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No, I’m not planting weed, LOL. I do like the song, though.
Ever since we moved into the duplex, my mind has run wild with the thoughts of having a garden. When I was growing up in Palm Springs, my Granny grew her own vegetables and fruit. I can remember picking figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruits from various trees in the backyard. She even grew hot peppers but I was told to never touch them because of how spicy they were. One time she grew grapes!
As I’ve become older, I realize how much I just want to grow my own ish. Don’t get me wrong; I love frequenting farmer’s markets and supporting local farmers. Hell, I just bought some blood oranges yesterday in the hopes of actually using my ice cream maker for once and make sorbet.
But there’s something so…how can I put it…like really down-home about getting your fingers dirty into the soil, planting seeds, watching something grow (or not).
I’m going to keep it one hundred…I just started gardening so a lot of my info is coming from Google, Martha Stewart Living, and Better Homes & Gardens. I’ll occasionally pop into some random blogs. What I’m trying to say is if you have any gardening tips, hook a sista up, will ya?
So, let’s start with the very basic (and I do mean basic) of my gardening adventures: my little pots that could:
I picked up the colorful ones at Target for $1 each. The bigger ones, which will hopefully contain my strawberries and watermelon, cost $2.
The fuchsia one are my coneflowers, the purple one are my petunias, and the yellow are the sunflowers. Sunflowers are the easiest plant to grow so I’m super jazzed it’s sprouting. It’s the little things…
These are my bell peppers. The one on the left is yellow, and the one on the right is red. I actually planted them too close together (they’re supposed to be around 18 inches apart, something I found out after the fact), but I didn’t want to move them. It seems they’re both encouraging each other to grow. The red one was originally dying when I picked her up at Home Depot and while most people would choose another plant, I decided to give her a chance.
Now look at her! She just needed some love!
This patch of dirt should be my green onions. They’re growing in the same area of my bell peppers. Hubby loves green onions so I hope we can have our own instead of buying them. I’ll keep everyone updated with this progress.
My beloved succulents. We had these at our old apartment so they naturally came with us. I want to get a couple more so I have a little succulent garden. They’re also great decor since we have a bit of a steep step at the side of the home and I already tripped on it. Having the plants there tells people in a way to not step on the plants but also to watch their steps.
Those decorations I picked up in Chinatown for about $5 each. The flower plants, my ranunculus, I’m still debating what I’m going to do with them. I picked them up at Home Depot for about $3 each but I should’ve done my research since I learned they were poisonous to cats (we have a Sushi). For the time being, she ignores them but I don’t want her to get curious. I might have take that L and dispose of them.
I originally bought these for me until I figure out how invested I was going to be into gardening. Bear figured out they were for him (they’re actually for kids), and he took over.
He loves watering the plants and gardening. It gives him a sense of responsibility and keeps him away from the iPad and TV screen for a short while. He’s a very outdoorsy kid so if he doesn’t have to be stuck inside the house, he won’t.
And lastly, my first attempt at making compost:
I didn’t just come up with this but I did a bit of “research” via Google. Better Homes & Gardens gave me a ton of ideas to work from.
Martha Stewart Living suggested the different materials I can use in my compost.
My little compost consists of torn newspaper, food scraps, coffee grinds, egg shells, leaves, twigs, and dryer lint.
Again, it’s small because my garden is small. Once I get a handle of where my garden is going, I’ll make a bigger compost.
So, that’s it! A little project but I’m super jazzed about it. I’m also in the process of trying to decorate our small backyard, so I’ll do an update on that progress as well.
How do you garden? Do you have any tips?
I’m so excited for your strawberries! They’re the only thing I’ve ever really grown.
I’m interested in how the composting goes, too. I worked at a restaurant that composted and it was..stinky. I’m a huge fan of the idea, but man, the smell.
Girl, my compost reeks! LOL. But I have to try it once. I might need to spend money and get fertilizer (which smells no better).
As long as the smell stays contained, it might be doable.
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