I have never been able to keep plants alive. I blame ADD.
Kids and animals are easy. They walk around looking hungry, all day long, luckily.
Plants suffer silently, sadly. It’s too late by the time they show outward signs of thirst. I usually stay on top of watering for a while, a month at least, maybe two, by then there are already looking less healthy, less green. I don’t know why.
So against my better judgement, I decided to get some herbs for my kitchen (these looked great and made me very happy). When they started to falter, I put them out in my garden. Magically they all came back to life!
Speaking of magic, my garden bed is doing great!
We all got one of the raised beds. Knowing my limited skill, I took the smallest one. With much enthusiasm, I planted a variety of vegetables and a few flowers that supposedly repel bugs. We had an array of free seedlings from a friend of G’s mom. Planting was fun. I even tried bean, carrot and lettuce seeds. Early on before we decided to each have our own, I planted some purple potatoes that were old. These are in G’s garden. They came up and look great.
Everything came up and GREW!
I credit the rain. Plus, because I planted so many things, weeds didn’t have much space to grow. It even looked pretty.
For once, plants solely taken care of by me, were flourishing. I see how this could be rewarding.
Then, bugs ate some leaves. I sprayed the leaves with soapy, cayanne pepper water. Then it rained, then more bugs. I had to take the buggy plant out to save the rest. My cucumber plants will hopefully pull through.
Still my garden is the most lush and in my opinion beautiful. I’ve been warned that this might be the best it will be, that it might be down hill from here. So I’m enjoying it as much as I can. I really don’t know what’s going to happen.
I can already see baby tomatoes, tiny beans and little cucumbers. My lettuce is nice, I’ve already made a salad or two. Sampled a few pea pods, enjoyed rosemary, tyme and basil. I love my garden. I talk to it encouragingly every day. I’m sure you can see why I put the baby bird in there. It looks like a sanctuary to me.
I’m not sure why I’m seeing this kind of success. Probably the rain. But after a few days of no rain I do water when it looks dry. I love going out every morning and checking on it every night. Something about the peacefulness of all that cool green. The quick growing and loveliness of all that life. It feels like for me, a triumph.
I’ll keep you posted. Let’s see if I get tomatoes or carrots. Or cucumbers…
Peace Kit 