My Garden

Well, my dear friends, I did it! I went to Walmart today after Addie Girl's nap, and I bought some plants. I went up to a worker and asked her to help me pick out a garden/vegetable/herb plant that someone like me (who NEVER gardens or does yard work) could not possibly mess up or kill. A sweet young lady, with two young children of her own about Addie's age, overheard my request and began making motions to me that she could help me. She showed me different plants and herbs that I could start with and succeed with (a word I like a lot). I wish I had asked her for her name and information. She was so sweet, and I know we could have become fast friends from the way we kept talking to each other as we passed in the garden section.

I decided to get one Basil plant, one Pothos house plant (she said I couldn't kill this one), 4 little $0.95 Marigolds, a plastic terracotta looking pot, potting soil, and two bags of pine bark mulch (I need to buy A LOT more of that). I had originally wanted to buy a pepper or tomato plant, but both ladies helped me choose plants that were more "beginner" type plants. Apparently, Basil doesn't need a lot of care and attention, and my little plant is already at the stage where I can begin plucking off the leaves and using them in my cooking (looking forward to that!). I chose the Pothos plant because my "friend" recommended it to me. She said that I could pluck off parts of the plant, immerse it in water, and literally grow another plant from my clipping. So I am getting more plants out of the one I purchased. She also said that if I see my plant dying, take it out of the dirt, rinse it clean, and just plop it into a bowl of water. My plant should perk up and be as good as new! I chose Marigolds because my mother always used to grow Marigolds when I was a little girl, and I felt familiar with them. That is one thing I will always remember about Mom's garden- the marigolds. I bought yellow ones, but Mom used to have the yellow and orange varieties. Mom also used to grow tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and a variety of flowers and plants. She had a green thumb.

Addie and I brought our purchases home, and I arranged them for a picture (while they still look beautiful). Addie then began wandering around the yard, so I had to follow her. She found her way back to my little arrangement and began looking and touching. I decided to see how she would do with the flowers before stopping her. She just touched the flowers with her pudgy little fingers, but didn't pull on or break them. Then she was off again. I decided that my plants would need to wait until my little person's nap time. We went inside, had some juice, and played until nap time. Then I went out and began my adventure.

I decided to tackle the easiest job first. So I put my Basil plant in the pot with potting soil. It needs 6+ hours of direct sunlight, so I put it on the front porch. Next, I began pulling up weeds in the bed directly next to the garage because I was going to plant the marigolds there. However, I noticed that the little tag said they needed 8+ hours of direct sunlight, so my plans changed, and I decided to put them around a tree/bush growing in the front yard flower bed. So, I found myself pulling up weeds in that bed. At one point (I know this had to be God's hand at work), I suddenly realized that my face was literally centimeters away from a spider with a red little marking on it's belly (black widow?). I just backed away, thanking God as I went for opening my eyes to see the spider. After weeding the section my flowers were going to go in (lots more work for me tomorrow), I planted them and then put down the mulch. I still need to weed the rest of that bed, trim the bushes in the background, finish laying mulch, and kill that spider.

Because I had taken the marigolds out of the little pots they came in, I now had a place to attempt to grow beans from seeds. I have lots of seed packets for a variety of vegetables and flowers, but I think I'll wait on that for now. I had planted bean seeds with my students in the past, but once the little plants sprouted, I had sent the plants home and never saw the final product. I decided that if bean plants could survive fourth graders, they could certainly survive a 33 year old's attempt to grow them.

So, I have begun my new project in my quest to be more like the Proverbs 31 woman. Hopefully my enthusiasm for it now will help motivate me to keep it up. I will continue to post pictures of my garden and my progress in it. I intend with God's help to succeed. So I need to make arrangements in my schedule to fit in "garden time" so I will have no excuses to keep it looking nice and hopefully enjoy the fruits of my labor.