My thumbs are turning green

I am not one to garden. I hardly did anything with the tiny little bit of garden beds at our old house. There was no secondary water so it was sooooo expensive just to water our yard. I did a horrible job at it. We had a few perennials and a few petunias that never did well. There was a nice little area for a garden too. I just never really wanted to deal with it. Just seemed too expensive and overwhelming.

When we moved in last year, I had so much work going on inside. Sam was still so little and it was all rather overwhelming to me. I had no desire to get out and clean up the yard. So we spent the Summer watching to see what our yard did. It was fun to have surprises like when the Poppies bloomed, but really knew that the yard would need some cleaning up.

This year, I really wanted to clean up the front of our house and maybe add a plant or two. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. One side of the planting bed in front of our house had a huge overgrown Forsythia bush that was as tall was the second story of our house and the other side had a sad little mini rose bush that didn't amount to much last. In between, nothing but Bishop's Weed. I knew I could do a tiny, little bit of work.

For my birthday, my fabulous sister VaLynn gave me her consultation time and $20 worth of flowers. She suggested pulling out the Bishop's Weed and adding the perennials. "Naw," I thought. "There is no way I would pull out the only thing living in the front of the house. I don't have a green thumb!" We went on our way to the nursery and picked out $20 worth of flowers and I added another $25 myself. VaLynn said that she would help me place the flowers the next week. I took out the rose bush, trimmed down the Forsythia, found a huge rock buried in the garden but still, would not take the Bishop Weed out. Weeks passed and I amazingly kept the flowers alive in their little plastic pots, occasionally thinking about that Bishop's Weed.

Such a big job. I am so wimpy. I don't want to start it. I won't have any help. I don't want to do it all myself.

Lots of excuses. I am good at those! If you look up excuses in the dictionary, you will see a picture of me! Mind you, it's not that big of an area. I am just not a gardener.

Apparently, I was bit by the gardening bug because last Saturday, I spent the better part of the day tearing out the Bishop's Weed. I am sure that I didn't get it all and will probably battle it for a while but, I did it myself. I didn't have any help, unless you count Sammy throwing the dirt. I am wimpy and my hands are sore, but I made it through. I started it AND finished it! Yeah me! Even better, VaLynn showed up this morning and helped me plant the flowers and even though they are all soooo small it looks pretty good! I have a long way to go as far as acquiring more plants and flowers and shrubs, but it's a start and an amazing one for me!

I was so pleased with the front that I planted a few petunia's on the side of the rock patio. Amazing what a little cleaning up can do. So everyone give me an virtual pat on the back and hope that I don't kill all those flowers!

Speaking of cleaning up, the side of the house is badly in need. Ahh!!