Every year I try to grow a garden. My first try, I was living in a rented house and I made my now ex-husband tear out a huge plot in the yard, and did nothing with it. I also found a weeping pussywillow tree and planted it on the far edge of the property. It didn’t survive long. When I moved to my current home, I at least planned a garden every year. I live on the north side of a hill, so I have mostly shade. Not very conducive to gardening. But every year I would pick out the spot in the garden that had the most sun exposure and buy a gazillion seeds plus various fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and everything else they would try to sell me at the nearest, or furthest, garden department. Somehow, none of it would ever get put to use.
After a couple years, I tried to actually plant the seeds. I would collect endless stacks of empty yogurt cups, buy bag after bag of soil, and plant the little buggers. Nearly every seed sprouted, and immediately died. (I quit holding funerals after like the first 1,000.) There were also the already started ones you buy at the store and bring home to transplant; blueberries, grapes, little trees and flowering bushes. All but one died in their buckets with no actual fruits or flowers. One was planted, but died within a week.
I’m not sure, but I heard rumors that PETA was organizing a branch to save the plants, and I was their most wanted.
Eventually, after speaking with the next door neighbor about her frustrations with growing tomatoes, I determined this as my own personal challenge. That year I bought one of those portable, roll away type, “greenhouse” thingies. I did great with it at first, but on an overly warm day, I accidentally left the door flap closed and all my sprouts got steamed to death.”
I went to a greenhouse supplier to determine what I needed to do to jury rig this cheep arrangement in order to get maximum efficiency. They gave me some fancy reflective bubble wrap and told me I need to get the air circulating and some UV light. Off to Wal-Mart and the various home improvement stores I went. I looked for some good tomato plants and found a roma and some other basic red round tomato. I needed good sized pots, and these gianormous terracotta strawberry pots were on sale super cheap, so I went for them. Then I found these little desk fans and a fluorescent “Grow Light”. Just for kicks, I even threw in a pepper plant in a little pot that I wasn’t familiar with but looked cute.
I set my greenhouse on the back deck, draped the bubble wrap along the back so I could get even UV exposure, plugged in a fan (turns out I only needed one), and zip tied the UV light to a rung on the frame. The tomato plants made their homes in the strawberry pots and the pepper plant… stayed in the little pot from the store. I was set.
At some point I learned lesson #1, terracotta pots don’t hold water well. Every day I was out there dumping gallon after gallon into those pots, and the next day they’d be dry again. They were already planted though, so there was nothing else to do but press on. After they’d survived a week, I nearly held a party. I’d never been so successful! Barkeep, bring me my keg!
Eventually the blossoms came in. There were only a few on the tomatoes, but nearly 3 dozen on the pepper plant. Holy crap! Call the newspaper! Becky made it to the blossom stage!
I cried at the “birth” of the little green baby tomatoes. They were the cutest little things I’d ever seen. These little hard green berries snuggled up inside the spot that the pretty white blossom had once been.
I watched daily for signs of red, and when it showed, I impatiently checked nearly every hour for the day these jewels would be red and ready to eat. Of the two plants, only one made it to ripe tomatoes. Of the one, I got a whole 3 fruits. The pepper plant went crazy with bright red chili shaped “hot” peppers, but because I didn’t know what kind they were, and what they would taste like, I never did wind up using them. In my eyes, this was a huge success.
Sadly, for the several years after, I was back to black thumb status.
This year, Eldest Son took an interest in science. He came home one day, very excited to show me the sunflower he’d been growing. In this little paper cup full of soil was a perfectly healthy plant, about three inches tall, a whitish stem, and two round green leaves. Not sure what I was doing, I helped him water it and watch it daily. At some point, this little critter surprised us, and outgrew its surroundings. Eldest Son and I selected a red ceramic pot we assumed would be large enough and transplanted our new addition. In no time at all, this flower was nearly as tall as my son, with leaves bigger than my foot! Still no actual flower on it though. Recently, the flower, about 7 inches across, bloomed bright yellow in a shiny red pot we now know is way too small for it. It’s beautiful, and he’s proud.
Inspired near the beginning of this evolution, I determined to try my hand at gardening again.
This year, I tried a whole new approach. This year, I made it happen. This year, I’ve got a real garden providing real fruit and beauty. This year, we held only very few little plant funerals.
To be continued….
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