Growing My Green Thumb

Above is photographic evidence of how my laziness can often manifest itself in gardening and lawn maintenance incompetence. Yikes. Don't worry, though, I blew on it and made a wish.

This next photo, ladies and gentlemen, is #GardeningGoals. Lush, verdant, with that casually natural look that is actually so carefully planned it actually looks unplanned. Gosh. Even on my best, most vigilant gardening days, I have never managed this gorgeousness. I love the pretty little koi pond that centers all of the wisteria hanging over the arbor, the delicate little bridge over the water, and the Japanese Maple that surely has been growing for years. All of these plants look well-manicured in spite of the natural feel of this corner garden, and it comes together to provide such a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. You'd almost never guess there was a road right behind the fence and a gas station within sight of this property because you'd spend all of your time being captivated by this enchanting view.

Now, let's talk reality. At my last home, I had finally started to get a grip on the yard and garden space available to us. I had hanging pots overflowing with herbs, and a nice group of roses growing under our kitchen window. We also lived on a lake, so we had the water view aspect I always adore. I had a respectable raised garden bed, lots of hanging plants, and sectioned off, mulched beds for whatever pretty flowering things I found all along the fence of our property. We had laid sod and it was looking pretty nice:

Then...we moved. 

Our current home, which we rent due to our predictably short stay in the area, had a lawn service as part of our rent, and we just had to do upkeep of any flower beds we wanted. The yard here has two large rectangular raised beds and two stone retaining walls that form a long bed, which I was excited to freelance in when we chose this house. Then I got pregnant and had Baby A. and a lot of my ambition and energy went out the window.

Luckily, there were plenty of established plants already in place that grew very well despite our negligence. The photo to the left is of Tallulah Bear looking right at the retaining wall, which she tried to jump straight up onto at first- to her own detriment- and these pretty yellow flowers have been blooming along the wall every spring. On the top right is our old girl, Kierra, laying in front of the little sand box at the back edge of the yard near the back wall, behind which is a glorious, privacy-inducing forest of bamboo. I was so happy for that privacy when I sunbathed pregnant! The doggies and I spent many a happy, lazy, warm day out on the patio of this house enjoying the weather.

The owners of the house had a cool surprise in store for us, as well, because that fall, we had a legit pumpkin patch!! I was so excited, even though by the winter I had a belly the size of a pumpkin, haha! Also, there is a gorgeous peony bush that produces spectacular, blush-pink blooms every spring that I am in love with! It is such a treat.

Still, I did miss my herb garden and even though I kept a few basic herbs in pots inside to cook with, it wasn't the same. This year, even though we are leaving before a whole growing season is through, I resolved to put the garden beds back in an equal state of growth as when we arrived. So far, I have a few veggies planted (beans, tomatoes, squashes) and plenty of herbs. Unfortunately, a few of the knockout rose bushes (or as my friend Ro calls them, knockoff roses), have died from lack of good pruning maintenance, which is something I fail at completely. I have planted a juniper tree, some lilies, and a hydrangea out front, and tried to fill in any blanks in the other areas where some things didn't survive the cold midatlantic winters.

 This house also came with it's own composter, which is new to me but very cool. We'd been turning and adding to the composter all winter, and it paid off in a ton of awesome, rich soil for the raised garden beds! I know to cut off the flowering heads of my herbs when I want them to produce more leaves (i.e. when you see the purple lavender flowers or white basil flowers, you cut just below the first set of leaves to encourage more growth). I also know that part of gardening is just to have patience, and so gardening is a good exercise for me, mentally, because it helps me work out my stress (yanking weeds) and then chill out (a little bit of water + sunshine = beautiful plants to gaze upon!). 

And of course there's always weeding and watering to do, but I hope the owners of our current house find that they return to an outdoors at least close to equal to the property they left. For now, I am once again sadly packing up my trusty potted amaryllis that I've had for years and start again in the next place!!

Happy spring gardening, ya'll!

-Big A.