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Formal intro (but not a formal garden)

Since others have done so, I thought I'd give a formal introduction of
myself.  Though a lot of info is already in my last post.

I'm 33 and live in Oakland, Calif with my (self-described "black-thumb")
significant other (SO), Mikel.  We just bought a house last May, the first
for either of us.  Though we both grew up in houses our parents owned, we
lived in apartments or rented houses from college on.  So this is the first
time I get to decide what goes in my garden and what happens to it.

The garden is mostly grass (doesn't need any watering) with several small
fruit trees, 2 ornamental trees (not counting the dead one), an ivy fence,
some foundation shrubs/perenials, and a small walk-in potting
shed/greenhouse against the garage.  The trees are 2 apples, 2 lemons, an
orange, a dead flowering cherry, a fruitless mulberry, a weed tree in the
back, and 2 tree-sized camillias.

The lot is 7500 square feet and the ivy fence separates it in the back from
a large landlocked lot belonging to the neighbor who has it as meadow and
fruit trees.  He let us have the entire fig crop last summer.  Since this
is the inner city (one of the nicer sections of Oakland, but not the rich
areas), we already have several apartment buildings on the street
(alternating with older single family houses like mine) so we're pretty
worried that when the elderly neighbors sell, the land will be developed
into the 15 units it's zoned for.  My house was built in 1940 by the woman
who sold it to us.  The land used to be commercial orchards and the soil
here is just amazing.

My health sucks and limits what I can do severely.  I have multiple
chemical sensitivities (MCS) which means I get reactions to perfumes,
cigerettes, pesticides, dryer sheets (I have to go inside many times when
I'm working on my garden because of the neighbors doing laundry), and
pretty much every other chemical you can think of.  I'm not allergic to any
animals or plants.  I also have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) which means
I do my best work sitting on my butt (I've pretty much mastered that!  :))
and somedays can't leave the house at all.  I use a wheelchair when I go
off the grounds, which my SO pushes for me when needed.  I can walk around
my house and yard okay, as long as I don't go up and down my stairs more
than once, sometimes twice, a day (6 stairs in front, 4 in back) or walk
around too much.

Then I have fibromalgia (FMS spelled wrong).  FMS, CFS, and MCS are
basically the same thing and most people with one have 2 or 3.  FMS means I
hurt all over and sometimes can't do things like keep my hands over my head
(braiding my hair can set off muscle pain, for example) or I can have pain
bad enough to incapacitate me.  To round it off, I have asthma and
migraines.  I haven't worked in 3 years and live off of social security.
I'm doing some freelance work from home as I can to supplement.

To deal with my health limitations but still have a nice garden, this is
what I do: The most important thing (and the hardest) is to have a healthy,
strong SO who will do grunt work with little complaint :-).  Seriously
though, without him (and lacking the income to hire people), I'd be mostly
housebound.  I also have learned how to save up my energy and not waste it
on the unimportant things.  So I'll use my chair every time I go into a
store, even if I feel up to walking.  Cause I'd rather use that energy
walking to the greenhouse and repotting a couple orchids.  I have a
handicapped parking placard too.  And I get help with lifting and other
heavy tasks cause, though I can do them okay, they tire me out so much I
can't do anything else.

I created a potted garden on my front porch (am in the process of
creating).  I want copies of all my cooking herbs there, so I can use them
when I cook (I can't run down and up the stairs every time and when I send
Mikel I end up with fushia leaves instead of flatleafed parsley (this
really happened!)).  My Mediterrainian herbs are in the bed near the front
steps so as they get bigger, maybe I can reach them from the porch.

I'm keeping plants that need water to a couple areas and the rest of the
garden will be Medit climate or desert plants (maybe some summer water when
young, but then just rainfall).  This is good sense for water conservation
but also conserves my energy.  Most everything we're putting in will be
edible too.  Mikel likes that and gets motivated to work in the garden,
instead of doing it as a favor to me, when he knows he can harvest what he
helps grows.  Besides, I like the idea of using all my plants not just for
their beauty.  I make exceptions for plants that are already here and some
must haves like orchids.

Needless to say, I am 100% organic in the garden.  I believe in this for
environmental reasons but, with my reactions to chemicals, it's a must for
me.  I won't use organically approved things like dormant oil spray or
pyretheium either.  So far, the only pest problem that does anything worth
noting, is coddling moths in the apples.  I'll try to save as many as I can
next year (the apples were already on the tree when we moved in), but I'd
rather lose the whole crop than spray...not that we would, you just cut out
the bad spots.

As I said in my last post, I'd love to meet people and make trades.  I'm
happy to take what you may have too much of (mint or horseradish roots,
vegetable seeds from the fruits you couldn't harvest, off shoots, etc) and
give you what we have extra of.  Also, if you have too much harvest, we can
cook it and pay you back in a share.  Mikel makes great baked goods.  We're
dying to try our hand at curing olives (no lye).

I'm really enjoying this list and everything people have to say, even if
it's about plants I've never heard of.

Cyndi
_______________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, California            Zone 9 USDA; Zone 16 Sunset Western Garden Guide
Disabled, chemically sensitive, wheelchair user          Organic Gardening only
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                     Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)                   cnorman@best.com
__________________________________________________ http://www.best.com/~cnorman
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