GROWING MY GREEN THUMB

I finally had enough time to plant my little mini garden in the backyard last weekend!

Isn't it cute? I had initially picked out another, more convenient, spot in the yard for the garden, but we ran into a slight problem. There was a small (or so we thought) stump in the way that I was going to have Dylan dig out for me. That sucker turned out to be at least 4' x 4' across, hidden under a few inches of dirt. There was no way we were ever getting it out without an axe, a chain, and a heavy duty truck - which, honestly, I would love to have. Alas, my choice gardening spot wasn't going to happen - so we moved it to smack dab in the middle of the yard, on the edge of the "landscaping" (the owners of our townhouse really did a bad job with that). I do like the cute little fence that goes around it, even if it's not so successful at keeping Charlie from trampling my poor little plants.

Right now, there are three tomato plants, four cucumber plants, and three bell pepper plants (there was supposed to be one red, one green, and one yellow, but somehow I ended up with two yellow's and no green). And yes, as my mother lovingly reminded me, I do realize that those cucumber plants are going to start taking over everything very soon. Instead of letting them grow out, they're going to be trellised so they grow up and don't smother every other living thing in site. She also warned me that I'm going to have way more cucumbers than I'll know what to do with - anyone think they'll want/need some cucumbers in a few months? Maybe a whole basket full? :) Worst-case scenario, I'll be making a lot of pickles this year. I do love me some pickles.

I also did some container gardening with a bunch of different herbs to save space, and also because I like how they look on my porch.

Oregano, dill and parsley!

I also planted a second pot of just basil yesterday. Can't wait to make pesto and more caprese salad! Oh, and Charlie helped... in his own special way. Mostly just by chewing on the roots and clumps of dirt that we dug up.

"Seriously, mom, stop with the pictures."

I'm hoping that I actually get some decent herbs and veggies out of this little gardening experiment. But let me tell you - I will Sharpie-marker my thumb green until I'm one hundred percent positive that they're actually growing! (I am pretty positive that the crazy cucumber plants have already grown a good few inches in the past week.)

Happy gardening!