Actually, that's a lie. I planted some Gazanias. We had a drought. They died.
(These are not my flowers. I had to find some on the Internet because I couldn't find my one picture I took of them. Of course.)
So when I said I was ready to get out in my flower beds and do some work, I got the look from my husband.
You know, the one that says, Awesome, you're going to dump tons of money into buying seeds and bulbs and soil and whatnot and give up on it a few weeks in while the weeds (good Lord, deliver us from the weeds!!!) take back over the neglected patch of "flower bed" because THE HEAT, good lord the EAST TEXAS HEAT...
You know, that look.
But yeah, I'm ready to get out and work in my gardens again. We all go through different seasons in our lives and last year just wasn't a gardening season for me. I think this year is, though.
So I sat down and made a list of all the projects I want to do. The baskets of potatoes. The rose bush transplanting. Making a trellis for vining plants. Making a vine teepee for the kids to play in.
Then, I listed out all the supplies I was going to need for these projects. Seeds. Compost. Trellis materials. Etc.
Instead of going out and purchasing willy-nilly, I got just a few things I was going to need in just this upcoming week. Soil. Seed potatoes. A few gardenia plants to put next to my to rose bush in my front flower bed.
I'm approaching this from a more thoughtful angle. I'm hoping that taking the little bit at a time approach will help sustain me when the OH MY GOD THE HEAT comes back to East Texas.
(Oh, yeah, I also got the boy a Venus Fly Trap. He is BEYOND. EXCITED.)
So for today, I did something simple. I took some five gallon buckets I had lying around and drilled some holes in them.
I filled them with about three inches of soil and two seed potatoes each.
I put a little more soil in each and then set the buckets up near the back fence,placing them on a few bricks I also had lying around the yard.
And now the waiting begins. Hopefully in a week or two I should start seeing growth. At that point, I'll add more soil, "hilling" them up, eventually, to the top of the buckets.
The nice thing about this setup is that if I see they're not getting enough sunlight, I can just move them. So that's kind of cool.
The tutorial I saw online for this used laundry baskets. I've still got a few seed potatoes left so next week or so I might go get a few baskets and plant the rest.
I have plans. I'm moving stuff, planting stuff, re-planting stuff, and just generally puttering around. I don't ever expect to have a "pin-worthy" garden, but I hope to have a little bit of green on my thumb this year. I hope to get the kids involved in working the dirt with me. I hope to keep the dog out of the work I'm going to be doing. (Stocking up on red pepper flakes--I hear they're pretty effective...)
I hope to enjoy my gardens and defeat the evil weeds this year.
