How I let Myself be a "Wild Child" for a day

Once again…this past week I stepped out of my comfort zone!

Are yall seeing a pattern here?  

I took an online gardening class…now before you think it was lame (how can you dig in and get your hands dirty??) it was far from it.  

I remember the small garden (in the corner of the yard) my Mama had when I was growing up. 

When the tomatoes were ready I would pick one and just eat it like an apple…they were soo delicious.  

To this day I can’t wait for some fresh tomatoes…that childhood memory has stayed with me while growing up.

My hubby’s dad was a master gardener, he used to grow a beautiful garden (spring/summer and fall.) It was amazing how much he grew like…tomatoes, corn, bell peppers, okra, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe,  potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, any bean imaginable, peas galore, cabbage and hot peppers.  And let’s not forget all the greens, mustard, collard, turnups. 

Fast forward to today…Hubby and I have tried to grow a garden several times in the past, but alas NOTHING would grow.  

We tilled the soil. 

We planted when we were supposed to. 

It was just way too much work when all we managed to grow were weeds galore. 

We’ve tried raised beds (they’re easy they said)…and still nothing has worked for us.  

We do have horrible soil so there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to make it plant-ready.  I even bought bags of soil to give my plants the best start to life they could have.

Notice I said “we”.  

I have always followed hubby’s lead when it comes to gardening since I didn’t know what to do, or where to start.

BUT that’s changing!

I’m now taking charge of this gardening stuff (that’s why I took the course.)  

I wanted to learn the process so I could head back to our raised beds and try again (with better luck this time I’m sure.) 

The key point is the soil has to be fertile to grow a really great harvest.

In 2 hours I learned that I could start my garden in these things called grow bags.  

So…I bought the grow bags! 

I laid out what would be in each bag: veggies, herbs and of course flowers (I love flowers!)

I’m so confident and excited by what I learned that I went a little overboard at the plant nursery.  

I have always loved going there, I just really didn’t know what to buy or how to prep the soil and plant the plants so that I end up with a garden of veggies and herbs, not weeds. 

Oh, and speaking of herbs, yall rosemary has always been one of my favorites!

You can walk by it, run your fingers across the leaves and smell that wonderful rosemary scent (can you smell it?!)

I learned through this class that there is a thing called trailing rosemary!  

Who knew? I sure didn’t, but I will tell ya, I now have 6 of them (and yes, I have fondled the leaves!)

I’m starting small, at least I think it’s small.  

I don’t want to overwhelm myself (or my little garden.) 

So here’s what I’ve planted: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers, Anaheim hot pepper, Poblano pepper, greek and Italian oregano (not sure which one I will like, so decided to try both), sweet basil, and trailing rosemary.  

My flowers are zinnias, marigolds (I have never really liked these), and rudbeckia (I don’t know what this is, so it’s very new to me).

And because I went overboard at the nursery I had enough flowering plants to make another flower bed on my back patio.  

And my old non-functional water fountain…it sure makes a pretty flower garden with lavender, purple sage, zinnias and trailing rosemary.

My hands are dirty (I love playing in the dirt!) 

And I have some beautiful plants just waiting to do their thing.

Once again…this is stepping out of my comfort zone.

I’m taking the lead and not being a follower this time.  

And ya know what, this has also been a bucket list item…being able to grow a garden (and not just weeds.) Yeah, I know it may sound like a silly thing, and that’s ok.

My garden mentor says that I will grow as my garden grows, Yall I can’t wait…wanna come along?

Are you a gardener?  Veggies or flowers?  Pots, grow bags, raised beds or in the ground?  I’d love for you to share with me…I‘d love to see pictures of your garden.

🪴

Sandy