Fail!

I'm currently testing my green thumb with two big projects (well, big for me) - my avocado seeds and my container garden.  Neither prospects are looking very promising right now.

The avocado seeds did not sprout as planned.  One looks like it's half rotten, another shriveled up, and the third actually looks good, but I just realized that it's been sitting in the water upside down for weeks.  I really doubt that it will sprout.  Maybe we'll try again with some new seeds soon.

The garden was actually doing quite well.  That is, until the neighbor cats started using it as a litter box.  In an effort to deter them, I've place some crinkled aluminum foil in the soil.  Fingers crossed that it works!  With both things happening at the same time, I'm losing any faith that I previously had to overcome my lack of a green thumb.

William is way more dedicated and optimistic than me, though.  He dutifully waters the garden every chance he gets.  He refers to it as "my plants" and loves them as such.  He keeps me going and realizing that regardless of the outcome, it's fun to work together and spend time together on these projects.  That said, I would love for him to see these plants that he loves so much turn into vegetables that he has grown.  I hope that our crop does not disappointment him this year.

Our first garden

This winter I decided that we are going to garden this year.  I figured that we would start small, probably a container garden, but we would have something growing.  I became excited with the idea and spent cold winter days researching container gardens and preparing for the upcoming spring.  I had visions of perfect matching clay pots neatly lined up growing our amazing vegetables.  I couldn’t wait for spring.

As soon as the seasons showed signs of change, my attitude changed as well.  I couldn’t see past the dollar signs involved with my perfect matching containers and organic seedlings.  It didn’t take long to table the idea with the thought of “maybe next year”.

Then one day my stepmom showed up with a flat of seedlings and quite a few containers and told me to buy soil.  I looked at the not perfectly matching plastic pots and the nonorganic seedlings for over two weeks.  The images of my cute, perfect garden were gone and that was fueling my excitement.  It's not that I'm not extremely grateful of the gift, but even with everything delivered to my doorstep, it still seemed like so much work.  Finally I just decided to do it.  Seriously, who turns away a free garden?  I had to get these poor little plants into some soil this weekend, I just knew that they wouldn’t make it another week.

Sunday morning I brought the boys outside and began planting.  William immediately wanted to help and quickly figured out how to cup his hands to transfer dirt from the bags to the pots.  He loved watching me put the seedlings in the soil and cover up the roots.  He even started adding sticks and picked dandelions to imitate the little plants.  We made several references to The Lorax.  Collin was more entertained by our horse tire swing.

When we planted about 2/3 of our seedlings, I realized that we were not only short on soil, but containers.  With William’s help, I watered the already planted containers and then went to buy more soil and containers.  This is what we planted at this point:

William.  My dirty little helper!

When I got home the boys were taking a nap, so I finished planting the containers myself.  When I finally planted the last seedling, I couldn’t help but to proudly look at our garden for a while.  The containers may not all match and the plants may not be 100% organic, but we put a lot of work and effort into it and it’s ours.  Honestly, I think that it looks pretty cute, even all mismatched!  We have nine cabbage, three broccoli, three red bell pepper, three hot pepper, and six tomato plants.  Not bad for a first garden.

Growing avocado trees from the pit

Suddenly I feel like I might have a green thumb. I don't know why because I still kill every plant that enters my house. Anyway, I decided that I can grown avocado trees from the pits...in Ohio (in March). This does not sound at all like a failure, right?

The instructions seem easy enough, at least the first step. Insert four toothpicks into the pit. Put the pit in a glass of water with the point facing up and the water covering 1/3 - 2/3 of the bottom portion.

So, the first pit was a disaster. I ate the avocado at work and the pit was dried and peeling by the time that I made it home. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though! I inserted the first three toothpicks into the pit. I was surprised at how easily they went in. Now for the fourth. Darn it! It broke off IN THE PIT! Now what? Ok, I'll just insert another toothpick close to the first hole. A little wood stuck in the pit shouldn't hurt it from sprouting...right? Now I just needed to put them in water. Of course, I put the toothpicks too low on the pit and they don't balance very well at all on the glass. Now this thing has a million holes in it and it didn't look that great to begin with anyway.  Just more confirmation that as much as I like plants, we really have issues understanding each other.

I decided to break open a second avocado that night. I cut it up and froze for future smoothies. Now I had another pit to work with. Luckily I learned from all of my previous mistakes and I now have a nice looking pit semi-emerged in water. Fingers crossed that this thing sprout!

I started this pit experiment about a week ago.  I decided to waive my white flag and throw out the first pit.  It never seemed to recover from getting so dried out throughout my work day.  The second one looks no different, but I'm still hopeful that I will see it sprout in about two weeks.

I'll keep you updated on it's progress!

My not so green thumb

It's finally March! I know that everyone has had enough of winter. I woke up this morning in disbelief of the amount of snow that fell last night. Although it doesn't feel like it, I've heard that this is the time of the year that you need to start thinking about, and even planting, your garden.

I've never had a green thumb. I don't even know what the opposite would be...black? Anyway, that's the color of my thumb. Every plant that enters my house dies pretty quickly, not matter how hardy it is. I've had friends and family members share bountiful plants from their yards and all of these lovely gifts have lived a short life once in my possession.

Regardless of my past, I can't help but want to try a garden. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I know that I would love to teach my kids about where their food comes from. If I'm unsuccessful, maybe I can teach them the circle of life.

My yard is incredibly small and I know that I'll have to get creative to make it worthwhile. I've looked at container gardens, which is the direction that I am leaning. I've also considered vertical gardens and overhauling our flower beds into small traditional garden. Any advice in this area is greatly appreciated!

I am the first to admit that I don't have a clue what I am doing. I've been researching and trying to figure out when I need to plant what. I found a handy guide on Pinterest. Although it doesn't encompass everything that I plan to grow, it is a good start.

I hope that I will be able to post pictures of my healthy, growing garden. Most likely I will be posting pictures of sad, empty dirt. Good thing I just purchased our CSA share for 2013!