and herbs are also in profusion all around the backyard; mostly in pots; roses, Bleeding Hearts, Columbines, Nasturtiums, Chinese Forget-Me-Nots, Impatiens, Violets, Clematis...

OH! And lest I forget... we have a Rosemary bush that's fifteen years old. It comes inside in winter. The little blue flowers are sublime.

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