Luck for Urban Container Gardeners

They call it "lucky things" that all gardens need. These things are lucky, because, if you have them in your garden pest problems are lowered, and plants live healthier lives. If you garden in the country, the suburbs, or even if you're "lucky" enough to have soil in your garden in the city, most of these things just happen, with very little work or planning on your part. BUT, if you have a slab of concrete for a yard, but still want to garden, some of these "lucky things" will never happen, and most I have to work hard to to gather.

What are these "lucky things?" Well, one that I'll never see in my container garden located on top of a slab of cement is frogs. No running water nearby for them to find me, even if I make a frog sanctuary. No frogs eating insects for me. Another one is bats. Yes, bats live in the city, and I can place a bat house 15 feet up on my house, but, well, bats freak me out and I'm scared of heights, so I won't be benefiting from their luck.

BUT, there is another "lucky thing" that I can, and do have that also helps nibble at the insect population – ladybugs. Those little bugs eat lots of aphids, a serious problem, even for urban container gardener. I've learned to make a ladybug "house," so I'm hoping the little critters find it eventually. I'm scared of bugs, so haven't been inspecting it.

Spiders (might as well be a bug) are another "lucky thing." No problem – they live everywhere, and I'm quite attached to the one with the web over the front of my tomato vines. Mosquitoes love tomato vines and they love me. I love seeing tightly wound mosquito carcasses like a string pearls dripping down the front of my tomato vine.

Of course, worms are lucky too, but hard to gather in the middle of a container garden on cement. Found two this year. Don't know how they got to my garden, I'm thinking birds dropped them in flight, but those kinds of birds are also uncommon in our garden. Fortunately, I turned a huge plastic trashcan into a composter, and placed both worms in there. I hope they meet up some day, and have a big family. I also hope they don't freeze this winter.

Have you noticed "lucky things" seem to have little to do with "luck," so far? It has to do with using all sorts of creatures to help make the garden a better place.

Now, I'm also a firm believer of getting help from unnatural, but kind creatures, too. I have three gnomes protecting my garden. Of course, an assortment of bear statues, bear figurines, a bear topiary, and my stuffed animals also protect the garden. But, there was one other unnatural, but kind creatures. that needed to join in the work of protecting the plants. And, given their magical nature, I have no doubt, if I can attract them to my garden, my plants will be all the better for it.

With that, I've been researching the need for fairies in the garden. Yes, if I were in Europe, they would be called "faeries," but I'm in Philly. What do you expect?

I've made a house for them out of a tree stump. Of course, living in a container garden, it seemed only fair to be faithful to the garden I hope they will protect, so I figured their yard needed containers, too. Given their size, I've used walnut halves for some of the containers. Try drilling tiny holes in the bottom of walnut shells. I've used half balls for huge containers for them. (Half balls are a city tradition for youngsters.) I've chosen to use clay to sturdy the bottoms. But, containers need to come in a variety of sizes and some need to be decorative, too.

With that, I've been studying something new, the art of making small containers out of copper. I've been looking through my extensive collection of pennies – found under sofa cushions, pants' pockets, the change jar, and, of course, the ground as I walk. But, did you know most pennies aren't made from pure copper anymore, and you cannot weld them together unless they are? I've had to look for specific pennies, pennies made before 1934. It's taken a long time, but I finally saved enough old pennies to make tiny containers for future fairies.

Then I had to learn how to TIG Weld, the process used to weld different metals together. Thankfully, despite my long absent, I've remained friends with the people at the old light fixture and electrical outlet factory where I used to work and the welder was kind enough to teach me how to do this.

Unfortunately, he didn't explain "clean penny" well enough over the phone. I assumed soap and warm water cleaned a penny. No, he meant "impurities." I found out the hard way when I carefully placed the coin into the weld puddle – sparks flew like firecrackers! Good thing I was wearing a welder's mask!

Of course, he had the right products to remove dross off the old pennies, so I was back in business quickly. Together we made three containers for the fairies. (Of course, I didn't tell him I was expecting real fairies to come.) I truly liked how he helped me make them into the shape of urns. They will be beautiful around the little fairy house yard.

After all, "A penny saved, is a penny urned!"

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Some of this is fiction. Some is not. It certainly has to do with Susan's extra hard prompts this week and is the answer to my freewrite early this morning. Any which way you took this, I certainly hope, I gave you an enjoyable – "Gotcha!"

And, after all that hard work, up to you to find all the prompts in this story. ;)

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Wednesday Writing Essential's prompts:

Prompts for September 16, 2009:

• Something must be new
• Reference looking for something
• Use a pun
• Include the words "cracker" and "faithful"
• tag with wwe

You have all week to write these, but submit by Tuesday, September 15th at noon.  If I ever fail to comment on your submission, give me a holler.  My oversight is correctable.  It's my pleasure to read your work.  I'm honored to make a comment or two.  Thank you for the privilege.  

Step out of your comfort zone with this one.  If you're feeling snug and cozy with your piece, it's probably a great bedtime story--a real snoozer.  :-/  Be bold.