Neighborhood gardens
I usually avoid the tourist-oriented "house & garden" tours in our neighborhood, Ohio City. They cost $10 or more and in my mind sent the wrong message, that what makes a neighborhood interesting is its architecture. I know differently. It's the people, not the buildings.
On the other hand I really enjoyed Sunday's 3rd Annual Detroit-Shoreway Garden & Chicken Tour. It was free, and it was a group of neighbors walked around to look at each others' gardens. And chickens.
Early on we stopped at this small Jewish cemetery on Fir Avenue that was restored by a small group of neighbors. I never even knew it was there.
Then we walked to about a dozen houses in a ten-block radius. I took pictures at a few.
I like the colorful, casual look of this front yard flower garden. Our front yard needs work, so this may be the direction we go with it. Minus the grass.
Here a backyard "room" under the trees gives me an idea of what we might do with our underused back yard.
The flower pot on top of an old wooden column gives me an idea of what to do with the post I salvaged from our front porch renovation.
A collection of different-sized pots makes room for tomatoes and other vegetables.
Oh, as for the chickens? A couple of folks had small coops in their back yards and 3-4 hens. They both emphasized that it was relatively easy to raise chickens. When asked about the eggs, it was obvious that a small family gets more eggs than it needs on a day-to-day basis. Almost sounded like a nuisance to have to figure out what to do with them. Hmm.
