From everyone’s response to the free seeds we have a lot of new time gardeners. I am not the gardening expert Tawra is and I mean she really  is. She has a degree in Horticulture and in years past has worked for county extensions and the Botanical gardens here in Wichita so gardening is her thing.

I on the other hand I know nothing but that has not stopped me from trying for many years to have a garden and flowers but most years I failed. Tawra said the other day that she was going to water her plants and I said “you are suppose to water them?” Maybe that has been my problem. I just wait for it to rain. HA!HA! Needless to say I drive my poor daughter crazy with my gardening habits.

I just thought I would tell you what I did wrong so you could learn from my mistakes.

First it takes commitment. No matter how bad she feels or how hot it is Tawra goes out every day and waters her plants and takes care of them. Me, well if I don’t feel good I think “It won’t hurt them to go without water one more day even if it is 100 degrees out and then the next day I just plain forget to water them. By then I know they are a little brown and crisp but maybe if I drown them they might come back. NOT!

Whether you feel like it or not you have to water them, feed them, deadhead them, pick the bugs off of them and do it all in horribly hot weather. You’ll even have to sweat while you are doing it. It takes commitment.

Second you can get a lot of crop from one little plant I learned. Most beginners set out 10 tomato plants for a family of 4 not realizing  2 or 3 could supply them easily. The first year I planted flowers a neighbor gave me a large 3 lb. coffee can of zinnia seeds. I didn’t know any better and poured the whole can on a 10 ft x 1ft area.  For you beginners that was enough seeds to supply all of Texas with flowers. But not knowing any better I planted them where there was no sun and got about four 6″ flowers. I guess some flowers need sun too. But then some don’t. It’s very confusing.

Now my one cherry tomato plant I planted was a different story. It wouldn’t stop producing tomatoes. To this day (35 years later) I could pass on the cherry tomatoes. We had them coming out of our ears. Think small and few when you start. Plant just 1 zucchini until you understand the full potential of what one zucchini plant can do. Some of them could produce enough to feed a third world country for a year.

Third you won’t be able to have a manicure until Oct. No matter what gloves I wore I still broke a fingernail and had dirt under my nails. Yes I even did the scraping them on a bar of soap. All that did was give me dirt and soap under my nails. Now if you are a true gardener like Tawra she doesn’t bother to wear gloves.

Fourth, well that first year I in visioned my table spread with luscious home grown veggies and opening my cabinets with rows and rows of my own canned fruits and veggies saving us tons of money. The reality of it was I spent 4 times as much on seeds, fertilizer, mulch and water then if I had bought the beans, peas etc at a gourmet grocery store.

Not to mention after hours of back breaking work I was about to harvest the fruits of my labor and we had a flood which destroyed half of my crop. Two days later our new large puppy ran through it and managed to wipe out the other half.

I didn’t give up though and year after year kept trying and year after year kept failing. One year I did have success. I had cleaned my garden up in the fall and threw everything into the compost. That next spring I decided I would give up. Would you believe I had the most beautiful tomato plants growing in my compost pile. Go figure.

Of course I wrote most of this with my tongue in cheek even if it was all true. There really are some upsides to gardening (so I have heard:) and it was fun (?) trying. As bad as I make it sound it does get easier if you keep at it and once you get you beds made and figure out what you are doing.

Tawra will give you some tips this week of the the ins and outs and the more successful way to start and do a garden and yard. Hopefully her advice will help you not to have the garden nightmares that I did.

Jill