STARTING A GARDEN

After coveting all the gardens in Sunset Magazine, I have finally decided to jump in feet first and create a garden of my own, at our first house. I am presuming there is a tiny bit of green "finger" left in me from my real "first" garden. When I was single and living in an apartment with a tiny patio and dirt space off the living room, I actually was able to get some green thriving. Starting with some clearance rose bushes, I ended up with about 6 full blown rose bushes, with many colors. Between the roses, I was actually able to plant and maintain some baby tears for a pretty lush green look, along with a few stepping stones to the water spout. I was heartbroken the first time I had to really prune my bush, but after seeing how nice it came back, I pruned with ZEAL the next couple seasons. It was with hope that I replanted the bushes into pots, to take with me to my new married life and town. Sadly I watched the bushes wilt and eventually pass away.

After moving into our first house, I tried to plant again, and once again, met with sadness over the wilted and very spindly vines never thriving again. Did I lose my green thumb? Do I at least have a green finger? I am now determined to start fresh and NOT give up. After all, a house is always changing, right? Isnt a garden to do the same? My encouragers have said "just plant and see what takes", so that is my plan. Being very frugal, I refuse to spend too much money on something that may die. So I have started my plan with a few inexpensive plants.

I have choose the east side of the house, which has approximatly 2 hours of direct sunlight. I even timed it one day and checked every 1/2 hour to confirm. Scott was a great help, but breaking up the soil for me one day, and then bringing a load of manure, covering the yard about 1/2 foot deep. Our poor neighbors! The husband came over to make sure something didnt die in our backyard. HAH! After Scott covered the dirt, I took a shovel and turned it all. The ground is now ready!

June 28, 2008- First planting
My husband has created an ugly arsenal of junk behind our back easement. In my typical frugal manner, I decided to scout threw his piles to use what I could. While trying to decide how and where to lay out a path through my garden, I chose Mulberry branches, from our spring trimmings. They created a nice "natural" path. This helped me decide where to place my 2 Gardenia plants, dozen pink leaved coleus plants and 1 Japanese Aralia. I already knew I wanted the Japenese Aralia to help hide the A/C unit, and the Gardenia's near both the bedroom windows for the blossoms to drift into the rooms. I chose to plant the coleus against the narrow sections outside the path, near the wall or fence.

This got the creative juices flowing. What else can I bring into the garden, staying frugal of course? So I went searching around our yard. I dug up some Ivy, grabbing a couple rootballs. Then I was able to get some fern that grows crazy on the west side of our house, with hardly any water. What the heck, right? Planted the fern against the back of the garden, which gets hardly any sun than the rest of the garden. At this point, I had the bright idea of pulling in the old Bird Bath we inherited with the house, but had to put in hiding, so the dogs wouldnt drink the stale green water. Flashing a sweet smile and flirty eye's (never mind the dirt and mud smeared on me and my face) I coerced Scott into dragging in to the back of the garden for me. It was all I could do to not whine, as he messed up my neatly laid out path :-) After I figured out where to plant the ivy, another creative thought floated up. Back to the junk pile. I found a log, that looked like an old tree stump. Brought it over to the front corner of the garden, and then planted the ivy around it. I am already envisioning this "stump" covered in ivy someday.

Next weekend, I am going to plant some baby's tears back near the fern and bird bath. Plus I want to get another plant to place on the south side of the A/C unit. Now, just water and watch!