This summer, John and I decided to try our hand at gardening.
How hard could it be, right? Seeds + water + sun = a garden.
First, John roto-tilled our spot to grind up everything.
So far, so good.
Then we drew diagrams of our dream garden, and spent our paycheck at a nursery loading up on plants and shrubs. We even hired babysitters one day so John and I could immerse ourselves in the planting. We felt so green and natural.
If you didn't think gardening lends itself to action shots, think again!
Fast forward a few months, add a drought and record heat, and this is what happened.
Our poor baby!
The only thing the roses grew were thorns.
The gladiolas weren't glad.
The morning glories looked hungover.
The evergreen trees were turning yellow.
John and I were baffled by our gardening disaster. It was our first attempt ever, and it was a total flop. We decided to cut our losses and try one more time.
This time, sadder but wiser, we put down a net to keep out weeds, and also added mulch on top of everything to moderate the soil temperature and moisture. (Can you tell we've been reading gardening literature?)
Instead of seeds this time, we cheated and bought plants that were already grown, to increase our likelihood of success! (We'll attempt seeds again in a few years when we regain our confidence.)
And ta-da! Here's the view out our bedroom window. I'm taking the picture just one day after planting, before I accidentally kill anything else!
Our friends suggested that we use more curves in our gardening, because there are no straight lines in nature. (What about blades of grass?) Well in our backyard, we're sticking with straight and uniform for now. We've had enough "au natural" to last a while.
Second time's the charm. (We hope?)
4 comments:
Looks good guys. Sorry it took you two tries. I am waiting for the day when I have time to plant pretty bushes and flowers in our yard. It is a feeling of such accomplishment when your yard looks good.
Way to go! I hope it works out for you this time. If it makes you feel better, we had to do our front flower bed completely over for FIVE years before we finally got it right.
I've learned that you need to water your garden a LOT! Sometimes almost every day when it's a drought. I also buy a fertilizer/weed killer (peet?) that helps keep weeds from growing. And if the bunnies eat your flowers, I put fox urine around the perimeter.
Good luck!
Those top "disaster" pics still looked GREENER than here in AZ! :) Looks good you guys! We started gardening in our apt in Utah - with pots and window boxes and sharing a garden with friends in their backyard - it took me a couple of years before I didn't kill everything, so keep at it!! You'll be experts in no time. It's looking really good and colorful! You're fruit bearers for sure! Love you guys!
P.S. Try "Super Thrive" for an every day vitamin giver - Sister Fleming swears by it, and we have used it often and found the same! It's a wonder helper! :)
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