As we prepare for the 3rd Annual South Philly Garden Tour on Saturday, September 7 from 1pm to 5pm, we're spending this time on our blog introducing a number of the cool features that tour-goers will experience at the event. If you've missed any of the Countdown you can see all of them here. Information about buying tickets for the tour can be found here.

The lowly raindrop. Not a big deal, right? How much trouble can a raindrop cause? Combine him with trillions of his friends falling on millions of square feet of concrete and blacktop all over the city and next thing you know, they're causing real trouble for our sewer inlets, wastewater treatment facilities and, eventually, our rivers (which, by the way, is where we get our drinking water).

The good news is that there's a way to lessen the impact of Mr. Raindrop and his friends that is both cost effective, environmentally friendly, non-disruptive and just plain pretty. But first lets look at the other options.

In most of Philadelphia we have what is known as a combined stormwater/wastewater system. One set of pipes circulates the water and "solids" (as the plumbers call them) from your household drains and toilets AND the rainwater that hits the streets and roofs around the city and sent to your downspouts and the corner sewer inlet. All of this gets sent to treatment plants that are able to remove the organic wastes, bacteria and other oils and tars from the blacktop before sending the cleaned water back to the river. With as little as 1/10th of an inch of rainfall, the system gets overwhelmed and untreated water can end up in the Schuylkill and Delaware. So one option is to build more and bigger treatment treatment facilities. Mucho dinero. And at a time when municipal budgets are under strain, this isn't much of an option.

Another option is to separate the pipes. In newly developed areas, the waste water and storm water travel through separate pipes so that during rainstorms, the waste water can still go to the treatment facilities and the relatively less harmful storm water can bypass directly to the rivers (note... not completely harmless... it still picks up oils, dirt, gravel and other trash). Not only is this option expensive, it would require tearing up almost every street in the city to lay down new pipe. Think parking in South Philly is tough now? And the estimates are that this would come at a price tag of over $8 billion.

But what if we could keep Mr. Raindrop from ever getting to pipes? That's where our option comes in and part of what the Garden Tour will be featuring at every stop on the tour. One of gardens was "formerly a sea of concrete and chain link" before being "transformed into an inviting garden retreat." Another "features bamboo and a rainwater retention system." And at a third you can find a "four seasons-themed mosaic, a wisteria-covered arbor, a rainbarrel watering system." These gardens and a dozen more with their own water retention or diversion features are all part of the Garden Tour. If you've been thinking about putting these kinds of features in place in your own outdoor space, the Tour is a great place to get ideas and talk to folks who have done the research and execution. (AND the weather is looking GREAT for Saturday.) Don't miss out. Buy your tickets online today or in person at Breezy’s Cafe, Ultimo Coffee Newbold, Urban Jungle, and The Wishing Well.

Every square inch of concrete that gets transformed into a porous surface or covered with a container helps to contribute to diverting storm water from the system. Every rain barrel tied into the downspouts of our neighbors houses can hold roughly 55 gallons (depending on the size of the barrel) out of the system to be released later after a rain event has passed or used to water non-edible plants. While this may not seem like much at the individual level, if you multiply it by a half-million or so private properties and add that to the great work being done by the Philadelphia Water Department to add storm water diversion tools on public lands through its Green City, Clean Waters effort and it does make a difference.

For more information about the various tools available for diverting and retaining stormwater - rain barrels, rain gardens, porous paving, downspout planters, tree trenches and more - check out the Philadelphia Water Department's website. You can also check out the Water Department's "Rain Check" program which is specifically designed for helping residential property owners put these tools to work on their own properties.

I have to admit that the more I read about them and learn about them, the more I think bees might be taking their place among my favorites of the Hymenoptera order. Heck, possibly among all animals. The unfortunate part is that my familiarity with these amazing insects has come mostly from reading about what seems to be their impending doom. The more I learn about them the more I've come to realize that every good thing we like depends on bees. Enjoy a nice crisp apple on a fall day? Bees. Tomatoes in your Greek salad? Bees. A cold beer on a spring evening? Bees. Coffee? Bees. The list of crops pollinated by bees is long and distinguished.

