The New Gardener

I come from parentage of polar opposites when it comes to gardening.

My dad has a BSc in Soil Science and has been part owner of a crop hail insurance company, yet my mom has "black thumbs" and manages to kill most plants that she comes into contact with.

Previously, I have counted myself in the latter of the two. But, I think my problem was lack of trying. I have this problem of getting bored with things and then just forgetting about them (For example, that videogame that I couldn't stop playing and needed to make rules for myself so I didn't become a crappy parent. Done. Haven't played it in weeks), this has happened with previous potted plants. I religiously water them for a couple of weeks and then I forget about them and they die. Granted, last time I tried this I was working 2 jobs and I was going to school fulltime, but still...

THIS TIME, I am dedicated. I am going to channel my inner paternal genetics and become a plant growing genius! We have some nice gardening area at our house, and last year I couldn't do anything with it because the mini-dictator was so young, and it would not have been a good time to learn. But this year, she's a bit more durable, so time playing out in the grass is a good thing. I now have everything planted, which I figure was the hard part, so it's now just a matter of keeping things alive, and because they are in flowerbeds and planters rather than pots inside, I'm hoping mother nature will help me out a bit, if not, I'm figuring the sprinklers will make it on more than a few times this year ;) Plus, I am pretty OCD with routines, so as long as I water them every day when Rosalie is down for her morning nap, and then go weed (and possibly water again) during her afternoon nap, everything should work out fine. I just have to remember that Tuesdays are going to be "Plant Food" days. Can't forget to fertilize!

So here are the pictures of what the gardens look like today, and I figure I'll do an update when/if things start to bloom, and then at the end of the summer...

Front Flowerbed - from the top right to bottom left we have Lunaria (aka Money Plant), some bulbs that I didn't plant in the corner around where that snail lawn ornament is, to the right of that, I have forget-me-nots, then some Asters, and Zinnias, also a few sunflowers mixed in there somewhere. Then you can't see the other bulbs that have sprouted (once again, can't take credit), and some more sunflowers 

Front Planters - I'm realizing that these planters probably need to be painted... anywhoo, I have two different kinds of  Nasturtium, and then you can see the other bulbs that are sprouting in the flowerbed, they are kinda red stemmed.

Back Planters - These are my veggie planters, this was really late in the day, so the first planter is in the shade,  but the vast majority of the day, both are in the sun. We have cucumbers and carrots in the first planter and lettuce and [the future home of the] tomatoes.

My Baby Tomatoes! - These little guys were planted a week before everything else,  the  package said I was supposed to plant them "4-6 weeks before the last frost", but apparently I don't read packaging. I think I made a few mistakes with them. Like, I planted about 5 seeds in each egg cup, hoping I would get one of them to sprout... and it looks like ALL of them sprouted. So... not sure how that is gunna work out... Not sure exactly when I should transplant them, but I have a friend that has lots of know-how.

Happy Planting everyone!