My suburban garden

Gardening has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I’ve always been fascinated by things growing and nurturing them. It must have to do with having a nurturing quality that maybe all gardening enthusiasts share.

Gardening Joys

It’s exciting and rewarding to nurture something to its full potential and enjoy the results, whether in appearance and aroma as with flowers or by enjoying its taste with vegetables. There is the added sense of productivity one gets with successfully growing something edible that they can enjoy and share with family and friends. It may even be a cost-saving measure, particularly in today’s economic climate. We are reminded of victory gardens and feel a sense of empowerment in being able to grow our own food. We not only save money (not always!); we can also appreciate knowing that our family is eating something fresh and possibly pesticide-free.

My Gardening Experience

I am not quite an expert gardener. I just enjoy getting my hands dirty and am very interested in learning all I can and continuously improving my gardening experience and harvest. My family can attest to my many successes and failures. Last year, I wanted to get in sunflowers before my daughter was born. They are symbolic to the meaning of her middle name and I just thought they would be colorful.

Gardening Maintenance

Well, having a child doesn’t allow a whole lot of time to get out there and maintain one’s garden. So there were times I probably needed to pull and transfer some rogue sunflower seedlings before they got overgrown. I wasn’t able to do it and at times it seemed we were being invaded by sunflowers. Birds ate some sunflower seeds which they excreted and planted sunflowers in areas I had not intended.

By August, many were too big (over six feet) to try to move. By Fall, some had to be hacked down. I wanted my husband to at least try to cut some so they could be used as cut flowers. So I made a note to self for this year; to not allow an invasion of sunflowers.

Successes and Failures

The sunflowers from last year were a success and failure. My attempt to grow tomatoes were a failure. I bought a few plants that grew but didn’t yield much or ***gasp***I didn’t get to in time and they got over-ripe and fell. The spinach was kind of successful – got some to use, but a lot was enjoyed by insects.

I got ambitious with some vegetables. A broccoli plant turned into a big flowering weed. Cauliflower plants got out of control, where I didn’t even see some heads, which got over-ripe and had to be composted. An artichoke plant grew and promptly died at the first sign of drought in July. The pepper plants produced a little but didn’t quite make it. All of these experiments were on a side plot (behind me in the picture below) that I newly created by removing lawn and rock. I used a little amendment, but could probably use a lot more.

This year, I am excited about the beginning of gardening season and am starting to dream about what I want to plant. Probably the big lesson from last year I should keep in mind is to not get too ambitious, so I don’t end up with a jungle that overwhelms me! Still, I will allow for some sense of gardening adventure.

I look forward to sharing my gardening adventures, large and small. Maybe there will be lessons for all of us. Hopefully, you will learn from my mistakes so you can enjoy more gardening successes in your gardening adventure.  Good luck, and happy gardening!