I LOVE GARDENING!!!

Last year I lived in a duplex that had a nice sized side yard. Now while it was a pain to try to hire someone to cut it all the time (we didn't own a lawnmower) it was still nice having someone living "on top" of you. Along the front porch and along the side of the duplex there were small patches already formed for gardening. I'm thinking the previous residents put them in. However I don't think they ever used them either because there were so many weeds growing in them it was rediculous. It took me I don't know how long to pull them all. It was well worth it though.

Once they got pulled I began planting flowers. The front garden got 3 lilies. I don't remember which color they were...I think maybe pink since this was my mom's garden to design. She wanted it because it was shaded and she could have impatiens (her favorite flower). My garden was the side garden that got full afternoon sun. In my garden I put one lily-bright orange-and then surrounded it with several purple verbenas. Before this I had never done any gardening. It was my first experience. And I got totally hooked. The lilies only bloomed once. But the verbenas lasted forever. They kept blooming over and over again. I loved it and was very sad when they finally stopped blooming. At this point we had put fall mums out!!!

The deductions I made from my success with the verbenas were this:

1-they like full afternoon sun

2-they like sandy-ish soil just like herbs do

3-they like to be watered everyday

Even though Spring is still a few months off, I'm already daydreaming about and planning the plants/flowers that I'm going to grow. I don't have my gardens anymore, I have to rely on container gardening, but that'll be enough for me. I fell in love with plants last year and I'll have them around in any way that I can. I even have an Ivy hanging in front of my bedroom window hehe.

This year I'm planning to grow:

-Verbenas (I think they'll forever be a staple in my gardens now)

-Impatiens (mom'll demand them and they're pretty)

-I haven't quite decided on the third type yet, but I want to add a new 'friend' to my garden this year

I'd like to include sunflowers in my garden since they have always been important to me but I don't think a container garden is a good fit for sunflowers. So those will have to wait til later in life when I once again have an in-ground garden. Hopefully that'll be sometime in the near future. Although I'm in no hurry to move at all!

Oh! They have community gardens not to far from where I live. Perhaps I will look into those. That'd be great to have one of those...green things galore. YAY!!!