Garden

[Ana]

Dreams of spring, sprouting bulbs, hostas bursting through the dirt.  Wet earth, melodic scent of rain drops.

Anyone planning? Colors, textures?

[Nazerac]

I am in the semi-planning stages for a canvas to work with the brick garage wall.  Any ideas anyone?

[Ana]

Here are some pictures I found.

[OakParkSpartan]

I'm getting ready to order another Earth Box and 6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

I'm getting ready to order another Earth Box and 6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Brian, where do you order from?  I grew up in the city on a very long lot and we always used about a third of the yard for a very nice garden with lots of tomato plants amongst other things.  I love home grown tomatoes and I've heard there are some wonderful heirloom varieties.  I'd like to try a few.  Any recommendations?

[Ana]

Speaking of tomatoes, I find it very easy to buy a plant and stick it in dirt and watch it grow, but I have never been very good at the prep of the dirt it goes into.  I feel like that is the key to having either mediocre tomatoes and fabulous tomatoes.  Mine are usually mediocre.

[OakParkSpartan]

I'm getting ready to order another Earth Box and 6 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Brian, where do you order from?  I grew up in the city on a very long lot and we always used about a third of the yard for a very nice garden with lots of tomato plants amongst other things.  I love home grown tomatoes and I've heard there are some wonderful heirloom varieties.  I'd like to try a few.  Any recommendations?

I'm going to try this place, based upon a recommendation from America's Test Kitchen:  http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/heirloom-tomatoes.html?refine.current=&refine.refinements=price+new_product+blooms+color+sunshine_shade+height_code+moist+fragrance+pot_size+zone+options&reset=&pagenumber=2&refine.height_code=&refine.zone=&itemsperpage=1000

Last year I had Green Zebra, Tomato Garden Peach and one other variety that I don't recall. 

EarthBoxes worked great for me last year.  Just need to stake the tomatoes better this year.

[eno]

Brian:

That looks like a great source; if anyone wants to take a drive, this is the place I go to for all my garden stuff: especially heirloom tomatoes and a great selection of herbs!

http://www.planterspalette.com/

[apatriot]

I go to Hidden Gardens ... on the Frontage Road off I-55.

http://www.hiddengarden.net/

[Ana]

 Bungalow gardens and window boxes

It's not just stained-glass repair and woodwork refinishing that get the attention of the Historic Chicago Bungalow Initiative, which works to encourage the preservation and restoration of the classic style of brick homes found all over Chicago. They also honor landscaping. This year Lyndie & Matthew Sherman won a top Driehaus award from the initiative for creating a small formal garden where there once was a back-yard pool (photo at top).

Beth and Ken Martin (at right, also proprietors of two rain barrels and a worm compost bin) won an honorable mention for planting woodland gardens to replace grass in their front and back yards.

The bungalow initiative's Web site is a font of information and sources for green and historic remodeling, much of it interesting to owners of other old houses or anybody interested in remodeling.


neSpeaking of sprucing up, see the window boxes on the Martins' house? That's what those mysterious stone projections are that you see sticking out of the fronts of so many bungalows: They are brackets for window boxes. Most of the boxes are long gone.  But when they are there and well-planted, what a difference they make!

Unfortunately, it takes a loooong window box, much longer than you can pick up at the local home center. Octagon bungalows like the Martins' have a combination of three boxes, but some bungalows have brackets for a single box all across the front of the house.

Such a sizable box is likely to be a custom item and can be pricey. It needs to be strong and well-built. Finding just the right one is a great source of frustration to Chicago bungalow devotees.

Before you start shopping, measure your brackets. And it also might be a good idea, before you place an order, to cut out the silhouette of the window box in cardboard to scale, set it on the brackets and step back to make sure you like the look. The mockup will help you decide on just the right length. You could even paint it to help decide on a color.

Urban Prairie Planters in Rogers Park makes wooden flower boxes designed for the bungalow brackets and can custom-make other planters. Call Jo Stavig at 773-743-4386 or e-mail them at info@urbanprairieplanters.com.  

Another material for boxes is polystyrene, which is plastic but can be painted with latex paint. Check them out at Yardiac.com or Windowbox.com. Grandinroad.com has fiberglass window boxes up to 6 feet long. None of these is exactly in the Prairie-cum-Arts-and-Crafts style of the original boxes that came with the houses in the 1920s, but if you choose a restrained and simple one you might be satisfied.  

Does anybody know of other local sources?

This post is part of The Chicago Gardener, a blog of the Chicago Tribune. See more posts on container gardening here.  For information on the Tribune Home&Garden section's Glorious Gardens contest, click here.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/chicago_gardener/2007/07/bungalow-garden.html

[buzz]

I love Planter's Pallette, but they are very pricey.  Great bulbs and Hostas.
I've been planting "Brandywine" and "Mortgage Buster" heirlooms for a long time.  Great flavor, except for last year.  Something went wrong.  I start them early and use a cold frame.  Mortgage Buster gets huge fruit, needs lots of staking/training.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

Based on some of the prices on these websites I think I may just buy seeds from somewhere and start in the house and then transplant outside to save a little money.  I'd strangle myself if I payed that much and then had something go wrong.  I think I'll go with 3 different varieties of tomatoes - one that I use to make sauce, probably Roma Marzano, a good cherry or grape tomato for salads and a flavorful hearty one for slicing and eating with everything or just by itself.

[buzz]

I goofed, it's "Mortgage Lifter".  Just checked the seed packet.
Also, if you time it right, go to the Planters Pallette when Lilacs are blooming.  They're very close to Cantigny, and combing the two "field trips" is well worthwhile.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

I love Planter's Pallette, but they are very pricey.  Great bulbs and Hostas.
I've been planting "Brandywine" and "Mortgage Buster" heirlooms for a long time.  Great flavor, except for last year.  Something went wrong.  I start them early and use a cold frame.  Mortgage Buster gets huge fruit, needs lots of staking/training.

My parents and grandparents all grew up on farms in Tennessee and obviously had a great deal of experience with growing tomatoes.  Growing up we almost always had great tomatoes throughout the summer but every once in a blue moon they would have a year where the quality just wasn't as good.  Who knows what caused it because they did the same things year after year.  They just accepted it as a fact of life and hoped for a better year next year.

[eno]

I goofed, it's "Mortgage Lifter".  Just checked the seed packet.
Also, if you time it right, go to the Planters Pallette when Lilacs are blooming.  They're very close to Cantigny, and combing the two "field trips" is well worthwhile.

Buzz:

When I'm in the area for work, I try to stop by Planter's Palette in May & June just to walk around the lovely grounds & decompress! They have a great selection of roses as well.

[Ana]

Has anyone been to Pesche's?  I work near the airport and a friend turned me on to them.  I also like Good Earth in River Forest.  They are small but their selection is nice. 

http://www.pesches.com/

[OakParkSpartan]

If you are looking for native plants, this place http://thenaturalgardeninc.com/ has the best selection I've found.  Their prices are pretty reasonable as well.