Sustainability Saturday and Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - September 2012

Decisions, decisions.  Today is the 15th of the month. Normally, I participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  If you came by today to see what is blooming this month at my house, you are going to see something a little bit different because I am on the road, at a Civil War reenactment, with a balky internet connection.  So this will be just a little bit different.

Thank you to May Dreams Gardens, once again, for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, and please be sure to visit some of the many gardeners from all over the world posting today.

I normally do a Sustainable Saturday post so I am trying to blend this and GBBD in one post.

In our small yard, we don't have many areas with sun.  We took advantage of our yard this year by growing red and purple peppers.  Groundhogs, our bane, don't seem to bother them.  They have been rewarding us with large yields and the plants are still very much in bloom.  After all, blooms are not all about ornamental.

Here's the red pepper.

And purple

Of course we still have some ornamentals in bloom.

Here's our sedum:  For some reason a lot smaller than in previous years.

Annual geraniums.

And beautiful white marigolds.

 In a pot, we tried growing cucumbers.  The groundhog stripped it, so we had to fence the pot.  Not very lovely or photo worthy, but the 3 plants in the pot did come back to give us a handful of cukes.

In the back of our house, we have two  Earth Boxes.  We grew lettuces this spring in one.  Right now, we have snow peas growing in the other. We have heirloom tomatoes in the other box.  They aren't doing well but our tomatoes at the community garden haven't done well this year, either.

What's nice is that the company that makes Earth Boxes is located in Scranton, PA (home of The Office), which makes them almost local.

I would also like to share some regional pictures with you, although it is not in the true spirit of GBBD because these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago.

While on an exercise walk, I snapped this picture of grapes growing in a front yard in Binghamton, NY.  This was peeking through a fence.  What a pleasant surprise!

And then, part of sustainability is attracting beneficial insects.

Of course, there is room for growing ornamental (especially those that attract beneficial insects and butterflies - this picture was taken near the grapes. (and, I finally caught a butterfly on camera.  Yes!)


We are fortunate to have neighbors who don't care that we grow some veggies in our front yard (mixed in with our flowers)

Have you tried growing veggies and fruit in your front yard?   Has it been a positive experience for you?  Or do neighbors/zoning prevent you from doing this?

Happy GBBD!