How does your Garden Grow
A few years ago my good friend, Robert, moved from Chicago to a suburb outside Dallas, TX and has started his own little garden (Ha! "Garden" is a little bit of an understatement!) ! I'm sooooo inspired by him! I love getting updates about his weekend gardening adventures and I love how excited he gets when his plants/trees and chickens (yes! Chickens!) thrive. As of a few weeks ago, here's a small list of what he's planted:
- 4 plum trees (red, yellow and purple), apple, pear, peach, dwarf apple two apricots, mandarin (which replaced an orange tree that died this past Winter) and a Chinese date tree (also known as Jujube).
- 4 blackberries 4 blueberries, 4 raspberries, 4 strawberries, 6 grapes vines, watermelons, sugar snap peas, 3 tomato plants, one bell pepper, 18 onions and a bunch of asparagus, turnips. chocolate mint and wild garlic.
- Also 4 cannas, 10 Gerber daisies, 39 roses, 25 irises (a variety of colors), super petunias (they're ridiculously beautiful early in the year when nothing else grows yet), a bunch of Mexican Heathers (they look great in the 100+ degree days and require little water), plumbago, butterfly bushes, 4 lilacs, 4 azaleas (2 pink and 2 white), lavender, jasmine, honeysuckle, a dozen or so begonias and 6 mums.
Wow! that's some list (I'm sure he's added more since sending me that list a few weekends ago...)
I love Roberts explanation as to why he started gardening:
"Hard to say to say exactly how all of this got started. Gardening is pretty addictive, like getting a tattoo. Takes a while to get started, but once you do, it's hard to stop. Keep wanting to add more and more things to the yard. Sometimes they survive and sometimes they don't and you always build on whatever's left, just like everything else in life. Learned a lot from experience and still do. I never planned on spending the rest of my days in this house, but with every single plant we plant and every leaf that grows, it gets harder and harder to even imagine being anywhere else but here. "
I love it! He's inspired me to start my own little garden this year. Unfortunately, I live in a town home and I don't have the luxury of having a backyard to plant stuff. I do, however, have a tiny patio that I've started to fill up with plants and pots.
So far, I have planted two strawberry plants and basil, parsley and spinach in a little seed starter greenhouse kit. After a few weeks (maybe 3 weeks?) I finally had some little sprouts. It seems like only the basil and the parsley has taken root and started growing.
After 5 weeks, I have basil and some sick looking parsley!
Here are my strawberry plants (Yes, I know, they probably need more space, but this is all I have-- they'll have to make due..) I have numerous buds, but no real berries--yet. I've got my fingers crossed!
Within the next few weeks I will plant some beans (how hard can they be to grow? I think i grew some when I was in first grade!) bell peppers and I'm going to try the spinach again. Wish me luck!