mrs. green

do you think it is possible to skip the green thumb altogether and go straight for the green hand? i'd like to think so.

i have always visualized myself as someone who would one day have a big garden in her backyard with lush landscaping around the house, but visualization is quite different than actualization! when i was younger, i constantly avoided helping my parents in the yard by using the old homework or piano practice excuse. unfortunately, that meant that i also missed out on learning any valuable gardening skills that they could have passed on to me. maybe i'll get lucky and learn that those skills are actually genetic?

since this is the first year that i've had my own yard, i started small. even though i like to buy and eat as much organic as possible, i went all out and used miracle grow and some other sort of special fertilized soil just to make sure these puppies didn't die on me (and because i decided to plant a garden on a whim). here's what we have so far:



the owner of this house had a fondness for red mulch and applied layer after layer over the past decade or so. this mulch is the bane of my existence. well, that's stretching it a bit, but i really don't like it. every week, i rake up bags of the stuff and smush it into our trash bin for the trash guys to pick up. once i think i've cleared an area, it rains and more floats to the surface.

as you can see, the cucumber plants were already starting to wilt from the morning sun when i took this picture. don't worry, i quickly put down the camera and picked up the watering can. i missed getting the feverfew and chamomile in this shot. i have no idea what feverfew is, but i planted it. i also realize that i planted the tomatoes way too close together.

my plan is to experiment with the gardening this year and then if i am successful, i'm going to actually plant a much bigger, organic garden next year. after some much needed research, of course.

anyone else gardening this year? want to pass any tips or secrets on to me?