To say that I don't have a green thumb would be an understatement, I couldn't even keep Clyde alive! So why am I even trying? Well, I really want to grow my own veggies. Plus I'm stubborn and it infuriates me that I can't seem to get the hang of it.
I'm a book learner and gardening is really more of a hands-on activity. It's not that I haven't tried though, I even took horticulture 101 in college. I did well on the exams, I don't think I got below a 98 on any of them. But at the end of the 6 weeks we were supposed to bring back a plant our professor gave us on the first day of class to receive extra credit on how it grew. I thought I was doing okay, I watered it, but not too often. I gave it Nitrogen supplements like I was told to. I even named it (it was a Wandering Jew so obviously I named it Moses). The last day of class I showed up and realized that everyone else's plant was a dark green while mine was more of an granny smith apple color. Nevermind that if you research Wandering Jews they are described as "hardy" or "survivors," apparently poor Moses was on death's door. The professor couldn't figure out why since it seemed like I had done everything right. But of the dozen or so students in the class, the only person who got less bonus points than me was Martellus Bennet, and that was only because he didn't bring his plant back at all! Of course, it doesn't really matter that he didn't pass the class. If he wants to have a house full of plants or a vegetable garden, he can just pay someone to do it for him. I need to move on now before this becomes a rant against professional sports.
So...what I lack in natural skill, I will be attempting to make up for with persistence and perspiration. And luckily for me, Craig grew up on a farm where their livelihood comes from their ability to grow stuff like wheat and soy and cows and he will be attempting to show me the ropes. I just have to remember that this year is a learning experience and that I should not get upset if we only get one tomato out of the whole experiment.
But look what we've noticed! Maybe there is hope for me after all.
First of all, your B-Money story made me laugh, really hard. Second of all, I hear you on the whole non-green thumb thing. As I've been telling people at work, I am Bad at Plants. This has come up because I bought an azalea at the grocery store the other day and I've been asking for advice. After three days in my care, it hasn't started to die yet, so I'm pretty excited!
ReplyDeleteit's so funny now that you are in a different town... when I first read your post I was thinking, "just starting tomatoes!?! We've had ours in for a month now..." Then I remembered the whole snow/freeze/you actually have seasons now.
ReplyDeleteLettuce/Spinach/Herbs (minus Basil) can do really well in small containers... you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Make sure you get the BIGGEST pot you can find for your tomatoes... I was just reading about how potted tomatoes are really hard because there isn't much soil. So, don't get discouraged if your tomatoes flop this year! Even if you get 1-2 tomatoes you will "break even" (they are super expensive right now) and they will have a TON more vitamins in them because you let them ripen on the vine!
I'm really excited to read about your gardening adventures... I've been lazy about posting about our garden.
Yeah, we aren't supposed to put our tomatoes and peppers out until the end of May but this year has been really warm for the area (so I've been told)so it seems weird.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that about tomatoes but I really love tomatoes so both of the types I picked are specifically for containers and I'm just hoping it works out. Even if we only get a few, Craig doesn't even like fresh tomatoes so they are all mine!