My raspberry bush is finally (in late JULY!) starting to give me raspberries. It gave them up in early June last year, but it was also in a brighter spot, so I’ll move it back to its old location next year. I’m just happy to be getting any from a container box. Also, raspberries are not native to hot climates so this bush is a heat tolerant southern variety. Maybe next year I’ll take a stab at blueberries.

In spite of tomatoes being a huge disappointment this year, it seems bell peppers are making a late showing to impress me. They’re also more tolerant to the bugs, and aren’t as finicky about full sunlight (something that’s hard for me to provide in a compact city yard). Here’s a yellow bell pepper, followed by a green bell pepper. Cilantro Lime Chicken fajitas are just begging to be made…

My backyard is a harsh environment for plants, especially edibles. And I’m starting to wonder if it’s even possible to grow vegetables in it at all, much less organically. Take these creole tomato bushes below for instance. There are two in a huge container of perfect soil, and they’ve reached about 5′ high, but not a single tomato has grown on them. Why? Well, I couldn’t figure it out, then one day I see a bird land on one of the branches and begin pecking all of the yellow flowers off! Grrrrrrr. I mean, really, how do you fight that? Short of putting a thunderdome cage over my yard I just have no idea how to deter birds too. I’m already fighting caterpillars the size of hamsters, and rats the size of cats. I’m starting to think I should just stick with herbs and surrender the thought of growing veggies. Because seriously, it’s frickin’ July and I still have no creole tomatoes.

Here is a creole tomato flower that just opened today. I bet a bird eats it before tonight.

Roma tomatoes are only doing slightly better. This is my FIRST tomato of the season. In July. How pathetic is that?

This is also the first Patio F (container tomato) I’ve had grow this year. The plant is very compact and I had them do very well last year, so I’m baffled what went wrong this year.

Finally, my cherry tomatoes are doing the best. And I don’t know why. I’m out of ideas.

I’m off on a photo adventure now so today’s post is light. Here’s some pics of my poor Dwarf Japanese Maple trees. As is evident, they don’t belong in this climate, but I didn’t know that when I got them. They don’t like really high temperatures or sunlight (they grow beautifully in the pacific northwest), but they survive here if you keep them watered. Heat waves are another thing altogether though. Before Hurricane Alex sent us bands of cooling rain we were experiencing heat indexes over 110 degrees. That’s when these poor trees got burned, and no amount of watering or shade could save the foliage…

Basil is by far the most popular herb in my garden. Not only is it easy to grow in this climate, but I plant a LOT of it, and use it all. This year is no different. Whenever I’m bummed about how all the other edibles are doing, I can always depend on basil to make me happy.

There are dozens of varieties of Basil, but I like to keep things simple, and grow three varieties: Sweet Basil (classic Italian), Red Rubin Basil, and Thai Basil.

I put Sweet Basil in salads, on pizzas, in sauces (especially pesto and marinara), and anywhere else I can because it’s such a palate puncher. I plant three Sweet Basil sprouts every Spring, and even with constant harvesting, by the end of summer they will be over two feet tall each. The day we get our first “cool front” in the Fall I go out and harvest ALL of my basil and freeze it so I can enjoy pesto a few more times before winter. Here’s a few pictures of this year’s crop…

This is Red Rubin Basil and yes, it isn’t really red, but a deep dark purple. It tastes very similar to Sweet Basil, but slightly less strong. I use it decoratively for the most part, and that’s why I only plant one every year. I like the way it makes pizza and salads look pretty without compromising on flavor.

This is Thai Basil, and it tastes quite different from the rest of the family, although you can tell there’s a relation. I use it in several Vietnamese and Thai dishes, especially this year since I’ve been learning more of them (most recently, Pho). Normally I only plant one of these, but I’ve been using it up fast so next year there will be two.

Here’s the pesto recipe I use. The only change I make is that I use macadamia nuts instead of pine nuts because I’m allergic to them. My favorite quick way to eat pesto is by tossing it over some penne pasta and sliced grilled chicken. Add cracked black pepper and some garlic bread you’re good to go.

This is usually the month where it all goes to hell. Though this year has been better than others, some plants have definitely taken a beating.

My herbs always do well except for the occasional bug attack that I can manage to defeat organically. However, it is the month of June where I normally have to break out the harsh chemicals to save my vegetables. I keep trying new things in order to stick to organic growing every year, but I always fail. I’m convinced we have super bugs in this city, and some kind of Katrina zombie caterpillars that can’t be killed. I chopped one in half with garden shears the other day and it was still moving an hour later.

