I am a novice gardener, yes I know how in the world could the daughter of Rolf and Anita Nelson be a novice gardener…well you know how sometimes when your parents are really into something you are super super not interested in it. That was the case with me till about five years ago and I finally caught the gardening bug. When I started it was a super frustrating experience to say the least. I have very little success with my gardens and plants and I began to assume I had a brown thumb and didn’t inherit the wonderful magical gardening genes from my parents… PETER STOLE THEM ALL….jerk….along with all the tall genes. (He’s 6’4″ and I’m the smallest in the family at 5’7″, sigh the shrimp) I do not have a brown thumb at all I just didn’t know the right stuff to do to have a Green Thumb. Time was my main issue, I thought gardening would take up a bunch of my time and I could do things the “quick and easy way”. So this is how I started gardening..
I saw a pretty plant at the shop, bought it, and just planted it into the ground. The soil in the ground was totally devoid of nutrients and the plants I got would immediately go into distress and usually I would end up killing them, whomp whomp.
My first lesson is to prep your garden beds. Healthy soils full of nutrients leads to strong healthy plants. Using a good quality soil may seem expensive at first but it ends up saving money by not needing to water the plants as much, protects them from harmful pests and ultimately prevents the loss of the plant. I am currently in the process of prepping my garden beds for this coming spring. I won’t lie gardening does take time and I am having to carve the time out to do these projects which isn’t always easy between an 9 month old who is crawling and shoving every leaf and blade of grass in his mouth, working at NWG, Ag/Stock shows (my husband is an Ag teacher), Auctions (he’s also an auctioneer), and just plain old being lazy…I mean relaxing 🙂 But it’s going to be worth it to have a beautiful yard teaming with plants that attract birds, butterflies, and bees. Not to mention the vegetable and herb garden teaming with food for our table…saving more money and eating healthy.
Here are my weapons of choice this spring, Microlife Fertilizer and Nature’s Way Leaf Mold Compost. Now for spring to get here and my garden to grow!