In my attempts to keep a garden in the concrete jungle of South Philadelphia, I've become aware of how important these little guys (and gals) are to the health of my plants and the growth of the fruits and vegetables I've cultivated. I've planted several different flowering pieces with the precise goal of attracting more bees to the yard. These include herbs like bee balm, catnip, sage, rosemary, lavender and thyme; an ill-fated butterfly bush; annuals like zinnias, marigolds and sunflowers; and perennials including English ivy, clematis and some really cool purple-flowering catmint that I thought I killed but came back with a vengeance with all the rain we've had this summer.

And my garden absolutely pales in comparison to some of the things I've seen and expect to see on the South Philly Garden Tour. I remember walking into a garden not far from my house and being absolutely amazed at the dozens of bees I saw flitting around from flower to flower. It was as if the woman who owned the garden was keeping a hive somewhere on her property (which some homes and businesses in our neighborhood do... and which I hope to do someday). In fact, in searching around the pictures from past Garden Tours, I found one that I took of one of those buzzing pollinators:

So cute, right?!

This year's tour should offer just as many opportunities to see these guys in action. With over a dozen different gardens along the Broad Street corridor (focusing on 11th to 17th, Washington to Snyder) tour goers will have the opportunity to see all kinds of creative ways to green (and purple, and red, and blue) the concrete jungle AND attract bees to the ecosystem. It's a great chance to get some ideas for your own garden.

Buy your tickets today! Buy now and get them for $20 each. They will be $25 on the day of the tour. Tickets can be purchased online or at Breezy’s Cafe, Ultimo Coffee Newbold, Urban Jungle, and The Wishing Well.

In the meantime, below are a few of links to learn more about bees and some tips on what you can do to help out the bee population in our part of the world.

Bee Colony Collapses Are More Complex Than We Thought - U.S. News and World Report

Seven easy ways to help the honeybees - Rodale Institute

Saving honeybees through healthy hive stewardship - Rodale Institute's Honeybee Conservancy

And check out Baltimore Honey - a CSA (in this case, Community Supported Apiary) - in Baltimore and the Green Sanctuary Community Apiary here in Philadelphia which offers some great educational programs to the public.

I read something recently:  "If at first you don't succeed...you must be a gardener."  Now, this is the kind of cutesy saying bad gardening books are full of, but this one went on to contend that gardeners are stubborn and that, indeed, stubbornness is actually a good quality in a gardener since so many things can and do go wrong each season.  Okay, maybe that last part was my own projection.  But!  Gardening has taught me to try again and again and, stubbornly, again.  It took me three years to grow an eggplant but, dammit, I finally did it.

tomatoes (and two blackberries)!

What can I say, it's tomato time.  I'll write a more in-depth post about what varieties I grew this year and how I liked or didn't like them but - spoiler alert - they were all pretty great.  Especially the yellow pears.  With so many tomatoes I've been making my default tomato sauce and it tastes great but looks a little...well, like puke.  I casually mentioned that to my boyfriend as I served him a dinner of pasta in that sauce and he kindly asked me never to describe it that way to him again and then cleaned his plate and went back for more.  A keeper, I say!

The third annual South Philly Garden Tour, a self-guided exploration of the green spaces hidden in South Philly’s concrete jungle, is just around the corner. As we count down to the big day, your friendly neighborhood co-op blog team is here to remind you of all the most crucial reasons why you should join us on Saturday, September 7, from 1 to 5 p.m., for our biggest fundraiser of the year.

One of our Sponsors is the proudly South Philly boutique, Occasionette. The creative mind behind Girls Can Tell, and owner of Occasionette, Sara Selepouchin Villari, answers a few questions for today's blog post:

Hi Sara! Why are you sponsoring the Garden Tour?
We are sponsoring the garden tour because we love supporting the Coop in whatever ways we can. We're so excited for the Coop to open, so anything we can do to help in that process is something we're game for!

How long has Occasionette been open, and where are you located?
Occasionette is at 1825 East Passyunk (next door to Chhaya), and we opened in April.

You're providing an awesome tote bag for the garden tour attendees; what can you say about the tote?
We're providing 200 tote bags for attendees! It'll feature an original Philadelphia-themed illustration.

