In The Garden Of Good And (Mostly) Evil

Last week –  evilly egged-on by the sight of my spinach seeds actually starting to look like spinach plants – I suddenly came to two very dangerous conclusions:
1) that I enjoyed gardening, and
2) that I was actually capable of keeping plants alive.

This heady feeling lasted approximately 48 hours; and what a dangerous 48 hours they were.



They might not have been quite so dangerous had I spent those 48 hours curled up with a gardening book or pouring through the pages of my latest Martha Stewart Living.  But – no! – I instead chose to utilize those particular 48 hours spending money on plants and destroying my yard in a fit of well-intentioned but poorly-executed landscaping.

the second time through moving those stepping stones

And then the 48 hours were over, and suddenly I remembered that I didn’t really LIKE gardening, and – furthermore – I had just spent $60 on sun-loving flowers that I had planted in the shade.

Luckily for me, the damage is not irreversible.  First of all, it doesn’t really matter that I spent 48 hours destroying my yard, since the yard was sort of Sanford-And-Sons to begin with and therefore couldn’t get much worse.  Second of all, seeing as how I only bought those sun-loving plants a few days ago (and have been congratulating myself daily on keeping them alive; wow, I have a green thumb!), there is still time to observe them and move them to a sunnier location should that – indeed – be what they really need. 

(Of course, maybe what they really need is more water or less water or different soil or God knows what else; Jeeze, what was I thinking spending money on plants?!)

Still, I am trying not to freak out completely.  At least not yet.  In the very least, even if I DO kill all these plants I just bought, my yard DOES still look better than it did last week.

last week

Also, Bee is absolutely THRILLED that I’ve taken an interest in the yard; even as short-lived an interest as it’s been. 

Furthermore, I actually feel beholden to these plants this year, as opposed to years past (when I’d spend money on plants, get them in the ground, then forget about them until the next spring, when it suddenly occurred to me to vaguely wonder what happened to all those $10 Hostas I’d planted and never watered).  No, this year I feel I OWE it to all these plants to try to keep them alive, much in the same way as I OWE it to our budget to have not spent that money in vain. 

So I’ve been outside several times a day: checking on my plants, watering them, exalting when they grow a new leaf and worrying about if they’re getting enough sun.

Which, I guess, means I’m still into gardening.

Huh.