RUDY KAZOOTIE, THE YOUNGEST OF MISS JO AND JEFF’S TWO BLACK BOY KITTIES, is one of those lover-boy chunky tom cats. He’s pictured here hiding next to the catnip and in the nasturtiums, which run wild through the back yard. Nicknamed Pussy Boy by Miss Jo’s dad, Kazootie has been a steadfast summer gardening companion, although he really is in it just for the mice.
Compared to last year— the two Js’ first summer in their crooked little house on a big hill in San Francisco— their garden looks downright lush.
The big difference: fertilizing with worm tea and organic steer manure and watering a lot with recycled water from the clothes washer, before it goes down the utility sink drain. Doubling up on water usage also has meant a considerable savings. Their water bill has dropped to around $100 every six weeks from a shocking $300.
Water is pretty costly in California since there’s a scarcity of H2O. That’s why it’s pointless in the City to plant anything that requires lots of moisture during the almost six months there’s no rain.
Gardening here, it’s good to keep in mind that much of the City was built on sand dunes, including Union Square, Golden Gate Park and the Richmond.
Other neighborhoods were placed atop similarly rugged coastal terrain, like Glen Park and Diamond Heights, which hug Glen Canyon and where coyotes, barn owls, large lizards and two kinds of red hawks make their home.
Miss Jo now appreciates why so many City gardeners create beds out of clusters of large pots. She is also just about ready to declare growing tomatoes in the ground during San Francisco’s foggy summers an impossibility— unless the valiant few green Early Girls that managed an appearance suddenly ripen.
Now that it’s September, five months into the dry season, Miss Jo is already looking forward to a big downpour, although she’ll have to wait awhile longer— the first big rains probably won’t arrive until November.
In the meantime, it’s time to face San Francisco gardening realities and take out the eight-inch, cast-iron pan to fry up the green-tomato urban harvest. Thank goodness the two Js have a community supported farm box to enjoy some of the Bay Area’s great organic produce.
Photos by Miss Jo
2 Comments
A veritable jungle out there! And Kazootie looks right at home. But I think I’d have to draw the line at steer manure. What’s wrong with the stuff produced by cows or bulls? Perhaps it has to be neutered to work wonders…
I just love my CSA subscription. We also had a stone fruit one this summer. A small orchard in Reedley sent a box of peaches, plums, nectarines, and pluots for 13 weeks. Alas, it’s over. We got apples in this week’s produce box. Fall is coming.