Have you had any personal success with growing plants in South Philly?
I usually end up with one monster plant that takes over my (tiny) yard. One year it was cucumber, one year morning glories, this year, lemon balm. (Which is lovely, but I'm learning there's only so much you can do with lemon balm...)

Thanks, Sara. And thanks again for being one of the sponsors of this year's South Philly Garden Tour!

EVENT DETAILS
South Philly Garden Tour
Saturday, September 7, 1-5 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday, September 8, 1-5 p.m.)
Check-in: South Philly High School, Broad and Snyder

The third annual South Philly Garden Tour, a self-guided exploration of the green spaces hidden in South Philly's concrete jungle, is just around the corner. As we count down to the big day, your friendly neighborhood co-op blog team is here to remind you of all the most crucial reasons why you should join us on Saturday, September 7, from 1 to 5 p.m., for our biggest fundraiser of the year. 


First up: SWAG.

Let's start with the basics: A ticket to the Garden Tour gets you an exclusive look at some of your neighbors' most incredible green spaces that you can't see from the street. It's a great excuse to learn more about South Philly, see what your neighbors are growing, get inspired and meet new people.

But this year's ticket price gets you more than an afternoon of unlimited garden-variety voyeurism: We're excited to announce that, if you're one of the first 200 attendees to check in at Garden Tour hub South Philly High School (Broad and Snyder), you'll receive a reusable swag bag courtesy of Passyunk Avenue's charming gift boutique Occasionette, full of giveaways from our fabulous sponsors.

Plus, South Philly Tap Room is hosting our after-party, including excellent drink specials for ticket-holders.

Hope to see you there!

It's that great time of year when we get to enjoy the literal fruits of our labors:  lots and lots of tomatoes!

a day's harvest

I know this black krim is not very...black.  I was going to let it ripen on the counter for a few days before eating it (I thought to myself), but then my boyfriend cut it up and served it for dinner that night.  It was delicious and I'm never one to complain about being made dinner but next time I will tell him my plan instead of just thinking it.  You know, communication.  Hey maybe I should start a relationship blog!  JUST KIDDING.

Lastly, I've been enjoying lots of really sweet blackberries from a plant I got from the nursery at Bartram's Garden:



They are really plump and really good.  Sometimes blackberries are too...hard? for me but these just melt in your mouth.  Also the plant is thornless which is nice considering I planted it right in the middle of my yard and frequently have to push its branches out of the way to get around it.

fancy eggplant

Keep watering!!  Hopefully we'll get rain soon.

That magical time has come when everything is in bloom!

pretty flower

As you can see, the cucumbers and the tomatoes are kind of in, ah, cahoots because maybe I planted them a bit too close together.  But I think they can both stand their ground - you can do it, little ones!  And maybe soon I'll have some cucumbers to show for it.  I grew (or tried to grow) squash the first year I did this and only got flowers, probably because they were not pollinated.  There seems to be lots more pollinators in my West Philly garden than there were in my South Philly garden so I'm hoping my tactic of not manually pollinating will work this time.  We'll find out soon!

Not really much more to add to that headline!

The Co-op is still looking for folks who would like to volunteer their creative, cool outdoor spaces to be part of the third annual South Philly Garden Tour. Take it from one who once volunteered his own backyard... it's a really fun time and you get to meet a lot of great people.

Here are the details:

If you’d like to participate and show off all the beauty that the hard working and loving green thumbs of you and neighbors have created please submit the following information to[email protected] by AUGUST 1, 2013:

1. a brief description of your garden (as you would like it to be published in the pamphlet). Please limit the description to 50-75 words.

2. an interesting fact about your garden (i.e. how it all started, a unique plant you are growing, an interesting technique you are using to grow, etc.)

3. a photo or two- be proud!

We’ll be hosting a voluntary pre-tour meet-up on Tuesday August 20th at 7pm to answer any questions, distribute information, discuss day-of details, and get you connected with fellow home garden enthusiasts!

The day has come!

eggplant!

More on the rest of the garden soon, but I just could not contain my excitement over my first eggplant.  Success!!