Finding Me in the Mess

Gardens The Most Stressful/Relaxing Hobby

This year has been super rainy and it definitely has put a kink in summer plans. We haven't gone to beach once. It's not that we go all that much, but usually go at least 4 times over the summer. Beach visits take a lot more and I need to pack quite a bit to make it successful. There is some perks like lower water bill and my garden is doing great.

My garden this year is doing so well. In the past my flowers always did well except purple cone flowers which is my Achilles heel. My actual garden has not fared so well. I don't have a green thumb, but my motto is "it will thrive or die". I generally don't have middle ground. When we finally moved into a house I had visions of a garden. The first year we didn't move in until September so a little late for a garden. The next year I got small plants and my basil did well. My tomatoes did okay but I didn't really get anything until late August and all it took was an early freeze and boom, growing season was over. Over the next few years I grew mint, basil and cherry tomatoes with much success, while my pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and watermelons all did terrible. I tried growing from seed to and failed. Tried again and did a bit better, but still not what I was hoping. My dreams of going to my garden and bringing back in a basket full of beautiful veggies did not come into fruition. I did have extra circumstances that have interfered in my gardening ambitions. Hospital stays for my son, hail storms and heat waves have taken their toll.

This year I decided I would grow everything but my herbs in containers. My goal has been to grow everything out of the ground. Why was I being some type of garden snob? Or adhering myself to rules I had made for myself? This was my garden and I could do what I wanted. I decided I would grow nothing from seed and just buy small starter plants. The results are in and so far I've grown one cucumber and I have many tomatoes. The big thing with my tomatoes is normally I don't get any good sized ones until late August. I'm getting them in July! I think sometimes we need to change our expectations to help achieve our goals. My strawberries are looking okay but not sure how many I will get this year. I did actually plant some seeds. I had two large planter boxes I wasn't using and found some old flower seeds. I tossed them and sprinkled a little dirt over them and crossed my fingers. I had two packages of sunflowers and one was a marigold mix. The sunflowers were a dark red and not the usual yellow. I didn't realize they're was different colors of sunflowers until I visited a sunflower field. Something I definitely recommend doing once in your life time. I heard once sunflowers are super easy to grow. The fact I just tossed two year old seeds in some soil and they grew is a testament they are indeed easy plants.

I think for some reason that gardening would come easier to me. That I would get into this hobby have some struggles but overall do well. It hasn't been easy, but at the same time I'm glad I keep trying. I also know that some years will go better than others. There will always be factors like the weather which I cannot control or life events that will pop up. And if nothing else maybe I'll toss out some sunflower seeds and cross my fingers.