Strong Roots

Driving down my street and looking on the internet at all the perfectly manicured gardens, I realized that emulation of perfection was not, is not who I am, nor what I want for my yard…I wanted to make something creative from my “yard reality”. So I tapped into resources from the internet and word of mouth to turn my reality into something magical…on a budget…of course. As I journey through this garden odyssey, a few helpful things that I am learning in my travels are: 1. If you can get past the perfection of Pinterest and hone in on those who make imperfection perfection, there lies a pot of gold ridden information, pictures and step by step instructions on anything you can think of trying in your yard. 2. Speaking of yard, if you can’t grow grass in your yard. DON’T TRY TO! Grow something else and fill in the rest with rocks, mulch or some other ground cover. Or better yet, build something on it if you can. I learned that my yard can’t be something its not…ok it can be if I was willing to write a large check, but seriously, that would be difficult to swallow. My yard on one side can’t grow grass…ok breathe…that’s fine…you will live…move on to Plan B.

3. A plant in the clearance section if appropriately chosen is just waiting for your loving care, in return it will bless you with a wonderful garden at a substantial savings. Case in point, the beautiful flowers that I purchased at all most next to nothing needed nothing more than simple pruning and some sunlight. Now key word is to make sure you don’t pick a dead one…dead is just dead…unless it is a perennial and then….ok lets save that for the next post.

4. Learn to ask questions, lots of them, from all gardeners and then realize that you will be told different things by different people, so it pays to verify by doing a little research of your own. I learned that as I became older I asked fewer questions. Now I realize children may be the best examples of this after all, as long as I don’t verge on annoyance, I have learned so much by just asking good questions. In some cases even off the wall questions. 5. Discount nursery’s will save you tons of cash and I have saved a lot this season using them, but they will not be your go to help desk guides, so save your pennies and go to a real nursery buy a plant or two that you love and ask them tons of questions! 6. Before planting, know how the sun moves on your property. I didn’t, and now I have a wildflower box with wildflower seeds that are slowly making their way into the world. I am waiting for the yard to get full sun so more seeds can make their glorious debut but I take joy in the small victories.

7. I am a buy and plant and then figure it out person, but now that I am working on larger sections of the yard, it really does pay off to plan your planting. Most importantly, I have learned to use my resources, the internet, friends, family, people on the street…no seriously… if you tell people you are gardening, perfect strangers off the street really do want to give you their opinions. Gardening for me has been a lesson in pivoting. The ability to take a plant, put care and work into it and watch it completely just die over a matter of weeks (ok days!). Learning how to diagnose when I can and fix the problem or when to let the plant pass on and learn or the most difficult realize I had no idea what happened and just move on. It’s those life lessons I learn through my plants that actually help give me stronger roots and grow.