Now I am going to (try to) use this blog to document my gardening successes and failures. I am pretty sure I will have more failures than successes for awhile, but that is what this blog is for, so hopefully I won't repeat the same failures twice. And when I find something that works, hopefully I can remember it. I have thought about keeping a gardening journal and writing it on paper, but anyone who knows me, knows I will lose it haha.
This will be my third year trying to garden. The first year, 2010, I actually had what would maybe have been a successful garden- I had lots of healthy looking plants that were starting to bear lots of fruit/veggies but then, my wonderful husband, whom I love very much, accidentally killed it. All of it. Every last plant. That I grew from seeds. If you haven't heard the story already, you can read all about it here.
I did re-start my garden that year with plants that I bought, but it wasn't the same. I was unable to use my garden beds for several weeks because of the toxins in the soil. By the time I transplanted my sad looking tomatoes I was so over gardening and didn't care much for any of my plants. I did stick some bean seeds in the ground and left them alone, we actually got several pounds of green beans from my neglected bean plants that I watered once in a while. I also had three squash plants growing quite well until the lawn service mowed over them. Only one came back... and I neglected it, too. We got lots of squash that year from that one plant! We ate so much squash, it was a while before I could even look at squash again. Tomatoes don't do so well with neglect. I got a bunch of green tomatoes but the cold came and killed them before they could ripen (I didn't care enough by then to cover them up so I just let them go).
Last year, 2011, was even worse. Most of you know that my husband was in and out of the hospital most of the year (I think the grand total was 5 stays, for a total of 40+ days, 3 surgeries). I was so excited in January/February to get my garden going and seeds started. Then Brian ended up in the hospital again and again and I stayed by his side as much as possible. My seedlings all died from neglect.
Last Spring, we went to an herb festival right around Easter. I purchased 4 rosemary plants, 1 oregano plant, and 1 parsley plant. I really wanted basil, but couldn't seem to find any that looked that great. I planted all my herbs behind the rock in front of my house, and here is what they look like TODAY in JANUARY.
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| My 2011 herb garden, still thriving in January 2012! |
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| Oregano & Parsley |
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| Rosemary |
Later in the year (can't remember exactly when) Brian found a really sad looking basil plant at Wal-Mart on clearance for $2.00 He knew how badly I wanted basil, so he bought it anyways and we put it next to the rock (behind where the parsley is). I wish we had a before picture, because this plant really took off and got huge. I mean HUGE. It was probably about 4 feet tall. I had so much basil, I didn't know what to do with it. It died when we got our first freeze last year (in October, I believe). I wish I would have dried or frozen some to use in the winter. I kept putting it off. And then it died.
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| That tall green plant is basil! |
Last year was a really tough year on my plants. In addition to all the neglect due to time spent in the hospital, it was a REALLY hot summer. And it was REALLY dry. Temperatures regularly soared into the 110's. I remember our outside thermometer that was on our porch (so in the shade) read 119 one day. It truly was miserable. Oh, and did I mention that I was pregnant during all of this? Rachel was born August 17, 2011, so right in the heat of things (literally) I was too miserable to go outside and be more miserable in the heat. I did somewhat regularly water my garden for about half the summer, but due to extreme heat and drought, most plants (like tomatoes, peppers, and squashes) probably should have been watered multiple times a day. But after an astronomical water bill from just once-a-day watering, we decided it was no longer worth it. So we let everything go. Including our lawn and flower beds and herb garden - seems much of the neighborhood did the same last year, it is soooo expensive to keep everything green in that kind of heat and drought.
I am hopeful that 2012 will be a good year for us, and a good year for gardening as well!
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