First Post

Exterior, originally uploaded by nicole radja.

Last autumn, I bought my first home. In the search for this home, it was essential that the home be placed on a nice yard that I could garden. The result was a sunny plot with a 3 bedroom post war box on top of it. The house looks like every other house in the neighborhood, quite literally. My garden will be a revolt against the topiary foundation plantings in front of every other box in the neighborhood.

Over the winter, in my mind, I planned this garden. It would be filled with native plants. Not as a result of being an environmentalist but simply as a display of where I live and in remembrance of what the world looked like before Europeans pillaged the land, boxed it off and sold it. My inspiration comes from a pbs series I saw called We Shall Remain and a book my brother loaned me Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. After reading this, crying, and digesting the genocide of Native people, I wanted to do my small part to bring back the land they adored. It's a measly attempt, I know.

This blog is my gardening diary. I have spent the winter watching 9pm gardening television shows on pbs (Garden Home, P Allen Smith, Victory Garden, Ask This Old House) and some advice was to keep a garden journal. I'm not much of a journal keeper, unless I can post photos to it, since I am a photographer, so this medium works well for me. If someone else can learn from my mistakes or triumphs, or other gardeners' comments will help me, even better!

Please enjoy, comment if you please, and thank you!