City Gardening (part 2): Food for Thought

Last week I posted pictures from my garden in Chicago of the native wildflowers and insects that are enjoying them. Besides wildflowers I've grown a bit of food. Some of it is perennial, like the berries and rhubarb, others I grew from seed, like the tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, and pole green beans.

vine tomatoes

The patience of the gardener is rewarded by watching the garden grow, the insects pollinate them, the fruits and vegetables ripen, and finally the taste of the freshest food you've ever had.

pole green bean flowers

The green beans haven't grown in yet, but they are my favorite because they are the reason I garden. Before I was born my great uncle, Bill, owned a farm by the Wisconsin border. My family would go up north most weekends to help with the farm. Although it was sold by the time I was 7 I retained a few good memories - one was of going to the fields and picking green beans, breaking them, and eating them raw right in the field. Mmmmm!

my first jalapeno's

While my garden isn't the only city garden in Chicago, the biggest or the most productive, it's my garden and after waiting over 20 years I'm excited about anything that grows in it!

yellow squash

I hope you enjoy the pictures of my garden and if you aren't growing your own food already, maybe you'll start!

volunteer gourds

Alexandra Gnoske is a Nature Lover, Writer, and Environmental Expert in Chicago.

City Gardening (part 1): A Living Ecosystem

I have spent the last six years working to make my yard a native and perennial haven, mostly by seed...with some annuals that happen to be food. Of course it's fun to watch the flowers bloom and the food grow and ripen. Even more fun to eat the food.

Honey bee flying through the Prairie Coneflower

But another fun part is finding out who also likes your garden.

American Lady Butterfly on vine tomato

While my garden isn't always full of a large selection of butterflies and birds, I do find some interesting life buzzing around. This year the Milkweed attracted several species of bees and I did see at least 5 different kinds of butterflies (I didn't get a picture of them all) throughout the garden.

Alianthus webworm moth

Metallic blue wasps are frequently visitors and are beneficial to the garden. I've also had a few different insects and beetles, including lightning bugs, the famous milkweed beetle, and the bumble bees were really digging the sunflowers, bee balm, and purple coneflowers.

Honey bee on purple coneflower

And I'm happy to say I have seen more and more goldfinches frequenting. Mostly there are Eurasian house sparrows, but also American robins and Northern cardinals.

Part of wildflower garden in July

I haven't found any katydid's or grasshoppers so far like last year, but fortunately there's still time.

If you are looking for native perennials and not hybridized perennials check with Pizzo Plant Nursery.

What do you grow in your city garden? What do your plants attract?

Alexandra Gnoske is a Nature Lover, Writer, and Environmental Expert in Chicago.

What's Really Happening to the Bees?

You may already know that bee populations are declining in alarming numbers. Scientists are trying to figure out what's happening to them.

Bees are very important to humans because they pollinate many different plants, including plants we use for food.

Please check out this article from the BBC for the latest information on what's happening with the bee population.