311 complaints – the city’s knight-in-shining-armor answer to the endless and often illegal problems suffered by the tenants of NYC at the hands of their landlords. How effective is a 311 complaint? In my experience – not at all. You can call or go online to make a non-emergency complaint to 311 for a number of […]
Life was a little too busy this year for me to get my crops for The Veranda started from seed. Instead I purchased my plants from The Brooklyn Botanic Garden May plant sale, Evolutionary Organics at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers’ Market, Pet-al Plants, and Oak Grove Plantation at the Union Square Farmers’ Market. Additionally, […]
Things are proceeding well on The Veranda. Tomatoes are growing on every plant and there are herbs abound, but some have bolted (just how does one keep up with pruning oregano flowers). And while the squirrels are still a nuisance, I no longer live in fear of the imminent destruction of all my hard work. One thing […]
Sooo, I’ve gone a little nuts on The Veranda this season. I’ve implemented some anti-squirrel tactics (read chicken-wire fortress), which is still in the works, but I’m feeling very hopeful that I WILL WIN this year. My mother was even kind enough to send me a bag of dog hair in the mail to place around the […]
A little bit about my lost battle with the demon squirrels of Brooklyn. First, here are some photos of the tomato devastation: There were MANY other half-eaten tomatoes just lying around here and there too, however, they were never left and forgotten. The squirrel ALWAYS came back and finished them. In this photo, you can see […]
My first little bounty from my garden on The Veranda! Nothing much – a few shishito peppers and Asian eggplants – but still exciting.
Yesterday, I saw my first male flowers on my zucchini plants. Aren’t they just lovely? A close-up: This morning, I found THIS: So, it appears the squirrels know what’s up on The Veranda. I was fairly sure this would happen, but kept hoping they would stick to the flourishing community garden down below and leave my little patch […]