Anyway, here’s a few pics of the happy, and not so happy edibles.

This mammoth spider plant crawling out from around my palm tree is almost four feet high and gets under half a day’s sun. I’ve been using it in Vietnamese and Thai dishes this summer. But damn! I don’t need THIS much of it.

Thyme does not like super hot weather and normally shuts down on me in summer, coming alive again in the fall. I don’t mind because I usually use it in cold weather soups and stews anyway. But right now I’m baffled as to why it’s doing so well. Guess I’ll have to find a summer dish to use it in.

Bay Leaf is the easiest thing to grow ever. It tolerates a lot of abuse. I left it out in the hard freeze and the heat wave, the bugs won’t touch it, and I’ve even skipped watering it for weeks, and yet it still lives. No Nola kitchen can be without this for cooking anyway, so get one!

And now for those struggling to hang on. Here are my poor Cherry Tomatoes, recently sprayed with a strong chemical to keep the zombie caterpillars from eating any more of them. My heart always sinks when I find a half eaten tomato hanging on the vine. Greedy little bastards bite off more than they can chew too. I love to stab them when they can barely move from gluttony.

My Yellow Bell Peppers are still alive, but as you can see, have suffered a lot of bites. They’re only getting a half day of sun here too, and are not looking as robust as they should be by now. I’m going to move them this month and see if that helps.

If I end up with anything left to eat by the end of September, I consider my gardening attempt successful. Urban gardening in New Orleans is hard. I know I still have a lot to learn, and I’d love any advice I can get.

Fennel and oregano struggle to survive the backyard renovations. The pool's consistency has been more like gumbo lately.

It’s all my fault.

I wanted to get rid of the aggressive weeds. They kept growing up between the cracked and sunken bricks in my backyard. These bricks were around the swimming pool, and being on a rumbling city bus route had beaten them up good. I wanted to re-pave the whole thing using the same bricks but with a better foundation. And the installation is going great so far…

But I forgot about my plants. And now they all have a fine brick dust layer on their leaves and the soil.

So much for organic.

Now I’m wondering how dangerous it is to eat things in my garden that are covered in brick dust. Will taking up a layer of the soil and washing the leaves do the trick? Or will one bite of this stuff have us clutching the porcelain God? And now I’m starting to panic. What the hell else lands on my edible plants that I don’t see? City chemicals and sediment that sneak into my little backyard. Roofwater runoff. Rat contamination. Should I have the soil tested? Ugh! Why is being natural so hard?!?

Ah the plight of the urban gardener. The struggle to balance human infrastructure with natural anything is damn near futility, and yet we keep trying. Sometimes I dream of big rural acres where I can plant to my green thumb’s content, alas, I love city living too much.

So I’m back to fantasizing about my own backyard version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. My own little urban oasis where creole tomatoes and strawberries hang off the balcony, peppers and okra sprout from old buckets, tufts of lemongrass and tarragon sneak around the base of my palm trees, bay leaf and rosemary frame the doorway, raspberry vines climb the columns, and oregano, parsley, and thyme spill over window boxes.

Oh wake up bitch. You have brick dust. And a dirty pool. And suffocating vegetable seedlings.

Maybe next season.

The springtime plant nursery is progressing nicely so far. I have plenty of seeds spouts in need of transplanting and they are growing quickly already. Here’s to a long warm growing season :-)

This is my little biodome where I start seeds to protect them from cool night temps or critters, and to keep them constantly wet.

They spring very quickly this way.

Here’s a little latecomer – a poblano pepper. Peppers hate cool soil so they’ve been taking their time.

Here is a sprout about to be transplanted. You just stick the little biosponge into the soil and voila!

Here is how I am attempting to grow strawberries this year. I’m am urban gardener so I’m attempting to grow edibles in various types of hanging gear. The plant of the left is peppermint – already growing profusely to accommodate my summertime mojito/mint julep habit ;-)

Here’s a happy strawberry sprout.

Some transplanted peppers: Green bells, jalapenos, and cayennes.

Mexican tarragon coming back to life. This is probably the toughest herb in my garden. It’s roots were caked with shamrock seeds last year so I stripped them of all the soil, replanted it, and hacked all the foliage off down to a stump. I assumed it would die, but here it is, alive! Yes, the protocol in my garden is to torture plants just to see what they’re capable of. Muahahaha!

Originally published February 19, 2009.