Well, quick update and then it's back to the grindstone. The places in my yard I planned to grow tobacco (including the contested 3" strip along the neighbor's drive) are - it turns out - not sunny enough. My tobacco plants have absolutely been on fire since my last post. There are 6" leaves all over. It's time to plant! What do I do?
Well, here's what I did. There's a small vacant lot at the end of my street. I looked up the owner, asked around, and learned that he's the manager of the farm store. Called him up and got permission to grow stuff on his land. He was glad of the offer to weed whack and clean up. He'd torn the cute 1920s bungalow down a couple years ago.
Now, I have small children, so 100% of my gardening happens from about 2-3:30pm when the boy sleeps. I went through that lot like a tornado yesterday, cutting vines and saplings, dragging to the street, and weed whacking down the tall grass. There's a good spot toward the back of this small lot. (I haven't really investigated the soil, but I'm against the wall at this point. A bad spot close to home is better than a good spot 15 minutes away). I can make 4 rows, 7 plants each, north-south, at about 4' spacing between rows, and still have room for a run of okra, collards, tomatoes, and a privacy screen of sunflowers three or four deep. And some neighbor kids want to grow sunflowers anyway, so I'm happy to help. I saved a huge box of seeds from the ones I grew last year.
I wish I had pictures of the lot before. I'll try to snap a few if I'm down there today, to enjoy the transformation. Other than the produce, that's the enjoyable part of gardening.