I have a friend, T, who has gardening in her genes, from what she says. She helped save my friend M's plants from sure death last year. I was chatting with her at M's home last year and *casually* mentioned that I really wanted to have a garden of some sort, despite my lack of gardening ability and knowledge, because I felt that it was really important for my girls to be able to dig, play and learn in a garden.
Well, I learned something that day. You don't casually mention that you are interested in learning about gardening in front of an avid gardener and expect nothing to happen. You will be taken seriously!
Here's the truth. I'm a chicken about gardening. But T is not. She's awesome. I really think it is in her genes.
I can't recall whether it was that day or another day, but I found myself following T to her home in the country, to see her garden. I was quite impressed with the size of her garden, considering she had a baby at that point! At a later point in time, she came to see my yard, and suggested that if it were her, she'd put a garden in the area right next to my deck, which is the sunniest part of my back yard. I thought it was a great idea, and I might still do it at some point. But not right now. Remember, I'm completely chicken about gardening.
So I finally confessed my fear to her last week when she called to chat, and then she said, "Well, if I didn't want to plant a whole garden, here is what I would do..." and went on to suggest trying snow peas in a container, the biggest cheapest container I could find. She said it would grow fast, and we'd have young peas within 3-4 weeks. And that it was actually easier than tomotoes, which are what I really want to grow.
She also volunteered to come help me plant it, because she's great about doing stuff. Instead of just reading, thinking, and talking about it, like me.
So on Friday, T showed up with her 1.5 yo to help us plant the container garden. Of course it was a very chilly day. Just to make it feel even more improbably to me, that the seeds we plant will end up being pea plants.
Our first order of business was to drill drainage holes in the rubbermaid bins. She did that, she loves that sort of thing she says. Then we had to put a layer of stuff on the bottom... she said we could use pebbles, wood chips, mulched leaves, etc. Just something to allow air to circulate but keep our soil from going out the wholes. She ended up just scooping leaves from our yard into the bottom. Then w put in the potting soil, and gave it all a good soaking. I wouldn't have thought to soak it quite as completely as she did. Then she stuck her arm in to make sure it was all the way soaked. Oh, did I mention it was a COLD day, lol?
Charlotte wanted me to take a picture of her standing next to each container. Here's the second, I'll spare everyone the third. But we ended up doing one deep bin, one more shallow one (because we had the seeds, T said we might as well), and a third pot that we decided to put flower seeds in.
At that point, we had to take a lunch break and warm up. Gwendolyn had actually said, "I'm coldee" long before then and had been watching Max & Ruby inside. After lunch, she was willing to come and and "help".
Charlotte actually did really help. She planted the sugar snap pea seeds. We did 6 seeds per bin, just let her stick her little finger in and so hopefully she didn't plant them too deep. I always worry about planting things too deep.
So, because sugar snap peas are climbing plants of course, we had to create something for them to climb on. Tanya stuck 3 bamboo poles in each bin and tied them with jute.
Of course, the kids had a really good time playing. T's son is quite the little guy, he loves to climb up and down and dig in the dirt. I think he's going to have a great childhood, being T's son. And I'm sure that gardening is in his genes too. Isn't he cute?
One of the downsides to our backyard is that we have some corners that kids can fall off of, stumps they could fall on, and hills they can tumble down. The kids love playing on this concrete pad. I have moments of panic every time they play out here, especially when there are real little ones. Yet somehow, they all seem to survive, no major injuries thus far. Knock on wood.
And here is the finished product! T suggested that we create a "micro climate" to encourage germination and discourage little hands from removing dirt. So we put saran wrap over top. We also tied yarn to the bamboo stakes (with a nifty knot that T tried to teach me, need to practice it more, though) to give the tendrils something more to grab onto.
Thus begins our gardening adventure for the year. I am just hoping for some small success to build up my confidence. T has promised to help me as I need it, so that support is much appreciated and much needed. Hopefully, I will find my green thumb this year. My girls are compelling me to, they love to pretend garden, so I might as well go for doing the real thing.
